How do you like to run?
- Thread starter Bruno
- Start date
There is NO point in working hard if you are not able to enjoy your life. Each one in here has their own needs and wants. Life is FAR too short to not spend time living it. Too bad we can't ask some of our friends who have left us and see what they think about taking time off for life.
i cant imagine the onslaught that would be posted if i gave you our work schedule. and the money lost, oh my.
we are in the work to live not live to work mind set. then again we all know what we need and as long as we meet our own goals and provide for our future no two peoples needs are the same. we like to make money as does everyone. we also like to enjoy life as we are living it and not just when we retire.
by the way, we work between 28 and 32 weeks a year. been on this schedule for 13 yrs. it works for us, maybe not for others but it does what we need it to do as far as our plan goes. we did work 40 weeks one year. our normal schedule is 4 weeks out and 2 weeks home. july off and call it a year around the 20th of december till the 20th or so of january.
we are in the work to live not live to work mind set. then again we all know what we need and as long as we meet our own goals and provide for our future no two peoples needs are the same. we like to make money as does everyone. we also like to enjoy life as we are living it and not just when we retire.
by the way, we work between 28 and 32 weeks a year. been on this schedule for 13 yrs. it works for us, maybe not for others but it does what we need it to do as far as our plan goes. we did work 40 weeks one year. our normal schedule is 4 weeks out and 2 weeks home. july off and call it a year around the 20th of december till the 20th or so of january.
you are very correct about that. thats why we own so we can operate our way.
secondly, thank you.
secondly, thank you.
Monty
Expert Expediter
Well, when I was still out there among 'y'all ...... when I left home it was usually whenever freight brought me back.
But ... all my kids are grown and the grand children live elsewhere, so I was able to visit with them quite a bit. My wife worked so we scheduled things, and I showed up for them. Like trips to Aruba, etc ... and the camper stayed busy a lot also.
I seriously doubt I worked 6 months a year. And I did a lot of deadheading, just because.
When I took some exciting load to Bismarck, I always figured deadhead into the rate.
And I have been know to dh from Fairbanks all the way back to Washington and then dh on down to Oregon to finally pick up.
I was somewhat of a gypsy, and a free spirit.
In the "good old days" of Robert's Express, my White Glove units always had a mission. We seldom ever deadheaded. I operated those trucks like a finely tuned clock! Every cent was accounted for down to the penny. They were usually out 3-4 weeks, then at home for 8-10 days so my drivers could regenerate.
And they were employees of mine .. no lease purchase, no contract drivers ... so every penny needed to be accounted for ... and I still made more money than I could spend! (Well, sorta). It was a very profitable time in the 80's. Little competition, and high demand, and Roberts, (at that time) was the only game in town for expedited, high value, cargo.
In the end with Landstar, I was not so needy, and trucking became a lot more relaxed. Same with the final few years of my tractor/trailer experience with Hot Shot Express.
One does indeed need to earn the right to relax, it's hard to do when you are supporting an active family and making house payments, etc.
But ... all my kids are grown and the grand children live elsewhere, so I was able to visit with them quite a bit. My wife worked so we scheduled things, and I showed up for them. Like trips to Aruba, etc ... and the camper stayed busy a lot also.
I seriously doubt I worked 6 months a year. And I did a lot of deadheading, just because.
When I took some exciting load to Bismarck, I always figured deadhead into the rate.
And I have been know to dh from Fairbanks all the way back to Washington and then dh on down to Oregon to finally pick up.
I was somewhat of a gypsy, and a free spirit.
In the "good old days" of Robert's Express, my White Glove units always had a mission. We seldom ever deadheaded. I operated those trucks like a finely tuned clock! Every cent was accounted for down to the penny. They were usually out 3-4 weeks, then at home for 8-10 days so my drivers could regenerate.
And they were employees of mine .. no lease purchase, no contract drivers ... so every penny needed to be accounted for ... and I still made more money than I could spend! (Well, sorta). It was a very profitable time in the 80's. Little competition, and high demand, and Roberts, (at that time) was the only game in town for expedited, high value, cargo.
In the end with Landstar, I was not so needy, and trucking became a lot more relaxed. Same with the final few years of my tractor/trailer experience with Hot Shot Express.
One does indeed need to earn the right to relax, it's hard to do when you are supporting an active family and making house payments, etc.
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
How do I like to run? In the NUDE!
DON'T LOOK, ETHEL!!! It was too late. She'd already seen his Peterbilt.
DON'T LOOK, ETHEL!!! It was too late. She'd already seen his Peterbilt.
Out of 90 available days to work 1st quarter I logged 45 working days only 11 of which are deductable per standard daily deduction allowance. That's how often I get home and actually my work revolves around getting home as often as possible. Every load or every other load. I run 100% spot freight self dispatched and set the rate my truck rolls for. My rates and standards are high. I look at it like this, if you need my truck that is what I will do it for, considering their offer or if they ask for a quote. I can go broke sitting at home just as easy as I can rolling up big miles. The thing is I actually keep more of what I earn after expenses than I ever did working for a carrier paying me on a set rate and getting me a steady 3,000 miles with a day off every week. Working myself to death for nothing.. I have a life outside of the truck.. This is not to say I wouldn't roll up 3,000 miles in a week. I have done that on spot when capacity was tight and rates were really good and I will do it again when it's there.. ..trucking is just so much funner when you're happy with the pay and quality home time is the icing on the cake. When somebody "needs" the freight moved you can tell... ...and it's funny how all of a sudden whatever the rate is they are glad to get it moved. And the ones who cry bloody murder at quotes.. ..I make no apologies at all.
Last edited:
Tom, you and Tina aren't like most folks. You take you're time off during the right times of the year for expediting. My hats off to ya.
MissKat
Expert Expediter
This is an interesting discussion on your part, Dave.
Perhaps a fleet owner needs to recruit folks that are in the game a year or two, not old hats. The year or twos are still excited enough to stay out for months at a time because they know if they sit a week there is no check two or three weeks down the road.
Last year was a wierd case in point. The year or twos would not take it personal when a company maintenance supervisor calls them to accuse them of stealing a trailer that is assigned to them. They wouldn't have taken the call - they would have had the owner deal with it.
We desperately needed to get to Alabama for example but instead sat at a truckstop in Allentown PA for four days, before we knew about transcore 360. No one called us in the four days we sat there, neither Panther nor the owner. I did not get to say goodbye to my mother, who passed three months later because I could never get to Alabama to see her .
We sat for eight days due to Panther's reefer trailer issue, in the home office area, and lost tremendous dollars because of it. There were empty trucks sitting at our owner's office but we were never offered an opportunity to make any money while Panther had our assigned trailer performing the TVAL tests.
When our property suffered a 24 foot wall of river and ate my car, we were home for 30 hours and dispatched out without a word to us to see how we were, had we done our insurance work, etc. This was after driving to Ohio in our POV Christmas Day, and out until the first of Feb for only those 30 hours to access the damage to our property. We left our house, picked up the overweight load, spun the fan shroud 300 miles from home and sat in Reno for four days waiting for parts so that my husband could repair the truck in the Petro parking lot in a blizzard, then to get to Laredo and the load refused for another three days. Moral hit the floor.
One or two year expediting vets would still be willing to go out for those two or three months after all this because they would hope things would get better. They can be coaxed to take loads that really don't make sense but because they drive for an owner, they accept them.
Veterans know that some areas are not so hot and will wait for another better deal. Veterans also know that when it is very very slow, any offer can be sweetened usually to move to another area and make a few bucks.
No decent teams will want to stay out months away from home for a fleet owner if they have a truck that will fail a DOT spot check. They cannot afford it. Some teams cannot afford to pay all the tolls up front and wait three weeks for reimbursement. Some will not sleep on a mattress that is as old as the truck, some will insist the APU and heat/AC work as if the owner was driving it. The better the equipment, the longer you are willing to stay out and run. Poor equipment, the driver gets tired of breakdowns and babysitting.
With all this said, our team agreed with each of the three expedite owners we drove for that we would run ten months of the year and home eight weeks.
We stayed out for five months other than the 30 hours to check the flood damage and asked for 8 days off. The owner pressured us to come back sooner than we requested for hometime because we were hard runners and made his company money while some of the fleet was not as dedicated or the trucks were empty. Panther dispatched us so that we could keep our hometime intact.
I think that any fleet owner should also be very careful who they hire to manage their drivers and trucks after their drivers have been dealing expressly with the owner. The drivers new liaison may not have the same goals as the fleet owner and sometimes not the same agenda.
If the drivers are not happy, they will not stay out as long as the owner hopes they will. If they are working and the truck is well maintained, and they feel respected by the owner, they may work an extra month before going home.
Remember, the owner goes home at night, sleeps in their bed, has a nice hot shower and a snack in the kitchen. Dispatchers go home at night and sleeps in their bed.
The truck driver lives in the owner's truck. And sacrifices.
Thank goodness I worked as a team with my husband, and we endured every challenge and every triumph together. I could not have done it solo. At least when someone makes you mad you have someone to discuss it with before you say or text something you will regret.
So, drivers who work for others are not likely to stay out as long as owners who drive their own "houses." And if the fleet owner was a driver in the past, they should be somewhat more understanding of what hometime does for morale and encourage regular hometime for their fleet.
Just my two cents
Perhaps a fleet owner needs to recruit folks that are in the game a year or two, not old hats. The year or twos are still excited enough to stay out for months at a time because they know if they sit a week there is no check two or three weeks down the road.
Last year was a wierd case in point. The year or twos would not take it personal when a company maintenance supervisor calls them to accuse them of stealing a trailer that is assigned to them. They wouldn't have taken the call - they would have had the owner deal with it.
We desperately needed to get to Alabama for example but instead sat at a truckstop in Allentown PA for four days, before we knew about transcore 360. No one called us in the four days we sat there, neither Panther nor the owner. I did not get to say goodbye to my mother, who passed three months later because I could never get to Alabama to see her .
We sat for eight days due to Panther's reefer trailer issue, in the home office area, and lost tremendous dollars because of it. There were empty trucks sitting at our owner's office but we were never offered an opportunity to make any money while Panther had our assigned trailer performing the TVAL tests.
When our property suffered a 24 foot wall of river and ate my car, we were home for 30 hours and dispatched out without a word to us to see how we were, had we done our insurance work, etc. This was after driving to Ohio in our POV Christmas Day, and out until the first of Feb for only those 30 hours to access the damage to our property. We left our house, picked up the overweight load, spun the fan shroud 300 miles from home and sat in Reno for four days waiting for parts so that my husband could repair the truck in the Petro parking lot in a blizzard, then to get to Laredo and the load refused for another three days. Moral hit the floor.
One or two year expediting vets would still be willing to go out for those two or three months after all this because they would hope things would get better. They can be coaxed to take loads that really don't make sense but because they drive for an owner, they accept them.
Veterans know that some areas are not so hot and will wait for another better deal. Veterans also know that when it is very very slow, any offer can be sweetened usually to move to another area and make a few bucks.
No decent teams will want to stay out months away from home for a fleet owner if they have a truck that will fail a DOT spot check. They cannot afford it. Some teams cannot afford to pay all the tolls up front and wait three weeks for reimbursement. Some will not sleep on a mattress that is as old as the truck, some will insist the APU and heat/AC work as if the owner was driving it. The better the equipment, the longer you are willing to stay out and run. Poor equipment, the driver gets tired of breakdowns and babysitting.
With all this said, our team agreed with each of the three expedite owners we drove for that we would run ten months of the year and home eight weeks.
We stayed out for five months other than the 30 hours to check the flood damage and asked for 8 days off. The owner pressured us to come back sooner than we requested for hometime because we were hard runners and made his company money while some of the fleet was not as dedicated or the trucks were empty. Panther dispatched us so that we could keep our hometime intact.
I think that any fleet owner should also be very careful who they hire to manage their drivers and trucks after their drivers have been dealing expressly with the owner. The drivers new liaison may not have the same goals as the fleet owner and sometimes not the same agenda.
If the drivers are not happy, they will not stay out as long as the owner hopes they will. If they are working and the truck is well maintained, and they feel respected by the owner, they may work an extra month before going home.
Remember, the owner goes home at night, sleeps in their bed, has a nice hot shower and a snack in the kitchen. Dispatchers go home at night and sleeps in their bed.
The truck driver lives in the owner's truck. And sacrifices.
Thank goodness I worked as a team with my husband, and we endured every challenge and every triumph together. I could not have done it solo. At least when someone makes you mad you have someone to discuss it with before you say or text something you will regret.
So, drivers who work for others are not likely to stay out as long as owners who drive their own "houses." And if the fleet owner was a driver in the past, they should be somewhat more understanding of what hometime does for morale and encourage regular hometime for their fleet.
Just my two cents
i guess for the most part dave, but other times not so much. it works for us and thats all that matters. other people need different things. im glad we are minimalistic and need very little.