Comments By Phoenix

Nice! My T680 is very similar, and I love it, but I'm jealous of those cabinets over the bunk lol. Considering making some to put on the top bunk, but then the bunk would have to be lowered. *pout*

OS... thank you.

It takes time to gain perspective. As rookies, we are so absorbed in learning how to drive a massive vehicle safely, company policies and procedures, and adjusting to a huge lifestyle change that we don't see or understand the bigger picture. That comes with time. Once we feel more competent and things become a little more routine, we begin to see the ebb and flow of the business of trucking. Like drivers, companies can only control so much; there are so many aspects to this business, and it takes awhile before all the pieces begin to fit together. Changing companies makes this process take much longer, and eventually you find that most companies are fairly similar; it's little things that are different between them, and you have to ask yourself, is it really worth starting all over with a new company? I know, I did it this way, against advice seen and given here, and have my regrets now. I think it's ironic that five companies later, we had it best at our first... unless this one is as good as it seems to be. (Yeah, I hear it lol). Thing is, at the time, each time, we thought we had a good reason... only to find some of those reasons rather laughable now. Not trying to derail the thread, just trying to support the advice given here on Trucking Truth with a real world example... myself lol.

Ok, yeah, I was way off base... sorry OS, and everyone else. My post doesn't help, just puts negativity out there.

Not sure if this is out of line, but I'm betting a lot of companies are struggling to find loads paying enough. I had a chat with dispatch last week, and he was frustrated by the rates loads are paying. But then, they are still building a solid customer base, so many are brokered loads, which usually go to the lowest bidder.

Oops, sorry.... correction... until your 14 hour clock is less than your 11.

Maybe I should be sleeping lol.

The company I'm with likes their drivers to do a 34 each week, so I don't really run recaps here, but I have before. Thank you for clarifying the 8.5 hrs each day...I forgot to.

As for off duty, no it doesn't affect drive time until your 11 hour clock is lower than your 14 hour clock... which happens when you waste time in off duty (like shopping each time you stop for fuel, or taking a longer than 30 min break, or .. well those minutes add up and before you know it, you've used up that 3 hour cushion to complete 11 hours of driving.

And that's assuming you're not waiting at shippers and/ or receivers, which can also eat up your 14 hour clock, and leave you with less than 11 hours to drive.

Donna, if your truck only does 58mph, and you do Atlanta often, and mountains too, I personally would use a lower mph speed, because the avg isn't really 55. When i trip plan my loads (I actually do a quick calculation for 50-75mph in 5mph increments, for a worst case/ best case scenario, but that's just me), I use a low mph avg not because that's what I'll actually avg, but because it gives me a cushion of time if I need one for unexpected accidents or other delays. If there are none, then I have a less stressful trip where i can enjoy the drive and scenery lol.

When running on recaps, as i understand that's what you're trying to do, takes a little extra to trip plan, yes. It gets easier to understand though. For each load, you calculate how much time you need to complete it successfully, then you calculate each day you're going to be on the load, (i.e. how many hours you'll start with, use, then get back each day), then compare the hours you'll have to the hours the load requires, and if you have enough, plan the trip... route, weather, construction, etc.,... taking into account the loading and unloading appt times. At this point i usually know if i can do a load legally. Not sure what your routine is, as everyone has their own, but i usually run my clock out each day. Just the way i get dispatched at this company. So, if i were to run recaps, i would get back max hours each day. When running recaps, bear in mind, that the hours you don't use and off duty hours stay in your 70. Hours in on duty and driving come back on the 8th day. So... the more you drive, the more hours you get back. The more on duty you have, the more you get back.. however! The more time you spend in on duty, or off duty, the less time you have to drive each day, so keep a close eye on your clock and try not to waste time.

Does this help at all? I'm not so good at explaining either lol.

I normally do the same, except I usually don’t bother logging the trailer pretrip. I was wondering if it is required by DOT.

Do what you log; log what you do. Anything else is falsification of logs.

Marc, you'll be just fine! Healing energy sent your way....