HOS & Qualcomm Questions

Throughout Truckingtruth I've read a few times that better drivers are the ones that manage their hours and specifically don't keep having to take 34 hour resets.

Not entirely true on Dedicated Accounts like Walmart and Target.

Many times we'll use almost all of the daily 14hr on-duty clock and at times have less than 8 on the 70. I want as little time as possible on the 14 in order to maximize pay.

The 7th day is the 34; basically home time.

Ah rainy gives me way too much credit. I take my time and plan well lol. I cheat I just pull a 48’ trailer instead of a 53....

It all depends on what your doing wether it’s advantagous to run 8 3/4 hrs a day or run your clock out. Load schedules are not all created equal. I always plan today for tomorrow. If you run hard you will burn your 70 in about 6 1/2 days. You could reset and be back on the road rested with a full clock before recaps would kick in. Alot of planners prefer fresh clocks because it makes their life easier. No matter how hard you try to get the 8 3/4 hrs a day it seldom happens everyday with consistency.

Throughout Truckingtruth I've read a few times that better drivers are the ones that manage their hours and specifically don't keep having to take 34 hour resets. I decided to do some quick maths to see how many hours on duty (using all your drive time everyday), in a month vs if you only used up 8 hours and 45 minutes everyday in order to never reset.

My calculation ended up being a total of 364 hours on duty in 31 days vs 271.25 hours. A whole 34% increase in the amount of time you run per month. Am I wrong in thinking that using up your entire 70 and constantly taking 34 hour resets is bad time management?

There is a lot more to this than just available time you can run. In some parts of the country time management has more to do with time of day you run than how much time you have.

I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion that we teach that the "better" drivers are running on recaps without taking 34 hour breaks. This really boils down to what type of accounts you are serving and also your own personal preferences. When I was a true OTR driver I enjoyed running my wheels off and then taking a 34 hour break because I had no hours left anyway. I would try to time it so that I ended up parked in some interesting area of the country so that I could enjoy my time off doing something interesting to me. I can often run my truck in much that same fashion now that I am serving a dedicated account. Our best loads (in my opinion) go out on the weekends. I can quite often run from Louisiana up into the far reaches of the Northeast, then catch a back haul load to get me back down South and be back just in time for another weekend load. This usually works out so that I run a second week on re-cap hours, and then the following weekend I will take a 34 hour break just to give me a little more liberty on how to manage my hours for that week. It sometimes will also depend on what my dispatcher is wanting me to do.

You can't really break it down into a mere mathematical formula like you did. There comes into play a lot of variables out here which you will learn about as you go. Time management is as much about being an opportunist and knowing how to capitalize on opportunities that come your way out here. It is also about learning how to outsmart your competitors and get things done while they are still trying to figure out how you bested them. Being able to make things happen out here in your favor is a huge part of successful time management.

You can't really break it down into a mere mathematical formula like you did. There comes into play a lot of variables out here which you will learn about as you go. Time management is as much about being an opportunist and knowing how to capitalize on opportunities that come your way out here. It is also about learning how to outsmart your competitors and get things done while they are still trying to figure out how you bested them. Being able to make things happen out here in your favor is a huge part of successful time management.

Old School, your crushing my dream of finding a golden formula and just sailing off with piles and piles of gold!

I can't seem to find where I read my statement from. I'm sure it was from a blog post about 5 things that will make your dispatcher like you, and in one of them I remember it said something about drivers who constantly take a 34.

But I can't find it right now.

it said something about drivers who constantly take a 34.

That's probably a reference to drivers who take 34 hour breaks unnecessarily. Good drivers come in all flavors. They each manage their time in a way that makes them productive. Basically your dispatcher will be quite fond of you if you keep getting things done.