Van and Sprinter Drivers

[chefdennis]

Ok i was going to bring this up yesterday but got busy. Since then, in another thread a posting by a new poster basisly said that if you can't drive a 1000 miles a day in a cargo van or sprinter you need to get out of the business.

Now I am only stating what I have found out talking to a few other drivers while sitting, so I maybe totally off base, but here goes. I spoke with a E-1 Van TEAM, they said E-1 will not let a solo driver drive more then 700 in a 24 hour period. Today I spoke with a Panther driver and he said, they are restrited to 13 hours and are made to take a 5 hour break after the 13, miles were whatever you could do in the time frame.

Now the reason I bring this up is, I did a cross dock transfer witha FXCC van driver at a FX freight dock in Rockford Ill. the other night. He picked it up and had to get it off his van because he couldn't drive it straight through and get it to mocksville NC, he already had driven 500 miles that day and he would have had to stop in 200 more miles and wait until the next day to get the load to the consignee. He said FXCC is limited to 700 miles in a 24 hour period.

Now, i have driven more then 800-1000 miles in a straigt through delivery, not something i look forward to, but i will do it. So to imply that any driver that won't or can't drive a 1000 miles in a day, one needs to consider that it looks like some companies simply just won't let that happen.... Am I wrong with the #'s I just said? Again, i am asking only based on what I have been told....

 

[piper1]

FXCC is 700 mile limited and 500 with hazmat load. I drove longer trips with my previous carrier, some 1300 miles in length (very small co.). If you are running on the carriers liability and you get in an accident because you've been driving for 16 hours, how do you think a jury will see it?

In retrospect, while I loved the pay on the big runs, I really shouldn't have been driving that far.

 

[miker]

while there are no legal limits in a cargo van, in my opinion most companies simply just dont want the liability if something were to happen. Any decent attorney would compare the HOS rules to a van and easily convince a jury that while not illegal the company is liable for allowing the van to simply drive too many hours ( bad judgment equals slam dunk case and large losses) just because it's legal sure dont make it the right thing to do.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

E-1 for a solo is APPROX. 16 hours or between 750-850 miles.
This includes the DH to pick up(shipper)

If you are doing 70 mph every 3 hours you will pickup 1 hour of time 6 hours you are up 2 hrs....this allows a power nap....

IF they can build extra time into the run for a 4-5 hour break you can run it straight thru....Teams are NOT limited in any way.

 

[blizzard2014]

E-1 for a solo is APPROX. 16 hours or between 750-850 miles.
This includes the DH to pick up(shipper)

If you are doing 70 mph every 3 hours you will pickup 1 hour of time 6 hours you are up 2 hrs....this allows a power nap....

IF they can build extra time into the run for a 4-5 hour break you can run it straight thru....Teams are NOT limited in any way.

The one thing I liked about Express 1 is that when they did decide to give you a longer run "like when I got a load from Portland to Calabasis CA to do in a 24 hour period, they never micromanaged me. They simply told me to be safe and to get it there by the protect time. I ended up driving 900 miles with a small nap in between and got to the consigness 8 hours early. With Panther as soon as you accept a load offer your 15 hour clock begins. Thus if you are delayed at the shipper for 5 hours and have a 600 mile run and can't complete it within the remaining ten hours, you will be swapped out. Also, if you are fighting with dispatch about a swap, they will look to see what was the earliest time that the ignition was on "as this is recorded by the qc" and use that against you.

Panther does the swap crap and tends to play mother hen with you, but then again they can always scrape up a load for you. I was swapped in Waddy KY once off a 900 mile load, got like 500 miles of it. I spent the day in Waddy and got a load swapping at the UPS cross dock in Lousiville that midnight. It was the remainder of an 800 mile run to Birmingham to Nissin. I ended up getting 400 miles off of it. I delivered at 8 in the morning and slept till noon and got a load from nissan picking up in Birmingham going to Princeton Indiana. The load was a 700 mile run of which I got 400 miles of it. So as you can see I did 1300 miles in three days with the cat; not bad in my book.

Now companies like Bolt and Arrow Freight Systems are smaller and do not have a lot of cross dock locations. These companies usually allow you to run however you want "provided you have a proven on time track record and you can do it legally!" I have run 1000 miles straight through before after driving all night to deliver the previous load after only taking a 3 hour nap. I "one time with panther before they began to regulate the cargo van" drove all night to deliver to UPS in Virgina somewhere, slept four hours and delivered at 7 in the morning. Then I ate a sandwich and got load delivering direct into Balrimore. I ended up driving like eight hours straight because of traffic and got it there just in time, then I headed up to the TA up there in Jessup Maryland. I had just watched an hour of television and was about ready to take me a nice long zzzz's and right when I got to my van I got a call from a CSR. Had a load picking up in Richmond VA "had to move because shipper had a fork truck operator waiting for me to get there; he was waiting to go home!"

The load was going all the way straight through to Huntsville AL and there was a crane crew for the railroad waiting for this little part that was holding up their entire operation. Talk about pressure man. I had just driven 8 hours straight, now had to drive 180 miles to pick this box up and then another 750 miles overnight...geeze. All I wanted to do was go to sleep but the railroad crew needed me. Well to make a long story short, I made it there in one piece. Do I ever want to attempt that kind of driving adventure again; well no. Why did I do it; because you have to take the freight when it's hot. Boy to get 1000 paid miles in less than two days is a good thing in my estimation. Oh yeah, and the fifty dollar tip I got for delivering it 5 hours earlier than Panther had quoted them and the handshake was excellent. I got a tip because I was in contact with the crain operator all night and updating him on my position. Then it was off to sleep for 7 hours.

I do not advise this to everyone. I was an over the road trucker and I am used to driving a semi for long periods of time...so a cargo van is a walk in the park for me. Also, if you are given 24 hours to so 1100 miles and you drive 70-75 mph, you can gain like 15 minutes of time on every hour if you are disciplined and only stop to get fuel. Thus you can squeeze a nice 3-4 hour break in there and deliver 2 hours early. Once again, it all boils down to keeping that left door shut.