trip planning for new drivers

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by truckerjoe06, Jun 13, 2013.

  1. dtcscout

    dtcscout Medium Load Member

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    Southern Indiana
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    We're going over this today in my CDL training class. This is pretty much spot on what they told us today. "Here's how to do it to be legal and safe. You'll figure out ways to make it simple once you start driving."
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2013
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  3. MNdriver

    MNdriver Road Train Member

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    Experience will help you on the fly during construction season
     
  4. Lepton1

    Lepton1 Road Train Member

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    Yukon, OK
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    During certain times of year this can be critical. A good example was picking up a load in St. Louis headed to Los Angeles. Shortest route is to run the I-44 to Oklahoma City, then catch the I-40 west to Barstow, Ca. However, on this day (in March) there was a band of strong thunderstorms and tornado possibilities all the way down the I-44 to OKC. The I-44 is famous for being Tornado Alley. Meanwhile a blizzard was developing in eastern Colorado and western Kansas.

    We talked to our dispatcher and rerouted to run straight west on the I-70 to catch the 56 and 54 down to catch the I-40 in Tucumcari, NM (one of our favorite routes). We were able to reroute and run a few hundred miles north of the thunderstorms and tornados, and just below the oncoming blizzard, skating on through between two major fronts.

    Another thing that is very helpful on Weather.com is their wind map. From weather.com select Maps/Current Weather and they have a number of options to look at. Current Winds & Gusts is a great way to tell if you can expect strong headwinds or cross winds. There were a few times that affected our trip planning.
     
  5. chompi

    chompi Road Train Member

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    Deland, FL
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    Its obvious your trainer had no idea what he was doing if we wasn't trip planning. Trip planning is crucial to making money out there. The ones that don't do it are the ones you here complaining about miles and sitting. Trip planning allows you to communicate with your dispatcher as to what you are doing. If your dispatcher knows what you are doing then they can plan better ahead for you. If they can plan better ahead for you then you will be getting better runs with better miles.

    When you are assigned your load you immediately do your trip plan and then let your dispatcher know asap when you can be to your destination. You never, ever, ever want to take the time allotted on a load! If the load has 6 days on it and only takes you 3 to get it there then have it there in 2 1/2! When you trip plan this allows you to calculate exactly when you can get to your destination. This allows you to tell your dispatcher the soonest you can be there. Now between the two of you, you will either reschedule this load for an earlier delivery or drop in a drop yard so that you can grab your next load. The more efficient you are at doing this then obviously the more time you will have for more miles! This is how the drivers that run 4200 miles a week do it! Once your dispatcher has gained your trust in your ability to do what you say or be where you say you can be at a designated time (due to trip planning) then they will start to stack loads on you. This is what you want! Stacking loads is simply being assigned or scheduling several loads ahead of time.

    Now with all that being said, that is why it is so crucial to be driving for a good carrier. It is #### near impossible to do this at a mega-carrier because the dispatchers just have to many drivers under their wing and basically just assign you a load according to where you are at the time. Its very, very hard to build any kind of working relationship with them, let alone get them on the phone! At the smaller carriers the dispatchers are usually responsible for a handful of drivers and this allows you to have a good working relationship with them. They work off of commission so it is in their best interest to work together with you and scratch each others backs! Sure you will still have crappy loads here and there but a lot of times you must take those loads to set up for the good ones. You maybe in Florida and have to do a crap run to Alabama or GA to be able to set up for a west coast run out of GA.

    Rest assured at the mega-carriers you don't have to worry about setting up for a good load. They are just going to send you where ever the hell they want and you will have to hope for the best!

    Now if you are running on a dedicated run it doesn't matter who you are driving for or what your dispatcher does. You are doing the same thing over and over! Hell, you probably don't even need to talk to a dispatcher! It maybe important to trip plan your first few times but after that you should have your trip memorized and know exactly where you have to be and how long it takes to get there.

    Also as you gain experience trip planning will become much easier. You will know what route to take without looking at a map and you will know basically how long it takes to get places. You will pick up lots of little tricks to help too. Usually the time zones is what really throws new drivers off and is what messes them up the most. You run your logbook off the timezone of where your home terminal is located. When you are assigned a load say in California it will tell you to pick up your load at 1300. This means that they expect you to be there at 1pm California time! Now lets say it delivers in Boston at 2300. That means that you must deliver that load at 11pm EASTERN time! So you must account for the time difference in your trip planning. 3-4 hours doesn't sound like a lot but in the trucking world every second counts! It all adds up and time is money! If you over account for those 4 hours that means you could have had that load off at the very least 4 hours earlier! In those 4 hours you could have been across town, reloaded and on your way back to Cali! 4 hours could also equal 260 miles! Those 260 miles is roughly $100 you could have made!!! That's just one little mistake!

    That is how crucial trip planning is!!!

    If you are new driver or are getting ready to be a new driver or even if you are already out there and aren't making money then I highly suggest you do some practicing at trip planning until you get good at it. The best way to practice is to get yourself a large, laminated "Motor Carriers Road Atlas". The best place to get one is Amazon.com. You can get the previous year edition for usually 50%-75% off. Also get yourself some of those dry erase markers. With those markers you can write right in the book and after each trip just wipe it clean with a wet paper towel. Those large laminated Motor Carrier Atlas's are specifically designed for truckers. (hence the name motor carrier) They are a wealth of information and you can just about learn anything and everything just in that book! Besides maps it has log book info, pretrip info, road restrictions, bridge heights, etc... Also has phone numbers for every state so that you can call for road conditions and closures.

    So take the time to get good at trip planning. Make up about 10-20 fake load assignments and plan for them. Essentially all you need as far as load info to plan a trip is where its picking up and what time and where it delivers and what time. Your job is the in between.

    When trip planning you need to figure out exactly what time you can pick up that load and exactly what time you can deliver that load. You must plan yourself a route that is legal for what you are driving and you must account for the road conditions like weather and traffic etc... If its the dead of winter and you are running from Cali to New England then I-90 may not be your best option in getting there. With that being said you must add extra time for weather and traffic. If you are traveling during normal working days then you may want to review your trip to see where exactly you will be travelling through during rush hours. If you are driving from Chicago to Orlando and your plan show that you are going to run through Atlanta at 5pm then you may want to plan a shower and a meal during that time. Besides weather and traffic you must account for all of your stops. Not only do you have to plan for fuel stops but you must account for the time allotted to do so. A fuel stop can eat up 30 minutes. You also want to account for showers, bathroom stops, eating and whatever else you do. It all adds up! If you don't do this you are hurting yourself because you will not be able to accurately plan out your destination time.

    You don't want to add to much time and you certainly don't want to cut yourself short! So there is a fine line as far as coming up with an ETA. Practice makes perfect though!
     
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