Recently, after returning from being on the road for about a week, I came home to about a week's worth of work on the home front.  As always, family responsibilities, which are the most important,  have to be caught up on.  But I'm here to talk about taking advantage of the planned days home with maintenance on yourself, your truck and your equipment.

Here's my story:  upon return from a trip, I had cracked my windshield somewhere along the way and had to get it repaired.  After an inspection, it was determined that due to the severity of the crack, it had to be replaced.  So, I got that taken care of on one of my "days off."  Since I'm independent, I had to invoice customers, pay bills, pay IFTA, etc from my home office during my "days off."  Due to the extreme cold when I was out, the tarp protection that I tried to place on the sharp load of steel I was hauling wouldn't stick, so now I have numerous holes in my tarps that have to be repaired.  I took them to a repair shop during one of my "days off."  Somewhere along the way, I injured my knee and had to visit a doctor upon returning home.  The time off the truck was imperative in healing my knee.

In conclusion, use your time at home very wisely.  You need to be caught up on all matters maintenance, both for your body and your truck and/or trailer.  Obtaining repairs on the road for both is not optimal.  Take full advantage of dealing with the people you know best.

Comments (2)

Joey Slaughter

Joey Slaughter is the owner of Blue Ridge Transport, LLC. Joey has been in the trucking industry since 1992.

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I try to take advantage of time over money as well. We can make more money, but we can't make more time.

January 26, 2015 8:03:02 AM

I believe that we have choices. My profit margin may suffer a bit, but I never sit around or take my truck to repairs. I keep my truck at the shop that I have used since I have owned trucks. If, I need repairs or maintenance I write it up for them and they take care of it. If anything runs over $500, they call me to OK

January 25, 2015 0:27:23 AM