Question:
What hours do you drive?
What do you do to avoid "Rush hour"?
Where do you park when your done driving for the day, besides a truck stop or rest area ?
Thanks,
Big Jeff

Answer:
Daylight hours most of the time.
Planning your trip in advance can help, but then you sometimes wind up driving nighttime hours.
A truck stop or a rest area. In some (heavily populated) areas of the country, both can be problematic during nighttime hours. Again, planning your trip in advance helps. Sometimes the pickup and delivery schedule leaves you little wiggle room, however, in which case you have to deal with rush hours and parking as they occur.

Answer:
When you drive mostly depends on the pck-up and delivery appointments of each load. Like Mark said, if there's enough extra time you might get to stop for a while to avoid rush-hour traffic. But most of the time you need to keep the load moving to stay on schedule, even if it means driving through rush-hour traffic.
Same thing for driving at night. Sometimes the only way to make the delivery appointment is to drive nights. The next load may require you to drive during the day again when you're rested, and you also have to stay within the legal limits allowed each day.
So you may not have much choice most of the time.
Good question. Many newbies don't understand the schedule is usually pretty tight and we don't have a lot of choice when to drive. Next to making sure the load arrives in one piece -- customers are most concerned with us showing-up at the pre-appointed time to load or unload. We frequently have to drive when we'd otherwise prefer not to (traffic, weather, etc) to give them that "on-time service" they're counting on and paying for.

Answer:

I think the real world edit would read-
"to give them that "on-time service" they're counting on and NOT paying for"

Answer:

That's very true a lot of the time.
My company includes a code in the trip number that tells us how important on-time is for that load. We won't spend much to save cheap freight running late -- they're getting a hell of a deal and if they don't like it, we're not out much.
Other loads are marked "Just In Time", "High Service" or "Customer Watch", and dispatch will move heaven and earth to swap trucks or put it on a team if it's running behind, since the customer was sold a premium freight rate for virtually perfect service. Woe be the driver who messes one of these up by driving less than the law allows through rush-hour or anything else that's legal and safe.

Answer:
Yep, some times you have to drive when you don't want to, don't feel like it ir aren't up to par for it just so you can give them that on time service they are paying for. Of course they aren't paying you the driver any premium dollars to get it there come hell or highwater but you are expected to do it just the same. You'll get the same pennies for mile no matter what the load calls for. if your late it will be your azz the dispatcher and planner will hang out to dry with a "service failure" on your record. But when your on time it will be your dispatcher and load planner who will get the credit for it.
Their paying the company for it but their certainly not giving anything to the driver.

Answer:
That's true -- but you also get paid for long deadheads where the company's losing money per mile, and some loads are run in the red to reposition trucks to freight-rich areas, etc.
In other words -- the exceptionally profitable loads, help create the money to pay the driver for loads that don't make a profit, or don't even make expenses.
Want to be paid according to the load's freight rate?
Get a job that pays percentage.
....and then complain about all low-pay miles you run between the more profitable ones.... I'd rather have my rate averaged no matter how much the company loses or gains on a given load -- but some prefer percentage. Lots of percentage work out there for those interested....

Answer:
Companies don't dead head to get loads for free. It is negotiated in the deal. That is one of the very most basic facts. Companies also do not run their trucks in the red to reposition them. It is all averaged out and every mile is making them money. Some miles more than others but the driver is never given a free ride while the company suffers. Painting that picture is just silly. It doesn't and will not work that way. If a load isn't profitable from start to finish the company won't take it and the driver will sit empty until one comes up that is.
The fact remains. The driver is expected to pick up every load on time and to deliver it to it's destination on time. There isn't much grey area to it. The fact of it is, companies do not plan around the driver in the least. They do not make concessions for lunch or dinner breaks, they don't care about shower times or even traffic. Most loads are planned using practical miles at a given speed often around 55 miles per hour and depending on miles a 10 hour or less break is figured in at the planned intervals. The driver is expected to get it there on time. If their planner figures on his brainless computer that a given load will take 33 hours to do that is what they will plan. You will be expected to be there in that time frame. With trucks being governed slower, traffic and construction tighter than ever drivers have to stay behind that wheel the majority of the given time. If your late it's your azz, if your on time your dispatcher will take the bows.
A few drivers have said in these forums that a truly good driver is not always on time. That is a fact. Those drivers who are never late push the regs to the limit and beyond to have a perfect record. While some of the very best drivers will be late on occasion. If traffic problems come up, break downs or any of the other things that will make you late a good driver will not push it to get it there. They will stay within their legal and physical limits and simply do the best they can. The best drivers put everyone on the road above the load their hauling and some companies time frame.

Answer:
I've had premium loads that I've delivered "late". We -- my company at least -- never pressures us to go into HOS violation. The driver can only do what they can do. The dispatchers take a ht if the system shows one of their drivers going into violation -- a nice little benefit of paperless black boxing.
We're only charged late if we contributed to the problem -- like sleeping in and not getting started on time, or mis-figuring our hours, etc.
Or, if we run into problems like traffic, weather, etc, and don't immediately inform dispatch so they can bring in another truck -- or more typically, give them enough time to just call the customer and get them to change the appointment to one we can make "on time".
Most of our loads are premium rate, and I don't think dispatchers are taking any bows for performing their work in a "satisfactory" range by managing their drivers to "satisfactory" performance. On-time premium freight is the rule, not the exception, and they generally make sure it's matched to a driver with sufficient extra time to account for traffic, the governed truck speed...plus a little more. It's rare I don't have plenty of time to keep it on time, unless I screw something up by sleeping in...etc.
As for every mile making the same amount of money, I don't know how that's possible.

Of course they do. The company is paid for the loaded miles -- the rate that load pays -- regardless of whether the truck that's eventually assigned is 2 miles away or 300 miles away from the shipper. We take a a little more cheap freight after Christmas to keep the trucks rolling. I've deadheaded 300 miles for a pallet load and you know THAT one didn't make them a dime -- probably ran in the red due to the deadhead. But I got still got paid. Backhauling at break-even, or even at a loss to profitable freight happens, especially with mega companys that service huge accounts and the have to fill-in the gaps to get the trucks back to those shipping points again. Swift and others are infamous for hauling at or below cost to manipulate their competition.
My point was -- if you're complaining about the driver not getting an extra chunk of the better paying loads, the opposite side is getting your full cpm for loads that don't pay so well. It averages out for the driver, as it averages out for the company, to something that hopefully turns a small profit when all the bills and employees are paid.
I own stock in three trucking company (not much, including my own) and I AM an one of these greedy "owners" everyone blames for the low wages. And I assure you, none of my trucking companys are turning record profits. Most are barely turning 8%! It's a very tough business -- both on the road for us, and inside for those juggling the financials.
Again -- if you want to share the good furtunes of higher-paying loads, go percentage. But be ready to similarly suffer the poorer fortunes of those loads that don't pay so well. Balancing high and low profit loads is the nature of the business -- sans Heartland and some others that are so picky they have to pay their drivers a huge cpm for the few miles they get between waiting around all day for something worth hauling. Most general freight carriers take a more balanced approach.
Anyway....thanks for the good discussion and be safe.