Question from a complete newbie.

The question that needs to be answered is what type of schedule you’d like? Want to stay out months at a time? Need to be home weekly every 2weeks. Want to be home every other day? Theres something out there for every body

 

Thank you so much for your guys' responses - I totally get now that there isn't one definite answer to this question! Being away from home and sleeping in a different state every night does seem super appealing to me - I'm pretty adventurous.

There is another question that I just thought of, and I don't wanna start 2 topics within a day so I'll just ask it here, haha: I know about all the regulations for the maximum time you're allowed to drive per day and all of that, but let's talk about minimums - does your company require you to have at LEAST a certain number of miles/hours per day or week? If so, how many?

Thanks so much again for all the replies, guys

 

Yes and no it depends on the company. These companies are putting you in that truck to make them some money. With that said it depends on how hard you’d like to run and how far your customers are and also who your customers are. You can really get a snapshot of the country but unless you are on your 34 the most you get is a night on the town. Or if you get into town early a trip with a late appointment the next day a mini trip. Now depending on your company they will let you take your 3-4 days wherever if your out for weeks or months. Depends on the relationship you got with your dispatch

 

No two days are the same but every day kinda is. Its complicated. Your feelings about it will be complicated too, its a love hate thing. You wont know what you like until youre behind the wheel. And in the beginning itll beat you up but your body will adjust in time.

Eventually youll realize what everyone here has.. That x1heavy is off his rocker.

 

There are a lot of factors, but the one thing that is certain is that you can get home more often if you live along a very busy freight lane. For example, a lot of freight moves north and south on I-35, and a lot of freight moves east and west on I-40, so if you live in Oklahoma City (where these two highways intersect) you will get home a lot more often than if you live in the middle of Nevada. You will also have more opportunities for local/regional work in those cities.

Also, at most OTR companies you will earn one day of home time for every week that you spend on the road, and they usually want you to stay out for two or three weeks at a time.

 

You sure you wanna go there? Ok fine here goes.

FFE likes to have a night dispatcher. One of his jobs at before 6 am is to collect computer data on ALL of the fleet trucks currently loaded and rolling.

Let's say we are 6 am and still 150 miles from Memphis. Eating breakfast. Well, that satellite will beep and say "Call me" why? Because we are late to Memphis today for the 8 am delivery.

A certain percentage of the fleet is running late this morning at 6 am. SOME with VERY good reason and are excluded from the late call me list.

For those who stop and call into dispatch, will be made to explain why they are late to the delivery. What is going on? If they cannot make a good excuse today is their last day at work.

FFE used to have a minimum of 45 mph for a given trip beginning to end in their computers. Thats the company minimum. If you spent 10 hours in pine bluff last night and should have been in Nashville by 8 am on your way to say NYC for two day arrival, you will get that famous "Call me" satellite message. It may be your last day today when they understand you gambled your delivery schedule away last night.

In addition to that Call me, they might send a team to come get your load. You will be given a empty and told to stay put. It might be a while before you get loaded since you have a service failure for being late again. If you still have a job.

I wrote this as plainly as possible.

Thats why when Dispatcher says can you be loaded by noon in Memphis then deliver tomorrow morning in NYC?

ARE you kidding? its late already. Reschedule please or give it to a team. And make it quick, they are already a minimum of 5 hours late to NYC from here.

 

Most companies want you to drive 400-500 miles a day. Nothing is in writing, but they have a dispatch speed usually. Because they setup the pickup and delivery times. They know you work 70 hours a week legally. So they try and get the most miles they can get you in 70 hours. So you can make money and so they can make money.

I'm driving a new 2020 Freightliner with refrigerator and all air disc brakes and automatic transmission and adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking. It has this Freightliner 8 battery powered A/C and heater for sleeper when parked. The computers will start the truck engine automatically to recharge the batteries if needed when parked. It save them fuel so they don't buy it for fun. We have to use the system. The truck also has an 1800 watt inverter to make 4 120v Powe plug just like a house. To run stuff like TV or microwave. Since they are paying for all the this, they want all they can get out of a driver. I even have guarantee minimum pay every week so my company really wants my truck runny all it can.

That's why most companies have a dispatch speed like 500 miles a day. If your driving 1,500 miles. They will give you 3 days or 2.5 days do the job. They will call the delivery and set up appointment for you. It's your job to get their on time doing it legal. We run electronic log books today so no cheating. My company pay for satellite radio and GPS navigation. The microwave is mine and the TV

 

Being adventurous, hubby and I live in our truck. We dont even have a home base. We drive when they give us a load. We drive as much as we can every day, until we deliver. Sometimes, they have us scheduled for another load right away, sometimes we wait for a load, it depends on where we end up and what freight is available. We have a fridge, and a power inverter, so we can make coffee. We mostly snack, rather than eat big meals.
Min time, if under load is 8.5 hours, because my team mate can usually start his clock by then. Unless we deliver and have to wait for the next load.
We went to school on our own dime, and then chose a company with a lot of research. Ask drivers for that company about it. These forums are great for hearing the bad stuff. Dont always believe recruiters. This way, we aren't stuck in a contract with a company that paid for our school, even if we hate them.
We love our company. They keep us moving a lot. It's a lot of sleep, drive, repeat. We get time off to reset our 70 hour clocks every week, when we restock the truck, eat good, shower, and maybe do some downtime stuff like play video games, watch movies, or sight see.
We take our "home time" anywhere we want. We earn one day off (unpaid) for every week we work. We can take off once a month for 4 days, or we can save up days and take a week or 10 days anywhere. Family in different parts of the country, or "home" where our friends are.
It's an awesome lifestyle. But theres a flavor for every taste in this industry. You could be home daily, a couple times a week, weekly, monthly, rarely... it depends on what you want
Answer Chinatown about where you live, and what kind of trucking you're thinking about. He will give you great answers about what companies are in your area, and you can look into them.

 

Not knockin anyone but this idea of "earning" a day off is nuts to me. Do they own you? So if i work hard for massa he will give me a hall pass off the plantation now and then?

I already completed my enlistment and cant ever get myself to submit to anything like that again. When youre willing to submit you find yourself in some unpleasant realities.

I have every day off boss. You tell me what youre gonna do to earn MY days on.

 

You need a bigger TV lol