Babysitting The Rig.

My main concern about becoming a driver, is that it seems to be a inescapable fact of life that drivers often are stuck for several hours or even a few days waiting to be loaded/unloaded or being assigned the next new load. Down time that you may or may not be getting any pay for.

Are company drivers expected to stay with their rigs 24/7, even at times when your not being paid?

If a driver knows they will be parked for a while....like say 4 hours or more, do you have the freedom to lock up the rig and slip away to do something?

Providing of course, that you don't need some extra sleep.

Thanks....

Yes, you can leave the truck. There are some situations where you know that you won't be needed so you a free to do as you please. The reality is that most of the places where the truck will fit don't have a lot of things to do within walking distance. Honestly, the few times I've had to sit I didn't really mind that much. Catch up on sleep, relax, clean the cab.

Don't mean to threadjack, but I have a related question: does anyone drop their trailer and bobtail to walmart or wherever? I knnow some people do it, but I know a lot of the truck stops don't allow dropping trailers, and I don't know if the big companies allow you to do it. I haven't asked at my company, but I get the idea that it's kind of a grey area where they don't forbid it but don't want to encourage it either. We were issued kingpin locks, so they must be expecting it to happen sometimes.

I have on occasion done that. A lot of times with meat packing plants they allow you to drop your empty trailer and bobtail out until your loaded trailer is finished.

I've also taken the full rig to Walmart. You always want to verify with the Walmart that this is ok to do! Trucker Path app shows walmarts and you can get a good idea of which ones allow to park, either to shop or overnight

With my company, I am NOT allowed to drop a loaded trailer. I have a secure facility to park the truck when I go home with 24 hour security plus a kingpin lock. And I still can't drop a loaded trailer. Empty is no big deal.

I drop my truck (with trailer) at a Flying J near my house for 34 hour resets all the time. Locked, front curtains closed. Also, tat another location, there's a movie theater near a side street I can park on. When I'm in the area and waiting for a load, I can watch Iron Man 6.

Kurt, that's a related question and not threadjacking. You may be tempted, and see the dropped trailers at truck stops, but for most major carriers, dropping a trailer w/o orders is a big no-no. Even if you have that kingpin lock handy.

On 34 hour resets, I have parked at a truck stop and rented a small car from the "we pick you up" company. Then I can day trip to hiking trails, explore some tiny twisty roads, whatever.

My main concern about becoming a driver, is that it seems to be a inescapable fact of life that drivers often are stuck for several hours or even a few days waiting to be loaded/unloaded or being assigned the next new load. Down time that you may or may not be getting any pay for.

Hey Mac, you got some good responses, and I am like Deb - I will sometimes rent an inexpensive car if I am somewhere interesting and going to be there for a while. Often times I will just tell my Driver Manager to plan on letting me do a 34 hour reset when I am delivering somewhere interesting like this week when I ended up emptying out down in Boca Raton, Florida.

One thing I want to point out though, and forgive my probing. Just from the premise of your question and some of the phrases you used it sounds like you have been reading a lot of the negative company bashing stuff about trucking on the internet. Be very careful at taking in some of the nonsense you read online about these evil trucking companies and how they treat their drivers. It's all hogwash! Yes there is waiting involved in trucking, but it has nothing to do with your trucking company, but rather it is a part of the job, and if anyone is at fault it would be the shippers and receivers. Personally, I sit and wait very little. Like I said I will ask my dispatcher to let me take a 34 occasionally, and when I do I will get a response something like this: "anything you need my man. just let me know when you are ready to roll again!"

These trucking companies make money by keeping you busy, they do not hire you to "babysit" their equipment, they hire you to move freight. Everything about trucking is performance based, that is why the drivers get paid by the mile. The really good drivers who manage their time and deliveries properly are assigned the best loads and are not hung out to dry just for the company's jollies. I have to laugh sometimes when I hear some of the stories that are put online about truck drivers claiming they should be getting paid for being a security guard for the truck they were assigned! I have never sat so long waiting around for a load, in fact 95% of the time I have a load already planned out for me before I'm finished with my current one. Don't start getting yourself all worked up as to how you are going to spend the time that you are sitting, rather prepare yourself ahead of time by considering how you are going to be that top performer that they know will be out there "git'n er done!" That will solve your dilemma of being a babysitter.

Thank you Old School for your thoughtful reply, I appreciate your comments. Although now I regret using the word Babysitting.

It just seemed better topic heading than something like:

"Is a company driver allowed to lock up and leave his truck parked somewhere unattended in order to participate in personal recreational activities when he knows he will not be driving for a significant amount of time?"

And I got my answer: YES!

Which is great news to me, as my primary motivation to possibly take up truck driving is for the opportunity to travel the country. But I wanted to confirm that I would be able to slip away from the truck every now and then, for some local exploring during an extended down time.

And thank you for those who commented about how you don't really sit idle all that much. This too is great news. It's great to hear that down time could well be not be such a major concern.

Mac, have you read Becoming A Truck Driver: The Raw Truth About Truck Driving?

Yes, Errol, I have, it was very informative.