WHY ARE THERE SO MANY COMPANIES THAT ONLY RUN THEIR TRUCKS AT 65 MPH (ITS NOT JUST ABOUT SAFETY)?

I see a lot of companies advertising job openings that dont advertise their truck governed speed, Hometime, etc. why?

IS Safety the main reason these companies only run 65 MPH?

Is it because these companies mainly hire new drivers with little or no experience?

Why is getting basic Information like pulling teeth from these companies (hometime, CPM , truck amenities(Apu, Inverters,Refrigerators, inward facing cameras etc.)

A Trucking Company Recruiter ask me was the truck speed more important than making money?

What are the experienced Drivers views on this?

What should these job openings ads have upfront in there ads in your views without you having to ask ?

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Fuel economy, every tenth of a mpg they can save per truck over the course of the year adds up.

One word answer: INSURANCE

What job can you apply for where you don’t have to ask for more information than what the company puts in their advertising?

For someone looking at companies to start with, It is their responsibility to perform their due diligence on whatever company they are interested in.

Both BobcatBob and BK are correct in their assessments. In case you missed it, everything is dictated by insurance companies nowadays. There is also a reduction in insurance premiums when trucks are governed.

Fuel economy, every penny saved adds up fast, when you are talking thousands of trucks. I can def tell the difference in economy between 58 and 65 in my truck. Fuel consumption is one of the easiest costs to cut back on, that isn't going to impact safety and longevity like delayed maintenance would. It's not that all the company big wigs got together and pulled a Dr Evil stunt and decided to **** everyone else off by slowing us down.

As for having to ask questions of a recruiter, have you been out of the traditional job market for a bit? In my last 4 jobs, the wages and benefits were not listed anywhere on the advertisement. One, I could find the public record showing the wages of every county employee, but I had to KNOW it was legally part of the public record, and how to find it. That's just part of the current job market.

What should these job openings ads have upfront in there ads in your views without you having to ask ?

Honestly, all I'm looking for is company name and phone number, I can find out the rest of the info. Seems the best trucking jobs don't advertise anyway. Besides, what's important to one driver is no big deal to another-for example, governed speed seems to be a big deal to you whereas I'm governed at 75mph and still choose to drive 64 or less.

My seven year average speed for all dispatched miles is 57.89 MPH. The various company SPEED LIMITERS have run between 62 and 70 MPH. I have never been late to a customer due to a "slow truck".

1) Insurance.

2) The ads are designed to accentuate the positive and get you to call the recruiter. If they just listed all the reasons not to work there why spend money on an ad? They hope their salesperson will be able to overcome your objections or at least re-think them so you'll consider working there.

All ads in this industry are employer focused. This has a lot to do with the employers paying for the ads. Even if a job board has screening options they are limited and don't focus on the things important to drivers.

I'd be glad to pay for a driver-focused job board, but there wouldn't be enough drivers willing to pay and I would only need one once or twice in a decade.

Also resale value of the trucks. Slowing them down a bit allows for higher resales.

I keep it at 58 to 60 for a better fuel bonus. So statting cpm is 50...bonuses add up to 8 to 12+ per mile. I dont need them to pay for a $200 fridge. I can buy myself one, and the one i want.

Insurance and fuel economy, like everyone else said. Personally I really don’t like being governed to 65 or less but it’s just the way it is most places. Unless you’re OTR and doing a lot of long runs you don’t tend to get that much more done (if at all). It’s mainly just less stressful when I have more of a speed range available to me. I’m governed at almost 80 and there are a lot of days I just cruise at 65-70 but it’s nice to have the extra juice sometimes.

That said, I absolutely would not make the speed of the truck a main factor in your job search. For longevity at a job main factors to look for are

- pay. Focus on ANNUAL pay not cpm or type of pay (hourly vs mileage or load pay)

- quality/age of equipment (brand/type doesn’t matter and can change over time)

- resources. If you’re looking at big companies this is a given as they have tons of resources. If you’re looking at smaller companies just be aware that resources may be limited as in they may be limited on trucks, trailers, and they may not have their own shop.

- type of hometime schedule (home daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc)

- type of runs (localized freight, regional , long OTR runs, out and back, line haul , etc)

- type of freight and trailers (tanker, reefer , flatbed, dry van , intermodal , etc)

There are more but that’s the main stuff I can think of that actually matters. I’m not trying to say don’t drive a fast truck or don’t look for it. I’m just saying it’s not worth taking a crappy job just to drive a truck that goes vroom vroom when you hit the throttle.

For everyone saying insurance is a reason to govern a truck..

Nope, at least not according to my insurance agent. Besides all the mega carriers are self insured with a bond after a certain limit.

Fuel economy can be a factor, as well as slowing down inexperienced drivers.

Safety is usually what is offered up. A big rig crash at 65 vs 70 is not going to yield much of a difference. Their are plenty of studies out there regarding differentatied speeds and the percentage of crashes that dispell that myth.

Just my .02 cents.