Big Truck How long out before home time?
- Thread starter JerryK
- Start date
Most companies and fleetowners want you to be out at least 3 to 4 weeks then home a week. Most would like 4 to 5 weeks then home a week. If you get a load close to home 200 miles or less then head home.
Jerry,
This is one of the things you need to talk with your fleet owner about. It should be clearly written in the contract. You read the contract, didn't you?
Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
This is one of the things you need to talk with your fleet owner about. It should be clearly written in the contract. You read the contract, didn't you?
Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
Flying Van,
I have, it is, and I have. I'm just trying to get a feel for what others in the industry are doing/expecting.
Jerry K
4 to 8 weeks ...
or whenever your better half tells you to get your butt home!
or whenever your better half tells you to get your butt home!
Good. I mentioned it because you would be surprised to know how many people get blinded by $$$ and don't read the contract carefully. Some don't even sign a contract at all. Then after working for a while they get all out of shape.Flying Van,
I have, it is, and I have. I'm just trying to get a feel for what others in the industry are doing/expecting.
Jerry K
Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
A few days.
And a few weeks.
I went home when there was a job going there or within 250 miles of home as that's the circle that covers the MAJOR cities around me. If I'd left just a few days ago then I'd go home for a day and do laundry etc. and go again. If I'd been out a few weeks I'd go home for a few days, usually always 0.75-1.25:1 ratio of days to weeks out. The only thing for certain was nothing was for certain.
And a few weeks.
I went home when there was a job going there or within 250 miles of home as that's the circle that covers the MAJOR cities around me. If I'd left just a few days ago then I'd go home for a day and do laundry etc. and go again. If I'd been out a few weeks I'd go home for a few days, usually always 0.75-1.25:1 ratio of days to weeks out. The only thing for certain was nothing was for certain.
I have not started yet (will start this Friday probably), but supposedly I will get about 2500 - 3000 paid miles per week (sometimes multiple loads per run so miles can "stack" without actually driving extra distance)
Supposed to be off most weekends and be home once or twice per week.
Running in a 26' straight truck with lift gate , non CDL, no sleeper
I looked into driving for the big companies but for me and drivers hard to stay out for long periods.
Supposed to be off most weekends and be home once or twice per week.
Running in a 26' straight truck with lift gate , non CDL, no sleeper
I looked into driving for the big companies but for me and drivers hard to stay out for long periods.
If you are leaving a family at home, they may soon make their expectations about how often they want you there; however the owner of the truck will have expectations that may trump your family, especially if owner is paying for fuel. Owner would likely be more flexible if you pay fuel. three weeks out is fairly common. If you live east of the Mississippi River you will have better luck to have regular home time than if you live west of the river where freight is less plentiful. Many folks have good luck running around California and adjacent states.
Semper Paratus, Terry
Semper Paratus, Terry
Then where exactly are you supposed to sleep? If your answer is motels, which seems to be the only possible answer, who is paying for them? You won't be able to afford them out of your split. Neither will the owner. This suddenly sounds like a VERY bad idea and plan.
Based on the average per mile money we are supposed to make (Avg $2.10 per mile but pimp (er broker) gets 20%) and the number of miles (400-500 per day "stacked" miles so don't have to run all those actual miles to get paid for those miles( example.... 2 items going the same direction for about 200 miles is 400 paid miles) we are supposed to run we will pay for motels ourselves if needed (unless the driver wants to "slum it" in the truck).
If this is a good gig I'll look into a truck with a sleeper but I have slept many a night in a car as a long distance courier (car work) ....truck is an upgrade in size !
I suppose another alternative would be to sleep in the box itself (since the truck would be a rental at first we would not be able to fashion an "escape" hatch through the bottom of the truck or rig up the door latch to be openable and lockable from the inside (would not want to get stuck in the box).
Of course the above (non hotel options) also requires us to know how to handle log books so we can make it work out log wise in the event of a non dot approved sleeper truck.
Overall, the hotels would be a big expense but making the extra $$ should offset that.....well, at least that's the plan....
We're supposed to start this this Monday .....fingers crossed!
Good Luck.
You may surprise us...
But on the over/under 6 weeks
I take under.
You may surprise us...
But on the over/under 6 weeks
I take under.
You will have to log your empty, probably uncompensated, miles.
Andy, A lot of folks on EO have tried to help you along by answering many of your questions yet you seem to be determined to ignore the most basic and important regulations governing our industry. Part 393.76 defines the minimum sleeper requirements for a CMV. Part 395 is a lengthy discussion of the CMV drivers' HOS requirements and the method required to record them. As a CMV operator, you have a legal responsibility to be familiar with all of the FMCSA regulations and an obligation to comply with them. You have a 50/50 chance of receiving one of the many types of inspections at every scale house you will be required to, If you have not complied, you will have, as a minimum, a citation for a falsification of record of duty status regulations; failure to have an adequate sleeper berth and yo and your truck will be placed out of service, loaded or not.
Wonder if Andy got out Monday ?
I’d think he’d have questions to be answered after one week.
I’d think he’d have questions to be answered after one week.
Hi All,
Yes, we made it out on Monday BUT not until 5 or 6 PM due to the rental company having to drive a truck to the location we were at (It was supposed to be there at 9 AM sharp so the driver had a long wait to get the truck)
The driver drove the new truck ( only 3000 miles and still smelled new!) to Baltimore and stayed the Hotel ($103 !
sigh....I told him we need to learn to be CHEAP for sleep ....(166 mile dead head too...UGH).
I looked into Hotel.com and Air B&B and saw rooms for as low as $45 ....
Not quite as cheap as sleeping on the front seat or in the box BUT by far cheaper than the $75 we've been averaging per night so far.... (best prices so far as far as motels go are Motel 6, followed by Super 8, and Red Roof Inns) ....Trying to get driver to use Air B&B more and or staying at the International Hotel (The truck ;-O ).
Anyways, Tues was the day of our first freight pick up BUT before arriving at the facility the driver called me to say ..... " It's not my fault....There was a low branch..."
No sooner than he said that I suddenly got a case of terets and started spewing choice 4 letter words....NOT a good way to start our OTR experience.
The front center / right side of the box now has a skylight ....
The driver Loaded up and started a string of driving to pick ups and long waits...(actually 3 deliveries)
Our Pimp (broker) said the hole in the box was a problem for many of his normal shippers so he worked hard trying to find us loads or people that would not turn us away with a ventilated box.
As if that was not hard enough to work around...., the next glitch was that many shippers needed to have a copy of our authority paperwork that showed us as having interstate authority (we originally had gotten interstate authority to get our MC and DOT numbers but later converted over to intrastate to avoid inspections etc (plus at the time all we did was local).
We switched our authority type online BUT the government doesn't work fast so we have to wait 7 to 10 business days to get the needed paper (sadly, the shippers are difficult to deal with and can't look at the safer fmcsa site to verify our authority as interstate).
Another glitch we had was with the debit card I gave the driver for fuel, food, hotels ..... It was flagged several times for fraud (appears that all the travels and charges in different cities / states set off red flags since I used to always stay local....).
Tonight the hotel denied the driver a room because the card didn't work (fraud lock)....The driver called to complain and I told him no bank is open at 11 PM so it would have to be resolved tomorrow...My girlfriend overheard this and thought to call the 800 number on the mach of the card.... That took care of the problem BUT the driver had already used some emergency $$ to pay for the room....I guess I had halfway hoped tonight's fraud lock would have the driver sleeping in the truck to save some $$).
Anyways, this first week the broker said we earned $1500 out of the $5500 he had lined up BUT he said many shippers backed out of due to the hole in the box and / or lack of the authority paperwork.
This first week I believe we are in the red unless I skip paying the driver....( afterall the skylight was his fault)
For informational purposes, I'll try to post all our costs once I sit down and figure it all out (hotels, fuel, tolls, dead head miles, total miles etc).
The driver will be home tomorrow night and we'll have to "fix" the hole at some point this weekend so shippers won't have to worry about leaks until we can swap out trucks...
I'm hoping to find our old interstate authority paperwork so hopefully that would take care of the shippers need for paperwork .....
Hoping we can make some $$ before we go bankrupt !
(Also hoping we can dodge the man since the driver is surprisingly not very competent at operating a GPS out of state / not very proficient with googling for hotels etc....I'm not having a great deal of faith in his ability to properly fill out the paper logs....(yes, we probably need electronics at some point but I learned if we only run 8 out of 30 days we can run paper .....see I AM learning ! ;-O ).