OK, so I get this really awesome job that pays 35 for long haul, over 400 miles, and 40 for short, under 400. Now I find out that almost all my runs are just over 400, but almost always less than 500 miles. And, they add the dead head miles to the run, so if I thought it was under 400, it suddenly becomes over 400 and pays 35 anyhow.
So a typical run looks like this:
day 1: 4 to 9 hours to load, drive 200 miles.
day 2: drive 200 miles, spend day unloading.
day 3: dead head for 2 hours, spend day loading.
day 4: drive 450 miles, wait for shipper to open.
day 5: unload, drive 3 hours to shipper.
day 6: drive 500 miles, go home.
TOTAL: 1600 miles: $560, about 10 hours detention: $160. and $60 for tarping.
Oh, yeah, just to make it more fun, it's mostly Northeast traffic and PA mountains. I'm not getting those easy Midwest miles.
Is this the norm, or should I be looking for a better job?

 

Sounds almost (not quite) like when I was on the Southwest Regional board at Werner. It was a sliding scale based on the total length of the run.

 

It Takes time for them to put you in the loop i would at least give a company 6 months then start ragging on your dispatcher right now explain you need some miles at least 2500 a week min. see what happens. :evil: :evil: Big Dog Kicks

 

my week pulling a tanker
day 1... 45 minutes to shipper, 30 minutes to load. 295 miles (5 hours) to customer 1 hour to unload. load pay $230.00
day 2 back to same shipper, same deal
day 3 leave customer go 200 miles to pick up next load. 1 hour to load, 4 hours to customer. pay $250.00 leave tank at customer to be unloaded and reloaded. bob tail home for the night
day 4, pick up loaded tank and take to same customer as day 1 and 2 same miles and pay head back to same shipper as yesterday
day5 take load to same customer . arrive Friday at 4 pm, leave tank to be unloade monday, go home for weekend
4 loads for week total gross $960.00 left monday at 2 pm, home friday at 5:30 pm
works for me

 

Back when I first started, my dispatcher said they were going to run me "between the hills" for a while first. I spent six months running out of WI, to just short of PA, and just short of CO. I remember hearing other, older drivers, talking about things that happened to them, and I remember thinking that it HAD to be exciting.

Then, on my way back from my first trip west, I got half way down Donner and saw another one of our trucks that stopped to cool his brakes. Another truck coming down lost his brakes and rear-ended our guy. Our driver was out of the truck when it happened, but the other driver was being air-lifted to a hospital, and there was paper from our load all over the place. Our trailer exploded, and the load with it. The truck that rear-ended him was also totalled.

As far as I know, when a company gets a new driver, first of all, they want him to get used to driving. Get a little experience behind him. They're trying to "ease the OH MY GOD syndrome". Second, they want to see just how this guy is going to perform on the road. Will he speed, will he make his appointments on time, and things like that. They're also listening to "feedback" from their customers that you have been to in order to see what kind of relationship you will have with people you have to deal with.

Not long after I first started pulling flatbed, I got my dispatcher upset with me. Load, tarp, run, untarp, unload, and get the next load, and somehow, I still managed to get 3300 miles a week for two weeks. After that, they decided to give me more normal runs.

 

Wicked good advice, I think I've done that. Or, did you ever wonder if you passed your exit but can't remember? Get out the map, check the milepost, oops, I went by it...time for bed!

 

No, actually. I have not. I have a GPS screen with my course plotted and can see at a glance if my exit is coming up... even in dense fog. And, it leads me right into the customer's location... NO MISSES, NO U-TURNS, NO ERRORS.

 

Looking for a good GPS system for my truck. Which one do you have? thnx

 

I have a Cobra nav2100. DO NOT buy this one. Sucks is an understatement.

 

I used to use DeLorme and an earth-mate, but didn't like the map format they switched to in the last one I got. Now, I'm using Microsoft Streets and Trips. The receiver is more sensitive, but the map on the screen could be better. Wouldn't mind going back to DeLorme if they would go back to the old format for their map. The newer one I have(not the newest anymore) also seems to have some bugs in it. And, the addresses are not as accurate as the older version.