Running with JCT

Had an easy drive today from Salt Lake City to Fernley, NV. Somehow, even with all of the hills I managed 7.8 mpg for the day! Light winds today but they were never helping any. Yesterday from Bennet, CO I only got 7.2. Wyoming is never good to me.

Tomorrow is the start of my quest for 13,500 miles in September. It's not looking good already, lol. I have about 265 miles to my delivery Monday morning. Labor Day. If I'm lucky, I'll get a pre-plan Monday to dead head another 100 miles. So a short month gets shorter! Well, I'm an optimist, I guess. I have my work cut out for me. . .

The truck is running beautifully with the new tires up front. On a smooth road with no wind it's very quiet and well-behaved. I'm looking forward to running pretty hard for a while.

This week is a good example of how you can be running good and still come up with a short week. Time for some math. In the past 7 days I've run:

552
658
432
184
560
566
485
3,437

Those are some pretty solid miles! I'm sitting here with enough hours available and on the recap to run 3 more 600+ mile days in a row. However, it's pretty likely that after my delivery Monday morning, I'll get the rest of the day off. Assuming that I get a load for Tuesday with more than 1,200 miles on it, I probably will only have this trip on my settlement. These less than 2,000 mile paychecks can be discouraging if you're not looking at the big picture. I've talked to JCT drivers who think week-to-week. For example, they will under-fuel at a cheap fuel stop late in the week in order to pad a check. You can see how this affects their long-term profitability, right?

I don't think in terms of weeks, or months, or even years. As long as I'm in business I think day-to-day and trip to trip. I short-fuel at expensive stops to get me to cheap stops. As the proverb says, "Take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." So maybe this will be a short week. The way I look at it is that I'll get some rest and will be ready to pound out some miles. I often get into a big week, small week syndrome. It's artificial. My settlement for next week will be for over 3,500 miles. Looking at my chart that's going to be over $1,500 plus about $300 in fuel carried over from the previous week. This trip is 1,945 miles paid, and would be a ~$700 settlement all by itself. That's the beauty of this new lease. It really helps you out on the short weeks.

 

I plan to do just that. I've said it many times, I'm just as happy if a driver reads all this mess and decides NOT to come over to JCT as I am if he does. But for YOU I don't know what to think, LOL. I just enjoy your positive and informative posts.

Order me a Dos Equis amber!

 

I don't think that's quite what I meant. I NEVER think about "the week". I think you mean when I end up a week with more or less fuel than I started with.

At the end of my last trip for the week I may have a full tank like when I go to Oklahoma, or I might just have enough fuel to get me out of California. On your settlement the fuel cost is the biggest deduction. Let's say, for example, that my final trip of the week delivers in Carson, Ca. I tend to plan on having no more than 3/8ths of a tank (aiming for 1/4 tank) at the final destination in Carson. I want to have just enough fuel to get over to Arizona to get cheaper fuel.

The next week, I bang around and get a final destination in Ohio. I fill up on cheap Indiana fuel and get to my final with almost full tanks. I start the week with 1/4 tank and finish with 4/4 tank. That 3/4 of a tank difference (~150 gallons or $600) gets charged on the one settlement. But, of course, now I'm starting out a week with full tanks and depending, may get all of that back the next week.

Some drivers won't run that way. They would skip Indiana and make the Ohio delivery trying to finish with about the same fuel that they started out with. More stable on the check, less profitable over all.

 

No. Yes. A nickel at Loves, Pilot, T/A, ##### J. Yes.

JCT pays PC Miler "short" miles. We are on elogs, and the split sleeper berth option is very useful and easy to do since the Qualcomm does all the work for you. The fuel discount, well, it is what it is. And, if you can't run California, you may be hurting your miles here. I don't know what the requirements on tractors are, but here is a good place to start: http://johnchristner.com/?r=drivercareers&drv=owneroperators

Best of luck!