Having Fun With Your Logs

I would like to mention that it’s not all about resets/recaps. They are both “clock” related, but the most important clock is the driver’s biological clock. How to run so that you are alert and safe. If other drivers are like me, that’s not the same every day. If I feel myself “hit the wall”, so to speak, I get the heck off the road regardless of recaps or resets or any goal I had for the day. This is something I can always justify to my company because they promote this concept.

Delco do you have any idea why they run on 60/7 and don't allow a reset even though legally you satisfied the 34 hour requirement? I'm assuming it's in the contract to prevent drivers from working too much but I'd be annoyed.

I have asked why and the only answer I’ve gotten is its been that way forever. I too think its the Union’s way of protecting the drivers from being over worked. It does add a bit of stress to the job for me because I feel like I’m always racing the clock. Some of the other guys have told me staying on the dock Friday will happen here and there when the day guys run into problems and get back late with the Freight and thats fine, just don’t purposely make it a steady schedule to be done around midnight on Friday’s.

We strip and stage all the freight from the day time city trailers then load road trailers to be taken to Carlisle. Some trailers are unloaded and reworked there, some are loaded for other main regional terminals and are just relayed through Carlisle

Only the city and utility drivers are paid hourly and held to the 7/60 rule. The road drivers who operate out of the main terminal are paid CPM plus drop/hook, placard, delays, etc… They run on the 8/70 rule. Not sure if they reset or also run an endless recap. I’ll ask one of them this coming week.

Another thing to consider when choosing to run recaps versus reset, is that load planners and dispatchers also have to be on board to maximize your time. As I said my week generally starts Monday when I deliver my "weekend" load from the Friday before. How I run during the week doesn't matter, short loads or long loads, until I get to Thursday or Friday. That's when load planners will start looking for either a "day run" to set me up for my "weekend load" dispatched on Friday or if there is a really long load I'll sometimes get my weekend on Thursday.

Honestly this is probably the biggest roadblock for most drivers. If the planners or your dispatch aren't good at thier jobs, it will impact your miles. I've been with 4 different dispatchers over my 2 years at this company and there is a huge difference between one that is just calling it in vs one who is trying to get the best miles for thier drivers. If it was up to me I would reset every week and run nights, because that is what works best for me. Load planners have trouble planning for guys that run nights and if your dispatcher is in coast mode then you get loads where you have 24hrs of waiting to deliver.

I am The Recap Driver, so thought I would post my current numbers. This is somewhat normal, weather providing. Some weeks are less; some weeks are more. This method works best for me. Your results, views, and methods will vary. This is how I do me.

Last 8 Days: 3849 miles

Trips: 3

Average Miles Per Day: 481

Here's my favorite! MPG for July: 9.627.

From the 8 Day/70 Hours, I have 1:44 hours remaining. At midnight, I will start driving with 11:21 on my clock, with 304 miles to this delivery at some jobsite in Williams, CA.

PackRat, thanks for posting that. Your results are extremely close to mine, confirming my point that you can still turn some great miles with either method. Your balancing act with your hours is well executed and is key to success with recaps. Your fuel mileage number is incredible. Congratulations!

Bruce mentioned his biological clock as a priority. I agree with him somewhat, but I've also proven I can train my body to do things it may naturally resist. I have also found that running recaps allows me more opportunities to stop and rest if needed.

I think Turtle's original point was the math shows that you can run more miles running resets as opposed to recaps.

But since this thread just does not seem to die, because people who have good weeks or months running recaps, I have posted below my four consecutive paychecks for all of my miles dispatched in April of this year. The first dispatch date was April 1st the last dispatch was able 28th. The total for the month of April was 14,642 dispatch miles.

I'm curious if any driver running recaps has more dispatched and paid miles in one month.

I also forgot to mention that in addition to three resets that month I took two and a half days off.

And my truck is governed at 62 on the cruise.

But since this thread just does not seem to die

Please explain to us why you want this thread to die. I was just saying this morning that this is one of the most informative and interesting threads we've had in a long time, and that's saying a lot! Everyone is learning a lot and enjoying it immensely. It has also allowed a lot of highly experienced and successful drivers to share their methods of time management, which is critical to making great money in this industry.

I don't understand why you'd want it to die?

I was too flippant. Sorry.

I also think that this is a very interesting thread and very informative for rookies.

It was just that posting actual numbers doesn't necessarily negate the math that you can actually use more hours if you're running resets.

I had been hesitant to post my numbers simply because I didn't want it to seem like a one-upmanship.

But in the interest of a rookie to have actual comparisons between a reset driver and a recap driver, I decided to post them.

I also agree pretty much with everything that's been said as running resets or recaps really boils down to a personal preference. I like resets but that's just me.