Proposed maintenance cycle for Cascadia w/ DD16 questions

Waiting on that message, never gonna happen.

This thread is every drunken JBHunt Logistics Xmas party conversation since 2002....

 

Going to be tough to make a Monday morning delivery when all the trucks are parked on Sunday because you want to run the 60/7 rule.

There’s no need to reinvent trucking. There’s no need to reinvent a maintenance schedule. If you’re keeping trucks much past 500k you’re going to have problems finding and keeping drivers. Drivers don’t care about your maintenance schedule, they’ll see 800k on the odometer and walk away. Get new trucks, get out of them before the warranty is up, and replace with new trucks. You and your “associates” can thank me later.

 

I am going to add this, seeing the OP never asked on question about my post.

It seems there are all these ideas floating around from people who are ignorant of how this all works (No one here in this thread by the way). Many never had to manage more than one truck, while others never got out of the seat to even look at the costs of running it, but think they know everything.

What attracts people to this as a business is the allure of money, big bucks, but per truck, most fleet owners make less than the driver does, sometimes a lot less. Many fleet owners or "partnerships" take the money first, and this is where they screw the drivers; bad things happen then.

Economy of scale comes into play, but it only happens when there is capital and good decision-making involved, which seems to be lacking in most of these schemes. Most fleet owners who are new want instant results, and they are the reason why failure rates are in the 80 to 90% bracket.

The biggest expense is the driver, not the truck, not the fuel, but the driver. The driver can make or break a company or fleet in no time, trashing the truck or causing loss of revenue through insobrodination, and another 1000 reasons.

I am selective when it comes to drivers. Good drivers are very hard to find; we have many of them in this thread speaking up. A good driver asks for things that a crap driver will never think of asking for. In my experience, freedom is number one. A good driver will also demand money for their time and return performance in getting the job done without hand-holding or calling up crying about it snowing (I have had a couple of drivers stuck in Eire and Buffalo with a few feet of snow, literally crying they need to go deliver the load). I expect them to perform, but I have problems with a few, and those are the hand-holding PIA types that I see. The only way to get rid of them from this industry is to become a professional industry.

Micromanaging the driver is the worst thing to do; this is the feeling I get with this OP he wants an aviation-type safety system for the driver, which won't work. Two different worlds and two different management protocols are needed. Burnout happens when the drivers are being paid by the mile and not by the work or a percentage of the work; this has been proven too many times.

The use of ELDs, a devil's tool, has been used against drivers since its inception, but on the other hand, it can really be used to manage the load to the driver's advantage. Many times, I or someone in the office has to call the customer/broker to tell them their delivery will be a few hours late because of delays that can not be avoided, and can show them where the driver is and what his hours are to shut them up. Brokers are the worst, by the way.

So the OP can do what he wants, I don't care, he isn't competition for me. He will dump a lot of money into experimenting and trying to fix things that are not broken, not engaging people who are actually doing this, and will see a crap load more cascadias on the repo market within a year.

OK I'm out. You all stay safe out there.

 

No DD is for raw power, a CAT is for raw power.

 

Yes but the 16 is marketed for heavy haul and vocational like dump trucks and cement mixers ....

 

Around 20k PM is about what I do. I sent a sample in once and it looked fine and they said it could go longer but I don't mind over-changing it a little. Paying tribute to the trucking gods as far as I see it. By then I've also usually found a couple other things I want looked at or replaced if some parts are looking old or a little suspect. Or if something quit working right but wasn't an emergency that warranted it's own trip to the shop.

 

Unless you’re paying at least double what everyone else is there’s zero chance you’ll get good, experienced drivers to watch aviation videos, I’m sorry “modules”, and then discuss them with everyone else. Same with talking about the engine brake. Anyone with experience has probably gotten a truck down off an icy hill without using the engine brake. Experienced drivers are aware of what can happen when things go wrong because we’ve probably already experienced it. Sounds like you and your associates have a pie in the sky idea to try and drum up capital to go finance a bunch of trucks. I’m sure people who have no clue about trucking would love this idea of training. Please make sure and video everything because I’d love to see the roundtable discussions of a group of drivers after they watch the training modules.

 

This is what will happen: people in the office will become micromanagers.

I don't think this model will work well; it will have to be backed with solid policies that are enforced with little latitude.

It all has to start with the people in the office, with the mentality that is instilled in them that they are there for the driver, not for themselves. They are there to make the driver's life easier, complete the job to produce the revenue that keeps the lights on, and money in their pockets.

The only time when routing comes into play is with OD loads, where pilot cars are used. Outside of that, giving the tools for the driver to make decisions is the best solution - hand-holding is not.

The driver's safety is another issue; there is a need to trust them after you hire them. You can not hire crap drivers; you have to know how to road test them and be objective in doing so. You have to test their knowledge on different subjects, and this can happen with a simple interview. What is acceptable to you would not be acceptable to me. I have a hard road test, and most don't pass it, but I do make exceptions time to time because the driver brings more than just the ability to drive.