New rules coming regarding HOURS?

There was a discovery I made years ago

You can indeed drive 10 hours (I was OTR until end of 2001) then work in the trailer and dock the next 30 hours. No one gives a ####. Probably paid 40 dollars or something for that unloading myself money that really does not materially make a impact on the overall insufficient weekly income lost that week because of live load and unload rather than straight drop hook and gone in 20 minutes.

I have literally docked worked a little bit, Dock Boss goes home at 5Pm. End of his shift. The next shift comes in, then the grave yard shift comes in. Im still working. It will get done.... but it has to be unloaded, counted and stacked correct onto small wood. (Which is essentially what the food company requires so that their forklift can scoop it and drop it into a trailer going to a store on the other side of the dock area. Im basically doing their work for them.

9 am the following morning, the original dock boss who gave me a dock clocks in and then checks up on my progress. 6 pallets to go in the nose. Im getting pretty tired by now having been up 40 hours straight and thinking fuzzy. Dock boss brings me a good stiff coffee with cream and sugar as a gift. Im not nice to look at with bad hair, 5oclock shadow, body odor and poor overall fatigue condition.

I finally get done a little after 1 PM. gather the paper work and go to the tractor.

Qualcomm has a stack are you done yet messages. I say I am finally finished. Going to bed. Do not depend on me for any loads until I get rested when I get rested and not before.

Then head to the Super 8 hotel and go to bed after shower etc. The nice quiet room and so forth makes for a nice 20 hours plus of sleep. (I paid for two days in advance with a special note not to disturb me in the morning.

Room service prepares the biggest breakfast, fluids etc. Pretty much the entire Breakfast menu in one go. Delivers same. Coffee is brewing. I get cleaned up again, then organized and finally ready to go.

4 hours to load, 10 hours to drive, 30 hours to unload, 25 hours in hotel. That's a 70 hour amount of time BURNT on a 500 mile haul from one shipper to a major grocery distribution chain that throws down small wood and has me build each one to a particular order for their store trailers on the other side of the building. At .34 a mile $170 gross. 90 lost in hotel cost and one room service delivery, 40 paid in unloading money.

That was the one week which I think was the worst week of my life in trucking morale, love of the industry and desire to continue on as a trucker.

I decided that I will quit live load, live unload, I will stop hauling grocery and reefer work if at all possible and get into something else that is strictly drop hook or shipper load, count and customer unload in 30 minutes.

That is just one episode of many in my life time. They can make all the rules they want. But after such a dismal financial ####hole that load was and god only knows how many other loads were not picked up because of the excessive unloading, excessive requirement for rest incurred by over fatigued etc.

That is a portion of life you can never get back. And no amount of money will ever compensate for that kind of BS in this industry that goes on to this very day.

 

From my perspective, the government should not limit how hard one is willing to work. Everyone’s life situation is different. I do not have to run hard, but I often choose to. No one is forcing me to do it. Maybe someone is trying to save for a down payment on a major purchase, retire debt, fund a child’s wedding, or any other number of reasons they may have. Doctors and nurses make life-and-death decisions every day. As far as I know, there is no restriction governing how many hours they are able to work each week. A wise man once said, “find something you love to do and you will never work a day in your life.“ I enjoy driving. It does not feel like work to me. Even the days that I have to fingerprint my loads are enjoyable to me. Your perspective may be different., But that does not make yours noble or mine foolish. We are just different.

 

If you ever log into google such as gmail etc online as I do, check your location history if you have a cell phone number tied to it.

You will get a exact map down to about a foot on the earth's surface where you have been exactly at all times 24/7 with that phone going back months and years. Google knows I have been to my doctor a few days ago. They know that phone has not moved from my table shelf where it sits most of the time approximately 20 out of 30 days so far this last 40 days or so. It sits on the charger 24/7

with that kind of data you can do alot with it. I can only imagine in trucking what would be possible.

 

You think somebody has a family driving by the house for a day once a month?

How can they possibly be in debt if all they do is drive?

 

I booked my next series of runs to start on Tuesday. This way I have to take a few days off. LOL

Seeds will be mailed tomorrow. Had to fingerprint the entire trailer this morning, then go by Freightliner, the rhinoceros nap, but they will be mailed tomorrow.

 

As I said, everyone’s situation is different. You seem to presume that your perspective is the only valid one. It is not uncommon for someone to do hard things for a season in order to reap reward on down the road. Perhaps they had acquired the debt before they started driving. There are many examples that could be provided to counter your point.

 

When I was put into that CAT 936 in my local readymix for Razorback here in Arkansas all of the stress, thoughts or being tired after a 60 hour plus overtime workweek disappeared. I would put that thing in it's spot each end of work and shut down with regret that play time is now over. I must go home, eat a meal and get some sleep and do this again in the morning.

I find myself cleaning up next morning early so I can be at the CAT 936 in a timely manner to fuel, grease and go over the hoses etc and start feeding the plant.

It was literally a time of joy, not work. (It was work and you had to be safe at all times, particularly when people walk near you.)

To the end of my life I will consider that work task one of my absolute favorites. My only regret is that no one hired me at 21 years old to run that thing back then in my life. (Too young, too risky etc) I enjoyed trucking. But there are certain tasks in life that is not work at all.

My bosses put me back into the mack concrete truck after a while. They did not understand the sorrow I had at having to leave that 936 sitting. I was not right for a long time. No particular reason. I think they needed that mixer truck to produce income more than anything or put another driver into it while I ran the 936 full time which is what I think they should have done.

Even today I consider getting back into it. It's private property, not on road work and my medical limitations and problems do not apply to that particular work. Im actually considering it.

 

My point is I've forgotten more about hard work than most people will ever know. I know how I feel at 70. I've been in this game for awhile, and I have yet to meet a driver that isn't fried when his 70 is up.

 

You've met one now.