How Hard Do You Run Everyday?

Renegade much of that depends on the job type and in many cases the type of dedicated account.

In my situation 12+ hour days of on-duty time is the norm.

Renegade, one of the beauties of this career is that you get to be your own boss (sort of!) Every driver I know has their own preferences of how they manage their time. I had a good friend on the same dedicated account as me and he managed his time completely different from me, yet we pretty much came out with the same results. He had certain areas of the country that he ran in, and mine were a little bit different, but our driver manager knew what kind of preferences we had and he would do what he could to accommodate us. The trick to being treated like that is to be a top performer in what ever you happen to be doing. He preferred to spread his hours out so that he never took a re-set while on the road. It grated against his sensibilities to be taking a break like that if he wasn't at home. I on the other hand preferred to push my appointments forward whenever possible and therefore get more done. I generally have completely run out of available hours on my seventh day which makes it next to impossible to drive on that eighth day. I actually enjoy taking a break out on the road - it gives me opportunity to do something interesting or find a good restaurant, or maybe even spend a day at the beach. I sometimes manage my time in such a way that my eighth day puts me into some interesting area where it is actually fun to take a break. Taking that day off kind of rejuvenates me.

I had an interesting discussion with a driver at the SAPA plant in Delhi, Louisiana the other day. He came up to me as I was tarping my next load, and he says, "let me guess where you are going - up to the Northeast!" They all know that I do this every week from Louisiana, but for the life of them they don't understand it. They actually think that I have gotten myself on the list of troublesome drivers who get punished with the really bad loads! One of them even asked me last week, "What did you do to get yourself on the s**t-list? They don't know it but my dispatcher and I talk every week about these Northeast loads and I always make sure that I am back in Louisiana to be available for the next one coming up. My dispatcher loves it because he says it is like pulling teeth to get the other drivers to take these loads. We are not force dispatched, and the reason I like that is totally different from why others like it. For me it creates opportunities that others don't recognize.

Now, let me explain one reason they don't like these loads. Of course there are problems with running in the Northeast, but they can be mitigated if you approach it right. The biggest problem that most of these drivers face is that when they get a Northeast load it will usually consist of close to 1700 miles. Now that sounds pretty good until you realize that most of them can't seem to get themselves back down to Louisiana on their back haul load in time to put all the miles on one pay period. So, they end up with a paycheck for approximately 1700 miles. Their back haul load is close to the same amount, but it goes on next weeks pay, and if they get another Northeast load they don't get it there in time to add it with that back haul load, and now they have gotten three pay periods with only about 1700 miles each - unacceptable by anyone's standards. They end up running for three weeks at 1700 miles per week - I wouldn't like that either.

You take an experienced driver who's got some street smarts, and he will do what I do. I am in communication with my customers up there and I move my appointments forward anytime it is possible. The customers love the special service, and some of them have even requested of my dispatcher to send me up there on these loads. I have to drive hard for eleven hours all night for two nights and then flip my schedule over to daytime for the actual deliveries so I can do this, but it works well and it allows me to get up there and get back each week with enough time to take a 34 hour reset in Delhi before I take off like a rocket on the next run. That nets me somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,400 miles per week, which every driver claims he would love, but very few are willing to make the sacrifices to accomplish. Is that running hard? I enjoy the results. I enjoy taking the break each week. Like I said some of these drivers think I'm crazy, but if they knew the results I was getting they would be jealous.

As far as the question goes of running hard... I find my schedule to be very sustainable, and enjoyable. Of course it gets changed up at times due to the nature of the available loads, but my dispatcher, who knows I will do whatever it takes to keep my wheels turning, calls me each week with a list of available loads and confers with me about which ones I would be interested in. As a top producer here, I get preferential treatment. It all goes back to what we discuss in here a lot about this industry being a performance based business. If you can consistently prove yourself out here by getting things accomplished it only puts you in a very desirable position with whatever company you are with.

Old school nailed it. Different choices to the same result. My FM doesn't give 34/resets. Therefore if I run 400 miles per day seven days that is 2800/miles week and a decent pay of about $1000 after taxes n insurance. I can even drive four hours, take a two hour break then drive again that breaks up the day. Or I can run hard and sleep deeply at the end of my day.

In the end, dispatch doesn't care how I run as long as I get there early and don't hit anything. Lol

Sure would be nice to see those kinda miles

Finished my second week solo yesterday and drove about 2200 miles this past week. Most days were between 10 and 12 hours on duty. One thing I'm not liking is the 34 hour reset. It's not enough Home time for me.

I'm regional home every weekend, usually by friday. That's about what I average. Most weeks I leave Sunday or Monday morning and back Friday afternoon. The 34 sounds good but it flies by quickly, especially if you need to run errands.

A lot of good info and clearly a lot of different driving time because of divisions. What I'm not fully understanding is if you're on "duty", does that mean you're behind the wheel driving?

A lot of good info and clearly a lot of different driving time because of divisions. What I'm not fully understanding is if you're on "duty", does that mean you're behind the wheel driving?

You have to be On Duty to be Driving, but you do not have to be Driving to be On Duty. Two seperate lines on your logs.

On duty basically means anything work related. That could be a dot inspection, being loaded/unloaded, taping, strapping etc. Off duty driving can't be used unless you're bobtailing I believe.

Renegade asks:

A lot of good info and clearly a lot of different driving time because of divisions. What I'm not fully understanding is if you're on "duty", does that mean you're behind the wheel driving?

Renegade "on-duty, not driving" is performing some type of work that does not involve driving. The responsibilities I have on my Dedicated account are quite a bit different than an OTR type of job. On a typical day I can have up to 6 delivery or pick-up stops on my dispatch. Most of the Walmart deliveries require that I supervise the "live unload" to make sure the correct pallet comes off and in many cases of consolidated reefer loads is returned to the trailer. Thus there is a significant amount of "on-duty not driving". It's part of the job. On average I spend 35-45 minutes on-duty not driving for each stop. With that said, the compensation on this account is adjusted to compensate for the extra on-duty time. 12+ hour days are the norm.

Hope this adds some clarity