Time Versus Mileage, It's A Challenge

Long story short, I am a rookie solo driver, my third dispatched load was a 1901+96(empty) miles run. But for the moment, I feel that I screwed up my 70.

Day 1, Monday, because of hours of detention on the previous live unload, I have had my 14 eats up my driving time, bearly make a 5 hrs drive, with 7.5 hrs on duty. Day 2, Tuesday, I'm running my *ss off, 11.5 hrs of driving(2 sections separated w/10 hrs break), 12 hrs on duty Day 3, Wednesday, a couple non-wise decisions made, 7 hrs driving, 9 hrs on duty.

For now, I have only less than 20 hrs on my 70. And the days listed above are my 4th, 5th and 6th day accordingly. The reason behind this is that I wanted to get this big paycheck within this week(payroll cut off at Thursday). And due to the decisions made today, I'm not reaching the receiver by tomorrow(690 miles away).

Guys and gals, what do you think? Any ideas or suggestions are welcomed!

I'm having a hard time understanding what you are trying to say about your hours or time. What you posted looks like some normal days on the job. You cant always get those days where you just climb out from the back and turn miles all day.

I'm having a hard time understanding what you are trying to say about your hours or time. What you posted looks like some normal days on the job. You cant always get those days where you just climb out from the back and turn miles all day.

Movingmetal, I'm saying when I need to make some deadlines, like Thursday delivery instead of appointed Friday(paycheck will come next week), I need a better way to utilize my HOS for the miles that I need to run. Thank you for your concern. :)

Charles, your question is a good one because guarding your drive time is a very important practice in this business. That is the time that you can make some money, so you don't want to eat it up while waiting at shippers and receivers.

From the numbers you posted it appears to me that you have way too much on duty time. I'm not sure what you are doing, but if you were to look at my logs you wouldn't find 7.5 hours of on duty time during a whole week yet it looks like you showed that much on one day and then you showed 9 hours on another day. What's going on during those times?

If you are at a shipper or receiver for that kind of time period then you should be on the sleeper berth line. I'll log maybe ten or fifteen minutes at the most at a shipper, usually less. Then I'm putting myself on the sleeper. This is perfectly legal.

Let's take the day that you said you had 7.5 hours on duty. If you were waiting to get loaded during that time and you had put yourself onto line 2 you would not have eaten up your 14 hour clock because by just simply waiting thirty more minutes you would have extended your fourteen hour clock, or reverted back to the time you had available when you first set your logs onto line 2. Do you understand that rule?

I once had a regular place in Connecticut that I would go to get loads where it always took them about six hours to get you loaded. I made it a regular practice to put myself onto the sleeper berth line just as soon as I had checked in and gotten parked where they wanted me to. Then once I was loaded and ready to go I would just roll right across the street to a grocery store that gave me permission to park there and wait until the clock had ticked off eight hours, then I would roll on down the road with all kinds of time on my hands. Other drivers there who didn't understand the rules would be frustrated that they had burned up their fourteen hour clock and have to park it for the night. I always made my destination a day early from that place by simply being creative with my time management.

You don't have to be on duty at the shippers and receivers. If you are you will never become on of the top drivers who gets all the miles given to them. It is a very frustrating thing to not have the hours available to you that you need to get the job done, and it frustrates your dispatcher too. Trust me, it takes a decent dispatcher about two days to recognize a driver that understands how to make this stuff work to his advantage, and when he has a driver like that he will help him make some really good money.

If you've got some more questions about this stuff jump back in here, and if you've never gone through the logs section of the High Road Training Program, you should. It will help you tremendously when it comes to understanding how to work under the present set of rules and make them work to your advantage. This is the stuff that I think trainers should really concentrate on with new drivers, but sadly I've come across drivers who have been doing this stuff for ten plus years who still don't even understand how to make themselves more profitable by understanding the rules of engagement in this job.

Charles, your question is a good one because guarding your drive time is a very important practice in this business. That is the time that you can make some money, so you don't want to eat it up while waiting at shippers and receivers.

......(pardon me for this)

Thank you Old School for this kind and precise reply! I'm not sure if you have the On Duty time figured out right, but if you misunderstand that, I'll explain.

Those time were copied from the "8 Days" page. so the on duty time will be combined with LINE 3 & LINE 4. And about the first day, maybe because of my 14 has started(for my load#2 delivery before load#3 P/U), so my 5 hrs detention on receiver#2 hurts my 14 & my 11 that day.

My frustration now is to utilize the time for a CALENDER DAY better. I was used to drive between my 10hrs break, and don't really care which day it is. But doing this WILL max out my 70 faster than I thought.

Not sure if I understand correctly but if you were loaded Monday for your 1900 mile load you should be able to do that in 3 days. Do you stop many times during your trip? When I have a drive day ( no pickups or deliveries) I drive nonstop take a 30 min break and run the clock out before stopping again. If you do that you can do that trip in 3 days.

Not sure if I understand correctly but if you were loaded Monday for your 1900 mile load you should be able to do that in 3 days. Do you stop many times during your trip? When I have a drive day ( no pickups or deliveries) I drive nonstop take a 30 min break and run the clock out before stopping again. If you do that you can do that trip in 3 days.

1, Only if you have the time to run ur *ss off. As I said in the reply, my 14 has nothing much left, thus my first day low hr driving;

2, this load was appointed to pickup by Tuesday. I tried last minute callin before I need to shut down MT, and they approved early pickup, that was about noon time