New routing system

Yes Sir, I purchased my atlas today... Quite expensive but really nice. I bought the 1 for the Motor Carrier. The 2011 edition comes out the end of Sept and is listing for $150 or so. I grabbed the 2008 for $48. They have just 1 left on the shelf. Laminated pages and spiral bound. I have my laptop and Google earth as well as Garmin Mapping software on the Laptop. Shows a moving depiction of you GPS coordinates on the top from the Garmin unit(G465T), no internet needed... but you are totally correct. The Atlas RULES!!!! ..... got a magnifier glass too.... I am ready to plan...

 

I can't believe the new Rand McNally is going to triple in price. I only paid $50 for my 2010 large scale. I wouldn't trade it.

Watch the routing. I will be going from Monroe LA to our drop yard in East St. Louis. Paid miles are 545, but they are routing me I 20 to I 55. This route is almost 630 miles. It's all interstate, but we're talking an extra hour and a half of driving. I have them looking at going north on US 165 then cutting across US 82 to pick up US 61. If you don't watch the routing you could get a nasty surprise, like this route.

 

The new atlas is always full price when it first comes out. Wait til around Christmas time or just after the first of the year and the price will drop. I always try to pick one up at the Iowa 80 or one of their affiliated stops, Kenly, NC, Joplin, MO, Oak Grove, MO. You get the idea. Anyway, just wait and the price always drops like a rock. As for watching the routing, you will always run into times where the route ends up being alot more than the paid miles. On the flip side, sometimes the reverse happens, and the route ends up being shorter than the paid miles. If you average it out over the course of and entire year, it is usually a wash, but it always good to keep and eye on your route.

 

The problem is that too many dispatchers and drivers are using computers instead of their brains to trip plan. I just saved the company 80 miles and about 10-15 gallons of fuel by using the opti, my atlas, my computer and gps as tools instead of as a crutch. The point is that if I trip planned for a 545 mile trip, when the opti had routed me on a 630 mile trip I could have been late if I were scheduled for an appointment. I have also had times I was routed over restricted roads. Everyone seems to forget that all computers are morons they are nothing more than a bunch of on off switches that only know 1s and 0s. Yes, opti is a great tool, but it cannot think, that is why God gave you a brain. If the difference is only twenty or thirty miles, it's really not that much of an issue, but when it starts to get where it makes a difference of an hour or more in drive time, it's time to say something.

 

There are sometimes reason they route you certain ways, like they may have a mechanic available on some routes and not others, or tires available, or still yet stupidity.

When software routes you, you still need to check truck routes, bridges, sometimes it will take you off interstates run you across a business route, because its less miles, but that does not mean following it is the best idea.

It also depends on who you drive for, May used to threaten us for being off route, even though my way was shorter because they wanted us to us certain fuel stops like the one in the yard. There way I would hit 2 company yards between Denver and Bellvue, my way I would hit none. They clain it was fuel savings.

 

What ever the price is of a truck atlas, it can save you thousands.

 

Just looked on Rand McNally's web site and the atlases start at $19.99 and go up to $49.95 for the large scale. Pilot has them for similar prices.

My point is that you can never blindly follow what a computerized route tells you. That is why people turn down railroad tracks with the excuse, "My gps told me to turn." The opti system is a great tool, just as my gps, and computer routing. Just remember all of these are only tools. Your dispatcher sits in a cubicle hundreds of miles away, you are the one who is supposed to know these roads. I know at Roehl they have even told us to contact them when you have questions or issues with the route that has been sent out. The opti route was automatically generated and you are the first one to see it. If you don't catch the problems, no one will.

 

I agree Opti is just one more tool in our toolbox. It should be used with a healthy dose of common sense.

 

Hey Belleye, I would really recommend you getting an up to date map! That 08' isn't going to be worth much to you when you hit a low bridge that was built last year! Road restrictions, scales, tolls all this stuff changes year to year and it could mean your safety! At the very least it could cost you a heavy fine for being on a road you are not supposed to be on. Don't mean to sound harsh just looking out for you. You bought a Motor Carrier atlas so that you would have all this information.

 

Yeah I would take that back and get one at Pilot. I see them all the time for like 19.99 after a 10.00 rebate.