Whats A Reasonable Expectation For Weekly Miles And What Am I Capable Of?

As typical, Im probably just being hard on myself. But I question if Im producing enough. I seem to have a hard time getting over the 3000 mile barrier (paid miles) in a week. I can do 2700 to 2900 a week and it seems fine but I guess I have this expectation that I should do more. The miles are there for me, they hand me all the work I can handle and then some.

I try to balance out work and taking time off, but theres other factors as well, Mistakes, broken trailers etc. Im sitting at a Menards DC, notoriously slow, will probably be 5 or 6 hours til I get unloaded. I can say thats not my fault, but if I had gotten here at 7:00 am instead of 9:00am maybe I could have gotten unloaded quicker. Although then again, they said they had trucks stacked up at opening and I really didnt feel like getting up at the butt crack of dawn to get here just to wait as well as my next load wont open until 3:00 pm.

Im not sure again, if Im overthinking things and being self critical or if I need to improve my performance, and or if its an unrealistic expectation.

Davy,

2700-2900 miles a week average seems pretty good when you figure in delays at shippers/receivers, weather and traffic problems. I think that you are being too hard on yourself. I'm sure that you are doing the best that can be expected when everything is brought together.

I never made it over the 2500 mile barrier, but my weekly mileage was consistently close. We were at a governed speed of 63 mph but i think that has been increased, so maybe I will break the 2500 barrier this time around. I suspect you worry about those things too much. Relax and enjoy the journey. (By the way, what is your governed speed with your company?)

If you go to the same places, you’ll start to learn which ones you can go to early and which ones you can’t. More difficult to do if you never go to the same place twice.

Keep that balance in mind also.

I used to average 2500+ weekly and could’ve done more, but I had no desire to have to do my 34hour break away from home. Now I average 2600+ weekly, but also drive for a company which gets me home weekly and we deliver to seven locations within an hour of my home.

I’m sure Old School has a thread or two about maximizing your efficiency.

Hang in there.

We were at a governed speed of 63 mph but i think that has been increased, so maybe I will break the 2500 barrier this time around.

Governed speed really has nothing to do with how many miles you can run. This is all about time management. You have to conserve hours for driving. When rookies are having trouble turning very good miles we always want to know how much time they are spending "on duty." If they are bumping up against 70 hours and can only get in 2,500 miles then they are probably stealing time from themselves by spending too much time in the "on duty" status. There is no reason a person with a few months experience can't turn 3,000 miles during a 70 hour period. It has nothing to do with how fast you drive. It's all about knowing when to put yourself off duty or sleeper berth. I never spend more than 20 minutes or so in the "on duty" status. Why would I want to burn up the time that I get to earn money? Understanding the rules and how they can work to your advantage is how you get to the point of turning the big miles more consistently.

Davy, there's nothing wrong with the results you are getting. In fact what you are doing is excellent. You are going to have some weeks that are more productive than others - that's trucking. I never tried to measure my performance by the week. It's okay to look at the numbers, but don't expect every week to be a home run hit. Look at it monthly or even better do it quarterly, Set yourself some goals for a month and for a quarter and start seeing if you can get close to those goals. I would even have an annual goal. You can see how you are doing better with those because they take in all the various things that happen and delay us. They also average in our home time and things like that. If you can run 125,000 to 130,000 miles for the year, you have had a great year. If you average that out it is going to be around 2,500 miles per week.

I think you are doing great. You have to realize there is a limit to what you can accomplish. You are limited by regulations designed to keep you safe. You can certainly accomplish more, but there is a balance to all of this. I have watched a good many people burn themselves out early trying to be like the old timers who seem to rack up all the miles possible with ease. There is a lot to learn at this. Walk first, and run later. This learning curve doesn't happen overnight. You are still a rookie, a Squire. Even as a full fledged Knight driver you will still be learning how to do this. I am still learning and adjusting. You are doing a great job. Go have a cold beer and quit beating yourself up. Wait till you get to enjoy a 34 before you hit that cold beer though!

The gospel that Old School always reminds us of is to make wise and efficient use of our time. Like not burning our "on duty" time. I get that even though I have a lot to learn. However, I always drove as close to my clock limits as reasonable, but never got over 2500 weekly miles. So my question is this: What other factors allow some drivers to get 3000 while others struggle to get 2500? Longer dispatched loads? I'd really be interested in hearing the input from high preforming drivers.

(By the way, what is your governed speed with your company?)

FWIW - Davy, Old School, and I are at Knight. 63 on the pedal, 65 on cruise.

I am finishing up my time with my trainer and have set my initial goal to be 2500 a week. If I can do anything over that it’ll be lagniappe.

I average around the 2900-3100 mark and have done so fairly consistently for several years. I live in the truck, take home time about every 4 or so months for 5 days and reset every week. Some weeks are more some are less. It has quite a lot to do with the loads. If you live load and unload a lot you will get less. I hate having an appointment on my drop as I have to wait to unload. I like getting there as fast as I can, dropping it and on to the next load. About load length, I don't mind longer runs, I can take the first couple days and drive 10.5 or so hours straight, but i really like a single 500-600 mile run per day. I can pick it up and deliver it in the same day, find a place to park on PC then repeat. 500 miles per day 6 days a week then reset the 70 is perfect and 3000 or so miles but it doesn't always work out that way. I'm generally happy with anything over 2200 per week and more is a bonus.

I heard many people talk about wasting useful time. It is hard to understand how it works though: what is the difference between on-duty and off-duty if both count towards 14 hrs clock? When I sit at a shipper for 4 hours waiting to get loaded, I have at least three choices: on-duty picking up, off-duty break, off-duty sleeper, but regardless of what I select, I will still be 4 hrs of my 14 short after that, no?

The gospel that Old School always reminds us of is to make wise and efficient use of our time. Like not burning our "on duty" time. I get that even though I have a lot to learn. However, I always drove as close to my clock limits as reasonable, but never got over 2500 weekly miles. So my question is this: What other factors allow some drivers to get 3000 while others struggle to get 2500? Longer dispatched loads? I'd really be interested in hearing the input from high preforming drivers.

I have weeks where I get 3,000+ miles. In dry van. And this is getting home at the end of it. Here’s what I have found;

1. Those weeks I usually leave on a Sunday with a load that’s gonna get me farther from my company’s primary operating base. This might be a 450 mile load, but the backhaul will be 600 or more. Thus giving me about 1100 miles by Tuesday morning. Everything is about the setup.

2. In those weeks, I’m usually going as soon as my 10-hr break is up. Sometimes that’s 3am. And, I’m on dispatch as early as possible to set up another load. Sometimes a day or two in advance. Not every company will let you do this.

3. I will KINDLY call shippers and receivers to see whether or not I can show up early. Then I adjust as needed.

4. If it’s a 3,200+ mile week, I probably won’t get home until Saturday (remember I left Sunday). Which means the following week might be 2,400 miles. But I’ll gladly take 2,800 mile avg paycheck where I got home both weeks.

5. When I’ve run 3,000 miles in a week, I’m beat. But my family eats well and we have (I think) a really nice house. Plus almost no debt.

I hope this helps.