Performance Pay

I've seen a similar poster up in our terminal but I don't know any details about it; still pretty new to Schneider myself.

 

It's been posted on compass and there was a buzz video about it. If you're dedicated, metrics might not have changed. My metrics just show mpg.

 

I'm not with Schneider but I'm curious on how y'all save on fuel.
If the trucks are governed then you can't be hotdoging it. You can't control hills and traffic that reduces your speed while using more fuel.
Do you idle the engine for AC/heat? I hope Schneider doesn't want to save fuel at the cost of decent rest for the drivers.
What do you guys do to save fuel?

 

The easiest is eliminating unnecessary idle. It is amazing how much fuel gets wasted. For example my trainee got in the truck towards the end of our 30 minute break and immediately turned the truck on despite the fact we couldn't leave for another 6 minutes. Outside temp is 65, so we didn't need a.c. or heat, we had full air, so no reason to turn on the truck and let it idle. My rule of thumb is "if the trucks not going to move in the next 30 seconds, turn it off". You don't think a minute here or there matters, but it adds up to about an hour or idling a day, or about .2 mpg a week. If you need to idle for comfort, idle, but do so with a purpose.

The next thing is controlling the fuel pedal. Gentle pressure off the line, bring the rpms up slow and steady so the truck progressively shifts instead of power shifting. New guys waste so much fuel in the lower gears trying to get up to speed, and ironically it takes them longer to get up to speed.

In the same vein, looking ahead and making smart speed decisions. A driver should be off the fuel 15 seconds before needing the service brakes in most cases - particularly in heavy traffic. Going fuel brake fuel brake fuel brake not only wastes fuel, it wastes time and stresses a driver out. Leave a little more space and make minor adjustments. For turns, slow early and be off the brakes before entering the turn allows for more control and less fuel burn.

Run balanced on your weights with the drives being up to 500 lbs heavier than the trailer.

Run with your 5th wheel as far forward as possible. I was surprised what opening the gap did to my fuel economy.

And while I can't control the geography, I can control my response to it- using free speed going downhill, accelerating while still on the flat to maintain momentum, etc.

My mpg is generally a full mpg above my target. The funny thing is I don't really think about fuel economy when I'm driving. Most of the habits that get me good fuel economy derive from trying to maximize my productivity. Shutting off the truck as soon as I pulled in someplace got me off the drive line with an aobr. Accelerating smoothly gets you up to speed faster, running balanced gives an easier ride so you don't get as fatigued, etc.

 

Great answer @gentleroger. I would add I was told by my TE during training that using cruise control whenever possible also helps with fuel savings.

 

I’m not sure what was so hard to understand about the program before. It seems to me that this will reduce the performance pay for many drivers. .700 over the goal mpg is not easy when there are many things out of your control that affect fuel mileage.

The metrics page still shows the old metrics for me as well, but my DBL has already told us we’ll be on this new system.

 

That depends on how you drive. I can consistently beat the cruise control every time by quite a bit if I really drive for fuel economy. Most drivers would probably just put it on the floor and let it run up against the governor all day, and cruise would be a lot better than that.

 

Hauling a 100,000 lb triaxle tanker trailer, 13 speed manual from UT to Oregon I average 6.5 mpg. The truck never shuts off.

Is that any good for thier matrix?
What mpg do they want from you?