Stevens Transport aviary

They want you to show them you know how to plan. You are not held to the plan except that you be on time or early for delivery. Plan a stop every hundred miles/2 hours ON PAPER. You don't have to actually stop there. I used to use my CoPilot Truck software to do all my plans, then type all the stops into the QC. Most of the time I would fly right by the "break" stops. Flag you bathroom breaks, oh wait, you guys are e-logs now right, you don't do that any more I guess. You just need to show that yopu can read a map and plan a route, they do give you the route, but they want you to plan it so you have an idea at the begginning of where you will/should be at any give part of your trip.

Is that clear as mud now?

 

Gotcha. Funny guy

 

This industry is replete with stories of drivers that end up in the wrong place because they never learned to trip plan. Drivers that miss delivery times because they never planned around hours available.
If you're around this industry long, you will find out there are multiple cities with the same name in different parts of the country.
For instance, I knew about Portland, OR and Portland ME, but I never knew there was a Portland TN.
Or Dallas OR, Boise City OK and Boise ID.
And I can't begin to tellyou the number of persons that swear Idaho is a state over by Nebraska, or Kentucky is somewhere around Mississippi.
Trip planning is pretty critical ifyou're going to be successful in this business.

 

How about Pulaski, Tennessee, or Kentucky, or Virginia, Wisconsin.
don't forget about Portland CT.

Yes trip planning is very important, direction, time, can I make the delivery on time? When I arrive into that area will there be a place to park, or am I better off stopping short and be safe?

 

With all the software and NAV devices available today there is nothing to worry about. Back in the day with paper maps there was a skill involved you young whippersnappers, but we also had to find a pay phone to get the next load. Haha, I'm frickin old.

 

Thats what my grandson called me last fall as he was entering Graduate School.

 

But what if that NAV device locks up and stops working? They need to know how to trip plan WITHOUT a gps device or software. I know Im new to training, but on my truck they will be doing their trip plan by hand with an atlas and a truck stop guide. A GPS is nice and I use one myself as one of the many tools I use to get from point A to point B and C.

 

Thats pretty much what my grad DM told me. Just make it out on paper but run it how you want to. In other words take your breaks when you want (legally) and just get it there on time.

She told me at the beginning to just make it out a day at a time but about 2 weeks into it she got in trouble for that and then reamed my rear for doing it.

I can understand having the grads do the trip plans but I think that its ridiculous that they make them put down the times for each break, etc. I mean if Im at the shipper and they take 6 hours to load instead of 2, that throws the whole trip plan out the window.

So glad that I dont have to do those any more!

Oh, about Stevens giving you a recommended route, I was told that paper log trucks get the recommended route but e-log trucks do not. And I assume that they have all been converted to e-logs by now.

 

oh elogs get a recommended route, via the qcom dispatch navigation button. Slow to load, slow to update, and you cant see the whole trip at once, just each leg to the next fuel stop.

I still did trip plans to the final day, to verify that I could make on time delivery. Then I ran very close to my plan.

 

I assume that your talking the GPS thats in the QC? I never used it because it was soooo painfully slow! And I had my GPS that worked just fine.

I just know that once I got into the regular fleet my DM told me that only paper log trucks got the recommended route. Maybe he was wrong (wouldnt doubt that! ).