Not really a question, just wondering if you could sort of explain your day to day on the job routine? I drove in the military, but there everything went on set times to get jobs done and then back home. I'm still trying to get a vision for what you guys go through. The backing and actual operation of the rig I have down. But I've never been a civilian driver so I haven't slept in the truck or visited a receiving office to turn in paperwork or anything like that. So if you could, sort of go through and explain how one normal work week goes.

Explain, if you could, the pro's and con's of a normal week or two. How you go about getting paid, the tiny details are what I am after. I used to be a yard driver on 3rd shift for a dry mixing center here in TN and I'd see you guys coming in at night..some in good moods..some in bad moods hehe. Basically, pretend I gotta camera and am following you around for a week or so (like a documentary)..and tell me how your day starts..start from after you've had a couple of days at home off then go from there. I'd greatly appreciate the info if anyone has time. You can be as short as you need to, I understand if you are pressed for time. Just trying to see if I wanna take this step, and I'd know more if I could see what you guys go through day to day.

Thanks guys!

 

Lets keep it simple. I wake up, I drive for 11 hours...I go to sleep. Repeat as needed. Stay out of truck stops, except for fuel. Drive an average of 3,000 miles for 5 days and then go home for 2 days. That's it. :lol:

 

Simple is fine Any info is good info. So you average about 3000 miles in 5 days? Is that a common thing for most drivers? And roughly how much do you take home a week if you don't mind me asking? How do you get paid? Is it after each load is dropped off, or does the company keep track of it for you and send you a normal "paycheck" to your home address? Just trying to find out the little things that become big details if you don't know them until its too late

 

I might be able to help some here, although I don't drive, its my husband that does. Take last week. He left home Monday morning 8 am. Had a load to pick up in Amarillo (200 miles or so I think from here). Since this was a shipper he had some difficulty with before he called before he left here to verify the load was ready to be picked up. Drop and hook at shipper, left the empty, picked up the load going to Raleigh, NC. Drove until he was almost out of hours for the day, stopped for the night at his fuel stop about 45 minutes outside of Oklahoma City. For him, he post trips, eats, talks to me and the kids a little bit, then goes to bed. Repeat process until he drops the load in Raleigh.
Once he drops the load he has a Trippak envelope that must be sent to the company. That envelope contains the paperwork from that trip. With a week lag, he gets paid every Friday either by direct deposit (what we're doing) or its put on his Comdata card. The trippaks he has sent to them and they receive by Wednesday of the week before determine his Friday check.
From Raleigh, he went to Rocky Mount and picked up a load to bring back to Plainview, TX. Ran into a little bit of snow and ice driving in the mountains in NC, slowed him down a bit. He dropped the load in Plainview on Saturday, giving him 3400 miles for that Monday-Saturday.

Your mileage will depend on your company, and your type of freight. Your take home pay also seems to vary some but for us averages $650-900 or so. I know of no company we came across that issues "normal" paper checks to home addresss, as quite a few drivers are not home every week, or often enough to get them. Your hometime also varies greatly by type of freight and company.

 

I'm not representative of most of the drivers here -as you'll see-, but I'll give you an idea how a "normal" week might go with some of my normal customers/routes, In depth, as you asked:

Monday:

After my usual weekend off, let's say I know that I have the common run of a load of hazardous waste fuel (UN 1993) Monday morning and I filled up the 2007 Columbia's fuel tanks on Friday. This load goes from our facility in northeast Houston to a sister facility in Avalon, TX- a round trip of 430 miles. I'll get to the yard at 6:00 or so and get the truck started, hooked up and pre-tripped. I'll spot it at the tank farm and the yard guys do everything- no touch on my part. I'll usually check my e-mail and/or search the internet on the laptop with the Sprint Card. This takes about an hour.

Once it is loaded, they pull a sample and run an analytical on it. After it is cleared, the dispatcher will tell me we're good to go and I'll go in, sign the manifest, leave them a copy, and head out. I'll scale it down the street to cover my butt (the loaders sometimes get excited and they have loaded me up to 86,000 before- heh heh). Then it's up I-45 to US287 to TX34 for 3.25 hours of driving time with one stop for an en-route.

Once on site, I pull on the scale, hit up the lab on Ch.23. They know me and my truck number and our trailer numbers by now, and they'll tell me to back it in the sample bay and I hand off the manifest. Once sampled, I'll get in line- sometimes I'll be on site 45 minutes, sometimes 4-5 hours depending on business. Once unloaded, I check that the valves are closed and the dome is sealed, and it's back on the scale for a light weight. I walk in the office, get my copy of the manifest and weight ticket, and driver on back. Average Avalon run? Back at the yard by 5:00. Maybe I'll spot a trailer at the dock for them. Shut down, line one at 6:00.

Tuesday:

Van load pick up at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. 9:00a appointment. Get to the yard about 4:00, hook up the trailer and pre-trip it. Grab a drum dolly and a pallet jack. Head out down US59 to 77 to I-37 to Corpus Christi.

On site at 8:45a, go through the base security screening (open up every nook and cranny on the truck, show all paperwork, ID check, etc.). Get to the load site, park it, open up the doors, and BS with the guys with the other company that has the contract (we just to transportation and disposal) for maybe half an hour while they finish up. Hop in the truck and hand load the whole trailer- cubic yard boxes, drums, pallets, boxes- whatever. Put maybe 5 placards on- 3077 bulk, flammable, corrosive, toxic, dangerous.

11:00 or so and the military folk MUST go to lunch, so I ride over to a Mexican restaurant with the reps from the other company and get a free meal. Back to the base. The military needs like 18 copies of everything and has multiple forms of their own, so it takes a while. On the road by early afternoon. Drive in, hit rush hour traffic at 59 and 610, stop to fuel up near the yard and pull in the yard with 30 minutes to spare on my 14. I'll drop that trailer, get my load locks and straps and walk the paperwork in. Before I leave I'll hook up and pre-trip my trailer for tomorrow.

Wednesday:

Round trip New Orleans for a drop and hook of Household Hazardous Waste from the US Army Corp of engineers site at Gentilly in east New Orleans. 4:00 on duty, rolling by 4:15 and drive hard. I'll stop once at the state line for my mileage and en-route, once in Port Allen for maybe a pee break and some drink and snack. On site at 10:15- 5.5 hours driving with 30 minutes worth of stops.

Sign in, drop the empty trailer, pull the loaded trailer out of the way, drop it, hook back up to the empty and spot it, hook back up the the loaded one. Go through the Army transport vehicle inspection, get the paperwork in the office, and hit the road after an hour or so. We get as many as 10 haz-mat placards on these trailers- it gets attention.

Back the way I came, same stops, and hit the yard at 5:30 and shut down at 6:00. 14 hours, 3 hours on duty not driving, 11 hours driving. 700 miles.

Thursday:

Sleep "late" because my local pickup time isn't until 8:00-9:00. Get to the yard at 7:00 or so. No empty trailer. Damn it. Drive 18 miles over to our drop yard, pick a trailer, and head to Pasadena and Haldor Topsoe Chemicals. Pull in gate one, sign in, and then pull into the facility and 90* my 53' trailer into the ridiculously tight docks. They forklift load a few cubic yards of class 9 3077 stuff. Mark signs the paperwork, and it's out gate 1 and on down to gate 5, back up to an easier dock, and sit back while Jim tops off the truck.

Flammable and 3077 placards go on the truck, and it's back to the drop yard. Drop and hook to bring an "older" loaded trailer to the yard. Noon.

There's a tanker of non-reg wastewater in the yard a driver brought in the day before, so I hook up to that and drive it over to the $#!+hole that is US Liquids 5 minutes away. Pull in, take the paperwork to the cute lab girl, and back up in the tight unloading bays. While they do everything and take their sweet time for 2-3 hours, I surf the web, chat with another driver, call the wife, whatever. When I finally fall asleep, they'll knock on the door and tell me I'm good to go. Check the valves and dome, and it's back to the yard.

There's another New Orleans run on Friday -for another driver-, and they need pallets, so I'll take the trailer the Friday driver's gonna take over to the ghetto and pick up 100 pallets at our supplier, stop and fuel, and get back to the yard. 5:30. Spot a trailer at the dock and C-ya later.

Friday:

Albemarle Corporation in Baton Rouge. Great run. Get started, get a trailer and head out as early as I can legally start- in this case, 3:30 At the LA border for a quick stop by 5:45 or 6:00, and on to Baton Rouge by 8:30 or so. Sign in at the gate, pull in, and back right up to the dock. These guys ALWAYS have their $#!+ together- paperwork ready, and at least 2 forklift operators to load the pre-staged, palletized and shrinkwrapped drums. It's a full load -up to 96 drums sometimes-, and I occasionally have to keep an eye on the loading for haz-mat segregation issues. Once it's loaded (30 minutes, tops), I sign the paperwork, pull away from the dock and off to the side, affix the neccessary placards, and hit the road.

Back westbound on 10, and back into Houston. I'll drop the trailer at the drop yard and grab an older loaded one. Back to the terminal, park the trailer, park the tractor, and I'm gone and home for the weekend by 5:00.


+/- 2,200 miles for the week I guess. Usually 60-70 hours on duty. Good $$$.

---------


Whew- absentmindedly typed this watching Star Wars on the TV. Hey, the man wanted details.

I wonder who the hell read all this? I sure wouldn't.

-p.

 

In OTR trucking there is really no such thing as a typical day, beyond the simple explanation offered.

Here is the routine I basically used.

Get up and depending on the time of the day take a shower, eat breakfast, do my first vehicle inspection, clean the windows and mirrors, catch up the log book (as in getting it ready for today's entries), do my check in notice, head out.

After 2-3 hours take a short break.
2-3 hours after that take a 30 min break for a quick lunch
Finish out the 10-11 hours of driving for the day.
(All the above is subject to a bit of revision on a daily basis due to load requirements)

Stop for the night. Depending on the time of the day I might get a shower or wait until morning, eat some supper, go for a walk, and head for bed.

Between 6 and 9 am and then between 3pm and 9 pm the shower facilites at truck stops tend to be very busy, and I would rather spend the time waiting taking care of other things like sleeping, so I plan on getting my showers during the slow times.

 

okay here is really what to and the uh ohssss of this crap...

you get dispached to go get a load from a shipper at 11:00 am on a friday, then you notice you have to do 2200 miles in 4 days, not bad so far but you delivery is a 2am on the 4 day so its really 3.5 days, Dispatch counts it as 4 days, time of day has no meanin to them, so you arrive at shipper half hour early to find your load is not ready yet so you wait till they call you on the CB, now its 1:30 and they call you, so you back into the dock and another half hour goes by and you feel the truck start to rock, kewl they started to load but its 10 minutes in between the rockin so it takes awhile to load, they call you on the cb to come get your paperwork.... wow its 3 oclock already... now you buttton up the trailer and get rerady to roll out of their aftetr fumblin with the qualcom to send your macros and its 3;30 pm, so 4 hours of drive time gone but adjust the logbook, so you roll and roll and first day you drove 685 miles.

aftet your 10 hour break you start to roll on day 2 and is late in the day because you drove most of the night you hit rush hour, whew boy they move fast so you lost an hour in time doing 15 mph for several miles and now yer rollin, yeah just wait ohhhhh whats that ... ohh darn traffic is backed up for as far as I can see, but its moving, after 35 minutets you see that both lanes are squeezin down to one and nobody can merge but an accident happened and this held you back, whew thats over and yer rollin, for 250 miles you feel good until the orange barrels appear ohhhh darn sign says flagger aead and traffic just slowly comes to a stop, lost another 45 minutes because of that, and you roll to hit construction again and yer just pissed now and decide to adjust your log, by this you drove 645 miles but it took you past yer time by 3.5 hours so you decide what the hell just take a 6 hour nap and start again because that would show a 10 hour break, yeah cuts into yer time off....

Day 3 and its midday and you roll but got to get there and don,t have enough time, you drove 1330 miles already and its day 3 and tommorow mornin you deliver at 2am, you got 870 miles to go, so you drive drive drive and did 715 miles maximum allowed for 65mph in 11 hours and you got 5 hours to go deliver, so you now got 155 miles left, you decide that you can adjust log book to show you appt time was later so you nap for a hour then you drive to the delivery point... whew you made it alittle early but they tell you your appt is 9:30 am, and said who told you 2am was wrong and you have to leave and come back at 9am to check in, which is okay now you drove illegal and had to adjust your log to fit what really could of happened legally, this is the crap that happens to most drivers, I call everyone and tell them I can't make it till noon that day and change the appt time, company gets mad i do this but I don't have to run illegal.. they always get the times wrong, always.

Sometimes I can be there 10 hours early and have lots of time, but thats with no problems on the road in front of you, showers and fuel stops and finding parking is a whole other story and all that fits into what just happened, you think its grand now just wait till dispatch tells you how to drive, yeah you will see everyone knows how to drive but you.... and remember dispatchers have no clue what orange barrerls are and think your truck rolls 65mph on every road and they can't see traffic lights either while sittin at their desk, have fun

 

One attraction this business has for many of us is the lack of routine. No two days are alike. About the only thing that is routine in my day is the pre-trip. That is always done at the beginning of the day, whenever that might be. Some days start at 8:00 am and other times it may not start until 11:00 am. It depends on when I stop and pick up my load. I do plan my trips prior to leaving the shipper. My routine is dependent on where I am going and when I need to be there.

My day will be different than most on the board since I run my own authority. I spend a lot of time looking for loads, talking to shippers and brokers negotiating rates. I often do this while driving, at least the talking part. Most of the more successful drivers will leave home on Sunday to make a Monday morning delivery of a load pickup up on the previous Friday. Most will spend all or part of the weekend driving. If you are fortunate enough to be home on the weekend, you will likely not have the entire weekend to spend with your family, because you will need to make that Monday delivery. Sometimes, you will pick up a Friday load and run all weekend to deliver on Monday. If you don't have a load to deliver on Monday your income will be reduced for that week.

Drivers are paid several ways. Most companies will issue a fuel card such as Comdata, TCH or Fleet One. Some will also deposit money for your pay on the same card. You can pull part of all of your money off at most truck stop ATM's or when you fuel at the fuel desk. There is usually a charge attached to taking the money taken off in this manner. Some companies use direct deposit into your personal bank account. I suggest using a debit card while on the road and having your money direct deposited into your account. TAB Bank is a part of Flying J Truck Stops. They have one of the best ways for a driver to receive his pay without as many fees. They have a PDCA card which is a debit Mastercard. You can also have a checking account with them. It is very easy to take money from a Comcard or similar card and put it into your account. I don't believe there are any fees to set the account up. Most everything can be set up by telephone or Internet. Everything you spend with the card you receive points which may be used for merchandise or food at their truck stops.

 

thanks for all the replies everyone...I noticed some looked at me kinda weird when I mentioned the word routine. I really didn't mean for you all to think that I THOUGHT it was a basic routine..I think all the info given was very valuable to me and I thank you all a lot. It really sheds more realistic light on the career than most realise. I mainly just wanted people to take me through their work week or two weeks and explain how things went down...the drive times, the loads, the places, getting paid, roughly how much.

You got to understand, in this country I don't believe I've heard more horror stories about a career more so than I have heard about this one. When I drove in the military it wasn't a big deal..farthest we went out was 150-200 miles..we'd do the job once on the missile site, then stay the night if we weren't done, then finish up the next day and go home. So in my oppinion, "I STILL DIDN'T KNOW JACK ABOUT TRUCKING". So that's why my humble butt is picking you guys' brains for a bit. Thanks again for the info!! It's a lot to digest and think about

 

My routine is pretty much the same as it was with TMC. Typically on the weekend I'll be at home with a load to be delivered by 8am Monday. I'll leave the house early Monday morning, arrive at the consignee and unload. Send in my empty macro on the Qualcomm. This lets my dispatcher know I'm empty and waiting on the next load. Usually I'll receive the next load immediately or within an hour or so. This time of year it tends to slow down a bit so like today I emptied out early here in Houston, but at 11:30am I'm still sitting. There's alot of Passmore drivers that have been sitting empty here since yesterday so it looks like I'll be sitting a while.

Anyway, after getting dispatch I'll deadhead an hour or two to the shipper. Might take an hour or three to get loaded, sometimes just a few minutes. Get loaded up, strap, chain, tarp, etc. Send in my loaded macro, draw up my log book, figure out where I'm going to fuel and head out. Typically I'll run 400-500 miles, get near the place I'm going to unload at and find a truck stop to bed down at for the night. Sometimes I'll go all the way to the customer and park there, but only if I'm in a hurry and want to get unloaded first. Basically the same routine every day, all week, then head home Friday afternoon. 8)