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XPO | Question for nighttime line drivers who chose nights.

Conway Lifer

Conway Lifer

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I’m looking for nighttime line drivers who chose, we’re not forced, to be on nights. Pros and cons… I know the obvious con, up nights sleep days, but what other cons are there? How the heck do you have a weekend, and somehow on Monday, go back to your night schedule? I’m on days now, the bullshit, horrible traffic, I’m sick of. Im asking those who chose nights because you had a choice.
 
Conway Lifer said:
I’m looking for nighttime line drivers who chose, we’re not forced, to be on nights. Pros and cons… I know the obvious con, up nights sleep days, but what other cons are there? How the heck do you have a weekend, and somehow on Monday, go back to your night schedule? I’m on days now, the ********, horrible traffic, I’m sick of. Im asking those who chose nights because you had a choice.
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I’ve bid nights for the last 5 years. I chose it the first time to get away from the dispatcher. Now it’s the money. The cons is the hours suck, working 60 plus a week. Saturdays I take a 3 hour nap to be sort of functional that night. Mondays I get up with the wife at 4am and take a nap at noon or 1 and get up between 4 and 5 to do it all over again
 
You dont have a weekend.

You are working properly when you have all that paycheck in the bank and are too tired to do anything with it. You go to bed for the new week next.

Yes getting away from dispatch is key, the chaos by day is not acceptable.

Getting away from traffic situations by day.

You cannot flip days to nights. Ive been put in situations locally where you are told that you are going to run at night in a couple of workdays and need to flip your body clock over. It takes a minimum of three days to make the change over sleeping days.

First day not sleeping a all at home. Second day nap prior to sunrise if at all possible. Emphasis on nap. Most dangerous hour is 4 to 6 am. The heart attack stroke hour. Just existing and moving in a work situation sometimes kills people.

A good stiff breakfast eaten at your own pace without concern for anything. Its your time. You go to bed after. At some point you will be up a little bit. Back to bed you go for the afternoon. Waking up in time to get yourself a good strong dinner and prepare your mind for whats coming later that night.

I would be at the truck somewhat early. Drive off the yard and away from everyone and their chaos. Find a truckstop and then go over everything before battle. Paperwork and maps and so on. Weather information first always. Traffic problems next. Crime third. Plan the run and get going.

Other than the pre dawn nap you dont stop. I can give you in those days anywhere from Jersey to the Mississippi River overnight. In extreme situations I can get you into Texas up to Iowa overnight straight through from Jersey. If I felt strong and maintained two meals and hydrated without interference from dispatch I can be on the other coast in 55 hours. But after that kind of run I need a whole day and night. Thats about 16 or so hours to sleep and the other 4 to 6 to recover with hydrate and food.

Home time is yours with wife etc. Dispatch not allowed in any way until last day.

Managing dispatch and their incessant demands for chaos and emergencies created by them is the key. You have a load to go on. Thats your load. Anything else is their problem.

There is one major need for nights. Dispatch is going to pay me. Write down everything in a standard legal sized hard backed lined journal that you do for work. EVERYTHING. Who, what, where, when, how much, why etc. ALL of it.
 
I bid nights because the COVID ruined city work. Weekends are difficult. Avoiding most of the traffic is nice. There will always be construction. Other issues. But it's still much better. Driving wise. The FAC is stupid right now. Junior drivers are helpless. No one wants to work. Management is useless. The company is garbage. There isn't a bid here that I want. And I know it might not be any better anywhere else. Completely open to driving a forklift somewhere. They paying $25 an hour for that around here. It's an option. If you find a solution. Help a mutha lover out and share your idea.
 
I also take a three hour nap on Saturday morning. I can push through if I need to get some things done. I’m done by 6:00pm though. I have found the older I get, I’m in my early 50’s, the harder it is to sleep during the daytime hours. Sundays I get up in the morning, sleep around 8:00pm. Monday mornings are my time to run errands, doctors visits, relax, it’s my “me time”. Nap three hours Monday afternoon, make dinner and off to work.
I chose nights when my kids were small so I could still be active with them more then if I was a city driver working from 10:30am till after they were sleeping. Back then, we would have to work the outbound and help strip a van on the FAC before we could go home.
I stay on nights because I hate people and don’t have to deal with as many when working nights. I like the relatively consistent paychecks around $2k/week. I like the variety of driving and dock work to break up my night.
The biggest cons for me are, like HS said, the FAC’s are stupid busy with no tools to do the job. I have learned To just do the best I can with what I have.
Lifer, you are a senior driver so you should have some choices as far as what FAC you run to and you won’t be among the bottom drivers leaving late. You may have some choices with vias as well. I would ask some questions of your linehaul drivers and see if nights may be a good fit for you. It certainly isn’t for everyone, that’s for sure. Best of luck in your decision.
 
I remember a particular night route.

She would be cold and not really moving until about 15 miles has passed. At that point happened to be a small upgrade. Call it 4% for half a mile. No biggie. Except when cold. Need half a gear. Sometimes she has a chance to work out the lube and oils etc to temp and becomes raring to go and you run that particular hill without taking half a gear.

The company sold that tractor. Its been decades but I am still pining for it. As far as trucks went it was extremely consistent and reliable. With a emphasis on RELIABLE. I hope the lucky bas... er buyer enjoyed it as much as we have.
 
Over 20 years on nights. I would kill someone if I had to work under the daytime incompetence at my barn. As has been mentioned, weekends are tough. I also nap till about 1 on Saturday afternoon, then stay up. When you eat is a factor too. I eat my last meal at the fac, then a snack closer to home. Try not to eat heavy closer to quitting time. Having a family who helps you sleep by respecting quiet time during the day is good, black out blinds, face mask, ear plugs, and believe it or not, not having your phone near your bed. I plug mine in downstairs. Makes a huge difference in my sleep.
 
When I can here all I want was city work after 3yrs I got out and haven't looked back. The best thing about LH is when you get back you park and walk out. No need to ask permission to go home. In the city they always found something for you to do even after a 11+ day. I run short want only 9-11hrs a night and if I get home before the suns up even better.
City work got to suck with all the f'ed freight. Then you add all these covid stuff places add and the headaches just gets worst.
When I switched over to night it took about a week to switch my sleep schedule and for some they can do that. Something you will need to change is one turn you bedroom into a dark cave. I got blackout blinds and then blackout curtains over them. You must change your eating habits on amount and when. For me my big meal is dinner before I go in. In my lunch is light snacks. Then a small breakfast when I get home. The trick working nights is find out what works for you. Someday I nap on Sat and other I stay up and do stuff around the house it all depends what time I get home.
Some of the my biggest cons....Late VIAs because I run short. Running Sat morning would rather go in Sunday night and have Friday nights off
 
With one small exception to the dark cave...

There is nothing like a 425 cat purring away at 1000 RPM with everything inside the cab sealed against any light.

It took me months of listening to a cat online before I could decompress enough in a dark room before bed. Even now when it's late Im just getting going. Dawn of day is quitting time essentially unless something came up.
 
dalesr said:
Lifer, you are a senior driver so you should have some choices as far as what FAC you run to and you won’t be among the bottom drivers leaving late. You may have some choices with vias as well. I would ask some questions of your linehaul drivers and see if nights may be a good fit for you. It certainly isn’t for everyone, that’s for sure. Best of luck in your decision.
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Remember bid what you want not what happened last year. I a guy bid me out of a number 1 spot on a short FAC because of the VIAs I was getting. 3 months after bids started he was bi1ching about the place VIA's dried up or were short and late. So what that guy did this year might change next years.
 
1984Sideways said:
With one small exception to the dark cave...

There is nothing like a 425 cat purring away at 1000 RPM with everything inside the cab sealed against any light.

It took me months of listening to a cat online before I could decompress enough in a dark room before bed. Even now when it's late Im just getting going. Dawn of day is quitting time essentially unless something came up.
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and all these matteras company still trying to figure out how to get great sleep. A purring CAT will rock anyone to sleep. Until some azzhole parts a reefer next to you
 
Line haul is not worth the sacrifice as I see. A lot doing it are doing it to duck out of life and don’t even realize it . I see it all the time . It enables some to become disconnected from life’s responsibilities. If you are such a type A that city traffic bothers you that much you should consider changing your behavior or find another job.
 
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OV-10 said:
Line haul is not worth the sacrifice as I see. A lot doing it are doing it to duck out of life and don’t even realize it . I see it all the time . It enables some to become disconnected from life’s responsibilities. If you are such a type A that city traffic bothers you that much you should consider changing your behavior or find another job.
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Disagree. I love driving nights. Winter up here can be challenging… yes I’ve cracked walnuts with my Buttcheeks some nights, but I don’t see it as ducking out of life. It has allowed me to put two grandkids through private school, and allow me to provide for them as well as allowing my wife to drop down to a couple shifts a week from full time.
 
Bloodwidow said:
Saturdays I take a 3 hour nap to be sort of functional that night. Mondays I get up with the wife at 4am and take a nap at noon or 1 and get up between 4 and 5 to do it all over again
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I do the same thing. Take a nap on Saturday after work to enjoy the evening. The only difference is that I stay up all night Sunday instead of waking up early Monday morning. Then I knock out around noon and wake up at 1900.
 
I remember some winter nights as being life threatening. Had a incident near Green River where it just got icy to the point that the steering wheel had no meaning. Spun it back and forth. I put her set right there on the dirt off the pavement until morning. Took a few hours for the sun to clear that pavement.

If you cannot walk on it your rig cannot drive on it. Some times the skies far from any city is a feast for the eyes with a little Northern Lights tossed in. (Those you learn not to pay attention to, takes your mind right off anything you were doing)
 
upnorth said:
Disagree. I love driving nights. Winter up here can be challenging… yes I’ve cracked walnuts with my Buttcheeks some nights, but I don’t see it as ducking out of life. It has allowed me to put two grandkids through private school, and allow me to provide for them as well as allowing my wife to drop down to a couple shifts a week from full time.
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Hopefully you get to spend as much time as I do with my grandkids. I just feel the extra money is not worth the amount of time away. It’s a personal decision and what works for some does not others .
 
SuperCourse said:
If you don't sleep good on the steering wheel, it's probably not for you.
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What we used to do is catch someone sleeping on the steering wheel. Switch airlines so that nothing will happen.

Pull up nose to nose flip the brights while laying on the horn. Group of trruckers outside cab to ride rodeo on the poor sob and soothe him before anything serious happened.

Some of my rudest awakenings that happened was when the oncoming 18 wheeler would be inside my lane. Or I was inside his. There was not much time to turn the wheel and trade mirrors which would be the better outcome in those days.
 
Wow, thanks for all the feedback. I run day line now, but the traffic is a bitch, so many ******* over the road drivers, who play games with you, then add all the road const, ADOT everywhere, I’m burnt out on it. I have enough strap to get the run I want. The fact is, my run now is shorter then the run I would have at night, but with all the bullshit, I’m putting in as much or more hours, and making less cash. Will strongly consider it. Thanks to all.
 
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