[whatsmynameagain]

well I have had tthe last week off due to my wife having our new baby, well i just went and checked my new load on the quallcom and there was a message about fuelcosts and cost cutting and they asked all drivers to voluntarily reduce speed to 62...so I can only assume that this voluntary period will only last until they get us in the shops and set the speeds themselves. I have slowed down on my own the last few weeks anyways just to try and see what change there was in my own mileage but we all know the majority of drivers are not going to respond to voluntarily slowing down.So i guess we are next...I guess i can understand..slowing down has bossted my mileage up to around 7.3 mpg for my last few fill ups. that would make a difference fleetwide if everyone started hitting that and not idling..but this comes on top of them changing our layover pay to a 34 hour wait. If this fuel keeps going up trucking is not going to be worth messing with, at least on a company driver level. Companies are cheaping out and not getting APU's then telling us not to ever idle, trucks are going to start getting slow at every company, we sure as heck cant expect any pay increases in the middle of this, freight is slow and there is a lot of sitting for a whole bunch of drivers. It definitely doesnt seem that OTR trucking is going to be getting any more fun any time soon.

no fun, i ahve a blast driving my truck. if you sit around and worry about things that are way out of your control, then yeah you ain't gonna have any fun, you will probably also have a heart attack. slow down like they ask or when they turn the trucks down drive till the speedometer stops moving. seems easy to me. things are not as bad as people think, if you can be smart about what you do.

oh by the way, congrats on new baby.

[whatsmynameagain]

Originally Posted by jedfxg

oh by the way, congrats on new baby.

Hey thanks...I guess we will keep him, he is a good baby so far.

About the slowing down thing, I'm with ya, people shouldnt worry themselves to death about it. The last few weeks as i said before i have been experimenting with it on my own and honestly, once you do it for a fews days and get your mind off of it, its just not that bad and when you get on a loong stretch without much traffic its actually kind of relaxing to just lower the seat down, find a good station and just sit back and cruise along and admire the scenery. It can be an inconvenience if you let it be but I just havent noticed it being a big problem for me so far. And since i have already slowed down on my own, if and when they cut the actual trucks back, I wont even notice it since I am already doing it.

[englishman]

I drive for Koch, they told us two weeks ago, turning the trucks down to 65, from 68, that is the trucks on our dedicated account @Kmart..... All new drivers will get a 65 mph truck, it can be frustrating, but on the whole, it's whats best for the industry, and the country.
I do have a couple of issues, 1) when you get around a truck doing the same speed, it depends on who has the most weight as to who gets past...... 2) It pushes the driver if like me, your on a time sensitive load!
At times you do need to drive a little different, getting past others can be tough, getting to the cosignee on time needs to rethink your use of time.... But, it's the economics that really count..... And please, don't come back to me offering remarks about "Well if they want the freight on time, I have to drive at 70." No you don't, Just keep working and quit hanging out at truck stops!
We all have seen the trucks rushing past you at 70, only to get 60 miles down the road and see them pass you again! Why? I guess most of the time, they have to keep stopping to drop off all that soda drink!

Congrats on the baby.......... Work real hard...... You now have a great reason to!

[Fredog]

Originally Posted by whatsmynameagain

well I have had tthe last week off due to my wife having our new baby, well i just went and checked my new load on the quallcom and there was a message about fuelcosts and cost cutting and they asked all drivers to voluntarily reduce speed to 62...so I can only assume that this voluntary period will only last until they get us in the shops and set the speeds themselves. I have slowed down on my own the last few weeks anyways just to try and see what change there was in my own mileage but we all know the majority of drivers are not going to respond to voluntarily slowing down.So i guess we are next...I guess i can understand..slowing down has bossted my mileage up to around 7.3 mpg for my last few fill ups. that would make a difference fleetwide if everyone started hitting that and not idling..but this comes on top of them changing our layover pay to a 34 hour wait. If this fuel keeps going up trucking is not going to be worth messing with, at least on a company driver level. Companies are cheaping out and not getting APU's then telling us not to ever idle, trucks are going to start getting slow at every company, we sure as heck cant expect any pay increases in the middle of this, freight is slow and there is a lot of sitting for a whole bunch of drivers. It definitely doesnt seem that OTR trucking is going to be getting any more fun any time soon.

now you can look forward to this


anyway, congratulations

[ALKELE]

Congrats on the new baby.

I got the same message on my qualComm and am figuring the same thing. That message a couple of weeks ago asking the drivers what we thought of 62 mph was just a warning. Next trip into the shop for a B service is probably when they will cut us back.

BTW, did you hear that they got rid of all drivers living in New York state? I ran into a driver a little over a week ago and he said that the company told him about 2 weeks before that, that he had 30 days to find a new job because they were laying off all drivers who lived in New York state. He was told that they didn't have enough freight in NY and that the fuel costs were too high. Ticked him off when he found out that they were deadheading me 198 miles into NY to pick up a load going to IA.

Changing the layover time to 34 hours to qualify does save them money though. I had to sit 29 hours over the weekend and since it was less than 34 hours, no layover pay. 34 hours? No one is going to hit that, just their way of saying that they will not be paying layover pay anymore.

Again, congrats on the new baby. Enjoy them will they are young. While you will always have fun with your kids, the first few years are the ones you will remember the most and with the fondest memories.

[whatsmynameagain]

yeah, i actually did hit the 34 hour mark this week but........once you took out for the dead head miles at their absurd 47 mph average I didnt qualify. Pretty bogus deal.

[ALKELE]

I was under the impression that they did away with the 47mph thing. I thought they said that if we qualified for the 34 hour restart then we qualified for the layover pay. You might want to check on that.

[Phreddo]

it's funny, today i checked my speed against my gps
if my gps is accurate, my truck speedo is 4 mph off ie 68 is actually 64
interesting