Question For The Reefer Drivers

Lets say you pulled in to make your delivery and it's going to take a few hours to get unloaded. Do you go on an off duty break to save your clock since the truck isn't rolling?

Renegade, whether it's a delivery or a pick up, there's nothing wrong with going off duty while you're waiting. You should log the time that you are checking in with security and are getting your bills as "on duty."

I generally will allow no more than about fifteen or twenty minutes of "on duty" time at a shipper or receiver. The best strategy is to put yourself on the sleeper berth line. There are advantages in time management you can gain from that if your stay gets extended, which is highly likely on reefer loads. Just putting yourself on "off duty" will not give you the advantages of the "sleeper berth" rules.

Yep, what he said. If you are working, legally you are to be on duty, if you are sitting at a door waiting, you are not working, so, off duty, or sleeper berth.

That makes sense...a buddy of mine was telling me that a lot of rookie drivers tend to burn up their clock needlessly and I've been trying to be a student of the trucking game.

If at all possible I try to just overnight park at the customer. Once I get in the door if they take more than a few hours, I try to stay for at least the 8 in the sleeper.

Even if they have you only two hours, that entitles you to 8 sleeper later to keep you rolling. ;)

A lot of times I can get there so early that by the time I roll out I have a full clock. Learn the time management and you learn the money making lol

a buddy of mine was telling me that a lot of rookie drivers tend to burn up their clock needlessly

Absolutely they do.

Here's real life example from my past archived stories...

Years ago while driving for Western Express there was a certain place in Connecticut where I would often get a load while in the area. They averaged about six hours to get you loaded every time I was there. One time while there with another Western driver, we were waiting together, but he had arrived just ahead of me. He got loaded first, then I second. The whole time I was on the sleeper berth line, and unknown to me he was "on duty."

When it came time for him to leave, he was griping about how they had burned up his clock, and he only had two hours left to drive! When they were finished with me I had been there approximately six hours on the "sleeper berth" line, and had only burned up maybe one hour in getting there that morning. I decided to sit tight right there on their property for two more hours which gave me eight hours on the sleeper berth line, which meant I now had ten hours of drive time ahead of me. I made it to my receiver that night, parked and shut down so that I could unload first thing in the morning. I was done and out of there onto my next load before the other driver ever made it.

If you will take the time to go through Brett's classic High Road Training Program, and concentrate on learning that section on the log book rules, you will find that you can work some magic with that sleeper berth, and keep yourself moving while other greenhorns are cussing and fussing about the way the shippers/receivers are treating them. Sometimes it is just in the way you play the game, and if you know all the nuances of how the rules work you are one step ahead of your peers out here. By the way, dispatchers love those guys who know how to work their logs.

What everyone else already said, with one VERY IMPORTANT caveat: going either off duty or sleeper berth won't stop your 14 hour clock. You can save your 70 and 11, but if you're "only" in the door for 5 hours, and they won't let you stay another 3, your 14 hour clock is still running, and could rear up to bite you in the bumper.

Also, remember that to do an 8/2 split, you MUST do the 8 hour break BEFORE the 2 hour break for your clocks to reset appropriately. If you take a full 10 hour break, drive for 4 hours, sit in a door for 2 hours, then drive another 3 hours and take an 8 hour break, when you wake up you're only going to have 4 hours of drive time available, not 7. And e-logs are VERY unforgiving when it comes to what you do and don't have. I learned that one the hard way a couple months in. Fortunately it didn't make me late to either my pickup or delivery, but I never forgot that lesson.

What everyone else already said, with one VERY IMPORTANT caveat: going either off duty or sleeper berth won't stop your 14 hour clock. You can save your 70 and 11, but if you're "only" in the door for 5 hours, and they won't let you stay another 3, your 14 hour clock is still running, and could rear up to bite you in the bumper.

Also, remember that to do an 8/2 split, you MUST do the 8 hour break BEFORE the 2 hour break for your clocks to reset appropriately. If you take a full 10 hour break, drive for 4 hours, sit in a door for 2 hours, then drive another 3 hours and take an 8 hour break, when you wake up you're only going to have 4 hours of drive time available, not 7. And e-logs are VERY unforgiving when it comes to what you do and don't have. I learned that one the hard way a couple months in. Fortunately it didn't make me late to either my pickup or delivery, but I never forgot that lesson.

It's a crap-shoot, whether or not a slow shipper is going to allow you to get a full 8 hours in for the split sleeper provision. And it seems most QC's can get belligerent when you attempt to do it as a 2/8. Although most QC's will allow you to "roll slowly" for a couple of miles without changing your status to driving (seems to vary from company to company). If need be, and you HAVE TO try and get that extra time in to do a split, you can attempt to roll offsite nearby (because the shipper IS GOING TO WANT THEIR DOOR BACK), or to a parking area ON the shipper if permitted - to complete the first 8 hours of the split.

Most folks I hear of, don't do the second 2 hour - as that makes it even more confusing, and they don't get a full 11/14 back - your clocks go back TO THE END OF THE FIRST BREAK. It's easier to just extend your 14 with the first 8 hour break, then just take a full 11 to reset both clocks to 0.

There are two schools of thought on how to deal with the 70. Keep in mind, if you aren't doing 34 hour resets - your "short days" (days when you were only on duty a few hours) will give you back SHORT HOURS, when they fall off on the 8th day. Some folks will try and keep their total daily ON DUTY hours to around 9.5 - so they never run out of time on their 70's (don't have to rely on re-caps). Some will run out their clocks daily - then deal with having to sit for a day to get hours back on the next day. And some folks will run run out the clock, and just do a 34 reset.

At any rate - it is ADVANTAGEOUS to spend as much "sitting time" as possible - OFF DUTY (and/or Sleeper) to save on your 70 (and your 14). Specific appointment times, usually get you in/out way quicker than appointment "windows" - where you can arrive for a 9-3 window at 9 sharp, and still not "get a door" until 3 (which is totally acceptable and doesn't get you detention time - because it's a "window"). If you arrive early on a "window appointment" - and it's a wide one - best to go right into sleeper, and maybe be able to salvage some hours to drive.

Rick

Some really good info to remember. Thanks

I hit off duty for about 5 min then to sleeper, if there 8 hrs, you have entirety of clock you arrived with. If close to 8 and they allow you to stick around, it can give you a jump despite them taking so long.