Log Management ... HOS

There seem to be a lot of new drivers on this site and I don't see much discussion about HOS with respect to running out of hours to drive...

for those of you who have figured this out spare yourselves from reading this post ...

Now ... for those of you just starting out here's the deal ... trucking companies will put loads on you that may require you to drive 10 + hours a day.

you need to learn not to accept these kind of loads... here's what you say to your driver manager...

I got into this business to make money ... if you keep running me out of hours which puts me Out Of Service for 34 hours ... I am doing myself any good here.... tell them you want to work every day... that every day you are out here you want to be working... not sitting at a truck stop doing a reset.

This my friends is your biggest hurdle of overcome... you need the support of your driver manager with this or you will never work at your full potential.

If your driver manager is not listening to you go to his boss... explain it to him... keep going up the ladder until you get what you want.

Tell them you can work 365 days straight if you never want to take a day off.... this is true... there are no rules you need to take a day off. the longest I stayed out and worked everyday was 10 weeks. no BS

if you limit your day on line 3 and 4 to 8 hours to as much as 8 and 3/4 hours you will never run out of hours.

this means you limit your line 4 for pre-trip to 15 min. in the morning ... if you need fuel maybe 30... but with e-logs you can get it all done in 20 or less.

Hit the road... drive your 500 miles... approximately ... depending on your governed speed this might vary ... but a 500 mile day is a good day.

Not everyday is going to be a 500 mile day, but you will find even with stops it will average out.

I learned to commit to a 500 mile day so when my driver manager would call and say hey I got a 1500 mile run for you ... picks up on Mon and delivers on wed... I didn't ever have to think about it .... answer was always put me on it.

By using this method .. I could keep myself booked for loads as much as 2 weeks in advance... meaning I was always working and making money.

I hope this hasn't confused anyone...

and remember ... the squeaky wheel get the miles... because I was always calling my driver manager asking where my next load was....

I don’t know, running recaps is one way of doing it, but I honestly have never seen the proof that running recaps will get you more miles than running your hours out and taking a 34 ever week. Maybe it’s because I’m flatbed and that changes things. Just anecdotal, but I know a guy I went through training with, we both stay out months at a time, he has run recaps all year, whereas I never have and I’ve got 13k more miles than him for the year. I also think Turtle had an excellent post on this very subject that took a good look at the numbers.

As for hounding the fleet manager , I don’t know, never been comfortable doing that either. Squeaky wheels get the grease but can also get replaced. Once again, may just be my outfit, but every decade+ driver I’ve talked to has said there is no need to hound the fleet managers-you get what you get. I honestly get all the miles I can handle most weeks, and have never once called my fleet manager to complain. I feel doing a good job with a minimum of fuss sends a statement of its own to my fleet manager.

Actually, I disagree with the thought that your method is the "only" or "best" way to get miles. I average 3400 miles per week and take a 34 hour reset regularly. The truth is daily clock management has greater impact on your miles per week, than managing yourself to have consistent recaps does.

Neither way is specifically "better" than the other. However, advising new drivers to "not accept" loads that require 10 hours of driving per day, is definitely flawed advice.

As for hounding the fleet manager , I don’t know, never been comfortable doing that either. Squeaky wheels get the grease but can also get replaced. Once again, may just be my outfit, but every decade+ driver I’ve talked to has said there is no need to hound the fleet managers-you get what you get. I honestly get all the miles I can handle most weeks, and have never once called my fleet manager to complain. I feel doing a good job with a minimum of fuss sends a statement of its own to my fleet manager.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I have a great relationship with my driver manager (fleet leader/manager at other companies) and I never have to hound him for loads. I know that if I'm not planned when I get unloaded, he is very aware of that and he is working with our planners to get me planned ASAP. Me calling and hounding him only takes his attention away from another issue he may be in the middle of.

Chuck, many Dedicated Accounts like Walmart or Target, require the 34 hour reset every week.

Big picture...not all of us agree in theory or in practice with your suggestion on avoiding the reset.

With many jobs it’s manditory or recommended and definitely does not reduce earning potential.

I completely disagree with you on this Chuck. You may have your way of doing things, and that's fine. But your way isn't the best way, and certainly isn't the only way. Telling new drivers to turn down loads goes against everything we teach here, and does the new driver a great disservice.

I prefer to run as hard as I can for as many days as I can, and then reset when possible. As a result, I'm consistently at the top of the food chain with my dispatcher. That's a fact, and I have the miles and paychecks to prove it. I'll put my miles up against a recapper's miles any week.

Others may like to recap, and that's fine too. The truth is, as was said above, daily clock management is far more important than the overall week. You take what you got and do what you can with it. Some weeks you gotta recap, some weeks you gotta reset. The loads will always dictate how you manage your hours.

But for the sake of argument, I have crunched the numbers:

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 8, and recapping 8.75 hrs back on day 9, day 10, 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 =15345 miles/month with no days off.

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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 = 16368 miles/month. 

So Driver B gets more 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. Obviously we're not in a perfect world. In reality, the loads and appt times dictate how we drive.

Oh and before you say "you're not making any money if you're sitting for 34 hours", don't forget you're sitting for 20 of those hours also, due to your (2) 10hr breaks.

The other 14hrs? Those are the extra hours you sit every day while I'm still rolling.

Once again, I'm not against recaps. In fact I just came off of 3 weeks in a row of recaps before finally getting the opportunity to reset. As long as you're running at maximum efficiency on every load, it'll all work out.

Also the "i work everday" statement can still be true for those not managing the clock that way. My FM will run me with whatever hours i have and wait until my 70 builds. so if my 70 has 5 hours left i get a 200 mile load. then at midnight i might get 12 hours back.

I figure the sooner I use the hours the sooner I get them back. If a load requires 16hrs of drive time, I'd rather use 11 on day one and 5 on day 2. That way I still have 6 hours left on day 2 to pick up another load. Limiting myself to 8-9 hrs each day id be out of time and sitting until tomorrow to reload. Also I get those first 11 hours back sooner if I end up running recaps.

My dispatcher runs me similar to what rainy describes. If I have 2 hours left on my 70 but I have some recaps coming back he will find me a pickup within 100 miles and he knows I will make it happen. If I only have 6 hours left and I have zero recaps coming back he will find me a 250 mile load.

Only once have I taken a 34hr reset on the road. That was after my first week solo. On day 7 I had less than 1hr left on my 70 with no recap the next day because I hadn't even had the truck 8 days... I was sent a preplan that picked up a soon as my 34 ended. 3612 dispatched miles that week. Actually drove 3862 miles.

Chuck S,

As you can see from all the reply's, it depends mostly on how this game called trucking plays out for you on a daily basis.

As it has been mentioned, my game plan for managing my hours all depends on the present load I'm on as to how I manage my time. Some loads require I run my clock out every day, others lets me take my time.

Just because your method works well for you, doesn't mean it's the only way to do this. So by telling all these new people it's the only game in town is really doing them a dis-service.

Just my 2 cents worth on this subject.

Ernie

Im guessing it depends on division as well. The only loads i ever reject are NYC or ones that interfere with home time.

My loads as reefer are often so tight i have to hussle. if i rejected every load based on the OP, i wouldnt move at all.

But i dont know if im given tihht loads because of my experience level, or if its just the way things are. im guessing its cause im THAT good hahahs