Question about working 14 hours per day!!!

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by free.spirit, Jun 20, 2021.

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  1. free.spirit

    free.spirit Bobtail Member

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    Hi,

    Please pardon me for this rant, but I need to get what I'm about to convey off my chest. Anyway, I just acquired my permit and will be beginning a new career as a trucker very soon... I really need some clarification and kind reassurance.

    Considering that there is a seventy hour, eight day work week in the U.S. trucking industry; and furthermore, when also taking into consideration that a trucker typically drives four-hundred to six-hundred miles per day, THEN WHY IN THE F*%!@ WOULD MY TRUCKING COMPANY/EMPLOYER EXPECT ME TO COMMIT ELEVEN HOURS OUT OF MY DAY WORKING, THUS EVERY DAY?!

    In other words, if I can get 500-600 miles of driving time within 9-10 hours, then it just doesn't make sense that my employer would hold such a high standard of expectation over my head! After all, what does it matter to them if I achieve fulfill the obligated mileage by means of driving an approximated 8 hours and fourty-five minutes every day? I see no purpose in dedicating 14 hours out of every day to the company when I could achieve the endeavored goal in much less time? This seems ridiculously ludicrous to me.

    I need more time to myself after work than merely TEN frivolous hours to eat and sleep! We are not robotic automatons!

    Isn't there a way to blow smoke up the dispatcher's ### about being on the company's clock for fourteen hours? It seems to me that we must lie to the blastards in order to preserve some semblance of any free-time for ourselves.

    Please console me with overcoming this daunting apprehension that haunts me daily and nightly.
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2021
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  3. BigBob410

    BigBob410 Road Train Member

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    The hours of service are 11 and 14 it doesn’t mean you have to work that many But some of us are hustlers that want to get as much done during the week so we can relax for the whole weekend and not have to work 6 and 7 days.
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2021
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  4. Jaebo74

    Jaebo74 Medium Load Member

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    Find a different line of work, you obviously don't have the drive others do. I also don't believe that you have the backbone it takes to pay your dues and then find a better job later down the road. You'd probably be better off flipping burgers, I hear they pay a minimum of $10hr now.
     
  5. BigBob410

    BigBob410 Road Train Member

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    And just to add. A lot of “drivers” need the extra time because they can’t keep the left door shut to make miles. Add to that traffic, breakdowns and other things that hold you up during the day it’s nice to have those hours to get where you want to be.
     
  6. gekko1323

    gekko1323 Road Train Member

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    WOW! You haven't even done your first load yet and already you are complaining. Imagine when things really start to go south. A breakdown, bad weather, a changed appointment, a traffic jam, sitting on a dock or staging area for 8 hours, a full truck stop, a bad address, etc.

    An employer doesn't really care what hours you drive as long as you get to the load/unload on time. But I really don't think this job will work out for you.
     
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  7. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    You do realize that it isn't always as simple as dropping a trailer, driving 50 feet, hooking to another and being back on the road in 15 minutes, right?

    You might drive 4 hours, then be stuck waiting to be unloaded for 2 hours. Then add another 2 hours to get unloaded. There's your 8 hour day and you might have covered 200 miles at this point.

    Now you have to get fuel so add another hour waiting for some clown to finish his break in front of the fuel pumps. Now you're at the 9th hour and you still need to cover 250 miles to reach your goal.

    There's your 14 hour day.
     
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  8. LoboSolo

    LoboSolo Heavy Load Member

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    Your first 6 months, yer gonna be wishing you had 16 hour days to get it done, and wondering why yer only averaging 49 miles an hour every day.

    Please don't sneer whilst you're plotting how to average 4200 miles a week, first run 2 weeks on your own and get back to us with your hourly average. Perhaps your employer dost know their business.

    What say, old chap? Care to fancy a wager for a pint?
     
  9. Flat Earth Trucker

    Flat Earth Trucker Road Train Member

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    You're not always going to be working 14 hours a day or driving six hundred miles per day.

    That being said, this is trucking. Goods are only moved from point A to B by a truck that is moving. And a truck driver is paid to move those goods. A truck driver doesn't get to decide what time the load must be delivered. That's up to the shipper and consignee. Granted, mechanical failure, weather, and traffic conditions can dictate otherwise, but nevertheless, that freight has to move.

    And many times, your delivering of an on time load can mean whether or not a factory has enough product to remain operational.

    For example, if potato chip plant doesn't have enough vegetable oil in their silos, then production halts, and workers are sent home.

    The work we do is important. Very important. That's why the hours are the way that they are, so that we have enough time to get done what needs to be done while getting adequate rest.

    Up until the 1990s, drivers could work 16 hours a day with only an 8 hour break. I could not work like for very long without snapping. These days, it is rare for me to work a full 14. And even then it's because I want to or I need to drive late in order to beat the idiots who don't know what a freeway is for.

    Either you are cut out to be a trucker, or you are not. But I don't think that you should throw in the towel before the bout even begins.
     
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  10. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    That’s pretty comical. Thanks for the chuckle.
     
  11. slow.rider

    slow.rider Road Train Member

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    They expect the commitment because they prefer to avoid clowns like my trainer, who would drive 5 hours per day but only if he felt like it, and was several days late to most of his appointments.

    You'll only be able to get 600+ miles on days where you have no pickups or deliveries. Maybe you can do your 600 miles in 9 hours, but only if you skip your pretrip, hold in your poop, don't stop to eat, and don't drive thru any hills or cities.

    Ultimately they won't care which miles you drive on which days, as long as you pick up and deliver on time. And remember, in trucking "on time" means an hour early.
     
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