How do you Long Haulers figure out if you have the hours and when you will be delivering when your travel time is measured in the days. I have been figuring the hours on a blank piece of paper. I have been thinking about making a worksheet, something I can just plug in the hours that will tell me when I should get there including PTI, Fuel, Drive Times, Available Hours and Fudge Time.

If you already are using something that works for you and you are willing to share I would like to see it and better if you posted it everyone could sharpshoot it to come up with something that is workable.

 

we use log books. my company log book has a column to write down the hours each day that i have driven for the week. add that up and subtract from 70. that will give me the log hours that i have left for the week. cannot go over 70 hours logged in 7 day period. gets tricky once past the 5th day if driving for alot of hours for the week.
they sell log books at every truck stop.

 

I simply took the miles of the trip and divided by 50 and then added 1 hour for delays to figure how many drive hours needed for the trip. This also allowed enough time for VI's and fueling, plus some time added in for unforseen delays.

Then for every 10 hours of drive time I add in my 10 hour break. Add all this together and that would give me how many clock hours I need to complete the trip.

A little more math and I would know when I would finish the trip and then compare it to the dispatch and know if I could run it as planned. With a little practice most people can end up doing this in their head.

Some people, depending on the speed of their truck will use 50 mph east of the Mississippi and 60 mph west.

 

Yeah, yeah, everybody uses log books. I am talking about a run that is xxxx number of miles, it is going to take 5 days. What is the earliest time you will deliver. My gps will tell me how many miles it is, how many hours it will take. That is straight driving with no breaks, no fuel stops, no 10 hour breaks, traffic or other delays. If it is over 1,500 miles it will not figure out arrival time. I am looking for a worksheet that you just plug in numbers and come up with an arrival time, how many hours you can drive each day. This worksheet may be based on the log book. I have thought of this also. Just a blank log book, maybe 5 or 6 on a page to work it out.

 

I pretty much do it like Uturn does when solo, and a slight variation when teaming. But, I also....

Keep a 5 X 7 notebook "journal" of each trip. At the top I show origin and destination, manifest number, etc.

Then I show the mileage when I left the yard and the time on the first line. Everytime I stop anywhere for fuel, break, switch, whatever.... I log the hubmiles, place, reason and time of day/night.

Since I often go to the same places on a rotating basis, when I get a load dispactched, I can "check my notes" and see total times required for that trip. OR.... if going somewhere slightly different, I can look back and get actual miles and times for certain "segments" of the country.

In fact, after doing this for awhile, I compiled a list of A to B points and the mileage and travel times. I grouped them by 600 mile trips, 500 miles, 300, 200, etc. So, I can always kind of "put together" a trip like a jigsaw puzzle and know where I would be stopping, how far I could get in available hours, etc.

Hope this helps a little.

 

Essentially, I am doing the same thing. I take a blank sheet of paper put down the current time (or the time I intend to start rolling) and the 24 hours of each day all the way to the delivery time. Delivery time can be open ended if there is no appointment time. I can work the hours forward if there is no particular delivery time or backwards if there is a delivery time.. I list the hours available for each day whether it is a full 11/14 or recap hours. I add in PTI, full times, 10 hour breaks and my fudge factors. This sounds like what you are talking about. What I am talking about is a worksheet to plug in numbers. It may be as simple as copying five log book grids onto one sheet. I was hoping someone had a better method than I was using.

 

Terry,

I think your making this a LOT harder than it is. Just use the 50 mph average and that should cover fuel and rest stops. Anything over 550 miles add a 10 hr sleeper break. Do this for every 550 miles of the trip. If you are getting paid HHG miles add 10% to the paid miles before starting to figure a delivery time.

Just my $.02,


Ridge

P.S. I can do a cross country trip in my head before you get your computer turned on and booted up. :wink:

 

I had one of these using Excel, but cannot find it.

 

I agree. The only thing I can say differently is that when I was at CFI, they would dispatch solo's at 47 mph, and their computer would automatically add the 10 hour break in. I would do my own planning at a speed of 50 to 52 mph....completely dependent on where in the country I was. The NE rated a lower average mph, whereas other parts of the country would be figured higher. Now that I am pulling a chemical tanker, I still use that same method....and it works well.

:lol: :lol: Me too!! 8) 8)

 

I do mine allot like Ridge has stated, mileage+10%/50mph

Then divide that by 10hr driving day, etc.

Joe showed us a neat deal, for those that have trouble with it and actually need a visual, and use a log book sheet as a graph. show your 10 hrs driving/breaks/ and usually hr or so a day for incidentals.