Swifts new Idle policy

First off, i've heard APUs suck. They cost $10,000+ and cost a thousand to just look at one when it breaks down. Really not worth it in the short term. LONG term, if you get units that dont break down, and drivers who know how to take care of them.....i mean come on.....if you have a driver who cant take care of a $100,000 truck, and a new truck they put 30k miles on, looks more like a 300,000 truck, i wouldn't put $10,000 apu on that truck.

 

When I was solo, I would have been happy to have the ICON system working on my truck... I couldn't have cared less about having an APU. I was getting tired of getting woke up in the middle of my sleep session by the loud screaming siren that is the low battery voltage warning.

After doing that though, I have to say I'll always be a team driver if at all possible. It's like night and day compared to solo in overall comfort level.

 

If a driver can,t take care of his equiment,i guess he is not going to make a good paycheck.I know some drivers o/o that have apu's and solar panel to keep batterys charged....I guess if u can,t perform your job,u well never make make good money in this industry

 

Here's my take on idle.

Those of us who make our best attempt at minimizing idle time when possible are less likely to be hassled when the weather warms up. I tend not to overthink or overanalyze things like this.

My DM showed me my numbers yesterday before I headed home. I had been out 23 days. My idle time was 0.79%. I don't excessively warm-up or cool down the engine. I don't idle while I'm not in the unit. And like others, I use the breezes, window screens and fans to avoid idling when I can. But I will idle if I have to, and they know it. The nearly two years I've been with them, my idle time has never been an issue, and that includes last summer when I got stuck in Laredo for a few days and generally stayed in the south for almost a month. And I believe it is because I've shown that I will run compliant, take care of the equipment, etc.

 

That does seem to be true. I know last December my idle time had to be atrocious, but nothing was ever said because I'm usually low.

 

be Glad you did not drive in 60 -70 no air poor heet . how did we make it ? we call it the good old days.

 

Oh come on, with your math it would cost $10,000 just to look at a truck. An APU is like anything else it needs maintenance. But a $1000 just to look at doesnt make any sense. I have never seen anybody that had one (that worked) say they were a bad thing.

 

Last price I heard for a decent apu was $3000. Nobody would pay $10k for one. You could rig one up yourself for way less. And by that I mean build from raw chunks of metal. $10k is insane.

 

people who would never DREAM of living in their own house while the inside air temperature is below 40 degrees or above 80 degrees think it is perfectly acceptable for us drivers to live in our trucks under those conditions. If somebody leaves their DOG in a car on a summer day they can be arrested for animal cruelty, but those same "do-gooders" who would call the police over a dog being harmed would be the first to call the police if a driver is idling their truck to keep from dying of dehydration.

SO FAR, the company I work for has never complained to me (or fleet-wide that I am aware of) about idle times. Of course, being a flat-bedder, I sweat or freeze daily as part of the job, but once I am inside the sleeper for the night, they can all kiss my butt because I run the truck and run the heat or AC just like I would at home.

 

I have a feeling when the economy improves, they will be less strict about it. Could someone please explain the Icon system? Also, I shot this Swift photo in 85' florida heat at my local rest stop.



Notice his window in the sleeper and door window is rolled down. Does the prostar have a opti idle system?

KH