What Am I Doing Wrong?

So I'm on a 34 hour restart. Sitting here at the Swift terminal in El Paso Texas waiting on laundry to finish and I figured I'd post this. This is my 3rd consecutive weekend (I've been out here 3 weeks now) taking a 34 hour restart. Am I doing something wrong? Is there something I can do to stretch my hours out so I can get into recap? Could it actually be a good thing that I'm running hard enough to burn my 70 in 5-6 days this early in my career. Just not sure how to feel about it. I can't deliver my current load until tomorrow afternoon anyways so I would have been sitting anyways so it isn't really hurting my bottom line but I'm just curious what you all think.

How many miles are you averaging a week? That will help some of the experienced OTR drivers get a better idea of how your utilizing your time.

If you are running hard enough during the week that you have to take a 34-hour reset, that just says to me that you're gettin it done.

Some people look at 34s as a bad thing, and I just can't wrap my mind around that mentality. Either way you look at it, you're allowed the same amount of hours each week. Personally, I love to run hard enough each week to allow a 34 where I can.

Or sometimes you may just be in the right place at the right time to get assigned that particular load that has time on it. Like in my case this weekend, the load I picked up Friday doesn't deliver until Monday. I could have taken my time to get it here sometime late Sunday, but what I did was pushed hard Fri and Sat in order to get it here Sat night. I made it to within an hour and a half of my 90 yesterday. So I'll squeeze in a 34 before delivering Mon morning. I wasn't necessarily out of hours, but I saw an opportunity to reset so I jumped on it.

In reality, as long as your hours are productive, you can be successful doing either method. There are far too many variables involved to depend on recaps or resets on any given week. The loads / schedules will always dictate how you need to run.

I wrote this in a different thread the other day regarding HOS. It explains the potential differences between running on recaps or resets:

Strictly mathematically and hypothetically speaking, these are how the numbers would work out in both situations. Again, this is creating a perfect scenario, one that we all know will never happen. But what the heck, let's see how it works out.

Driver A likes to run on recaps. If he/she is on duty for exactly 8.75 hours every day, they will never run out of hours, reaching 70 hrs on day 7 and gaining 8.75 hrs back on day 8, day 9, etc.

Take a half-hour for pre-trip and loading, that leaves 8.25 hours to drive every day.

8.25x62mph =511.5 miles per day x 30 days =15,345 miles per month with no days off.

Driver B likes to run max hours with resets. He/she drives 11hrs per day, plus a half hr for pretrip/loading. At 11.5hrs on duty each day, they'll hit 69hrs on day 6, needing a reset.

11x62mph =682 miles per day. With a reset needed after every 6th day, they can only work/drive 24 days a month. 682x24days = 16,368 miles.

PLUS, Driver B gets the other 6 days of the month off while resetting. And this doesn't count against hometime .Granted, this is a fantasy scenario. But I'll always be shooting for more miles, more $, and increased time to relax & recharge.

But like Rob said, if you're burning through hours unnecessarily, thus creating a need for resets, then you need to reevaluate what you're doing wrong.

As posted above, some opinions differ on the resets. I prefer to not do them, unless my clock is really jacked up. For example, if I'm running on recaps (as is my norm), and I have two days time coming back that are less than 6 hours each day, then I would have no problem doing a reset. It's all schedule-dependent though. Three weeks in a row is a bunch, but if you're getting tons of miles, it's to be expected. I try to do 9 hours a day on duty and driving so I can move every day I'm out. Some days it's only 6 hours, while other days may be the full 11 hours. The big question is how do you like sitting every week?

Rob is correct. If you're turning plenty of miles then there's nothing you're doing wrong - enjoy the break! If you're only doing 2,500 miles and needing a reset then we need to know where you're burning up those hours, so we can help you with your clock management.

PackRat makes a good point:

The big question is how do you like sitting every week?

That's actually a large part of my motivation to reset. My wife rides with me, and we love that day off to explore, shop, do laundry, or just chill. But some people aren't into sitting like that. It's up to you to figure out what works best for you.

In three weeks so far I'm averaging about 2500 miles per week. So I'd like to push it a little harder. I've had a few rookie mistakes cost me a few hours so far but nothing significant enough to trash my clock (like wrong turns or missed exits. I try to work my clock within the parameters of the law and don't waste time while on duty so maybe it's just a luck of the draw type of thing.

Based on your weekly average of 2500 miles for each of your first 3 weeks solo experience, I'd say you are doing quite well.

Can you do more? Perhaps, but you are getting "it" done, taking care of your business. You are in the thick of absorbing the learning curve, specifically trip-planning and clock management. Communicate your desire to do more with your DM if you think you are ready.

I try to work my clock within the parameters of the law and don't waste time while on duty

That's all good, but when you mention "parameters of the law" I wonder how you perceive what those are. Could you elaborate, or maybe give us an example of how you handle your clock while at a shipper/receiver.

I agree with G-Town. It sounds like you're doing okay, but I'm still curious about how you're logging time at shippers/receivers.

Remember, you're just getting started at this. There's a lot to learn before you're "running with the big dogs."

I try to work my clock within the parameters of the law and don't waste time while on duty

That's all good, but when you mention "parameters of the law" I wonder how you perceive what those are. Could you elaborate, or maybe give us an example of how you handle your clock while at a shipper/receiver.

I agree with G-Town. It sounds like you're doing okay, but I'm still curious about how you're logging time at shippers/receivers.

Remember, you're just getting started at this. There's a lot to learn before you're "running with the big dogs."

Perhaps I could use a refresher on when I'm supposed to be on duty at shippers and receivers. It's my understanding that you're supposed to be on duty during live loads/unloads and pretty much anything else done at a shipper/receiver unless they tell you it's going to be a while and you're free to do as you please until they're done. My mentor had me logging off duty for anything that wasn't driving, pre-trip or fueling and I know that isn't legal.

All of that being said I'm open to constructive criticism and any and all advice you can send my way. I'm fully aware that there is much to be learned in this career and it would be naive of me to expect to "run with the big dogs" right from the start.

Thanks