Trip Planning for Newbies

LOL.... Kinda What I was Thinkin!!

But seriously, I have found that calling the Shipper/Cons Has worked out ok. Some say Yeah, Come on in and we'll UNLOAD You, others say No overnight parking. You can usually find there number on the bills, or google them.
ALSO.... Google Earth works well to get a good look at the property.

 

I learned in school and from my first employer, look at your mileage and 1 hour for every 50 miles... 1 ten hour break for every ten hours driving...

add an hour for pee or lunch or traffic...

you'll mostly get there in plenty of time, and if you're early you can hit the bunk.

best to bump the dock the night before and turn in your papers if you can so you can sleep thru the nasty part and get your papers when done...

they all discouraged split berthing, but I do the two as often as possible...

then I can do the 8 later and leave early or just grab the whole ten if need be.

I don't have a favorite truck stop, and have yet to drop a quarter in a machine...

I still look at the streets and trips prior to the actual trip, then write down any notes and memorize them on the way, this so my nose is out the windshield where it belongs...

I drive slow thru the city portions with traffic so its flowing around me without me creating a hazzard...

when it all goes fubar... don't panic... just find you a good place to pull over and hit the flashers to re-evaluate if needed... which will happen when your off ramp has dirt and a bulldozer sitting where it used to be... lol

speed kills, stay away from both kinds...

 

What I do usually, is I go there and do my arrival macro, then stay on line 4 until you can deliver the load. Swift will allow you to drive your truck while at the location without having to change your duty status, you just can't leave and you immediately have to take a 10 hour break afterwards.

There's also the split sleeper method, but it usually requires a bit of planning to implement.

 

if you want to crash at a customer just find the gate monkey and let them know when your appt is and you need woke up at such time ....sometimes they will unload you 1st doing that then again they might not give a crap and let you sleep till noon and your appt was at 8 am lol .. best bet is to call them and see if they are adamant about appt. time being kept most iwll give you a door to park in and let you sleep till they unload it ...assuming you can sleep through the racket of being unloaded..... i do tend to sleep in a rest area then find me a truck stop to get chow and clean up and then deliver my load if not i do it at night in reverse if there is no parking left in the truck stop. do what the circumstances dictate to you being otr it will be different all the time

 

I was just wonder what all you guys that sleep while being unloaded do when the receiver claims there was damage or a shortage ?

 

Most places we go anymore don't even want you on the dock so it don't matter.

I also love google earth especially where you can get the little man right on the street and look things over.

 

No that is not legal , sorry. Many drivers do this exact same thing and get busted.

You can't be down the street but delivering a load. The log book should always reflect where you really are. The 100 air mile radius is only for local driver regulations. You are an OTR DRIVER (over the road driver)
therefore everything must be logged.

Definately a big no no no no no is never be working during your 2,8,10,34 or 36 (36 is for drivers who might go to Canada or drivers who are Canada drivers).
Time spent dealing with the customer must be logged on line 4 # least.
You could log it all as line 4 then log sleeper while they are loading/unloading you (only if you don't have to assist with counting, watching etc). Sleeper or on-duty while at a customer. But the key thing is how did you get to the customer? Drove? You must log line 3/4 to get to the customer (if less than 15 minutes log line 4, if 15 minutes or more then log line 3).

 

When I plan my trip, I always call my loading/unloading places. I ask them the following:

I ask them if I need to book an appointment or if they are a "first come first serve" place, and I ask them what the latest time they would accept another truck is. If you ask them what time they close you'll often get someone saying they close at 5pm when in reality they don't take any new trucks after 2pm.

I ask them about overnight parking, or if there is parking nearby (on a street?). I also ask them what kind of neighborhood it is.

I ask them for directions to get a big truck to their place from the nearest highway. I also ask them where I park in the yard to ensure I'm number 1 for the morning in the event I'm sleeping overnight. There's no bigger pain than waking up to see 2 guys have cut in front of you.

 

You seem to have your stuff together (nicely putting it

 

Yep When I was pulling a VAN I did all this, because I got burned by my company a few times telling me I had a 10 o clock appt, when actually it was FCFS