Owner OPs Leaving Their Truck Running All Night?

Resistance is vital.

Jesus Davy he just asked why owner ops idle at night 🤣🤣

I agree though, who cares lmao

At 50 it can be a bit cold for some to sleep comfortably. Some owner ops do not have APUs either.

If the noise of the idling trucks or reefers bother you so much, why do you park where they do?

Why do owner ops feel the need to leave their truck running all night when the temp is only 50-60 outside??? I drive a company truck and I don't leave my truck running... Owner ops are actively draining their bottom line and polluting at the same time. Some of them sound poorly maintained too, no wonder there's so many jokers parked on highway shoulders, and it's like being next to a pesky annoying reefer.

My message to these ppl: "Cut that btch off!"

I DON'T park next to reefers and I avoid rest areas and busy truck stops as much as I can. I'll park at the furthest end of a truck stop with a huge lot and some reefer will still manage to park next to me by the end of the night.

How will they survive if their truck or heater doesn't work and they're stuck in -40F weather? I have an electric heater and I'll only use it as long as the battery lasts. I have 2 comforters, a sleeping bag and warm pajamas to sleep in that still keep me comfortable. I also bought insulation for all my windows to help keep my truck cool during the summer.

I'll take the $5K bonus per quarter over being comfortable 100% of the time. If I invested those bonuses over 20 years, it would add up to over one million by the end. And the $5K is only part of the fuel savings since I'm a driver, owner ops get 100% of that. I don't know, I'll take retiring early over spending my nights in grungy and noisy truck stops.

And yes, I will continue to fight against the idea that truck stops NEED to be noisy and filthy places. A couple of decades ago, most people thought the average trucker was a plaid-wearing, chain-smoking, redneck that had to be on the road for months and months at a time.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I'll take the $5K bonus per quarter over being comfortable 100% of the time. If I invested those bonuses over 20 years, it would add up to over one million by the end. And the $5K is only part of the fuel savings since I'm a driver, owner ops get 100% of that. I don't know, I'll take retiring early over spending my nights in grungy and noisy truck stops.

That’s a pretty nice bonus. I don’t get that good of a bonus but it’s enough to incentivize me to avoid idling. I have an apu and don’t really care for idling anyways so it doesn’t take much.

And yes, I will continue to fight against the idea that truck stops NEED to be noisy and filthy places. A couple of decades ago, most people thought the average trucker was a plaid-wearing, chain-smoking, redneck that had to be on the road for months and months at a time.

Why do you care so much? I’d love it if all truckstops were clean and quiet too but they’re not and it’s not realistic to expect them to be quiet by any means. A lot of companies don’t even buy APUs for their trucks. And as far as idling when it’s [insert ambient temperature here], how is it any different than running your furnace or A/C at home because you want the temp in your house to be 3 degrees warmer or cooler?

As a driver, you of all people should know drivers have just as much right to be comfortable in their trucks as anyone has to be comfortable in their homes.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I agree with Pianoman. I’m strictly local now but was otr once upon a time. I was always more bothered my the jagoffs that wanted to treat truck stop parking lots like race tracks running 30 miles an hour than anything. But that’s a whole different topic.

Everybody has their own level of tolerance for ambient noise, so if noise from adjacent trucks is keeping you from sleeping that will add even more difficulty to finding parking. It’s hard enough to find parking without worrying about the idling truck issue. To be OTR and avoid it on every 10 would be a near impossibility.

Many times in this profession a driver just needs to find a way to adapt to conditions and situations he has no control over. Otherwise the lifestyle and problems that go with driving will end your career.

If using a portable electric heater until the batteries run down, how do you then start the truck if your batteries are dead?

If this issue is a big problem for SCWZ, then I really feel for him. There are so many other irritations to deal with out here on the road.

Resistance is vital.

Jesus Davy he just asked why owner ops idle at night 🤣🤣

I agree though, who cares lmao

Lol. I suppose I might have gone off on a rant.

Everybody has their own level of tolerance for ambient noise, so if noise from adjacent trucks is keeping you from sleeping that will add even more difficulty to finding parking. It’s hard enough to find parking without worrying about the idling truck issue. To be OTR and avoid it on every 10 would be a near impossibility.

Many times in this profession a driver just needs to find a way to adapt to conditions and situations he has no control over. Otherwise the lifestyle and problems that go with driving will end your career.

If using a portable electric heater until the batteries run down, how do you then start the truck if your batteries are dead?

If this issue is a big problem for SCWZ, then I really feel for him. There are so many other irritations to deal with out here on the road.

I have an Eaton inverter and a battery bank. The inverter automatically turns off when the voltage drops to 12.2V and there's a load shield to make sure the truck can start. The heater is built into sleeper bed compartment. A truck's alternator makes lots of excess power, so it's essentially free energy if it can be stored.

I drive on the West coast and my routes generally have lots parking options. I did 3 months of OTR (48 states) and I'm never going back. I might eventually drive local for US Foods.

A reefer once parked next to me that was 124 decibels loud when it was constantly revving up. I have that figure because of a db meter app on my phone. That's in between a chainsaw and jackhammer... It woke with 3 hours of sleep and I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. I don't know how someone can "sleep like a baby" next to something that crazy loud. Even putting in earplugs made little difference...

So I am paranoid that something like that will park next to me and ruin my night again.

It seems like a lot of today's drivers have become spoiled or pampered. I spent my early career during the 1960s and 1970s. I had no a/c, no power steering, bunk, apu , inverter, auto. trans. or computer to tell me when to drive or stop.

In the summer you opened the vent windows and floor vent and sweated and tried not to swallow the bugs. When you had to sleep I had a rope hammock slung under my trailer and no one bothered you in those days.

In the winter you idled at 1000 rpms, placed a piece of plywood across the seats with a blanket and slept like a baby. You took a shower in a back room community shower just like high school. No fancy tile and sometimes no hot water.

There were no microwaves or refrigerators in the trucks. You ate your meals in the sit down restaurants in the drivers area of the truckstops.

We all survived those "harsh conditions" without today's fancy large cars. Just think how easy it is today when compared to the good old days.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

It seems like a lot of today's drivers have become spoiled or pampered. I spent my early career during the 1960s and 1970s. I had no a/c, no power steering, bunk, apu , inverter, auto. trans. or computer to tell me when to drive or stop.

In the summer you opened the vent windows and floor vent and sweated and tried not to swallow the bugs. When you had to sleep I had a rope hammock slung under my trailer and no one bothered you in those days.

In the winter you idled at 1000 rpms, placed a piece of plywood across the seats with a blanket and slept like a baby. You took a shower in a back room community shower just like high school.

No fancy tile and sometimes no hot water.

There were no microwaves or refrigerators in the trucks. You ate your meals in the sit down restaurants in the drivers area of the truckstops.

We all survived those "harsh conditions" without today's fancy large cars. Just think how easy it is today when compared to the good old days.

I love it when the retired drivers tell us about the old days. It puts perspective in the overall picture. They were usually some tough men with great work ethics and a willingness to help other drivers. There are not enough of them around to tell us newbies their stories. Many of them endured some terrible conditions.

Fast forward to the current day. The emphasis is on safety, and having well rested drivers is considered very important for safety. Many of the creature comforts standard on today’s truck are so the driver can get good sleep. The APU is one of the most important developments in recent history. I can’t imagine not having one or some equivalent.

And it’s also an issue of driver retention. If a driver doesn’t like the comfort features of one company, it’s a pretty sure bet that he’s going to be looking for another company.

SCWZ is territorial about his environment for good reason. Other drivers aren’t so sensitive. If he can find practical alternative solutions for parking in more quiet settings, more power to him.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

IMO reefers are free white noise. I pipe a white noise app through my Cascadia's speaker system. Couldn't hear a tank firing a block away. When the truck runs a battery cycle in Opti Idle it doesn't even wake me up.