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The Power of Planning Ahead

The power of planning ahead is loss to a certain extent as a truck driver. The reality is that when more than just you is a part of the planning process (freight, shippers, receivers, your dispatcher, traffic conditions, etc) you never know if your plans will work out.

Having said that, its not impossible, and many times it will work out if you do your homework on choosing the right company first.

See, if the company has plenty of freight, and the dispatcher is competent and cares about the drivers, then its a good chance most of your important plans will turn out ok as long as you do plan ahead. Notice, I said important. Two reasons I intentionally added the word important. If you are trying to get scheduled time off every week or every other week with most companies or time scheduled time off for specific dates frequently, you will be both a burden for the company (because they can't efficiently run the truck like that), and you will keep yourself from making the type of money you expected to make (because you can't get the miles you need to make the money if your time out on the road is always affected by your need to be back in). If this is your situation, trucking is simply not the type of job for you.

Now....once getting hired and working be proactive (there's that word again) in reminding the dispatcher or planner of your need time off a week or two before the date can help. Especially if you did your planning months ahead. When handling a lot of drivers each with their own problems and needs its easy to forget.

Now you see why it is important to have good relationships with people you work with (actually its important to develop good relationships with people that you deal with period in life.) Like I said it is a team effort.

The Importance of
Planning Ahead

The importance of planning ahead is obvious. Even though you can't predict if the plans will work out, you need to plan ahead the best you can. Try not to over commit yourself to unnecessary obligations and let people know who are connected to the plans how being a truck driver means things may not go down as planned so the stress level is kept to a minimum if things don't go as planned. Summary: Planning ahead is difficult not impossible. Its just that sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. You need to understand that. Family at home you need to understand that also. It's not your momma trucker, poppa trucker, daddy truckers fault give him a break.

He can't leave the truck and jump in an airplane without the companies consent if he wants to stay employed. Also if he's supporting the family then, well you do the math!

He needs to keep the job.