Need Advice On A Serious Problem With My Trucking Company

As crappy as sleeping while hot is (trust me ive lived in Arizona my whole life i know what its like sleeping while hot). if you look at it from a company perspective lets say the average person sleeps 7 hours a night at an average of burning a gallon an hour for idling thats 7 gallons a night. lets say they have 2,000 drivers out there idling thats 14,000 gallons of fuel for sitting there and doing nothing to make money (remember your company only makes money when the wheels turn to). At an average cost of 4 dollars a gallon for fuel thats 56,000 bucks a night. Thats nearly 1.5 million bucks a month for idling! Not saying that i agree with the companies because you should be comfortable while sleeping.. But thats the way the company looks at it im sure. Those pennies turn into millions really fast. Im sure there are holes in this argument and dont throw me under the bus for it because i am on your side! Im just trying to help you realize why these companies may react like this to idling. Yes you should be able to idle.. but those costs have to be paid by someone.

Just because the trucks have APU's doesn't mean that you won't be held to an idle limit.

I just found out about a month ago by accident, here at Celadon, there is a idling limit even though we have what they call APU's. They are not actually APU's, but that is what they are called.

My truck had 4 dead batteries and I didn't know it. But it kept starting over and over again. I just wrote it off to cold weather. This was back during the winter. About a month ago, I was contacted by my DM saying my idle time was way too high, it needed to be brought down.

I told them it was starting on it's own. They sent me to a shop and found the 4 bad batteries.

Now it doesn't idle near as much, but there are times it kicks on and I don't even have the A/C or heat on.

Yes I said heat. It was 36 in Denver the other morning, and I woke up about froze. It was in the 70's when I went to sleep so I shut everything off.

So when you are looking for a company to drive for, don't only ask if their trucks have APU's. Find out if they are actual APU's or the battery powered heating/ac units. And find out if they have an idling policy.

Keep it safe out here, the life you save might be your own. Joe S.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

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.

APU's:

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.

Here is the thing that puts us above animals trapped in the heat. They can't speak up and defend themselves. We can. That being said.......

I come down on the companies side on this. As was stated before. Idling cost companies millions of dollars. I can't fault them for that. No one should. Sorry but if you don't agree with a companies idling policy, the people that are footing the fuel bill, then do like the OP did and head off to another company. Pretty simple answer.

Normally I am all for the driver and it should be said I do not scribe to big companies against the little guy.

I did meet a Prime instructor today on my bus trip and he confirmed that all their trucks have stand alone APUs , not running off batteries.

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.

Here is the thing that puts us above animals trapped in the heat. They can't speak up and defend themselves. We can. That being said.......

I come down on the companies side on this. As was stated before. Idling cost companies millions of dollars. I can't fault them for that. No one should. Sorry but if you don't agree with a companies idling policy, the people that are footing the fuel bill, then do like the OP did and head off to another company. Pretty simple answer.

Normally I am all for the driver and it should be said I do not scribe to big companies against the little guy.

A company can't be in business without making a profit.

I remember years ago when I first was connected with trucking. Air conditioning. They didn't know what that was. But, in saying that. It was a different time and things were done much different.

The first semi I ever drove was a Pete. Many years ago. It felt like I was a sardine in a can. The cab was so small. I asked the owner about the size.

The reason for it. So the driver could reach across to the passengers side and roll down the window while he was driving. No A/C at all.

But things were different back then. The amount of trucks on the roads has increased, what? 100 fold maybe. Or more. Back then all you had to do was find a wide spot on the road under a shade tree and you were ready to get some zzzz's.

Now days if you stop under a shade tree out on the side of the road somewhere, you stand the chance of getting robbed. Shoot, in some truck stops you take the chance of getting robbed.

Profits have to be taken into account. I totally agree. But there is also a line that shouldn't be crossed.

In the winter should a driver keep his truck at 80 degree so he can set in his/her underware to be comfortable. Absolutely not. But should a company penalize a driver in 100 degree heat wanting to get some sleep and not have an oven to sleep in.

It is a two sided coin. There has to be a middle line.

Like I said in another post. This is from a Schneider driver I ran into this past winter. Schneider has made a rule you can't idle your truck unless the outside temp is below 10 degrees. Now, I don't care who you are, unless you are a Penguin, 10 degrees is COLD. Freezing cold.

The profit margin is becoming more important than your workers. More important than your customers. More important than almost anything.

I was in a store a few years ago and I over heard a conversation between a store manager and the store owner. The owner had cut back in his employees to less than half. The manager said the customers were complaining because they couldn't get waited on.

The store owner said, if they don't like it, they can go elsewhere if they want to drive 100 miles. This is the only place close for them to shop. They will continue to shop here because there is no other place to go.

What a thing for a company owner to say about his customers.

Since this topic is about idling a truck. I won't get on my soap box on my other peeve. On governors on trucks.

Oh well. The bottom line is more important than anything else.

Keep is safe out here, the life you save might be your own. Joe S.