Comments By Steak Eater

Hi and welcome! i also have a CPAP.

Rainy, I thought you posted that you had tested a couple months ago but had no sleep apnea?

Rainy, so if my math is correct from my earlier post (in a “day, 10 hours rest + 9 to 11 hours of driving = 3 to 5 hours remaining for time at shippers / receivers, trip planning, maybe some personal time etc) would it be correct to assume that on pure driving days you have a few more hours available to yourself because there is little on duty time other than driving?

Is there often some slack in your load delivery schedule? I would have thought companies would schedule things pretty tight to keep pushing productivity. Loads have excess time on them?

Thank you for all the replies. This has been an eye opener for me. Truly driving is more lifestyle than job and my hat is off to each of you who are willing to persevere in such a demanding occupation in order to provide for your families.

Turtle, so are you constantly pulling forward your hours / starting your days earlier?

As an example, on Monday you start at 8am, 2 hours to be loaded, 11 hours of driving til 9:00 pm, take your 10 hour break, than start a Tuesday morning at 7:00 am, drive 11 hours til 6:00 pm, take your 10 hour break and start Wednesday morning at 4:00 am. So your “days” start at (Monday) 8:00 am, (Tuesday) 7:00 am, Wednesday at 4:00 am. Is that correct?

I guess the pulling time forward would be more pronounced if you ran recaps (only driving 8 3/4 hours per “day”)?

Patrick, I explained that horribly. But your explanation still cleared things up a bit. The drive time (9 hour recaps or 11 hours max) falls within the 14 hours of work / on duty time, if I understand correctly, and I should have included that in my original post.

So the average (if there is such a thing) OTR day is a 10 hour break (sleeping, eating, shower, etc), 9 - 11 hours of driving, depending on how you run, and that leaves 3-5 hours of on-duty or work time for pre and post trips, time at shippers and receivers, trip planning, etc. That helps me better understand the frustration on drivers’ part with regard to slow loading and unloading times and traffic holdups.

So when do drivers find time to post here or learn other skills (like Brett learning to code)? Time at shippers and receivers getting loaded / unloaded? Given the hourly constraints it really is a very limited amount of time a driver has for anything other than the necessities.

I’m having trouble grasping the work hours requirements vs personal time available in a day for the average OTR driver. If I understand correctly, a driver can legally drive 11 hours per day, work 14 hours per day, and is required to have a 10 hour break. If a driver is running recaps and only driving around 9 hours per day and having a 10 hour rest break, what is happening to the other 5 hours? I read some of the messages here and it sounds like many drivers only have a 10 hour window to sleep, shower, eat, do laundry, etc. There’s must be something I’m missing. I thought I remembered Brett posting that he learnt to code while driving OTR. Was that just time waiting at shippers and receivers?

Prime tanker drivers start at $0.49 per mile?

OK, non-cdl driver stupid question; an OTR driver in a day may be driving several hundred miles. How do you check winds for your route? Is there a “weather channel” on the CB? Do you just stop if it’s a windy day?

Thanks to both of you. That’s what I needed to know. Much appreciated.

...... with another company, if you hire on to Prime (solo OTR) do they put you straight into your own truck or is there a team training period involved?