Whats up with 62 mph?

You have my sympathy if you only know load to load what you have next . Before I'm empty I know what my next load will be. If I unload in Canada I have 24 hours to run over 700 miles to get a load that is over 1200 miles round trip and is done in 2. Days. Those 2 loads give me a $1500 week working about 60 hours.
You can't give any solid data proving driving slower is safer . Research studies on speed limiters and split speed limits. Every study done concludes trucks running slower than the flow of traffic increases the risk of accident.the best arguement ATA could come up with for slower trucks is they require less stopping distance. One problem there. Driving slower means other vehicles constantly passing and cutting in front of them making keeping a safe stopping distance between vehicles impossible.

 

Nope. More likely to take up an empty slot left by another truck that was trying to save fuel and ran late. Makes it a 90-10 proposition in my experience. Worked even when I was hauling vans.

 

Ours are governed at 64. At this stage in the game, 59 wouldnt bother me, LoL, 95% of my driving is in town anyway.

 

Same here. I am usually booked throughout the week. Been that way for almost 10 years. Any appointments are set with my input, but most are flexible with broad window times. I usually have little wait time for load/unload, and do about 70% drop and hook. Based on how the runs are set up, where they are, etc I can run 60-62 mph all the time, never be late at either end, get by the house a couple of times a week and off on weekends and holidays and usually take 2 weeks off a year minimum. No need to run with my hair on fire. Oh, and this stuff is not dedicated stuff. It is just planned out properly and set up realistically. It is regional in that I really have no desire to go west of I-25, east of I-71, or south of I-40. Keep most of my running within a 500 mile radius of the house. A lot of repeat customers, but none are dedicated runs. Just over $190K gross last year. 40 acre farm paid for, New Holland ag tractor paid for, Jeep Liberty Diesel paid for, truck paid for, no credit card debt, and a new truck on order. Must be doing ok running slower. Why stress myself, risk a ticket, etc.

Work smarter, not harder.

 

Not really... just a "fer instance." They'll put the newer guys on runs that have a lot of slack in them so they won't kill themselves trying to get there on time. Load planning is done so that for the most part we don't have to run 65 to get there... unless you don't want the extra $$ in your back pocket... and in a way that doesn't leave hours hanging out there.

See the above. We have dedicated runs, and our planning is done quite well although in times of slow freight your likely to have more time on a load. As far as home time is concerned, I get as much as I like.

Our times are set, and are generally inflexible - something that is dictated by our customers.

I'd say 25% drop n' hook... but those are mostly get it there as soon as you can.

We seem to be on the same page.

 

Do you need to build a reputation for that? How do you find your loads? If I may ask.

 

Same here. There's only a few places I go to where the speed limit is faster than 55.

I get paid by the hour anyway and not by the mile. They could govern the trucks down to 30 and I wouldn't care.

 

I'd say out of any niche in trucking, livestock is definitly one where your reputation could make or break you... I can't speak for everyone but as far as my loads go, I very rarely have to "find" loads most of them are repeat costomers and new ones are word of mouth.. I haven't used a loadboard or broker in years...

 

running with a choked back truck will wear out parts just as fast...These motors are made to breath not get choked...companies mess the computers on their trucks and before ya know it the thing is in the shop...A cat Rep once told me a certin company was told to turn up the trucks or void the warranty...that company then sold trucks that had cats and went to detroits..

 

One thing it seems no one mentioned is that if you can drive a bit faster, and get the same number of miles done 45-60 minutes sooner, multiplied by 6 days a week gives the driver between 4.5 and 6 more hours rest a week while driving the same number of miles. And since more rest enhances safety, how much is that extra rest worth? I ran the same miles today as an ungoverned o/o truck. He was here at the same truckstop, and asleep in la-la land over an hour before I go here. I couldnt compare fuel mileage with him, because he was asleep.