How Do You Get Home?

[ATeam]

Carrier programs for getting drivers home range from non-existent to strongly committed. For people researching the industry, a carrier's ability to get you home is important or not, depending on the individual. To help folks understand the differences among carriers and real-world experiences with them, it would be instructive if expediters shared here.

I'm not asking how OFTEN you get home or WHY you go. I'm asking HOW do you get home?

Do you use a carrier program? Do you book your own freight? Do you simply deadhead on your own dime? If you use a carrier program, does it work?

How do you get home?

 

[dabluzman1]

Phil,
most of our trips home are well thought out in advance. We accept loads that take us within an acceptable dead head range. ( 250 miles is a target ). We give ourselves a window of +/- two or three days to get there. Often,once we are in our DH range and go
out of service, we get a call saying, we know you are out of service, but we have a run going to..... this run is usually droping closer to home.

Now if we had an emergency and had to be home tomorrow, if we were more than 500 miles
out, I guess we'd park the truck and fly.
No different than if we lived out of state and something happened back where we grew up.

Planning helps, being flexible helps but this is something that is hit and miss at best. But, something that is a very important topic for newbies to understand about this industry.
You can always get home when you want, but, at what price.

Be informed.

 

[nightcreacher]

We dont have a set time to go home anymore,it just depends how long we were out,how long we stay home.You usually can find me going home after a load to Cleveland out of Elk Grove Village,but I'm not in a straight truck so my life is easier

 

[ATeam]

We seldom go home, but when we do, we get there by going out of service and driving there. We do not expect directional dispatch help from our carrier and do not ask for it. We do not use our carrier's "Home Run" system. Our strategy is to haul freight up to the last minute and go home when there is just enough time to get there.

We are always home (Minnesota) for Christmas. One year the freight took us home, delivering 90 miles away on December 23 (sweet!). Twice, we hauled freight up to the last minute and ended up deadheading home from New Jersey. Once we deadheaded from Ohio and once from Indiana.

There have been times when just one of us needs to be home. In that case, Diane flies home and rents a car to get around (we don't own a car). I stay with the truck until she returns.

For family emergencies, we have it figured out that if we are not in Maine or Florida, and are east of the Rocky Mountains, we can be home in 24 hours or less by team driving the truck.

If there was a more-urgent need to get home, one of us could fly while the other follows with the truck. Or, if no better option exists, we could rent safe space in an RV park or indoor storage facility to stow the truck and both fly home, or even hire a security guard to watch the truck while we were away from it.

Whatever the reason for going home, we do not look for freight to take us there. If our purpose is to get home, that is what we focus on. We go out of service and concentrate on the task at hand.

 

[TeamCaffee]

We usually go home about every two to three months depending on what is happening at the time. We schedule all of our truck maintenance, health appointments and any other appointments for that time. One we have started setting dates for being at home we start watching our loads so as to not end up on the east or west coast or south Texas. As the week gets nearer that we need to be home and if we were to get a load within three hundred miles of the house we will deliver and just go out of service and go home a little early. If we do not get a load going towards the house and it gets to be time we call in to dispatch have them take us out of service with a note saying we will take load going towards Saint Louis. If we get home early we often call in and have a note put into our files that we are available for helper loads and this has paid off a couple times. We do not wait for directional dispatch as we get very frustrated and so does dispatch as we are in service saying we are available for any load.

 

[CharlesD]

If I'm within 250 miles, I usually just deadhead home. I'll take a couple hours and try to grab an LTL just to help me out with the costs, but I won't spend more than half a day looking when I'm that close.

 

[geo]

when i ran the road i would go out for 3 weeks than home for week than start all over again

if i was in the northeast would go to my mom and dad
and stay there a few says or run around northeast
than go home when i was ready
always when time to go didn't worry loads always planned ahead

 

[iceroadtrucker]

WELL IF YOUR MARRIED LIKE MANY OF YOU TEAMS ARE THEN PERHAPS YOU HAVE ME BEAT IN TIME OUT BUT I AS WELL AM MARRIED BUT DONT HAVE MY WIFE WITH ME UNLIKE YOU ALL. THE LAST TIME I WAS ON HOME TIME WAS BACK IN MAY MY DAUGHTERS BIRTHDAY.

I AM HOME NOW AND THANKS TO FedEX FOR GETTING ME HERE SO I CAN RENEW MY LICENSE. GOT ER DONE TODAY.

THANK YOU FEDEX CUSTOM CRITICAL YOUR THE BEST.

BY THE WAY CHUCK IF YOU THERE IF YOU GOT A LOAD FOR ME JUST GIVE ME A CALL SINCE YOU NEED TRACTORS SO BAD. IM AT HOME. U KNOW WHO I AM
lAVERGNE TN TO MOSES LAKE WA TO ST PAUL MN TO VIRGINIA TO VIRGINIA. THANKS AGAIN TO ALL AT FedEX CCWG.

ThANKS AGAIN FedEX CC WG AND SURFACE

 

[Wingnut]

We usually try to get a load bringing us close to home. On the occassions when we don't get one, we'll store the truck in a safe, secure facility and take a rental car home. If we're within 250 miles from home, we'll usually deadhead to the house.
Had some situations where one of us had to be home on a certain date & were too far to deadhead. We rented a car or took a plane while the other one stayed with the truck & ran solo temp. Worked out ok.
We always keep some funds set aside just in case of an 'emeergency' that requires one or both us to rush home. Or black lab always goes on the road with us, so we always carry his pet carrier with us in case we have to fly home with him. We aso have all his vet records, license, immunization records, etc with us.
Which brings up another question that can go along with this thread: How many of you have thought about what you're going to do with your pet if an emergency arises and you have to get home fast? Many of us take our beloved pets on the road with us. As a team, you have the option (depending on the reason for going home) of leaving the pet in the truck with the other driver but I'm curious as to how some of you solo drivers would handle the situation? Obviously if the situation is such that you can drive home, whether by your vehicle or rental car, that's a no brainer but have you thought about if the situation was such that you had to fly?

 

[iceroadtrucker]

I forgot to say somthing, When I was comming outa ST Paul MN I was called by the Excuse line who Screamed at me and said I was costing him 3000 dollars. Then I told him I was under load Just like when I came outa WA. Some one had to call him as soon as I jumped outa ST Paul. Well after I convinced his but I was under load then he wanted to know what I was getting paid. Hmm well more than 2 bucks all miles. THen the Excuse line shut up.

All I can say thank you GOD for getting me Home.

Thanks to FedEX CC Dispatchers and Angel my CC for talking to me and do there part to help me get back East. These people realy care. Thats what counts people that listen and care!!!
There are companies out there that the people dont care and just sit in those cues to collect a pay check. Well the ones I talked to Care and sure showed it. I will leave it at that

To the Excuse line I have some body with higher authority on my side and They sent some angels. just so you know made more from the Angels than would have ever made off a Back haul.
Angels have there advantages so does GOD
I believe in Angels I always have.
PS Some one thats been in this business since Roberts started told me you want to make it in this business go to where the freight is and if U get to an area thats null call talk ask it dont hurt to ask.
Relocate to where the freight is. Dont sit and wait unless God tells you.

 

[Streakn1]

Unlike when we were with FECC, we are now able to get home regularly under a load with our new carrier. A large part of our freight originates from or delivers to Miami International Airport, or the area businesses that support the airport. We are able to be in Florida at least 1-2 times a month now even if we don't need to be.

We live in central FL. so Miami is just a short distance from the house. Deadheading home is less costly now for us. It is also much easier for us to be dispatched out from the house rather than having to deadhead to Atlanta on our own nickle like we did when with the Fed. Its nice to have found a carrier that enables us to get home more often, plus make more revenue in the process than in the past.

 

[witchywoman07]

We have been with FDCC since Sept. 2007. We originally were from Eugene OR. Those of you with FDCC know they don't have much freight in that region so we didn't get home much. As we just became empty nesters about the time we signed on with FDCC we opted to move to where we were in FDCC's lanes. Sooo..Thanksgiving last year we took a "backhaul" load through FDCC that got us to Boise ID and deadheaded the rest of the trip. Packed everything into PODS, slapped a for sale sign in the front of the house, grabbed the dogs, kicked the 2 adult sons out and left. We needed to get back at tax prep time and FDCC was wonderful about helping out with the load the I found that got us to tri-cities area in WA. The house sold in May and we needed to get back to move our things to TN. Of course timing is never exactly the way you wanted but we got a load to Roseburg, OR and hour away from Eugene. We managed to get our stuff shipped to TN and followed along to put the stuff in storage there. That ends our problem of getting back to the west coast for home time. Just need to find a home in Knoxville now so we can experience everyone else's problems with getting to the house, lol. Never take dirty dishes for granted, haven't done them in a year and miss them desperately.

 

[ATeam]

While everything I wrote in post #4 in this thread remains true, we are home now and thought we would try our carrier's Home Run program to get here. It worked.

Diane left it to me to find the freight and I did not work hard at it. The path of least resistance was GetLoaded.com. I opened an account and found nothing the first day. The next day, as our head-home date approached, more loads were on the board including a couple that would have worked. I chose not the best paying one but the easiest.

We were in Tuscon at the time and deadheaded to Odessa, Texas, to pick up the load. It delivered in Minnesota, pleasantly close to home. Brokers called this a "partial" load. The pay of was enough to cover our fuel from Texas to home plus a bit more. The alternative would have been to deadhead straight home from Tuscon and pay for fuel the whole way.

It would not have been hard to find another partial load on the way from Texas to Minnesota but the program does not permit multiple pickups and deliveries. You can put one load on your truck and that's it.

That's OK, I think. If you start loading up the truck with multiple pickups and deliveries to work your way up to your customary level of pay, you start giving up the time it takes to complete them. The purpose is to stay in service for as long as possible to haul the "good stuff" our carrier dispatches, and then to get home when you have to. LTL loads (less than truckload) are not expedited loads. LTL shippers do not pay for exclusive use or straight-through service.

The freight we carried was a hot tub that required no special services or handling. It was interesting to see numerous reefer loads on the board that we also could have hauled. We have never before thought of our reefer as an asset that could help get us home, but it certainly could be if we used this program more.

Using the Home Run program was an interesting experience in several respects and fun to try. Before this load, we have never had freight on the truck that came from a source other than our carrier's dispatch. As an introductory learning experience, it was fun to talk to brokers and explore and use an outside load board.

If we wanted to get deeper and more-profitably into this, we could easily do so, but the experience re-affirmed our desire to stay with our carrier and its dispatch system. We have no desire to run under our own authority or book outside loads as a regular practice.

As long as our carrier keeps us busy enough with well-paying loads, waiting for the Qualcomm beep suits us just fine. The FedEx Custom Critical dispatchers are very well trained and very good. We missed having them in our corner when we hauled this outside freight. (On these loads, you communicate directly with the broker, shipper and consignee about the pickup, delivery and other details.)

Christmas will be the next time we are home with the truck. If we find ourselves more than 500 miles from home when it is time to go, we might use the Home Run program again, or not, depending on the circumstances.

If you are with FedEx Custom Critical and go home on a regular basis, the Home Run program is worth exploring.

 

[juliewray60]

Glad to hear that worked
out for you Phil.
We also used GetLoaded.com
and got us reasonably close
to home. Actually we made
a decent dime which more
than paid for the fuel.
Just remember, the all knowing
one says this routine ain't
possible. He even went as
far as saying he called in
to FEDx and they told him he
couldnt or so he says [?]
We must be "special" cause
according to the all knowing
you have to be a special person
to be able to haul non FEDx freight.

 

[hondaking38]

you all are super truckers....myself i put the van in drive and head that way whenever i want......next weekend is youth hunt in michigan...have 2 children that will be able to hunt it this year....waited 14 years for this, and theres not a load in the world that will keep me out past friday afternoon....

 

[BillChaffey]

I am a Cargo Van O/O for Bolt Express and have never asked them to get me home (as yet) BUT back in early August while in Mechanicsville Pa. One of my dogs who travel with me was injured, I was about 1.100 miles from home, notified Dispatch of the dogs injury & I was heading home. With in a half hour on the road Dispatch offered me a load to pick up on my Route in Pa. to drop in West Va. about 5 miles off my route. I took it and was very appreciative for it.

 

[LakeSide]

i'm certainly not a special person and ive used the back haul get home program several times.

and in another thread i see this "know it all" saying he investigated and found out its not
a program fedex will support.

why in the world would someone say or post its impossible ?

another case when the "know it alls" post wrongfull information and if you wern't smart
enough to check it out , you might miss the opportunity to cover fuel expenses getting home.
and thats just a wrong thing to do.

a good example that just because you got 7+ thousand post under your belt dont neccarily
mean you have a clue about existing policies and procedures.

i stick with opinions and suggestions that come from those posters who appear under the
banner "Top Reputations" . Men like LDB and davekc don't blow unsubstaniated smoke "up your
you know what" trying to inpress you.

point is , if you don't know what youre talking about it's probably best to keep your silly
opinions to yourself.

 

[LakeSide]

i'm certainly not a special person and ive used the back haul get home program several times.

and in another thread i see this "know it all" saying he investigated and found out its not
a program fedex will support.

why in the world would someone say or post its impossible ?

another case when the "know it alls" post wrongfull information and if you wern't smart
enough to check it out , you might miss the opportunity to cover fuel expenses getting home. and thats just a wrong thing to do.

a good example that just because you got 7+ thousand post under your belt dont neccarily
mean you have a clue about existing policies and procedures.

i stick with opinions and suggestions that come from those posters who appear under the
banner "Top Reputations" . Men like LDB and davekc don't blow unsubstaniated smoke "up your you know what" trying to inpress you.

point is , if you don't know what youre talking about it's probably best to keep your silly
opinions to yourself.

 

[Broompilot]

This is the favorite thing I like about what I am doing now.

Booking my own frieght, I can make that determination on my very next load. Living in a good freight zone helps me and anyone looking at this.

This week for example I have been out for 2 straight weeks, I will be home Tuesday evening, and layover until Thursday evening. Take a Load up to PA, with a turnaround to GA, for a Sunday delivery right past the house. Instead of stopping off, I will be at a customer that has over a hundred loads on Sundays all paying WAY ABOVE AVG, thats I booked the load out of PA with the timming and all its perfect. Than to make things better will PU sunday morning, and be at the house in less than 3 hours until Monday AM probably going to Maine from Augusta.

Expediting was just a crap shoot or a DH. It worked out well but I just never knew when I would get home, now I do.

 

[Jefferson3000]

Being a carrier, I can look for loads both expedited and regular. When I came home last week, I got offered a load by a broker that I had done a good job for recently. It actually picked up about 25 miles from where I was at the time and delivered within 40 miles of the place I park my truck. The previous time I d/h-ed to orlando from Macon, GA after failing to find a suitable LTL to load for the ride. I spent a few hours looking and waiting and then I just went, as I needed to get home. It was about 350 miles, which is normally more than I will run empty. In times of 4 dollar diesel, I definitely encourage folks to look into the get home programs that carriers may provide. It could also be of great benefit when you need to relocate a few hundred miles to a better area.