Broompilot asked, "Direct question in this spot whats the DH miles your willing to drive home???? "
That varies a great deal among expediters. We once met a team that had been expediting for many years. They would deadhead home once a month no matter what, and no matter how far they had to go. They lived in a gulf coast state and boasted about getting home from Canada and Calfiornia if they had to, but always getting home. For them, getting home was a high priority and they did what it took to get there. The "how far" question did not matter to them.
We've met other teams that stay out for months at a time, feeling very much at home on the road. Diane and I are in that group. We plan one trip a year home for Christmas. As Christmas approaches, we start monitoring our location relative to the time it would take to drive home to arrive for the holiday. For us, it's not an issue of "how far" but "how long?"
That's not to say we go home once a year. The freight takes us close to home (Minnesota) a few times a year. Whether we stay over or keep running depends on how we feel and what work - if any - needs to be done at home. Since our residence is maintenance-free rental space, and we maintain pretty-much a property-free lifestyle (no cars, very few household goods), there is very little work to do at home. With no children at home and each other in the truck, we don't feel the tug toward home many expediters do.
The "How far?" approach is cost-per-mile based. Where the need or desire to be home is strong, but the desire to maximize profits is also strong (it was not with the first team I mentioned), the question you raise comes to mind with nearly every load.
Lawrence McCord has said "Expediting does not tolerate a personal agenda." He's right.
We've found expediting to be a fantastic business as long as we are free to go anywhere and don't have to be in a particular place at a particular time. But as soon as we set a date for a meting or training or a truck show or to go home, expediting becomes more complicated. We find ourselves turning down good loads because they go in the wrong direction, or deadheading past several good freight centers because we are trying to get someplace else.
A pastor friend of mine, who minsiters to dying people, once said to me, "I've never heard anyone say, 'I wish I would have spent more time at the office.'"
I doubt any expdeiter would say on his or her death bed, "I wish my revenue-per-all-miles number had been higher than it was."
I've seen numerous truckers in trucking magazine interviews say, "I wish I would have spent more time with my family." (or words to that effect).
Broompilot, I've been in your house and met your family. If I were in your shoes, I'd feel the tug toward home too. You have created a nice life for yourself and your family.
You might give some thought to the get-home-no-matter-what goal held by the drivers I mentioned above. It would not be the most profitable goal you could adopt, but it might be the happiest. It's a goal that all expediters would respect and some would envy.
