Routing and Fuel Advice

Schneider does, but neither is a requirement. For them, the incentives are keeping under a certain percentage of out-of-route (OOR) miles. I am in the Western Region and they allow 6 percent OOR. That includes both me choosing to use a different route than their computer sends AND any personal business I may wish to do.
In terms of fuel, the incentive is that if I run out of fuel one time, I lose my bonus for the whole quarter. So I can fuel as I choose (at the places that accept my card) as long as I don't have to call for emergency fuel.

The bonus is 2 cpm and is quarterly, which is another $40 to $60 per week. More importantly, it is a lump sum of $500 to $700 that I can lose for making any single mistake out of many, (OOR, running out of fuel, late delivery, excessive idle, and more). I do sometime do my own routing and fueling, but I am careful to protect my bonus.

 

Celadon (my hubby drives for them) sends routing to the drivers along with fuel stops through the Qualcomm. With them, the only time it's mandatory to follow the routing is with High Security and HazMat loads. One problem he has run into with their fuel stop assignments is that they set those before they know how heavy the load is. You can usually get an additional fuel stop if you need it.

 

May does the routing and fueling thingk, too.

you can go out of route,but best hope nothing bad happens.

Personally, I don't like it- it's not even shortest route. It's shortest route to the nearest interstate, then shortest route from there. I've found a couple of times where that adds well over 100 miles to the trip.

It's my understanding that this is common with PC Miler. PC Miler also doesn't take into consideration topography. Is it faster/cheaper to drive around an area, or does it make sense to spend a day climbing hills, even though the miles are shorter? PC Miler doesn't care.

Fuel is a bit better. Your DM tends to watch you and send you fuel stops in plenty of time- and any time you go below 3/8 tank you are supposed to ask for a fuel stop. They're not pre-determined at the start of the trip.