Life On The Road. Some Bad And Some Good.

Don wrote to Patrick:

Patrick c,: i understand the principle of "sleeping when you can."

Perhaps... but probably not completely.

As it pertains to the highly variable and unpredictable schedule of an OTR truck driver, until you experience the frequent situations requiring "sleep when you can, drive when you must", it's difficult to understand how closely aligned with safety, efficiency and earning potential this actually is.

Even on a Dedicated Account like Walmart or Target with more defined, regular schedules the concept highlighted in Patrick's reply is required on very short notice. For an OTR driver, this is a regular occurance. Read some of Old Schools and Rainy's posts...sleep times are all over the place and based primarily on the freight delivery appointment.

My Example:

Usually I am a day driver..., All that really means is; depending on my Projected Time of Availability (PTA), I am usually dispatched during the range of 0600-1200.

Even at that, by the end of a 6 day shift (70 on-duty time) on Walmart or Target (for example) it's possible, especially for a rookie to have a PTA 8 hours or more later than the one started with a fresh 70, 5 days prior. You start the week sleeping from 2100-0500 and end the week starting the 10 hour break at 0200. I lived that for months until I became more experienced.

The bottom line with very few exceptions; we all must be ready to go once the light turns green. If I have a PTA of 0700, I better be at the drivers window, "well rested", ready to roll at 0645. No excuses... And if informed I may be waiting for the load for four hours; I am grabbing more Z's cause I know I'll be likely driving past midnight in order to complete the dispatched deliveries.

Don, if you study this thread with an open mind, objectively, you'll hopefully see the point of this and begin to understand why the replies were consistently suggesting and emphasizing the same basic thing.

I never knew, I could schedule TA to get me at a certain time. I also learned the 8/2 split a little better.

Me either, but this is definitely good to know in the future.

Omg...i always do it. some will let you call ahead before you arrive and get approval from the company, others wont.

i usually do this for two reasons

1) if i need the trailer fixed, i lose the parking spot at night so why bother

2) i need sleep.

At 1400 i was told by the Las Vegas Petro they wouldnt get to my trailer seal gasket until 2000. uh, yeah right i was giving up my spot. so i asked for an 0300 appointment then messaged dispatch to tell them i wasnt ready for re load.

Another occasion i delivered at midnight and TA said they couldnt get to me until 0400. i was out of hours anyway, so i told them to hook me up at 0800.

and Breezewood PA TA is awesome. they get you in and out. they even have a Lube express lane. if you call them ahead they will tell you which bay to pull.into when you get there.