Based on what I've gleaned from this site, I understand that most of us drivers would like to be home on weekends, to spend time with their families, or to simply unwind and relax.

Now, what if I were to tell a potential employer that I don't want to be home on weekends, but would like to be home for 2 days during the week, say Tuesday and Wednesday : would that work in my favour, in the sense that would I get decent and well-paying runs on weekends ( since most drivers would have the day off ), or would I be actually short-changing myself by taking days off in the middle of the week when there would be more freight ? Are most shippers & receivers open during the weekends ? I would appreciate your opinions on this issue, since it's likely to be quite a real scenario for me.

From MY experience, I do not see a difference in the miles or runs you get based on when you take your time off. Time off is time off. Now, with that said, I am sure there are companies that will do different. Just ask any potential employer about this. BOL

There have been times when I have had to take time off during the week instead of a weekend. When I did this, like if I had to have a Weds off for a doctor's appointment and took Tuesday off as well, my weekend runs actually tended to be a lot like the runs I normally had during the week since they were trying to keep me close to home and in areas where they knew they could find or had freight coming back that delivered within deadhead miles of my house.

In order for me to enjoy a long weekend run two things had to happen. First is that I had the hours available to make the run according to the service regs and secondly I was not planning on being home for several more days after that weekend was over....such as not for another week.

Anyway that has been my experience with things working for medium haul carriers whose average trip length was between 500 and 700 miles.

I'm home 98% of all weekends. Well, this weekend I volunteered to run a load to El Paso. I left out on Friday afternoon and am sitting in El Paso now. By the time I get back to the house probably Thursday or Friday, I'll have 3,600 miles, plus the 1,800 I had when I left the house last Sunday.

It really depends on the carrier wether you get good weekend runs or not...It can be that you run out of luck and dont get a run in time or just a short one. It is always best not to limit yourself esp. to start off with. Get to know the company and the runs that they get. Learn where their major freight lanes are and try to find yourself somewhere you know theres runs originating that will keep you busy over the weekend. Get in good with your dispatcher before you make special requests. Communicate a plenty and find out who and where their big accounts are and with runs would allow for you to get home for at least a 34 hr restart. Good luck!

It all depends on what you're hauling, and to and from whom. What I'm doing, it wouldn't do me any good to want to take my time off during the week, because everything at both ends isn't running during the week.