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Truck Driving Home Time: The Reality of Balancing Home Time and Run Time

A blue TFY truck and trailer parked in a field

At Trucks For You we want every driver to be successful in the trucking industry, which

means running the most miles possible to make as much money as possible. We also

understand that home time is important, whether it is time with family or time to take

care of things outside of the truck. These schedules can be hard to maintain and having

a healthy balance with driving and home time is difficult, but not impossible. Trucks For

You has worked with some of the best drivers who have learned how to get the most out of their home time, here are some tips on how they do it!


The Importance of “Running Miles”


Running miles is the most important step to being a successful driver. Pay comes from

running miles. The more miles you run the more pay you get. TFY is a company that

is only successful if our drivers are successful. 


To ensure that success, we want to offer as much support and help as we can to our drivers through our dispatching and planning teams, but that success also requires drivers to be dedicated workers and communicators. The most successful drivers at balancing home time and run time have a strong communication and work ethic. They understand that the only way to make money is to communicate their certain home time needs in order to run the most miles as possible


Tips From Director of Operations Jeremy Schuler


Trucks For You Director of Operations, Jeremy Schuler, has worked closely with all of our drivers and said the best drivers follow these tips to balance home time and run time:


1. Have a good work ethic.


Having a good work ethic takes more than just driving. A driver with a

good work ethic manages their time appropriately and understands pay

and running are directly related. Putting in the work to manage your time

will help make the most of your hours and help you plan out home time

better. An example of this is putting in the work to learn how to run off of

recaps.


2. Communicate with your fleet manager


Our team is willing to work with a driver on getting them to or through the

the house when possible. Believing that your fleet manager wants what is best

for you and is working with you, not against you, will create the best

dynamic for planning out home time.


3. Consistency is key


Being a good and consistent driver helps you. At TFY we value our

business partners and do not want to lose a good driver, we want to do the

most to help our drivers. Proving that the respect is mutual makes it easier

to work together.


4. Having a business partner mentality


Trucks For You does not force loads onto our drivers. Loads can be declined and a

driver chooses how much he/she runs. This is where the importance of

understanding that running is required to make money shows. Being

aware that the truck payment will still come even if no miles were run is

necessary. It takes around three days of running to make the truck payment,

so to make a profit more miles are needed.


How Trucks For You Values Home Time


TFY is as successful as our drivers are. We are also a family-based company that respects and cares about family time. Our teams aim to set up our routes to either pass through the home base in Muskogee, Oklahoma or become routine enough that our drivers can make their run time and have reset at home. 


We accomplish this task by:


  1.  Limiting our hiring areas

Our recruiting team does not want to hide anything from our new drivers. If the home area is not in a good area for our routes they are open with that

information up front. We only hire if we believe home time can be a

realistic goal.


  1.  Having a contract-based customer base

Our routes are consistent which makes planning more predictable and better for scheduling home time.


  1.  Building networks in a triangle.

Many of our drivers are on a route that makes a triangle shape so that our drivers can potentially pass through home on the route. The triangle gets a driver home around once a week.


Choose to Drive Trucks For You and Make Home Time A Reality - Now Hiring 


The Trucks For You team recognizes that the job of a truck driver is difficult. One of the biggest challenges for drivers is being away from home. We want our drivers to be successful and happy! 


If you have any questions about how to better apply these tips, reach out to our team. If you are not a part of the TFY team, APPLY NOW to join the best trucking team in the industry!

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