Wasting No Time!

After having graduated at Roadmaster's on Tuesday, I called up the recruiter with Werner and begin orientation with them on Monday. I *could* have started orientation today, but decided to punt the ball to Monday so I would have the weekend to get my affairs in order. I am very excited to be starting a new career for once, and not a job (just over broke) like I've been working at for the last decade.

My head is still swimming with questions about my new career. One of my biggest concerns is the electronic logbooks, especially with relation to how I can max out my hours driving and make the most money I can as early as possible. One of the instructors at the school I recently attended, we'll call them B, reminisced of the days when drivers kept three paper logbooks on them, and handed the uniformed authority the logbook that would help them out the most, or at the very worst shoved the incriminating logbook underneath their seat or something and told the bears "Whoops! I just had dinner at the truck stop back there and must have left it sitting on the table.", preferring to pay a small fee than be caught going over hours.

Not that I am looking to break any rules or anything, but how do truck drivers these days maximize their time on the road to get as many miles as possible without jeopardizing their careers and livelihoods? I heard drivers should keep the doors closed as much as possible, avoid eating out to save time and money, and team so that the truck stays rolling. I am avoiding teaming like the plague, because I do not wish to sacrifice my privacy for a few extra cents per mile. But I would like to keep rolling for as long and far as possible.

As always, any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You can look for "team" topics here. Basically you don't make all that much more unless you do over 1000 mile type runs. I'm enjoying my solo OTR.

I came too late in the game for paper logs. One thing to remember is, if you are not actively doing "truck work", like waiting for a dock, or sitting on your cab waiting for a " live load", switch to Sleeper or Off Duty. On duty is for things like getting bills in a shipping office, fueling, driving, of course.

You maximize your driving by planning your start and stop times.

Another thing you can do daily to maximize your clock, is after logging your pre-trip, drive for at least 4 hours straight before taking your 30 minute break. This should have your clock down to 3:45 or less. Once you reach the 3:45 mark, you will only need to take one 30 minute break all day, in order to earn back your entire drive time for the 14 hour period.

If you take a 30 minute break before you drive the entire 4 hours, you can earn back 8 hours drive time, but you will need to take another 30 minute break later on in the day, to earn back all the time you have left.

If you are shooting for a 600+ mile day, you will need to only take that one 30 minute break, or else it will cost you some of your drive time, and 30 minutes is usually worth 30 miles on average.

You can be forced into the situation Dutch talks about. If you get an early live load at just the right time, you'll get the right hours back but you might have an extra 1 hour on your 11!

(Say your new drive time is 8, but your maximum allowed drive time is now down to 9)

Do you take a half hour break to gain that extra hour? This is not unusual.