Resets Vs. Recaps: Real World Example

As a continuation of the ongoing discussion about recaps vs. resets, I will share a real-world example of my current load and why I most likely will take a reset tomorrow, even though I don’t “need” to take a reset.

My current load that I picked up Friday has 1274 total miles and is scheduled to deliver Monday. I had 28 hours left on my 70-hour clock when I got the load assignment Friday. I won’t get recaps hours back until Monday night at midnight: 4 hours.

I have the choice to deliver Sunday, and have about 8 hours left on my 70-hour clock. But if I deliver Sunday, I won’t get another load until Monday morning. So, I’ll end up sitting about 18 hours Sunday until Monday morning when I get my next load. Most likely, I will deadhead about 470 miles to Springfield on Monday. Then Tuesday, I have only 4 hours of available on duty time. Thus, I’ll be sitting most of the day Tuesday as well. After that, if I run recaps, I’ll be running about 8.5 hours each day.

If I take a reset tomorrow, I’ll have about 4 hours left to deliver on Monday, leaving 6.5 hours left to drive Monday. I won’t make it all the way to Springfield Monday, but I’ll get there first thing Tuesday morning with about 8 hours left on my 11-hour clock on Tuesday. After that, I’ll have a full 11-hour clock and 14-hour clock each day. If I drive 10.5 hours each day through Saturday, as opposed to 8.5 hours each day on recaps, the available hours will be about the same: 42 hours running resets (taking Sunday off) or 42.5 hours running recaps (driving Sunday). But with the reset on Sunday, I’ll begin with a fresh 70-hour clock on Monday.

As discussed before, recaps vs. resets is a personal preference. But based upon the above, lets look at the two scenarios from dispatch/load planners’ perspective. If I deliver Sunday, dispatch comes in Monday morning and sees I’m empty. They look for a load for me. I’ve got 8 hours on my 70-hour clock, but then they have to look at my recaps. Only 4 hours on Tuesday. Hmm, what’s he getting back on Wednesday? 9 hours, better. What about Thursday? 9 hours. Dispatch and load planners have to find a load that fits in with my recaps.

If I take a reset, dispatch comes in Monday. I’m not empty, but I’m about 3 hours a way from my 90. What are my hours? 6 hours after a deliver. The rest of the week? 11-hour drive and 14-hours on-duty. There’s zero planning that goes into finding a load for me based on hours. Just pick a load and “send it.” On Friday, set me up for another 1,000 to 1,500 mile load and I’m set for the weekend. Come next Monday morning, find me another load and “send it.”

This is what I mentioned in Davy’s thread about “forcing it.” Prime promotes drivers running recaps. Doing so requires dispatch and load planners to take into consideration available hours based on recaps. More work for them. With me running resets, no thought goes into the load assignment. I’ve always got enough hours, and with appointment times based on recaps, I’m almost always delivering early. Load assignment for me is easy. Load me Monday, any load will do, and schedule for delivery Wednesday. I deliver Tuesday, when I get close, preplan me for Wednesday. Rinse, repeat.

BTW, as a follow up, my November 25 paycheck had 3200 miles.

As a newbie this is helpful to keep in the back of my mind, especially if I jump ship and go back OTR for another company.

Much appreciate the insight here, thanks.

Definitely interesting. If I couldn't push the next load from Monday to Sunday, I'd probably take the reset as well. My first line of action, at least in dry van , would be to deliver on Sunday, pick up the next load on Sunday and go. But, my loads are almost always shorter.

One thing that I do with my DM is have her line me up loads for the weekend or visa versa. My weekend DM is experienced and good, my weekday is new and being trained, so I have the weekend guy set me up loads in advance. I also will deal with some of the load planners directly.

I don't think in general we're set up one way or another, it's pretty chaotic, with our shippers hitting early or late and our recievers not being timely. most of our loads are set for a much lower performance level. Average is about 500 mile loads with two to three days on them. It's way too slow paced for me, so I just push the loads, meaning I pick up early and drop early. In doing so, I see it lending itself to doing resets more, because I end up using much of my 11 hour each day.

I'll see how it pans out this week. I've burned 15 or so off my 70 since sat night, when i started after a reset. I have 6 hours left til delivery of this load and nothing dispatched yet after it. In order to have a productive day, I'll have to run a few hundred miles on the next load which will burn up most of my 11 hour. That cycle will probably continue all week.

Davy A,

Let me know how it pans out for you. I know how I've run and it's worked for me but I'm curious to see others experience with trying to run resets.

I sat through Prime’s HOS class again today. The Logs Advisor teaching the class discussed this issue of Recaps vs Resets by Division.

She said that Flatbed Division tends to run resets on the weekends because their customers tend to be closed, as Chief Brody points out.

She said Reefer Division (which I drove in) “prefers” to run recaps. Our customers tend to be open 24/7, with exceptions. Some customers are strict about only 1-2 hours early arrival. Others allow earlier deliveries or pickups that a driver can take advantage. However, resets are possible when it makes sense, as agreed with the Fleet Manager. Just need to proactively communicate ahead of time to plan for it.

Chief is correct that load assignments are based upon available recaps for each driver. My FM had about 90 drivers to manage and plan load assignments every day.

I had some loads where I sat parked for 14 to 19 hours waiting to deliver to a Walmart DC or Dollar General DC that were strict about 1 hour early. My FM told me to just chill out and enjoy the extended rest break.

For me its a bit of both. With crete we get alot of live loads and 400-800. Since you take a 2 to 4 hour off every few days recap works better. Then you sometimes get a few days of drops and need a reset. Its hard to do just one way unless your dispach wants you to run one way. I do recaps if i can but load times if they speed up will force a reset.

Davy A,

Let me know how it pans out for you. I know how I've run and it's worked for me but I'm curious to see others experience with trying to run resets.

I ended up starting my week on a Sat night, our pay cycle runs Monday to Monday, paid Thursday night. I squeezed in 1200 additional miles onto that check from sat night to mon.

This week I ended up with 2 delayed loads that i ended up not accepting, being 12 hours early without being able to unload on another, 7 hours of breakdown on a blown drive tire, and tonight I have to shut down early because the shipper requires us to have 4 hours drive time available at pickup. I'll only have 3.

I ended with 11 hours left on my 70 when getting recaps. The recaps will have weak days on them so I'll be looking to do a reset in the next few days.

I'll be at 2455 miles for the week with 1.5 days left when I drop this tomorrow. I can squeeze in a 600 mile run that will get me 3k miles for the week, about 300 in ancillary pay. All short loads. The longest run I had was 550 miles.

So, just the way it goes sometimes, I wasn't able to max my clock but will need to do a reset as my recaps will be spotty at best.

Davy A,

It looks as if you’re making some progress on maximizing your clock. As others have said, sometimes the available loads don’t necessarily facilitate maximizing your clock. But your mileage is respectable.

After completing my reset and delivering my load on Monday, I got another long load: 1,400 miles. These loads are not necessarily typical for Prime’s inedible tanker division. We generally circulate around the Midwest. One of our big customers ships out of Aurora, Missouri and O’Fallon, Missouri. Those loads go to either Illinois or Indiana. I have taken a load for this shipper from Aurora, Missouri to Canada though. Our other big customer is primarily a receiver. Their two main locations are Spencer, Iowa and Verona, Missouri. Many of those loads ship out of Ohio, with a few from Arkansas and Texas. So, a good majority of our loads are 500 to 800 miles. But we do have some of these longer loads and I would like to think that the fact that I tend to get these longer loads there a day early puts me higher up on the list for these longer loads.

I delivered my 1,400-mile load on Thursday. I ended up having to wait there almost the full day because they had something going on with their storage tank. It wasn’t full, but for some reason they couldn’t off load me and another tanker ahead of me.

I got another long load, almost 1,500 miles, that I picked up Friday morning. If I weren’t delayed at my receiver on Thursday, I would have been able to pick it up Thursday afternoon and made some progress on the load. But I’m only 2 hours away from my delivery.

I have 6 hours left on my 70-hour clock and don’t get any recaps back until Monday night. So, I’m taking another 34-hour reset. After I deliver this load Monday, I will have about 2,900 miles so far on this paycheck. I could squeeze another 1,400-mile load in before the payroll cutoff Wednesday, which would give me 4,300 miles on this paycheck. I had 2,600 miles on the last paycheck, so for the 2 weeks that would give me a total of 6,900 miles for the two weeks.

Good numbers. Really good. I ended up running this week on recaps. I had a couple short days but was able to run consistent 9s. Because I run nights and swing, it can have a benefit of splitting up my driving shift into two day periods. I ended up with 3090 miles on the paycheck. I'll start this next week with 903 miles on it as I deliver this load tomorrow at afternoon, so outside of our cutoff. Most loads were 500 to 800 miles as well.

I would have preferred to reset as it would have allowed me to push loads farther, but I have a complex set of home time coming. I needed to be in Phoenix on the 22 but not take time off, just to pick up the Mrs from the airport. She'll be on the truck with me til I park it in Phoenix on the 26th and we take 7 days off. (Going to Cancun)

When I get back, I'll try running hard for resets. The loads just didn't line up for it this week and I have workable recaps til home time. I've been having to really focus on it, bringing my 70 down to 1 to 3 hours at times. I don't recommend it for someone not experienced with managing their clock. I was able to run all my loads and know my clock, but it leaves little to no room for unforseen conditions like traffic and weather. I got lucky with heavy loads that I felt comfortable running in winds, but for the most part I had good weather. Spent most of the week in IN, IL, OH, Around chi town and area before hitting, KC, MO, TX and now AZ.