What kind of schedules do people drive?

I normally pull reefers and American Trucker is somewhat correct. My p/u's can range from 2am to 3pm. Most of my deliveries are early am. I have driven both nights and days. Both have pros and cons. Planning your work day is a must in this profession. No I don't mean plan to minute,but plan for construction,accidents,traffic,weather, and such. Start with the max you can drive in 9.5 hours and then have a couple of backup stops in case of something happens that prevents you from reaching your orginal plan.

 

What bank are you using that opens at 6am?

 

People like you (and me ) should get that into the thick skulls of people saying we need 2 breaks between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. during restarts . The public is safer with us starting at 2 or 3 a.m. and getting away from terminals in urban areas rather than all of us hitting the highway when rush hour starts after starting at 5 a.m. , doing pretrips , etc.

 

Do you know Joan Claybrook ?

http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/HealthSafety/autos/
Yeah , I know . She's wrong . Drivers can only drive within 70 hours in 8 days . Actually they couldn't drive 66 hours in 6 days . That would only leave 4 hours for inspections , fueling , loading , etc . This proves Public Citizen doesn't have a clue how to interpret regulations but that doesn't stop them from keeping the courts and FMCSA busy making changes or defending lawsuits .

 

You must moonlight as a comedian.

 

Nope, I'm not kidding at all. At 3am every rest area is packed full. Go to the truck stop and every space is full plus the donuts who decide to make their own parking clogging up the works even worse, but there are always 4-5 empty fuel islands. I pick one, pull up to the pay line, and go in and do my business. No more than 5 mins logged off duty, even if someone pulled in behind me just as I parked they wouldn't be done before I was gone.

Don't presume your way is the only way. I get my work done while the sheep are fighting for parking and dealing with traffic. I thrive in the dark and sleep in the day.

Another bonus, no knocks on my door at noon waking me up.

 

You will learn quick that the load dictates all your sleep. When I can I drive at night and sleep in the day. It's easier to find parking when it's time to go to bed, less traffic and a lot of the scales are closed.

 

What he said. Some parts of the industry are on a shedule. Some are loosely and a few strict. US mail contractors have VERY tightly scheduled runs. That is to say the runs leave wherever at the same time each day. Most are very doable. Other companies have dedicated runs that are not so tight but regular. Many of these are coveted and may be dufficult to get. Best time to look for a mail job is early mid december thru january. Everyone gets burnt out from running extras from the holidays and some quit.