24 Hour Or 21 Hour Cycles

My FM had me running recaps for almost 3 weeks straight. Its easier on the body for sure. I'd run 8.5-9.5 hour days. Never ran out of hours. Personally, I run out 11 hour clock as much as possible. Anything can happen & screw up anyone's day/night. Especially with winter driving. I know they can reschedule but it's like Old School said, if I'm there early & the receivers will take me (which they have) then I'm set up to make more money that week.

I had a great opportunity to make my first check over $2K but I couldn't get unloaded early. That load had 1700 miles on it. The next one had like 2400 but because I couldn't get unloaded earlier, I didn't have to hours to get the second load in on time.

My FM had me drop it at a terminal. I was still able to clear $1700 because of running hard with another couple of loads I was given.

So for me, like I said, I prefer to run miles but when there's opportunity to learn another way, like running recaps, then I'm all in. Still haven't needed to run 8/2 splits for an extend run but have used it a few times.

Sometimes it is about the customers. We have a few that only accept certain loads at certain hours so midnight to 6am is frozen, 6am to noon is produce, then meat and so on.

if you get delayed, or even if the trip is too far, you may need to wait until tge next window for their appts.

There are times when those "cycles" can be even shorter. Example:

Start your day at 00:00 on 03/30

On duty for 7 hours.

No new pre plan

Go off duty at 07:00

10 hour break

New 14 hour clock at 17:00 on 03/30

Total 17 hours

Math check?

Math check?

Check it for me.

Math check?

Check it for me.

I did with your example, and I saw 14 hours....

I did with your example, and I saw 14 hours....

????????

Start at midnight........on duty for 7 hours..........10 hour break........10+7=17

Looks like good math to me!

I was going by useable hours, without the 10 hour break figured in which would be 14.

Tractor Man,

I had thought about "short haul" situation as well. If, as in your example, I came off a 10 hour, at 0:00 drove 5 hours for 6:00 delivery, then go off duty at 7:00, I'm going to be staring at the top bunk for a while rather than sleeping cause I woke up at 23:30 the night before.

That part doesn't concern me as much. At different periods in my life, I have had trouble sleeping. So it is not uncommon for me to get only a few hours of sleep one night and then sleep really deep the next night.

All of the comments have been helpful. Old School's quote of Turtle helped a lot: work with my FM. I won't know what works best for me until I try. In fact, that might be a good conversation to have with my FM. Run me recaps for a month, then burn my 70 in 6 days for the next month. So long as I'm logging my miles and getting the loads there safely and on time (and making money for Prime), I hoping that they will work with me.

Honestly, the HOS is hard to understand unless you do it. Yes, we as experienced drivers can tell you we run it in hard and push ourselves, and make good money. That doesn't mean you will make nothing if you cannot do that.

400 miles (7 to 8 hours of driving) x 7 days a week is 2800 miles. that is a decent number of miles for anyone.

Dry van at 35cpm x 2800 is $980

Reefer at 44cpm x 2800 is $1272

Primes lightweight 49cpm x 2800 is $1372

That is good money for people jist coming out of training. $45k to $60k for a newbie???

And it takes time to learn how to manage your time and trip plan to make yourself available for loads. That is what your first year is all about, that steep learning curve. Dispatch knows this, and will only give you what you can handle. You can ask them how to improve.

What many people dont understand is that the communication with dispatch isnt just about "push me hard". It can also be "hey i need sleep, give me an extra 10 hours or let me have a big window on my load to pick up".

Also, my FM has 100 drivers. He isn't watching my miles he is seeing how much i have available on my 70. So he givee me miles i can run with my clock. if i tell him "theres no way i can get to that appointment please move it" he will or will give me another load.

every single one of us runs our trucks differently and each thonks our way is best. A new driver will take advice from various drivers and concoct their own way of doing things. It isnt right or wrong, it is what works for you.

So instead of making spreadsheets about trip planning before one even starts school, get working on the high road and pretrip