Archive for the ‘Trip Planning Help’ Category

Trip Plans The Easy Way Continued

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Part 2 of 3

In part 2 of our series on Trip Plans The Easy Way for Truck Driving School Students we are going to look at the basic principals needed to track your trips. In truck driving school this principal is often called the key to making more money. With that goal in mind we wanted to provide you with a few tips to help you track your trips so that you can meet the goals of a profitable well planned trip.

Tracking your trips can be the key factor in making more money from each load. When you look at your daily logs you will be able to recognize areas where you can improve and make more money for your self. You will also be able to identify areas where you may be losing money.

Your daily logs can act as a business record and they can be used to improve profitability and do more than just keep the Department of Transportation from ticketing you. They can also be a valuable tool when it comes to tracking your trips.

Here is how your logs will help you track your trips:

Remember that the more accurate you keep your log books the more accurate your current and future plans will be. No one wants to make a plan that includes 9 hours of driving when they only have 6 hours of driving left when they get to that part of the plan. Also, past experiences can help you plan as well. If you know that 7am traffic in Phoenix always takes an extra half our or so, you can plan for it because you will know where you have been and when.

Another way that good logs can be a tool for you is when you compare your “hub” miles with the miles your getting paid for. Looking at this will teach you what the real cost of your empty miles is.

Use logs to help you keep track of maintenance and repairs. This will help you budget for expenses. Some drivers know just about how many miles it will be until the need new tires. If you could get new tires before you pick up a load, you will avoid accidents or waiting around for road service while under a load. This will save you money in the long run and may even keep you alive.
When you look at your logs as a tool for trip tracking you will see more profitability. We will look at On-time Service and how it affects other parts of trip planning in part 3 of this series of Trip Plans The Easy Way Continued. Even though you may still be in truck driving school, this article and the article to follow will help you develop into a profitable driver.

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Trip Plans The Easy Way for Truck Driving School Students

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Part 1 of 3
Trip Planning is a major subject for discussion throughout truck driving school. Our goal here is to give you some tips on how to plan your trip in a manner that will help you maximize your income.

Trip planning and logging go hand in hand because you need to understand Hours of Service rules in order to trip plan properly. In a trip plan, you lay out what you are going to do. Your logbooks show what driving you have already done.

A basic Trip Plan is designed to answer these four questions:

    Where am I going?
    How long will it take to get to my destination?
    Where and when am I going to stop along the way?
    What can I do to make my trip as profitable as possible?

Some successful drivers have provided these tips to students so you’ll know what to expect after truck driving school.

Spend your Hours Of Service Driving and not handling personal business. If you are able handle all of your personal business outside of driving you will be able focus on meeting your driving goals.

Run ahead of schedule so you can take your slack time at the end of the trip. Professionals are often looking to deliver early so they can reload that much sooner.

Practice multi-tasking. If your waiting at a shipper, get other things like trip packs and trip planning done. Don’t waste your time when your on duty. Get as many things done as you can so when you have down time you can relax and get refreshed without having to worry about other things.

Drive at slower speeds. Try not to rush so you can drive a little slower and get better fuel economy. If you plan ahead for it, you’ll be fine and you will have saved some money.

Make daily reviews of your trip plan so you’ll know where you are as far as meeting your goals. Another benefit of keeping constant watch is that you can make adjustments to improve the plan and make better use of your time. And always remember to ask for that early delivery so you can reload sooner.

Use up every last scrap of your drive time. The scraps of time that are left can be the difference maker when you’re adding up your miles come the end of the week.

Consider your health. Remember that eating well, sleeping well and exercising will keep you from losing money do to illness.

In part 2 we will continue to look at other parts of trip planning. part 2 of this series of Trip Plans The Easy Way for Truck Driving School Students. Even though you may still be in trucking school, if you follow these tips you will become a highly profitable truck driver.

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