What does home every weekend really mean

i had an employer tell me...ONCE...that when my front tire hits the driveway, that was my (back then) 8 hour break clock starting point....i only had about a 5 miles distance to my house...

i told the TM and the safety manager.......

"go to hell, i pull MORE Loads then the other guys ever will, and i don't cry like a baby, MY 8 HOURS START WHEN I GET HOME"

never heard another word.......

that's when i was running 4 loads a week (many weeks) from MA to Richmond, VA.......usually only 3 can be done, before you need to gain hours the next day.

they didn't fuss then, they liked my running, and my logbook matched.....with the help of some creative logging.

 

I ran into Mr Grump INC once long ago. Ran 2 weeks with him. His highness granted me 3 days off at home with a 250 mile empty run to get there on his time, trailer and all. Oh how blessed I am thank you Sire!

Phone rang about 6 hours into my first day, you about ready to head out for Bayonne NJ and a second drop in New Haven CT for the morning?

I told him one sentence.

"What part of go home for three days don't you understand?"

on the 4th day his royal ### had everything back and I was looking for another employer. HAH.

 

That's why I only stayed at that job for 6 months. Potential employers don't like to see drivers that have done a lot of changing jobs, but my first 2 jobs as a driver were just unbearable, and I would have been an idiot to stay there. On this particular job, the boss lied through his teeth to hire me. It was supposed to be a simple dedicated drop & hook run, same route every week and home every 5th day. The pay was below market rate but it was salary instead of miles, and I was willing to give it a try. My second week on the job I was loading/unloading my own trailer (full loads) with a forklift, and making deliveries to a dozen different customers that didn't have loading docks. It was all pallet jack work to the back of the trailer. This was all at the salary amount I was hired at with no increase for the additional drops and manual loading/unloading. The boss was running me at a full 70 hours every week and the only way to get home was fudging my paper logs. The last straw was when he ordered me to get a second log book and head back out for 6 days as I was returning from my previous 6 say trip with no reset. The guy was a real POS and I quit that day.

 

I don't know how current your boss ordering you back out without a reset and the golden words a second logbook to fudge.

There are offical federal anti threat laws in place to protect drivers and if any employer, a trucking company (That knows better...) actually dares to order you to break Federal HOS in any way and you document that, you should now be in a position to use these laws and come out as the new owner of the company via judgement etc in your favor.

We had a very bad company not far north of us in the PA Hills for decades, one of their trucks almost killed my parents downgrade on US1 prior to the Conowingo Dam one day.

Eventually after a long struggle the authorities finally convicted the people in that entire company of variety of offenses sufficent to essentially put the entire rotten company clear out of business entirely. I think they made sure to hang em high in the light of day as a example to anyone else doing the same thing.

Fast forward to post 2003 ELD's? Im seeing and hearing the same problems here online that I heard back in the paper days long ago. If not a little more than that actually as various weaknesses are exposed in ELD HOS.

The big difference is that you quit the instant you were told to break HOS with a second logbook. That makes you worth something to somebody down the road. You wont be out of work too long. But I would want you to try and find something with simple drop and hook. No more of that dock work. You only have one spine in your life. Conserve it.

 

Depends on the company you drive for.
Sometimes it means get home Friday afternoon and leave out again Sunday night. Lots of variations, depending on the company you drive for.

 

It basically means your home till your 34 hr restart is complete.

 

It means bust your nuts all week and after your backhaul hope you get a 34 hour break.

 

34 hour reset.

 

Years ago, took some creativity to get home. Before caller id and GPS, it was customary to get your load delivered on a Friday, go home, and call the boss on the 800 number saying, you ran into problems, can't deliver until Monday morning, and get the whole weekend off. Ah, those were the good ol' days.