All the paperwork that is expected should always link to another part of the work, whether it be Architecture and Finance (or Banking), to landscaping or Trucking and Transportation. Professional Driving can tell its story of a Driver’s day through the mandatory Driver’s Daily Log. And, like any story, the more detailed the work, the more a recipient or reader can comprehend. But the daily log is only one aspect, showing the travels, time down, and breakdowns. Fuel Receipts and other purchases also should have a job number, or any number self created, to link to the original Daily Log. Even if it is hand written, anything that pertains to a certain load, for a varying time and distance should all be linked in one fashion or another. Again, the more detailed, the better understood it is by anyone, for whatever purpose (whether it be for a Safety Manager, Administrator, State, and even Revenue agencies). The developing of a routine and formatting makes it that much easier to get through any given story from beginning to end. Honestly, you wouldn’t want to finish reading page 32 on a book, just to need to now find where page 33 is, would you? It’s not worth reading, and the reviews would not even be mentioned.

      By coming up with an individual routine also helps the individual “Author” (a little credit to us all) be able to recall that days story, and even notice when that page 33 is not there. Sometimes life has a way of asking us to go back in time, and remember what we did; best to have written a story that even you can read back and remember. Details left out make it harder to recall and explain.

 

      When it comes to a story, you either need a plot (for a novel), or a punch line (for that one liner or paragraph tale).  In reality, when it comes to linking any work, you look for two or more “anchors” that will make any document, page or receipt link to that work, project, and task. In Professional Driving, two things remain prominent to a daily job, the date, and the job itself. That statement is not exactly the best example, since as an over the road driver, my load can take me a few days to get done. But the job number or even the “Bill of Lading (Manifest) focuses strongly on just that one particular job. The date is more like a cross reference to that load. In short, the Bill of Lading would be the key reference to that one job, and the date would be a reference to the period of that key. And, you can always build spreadsheets referring to one or the other, as long as both date and Bill of Lading are included.  My spread sheet for the list of jobs starts out with the date, and the next column always has the job number (instead of the Bill of Lading; which another column is made for). I found that since my first line of communication is with my contractor, I would always refer the key anchor to the job number they have assigned. In the future, I am able to make that the rule to my business, even as an owner operator, since I can always carry on making the job numbers in my own fashion.

      Another spreadsheet is strictly for fuel stops, again, the date is the first column, then the time (a landmark period of when I was there), then the job number that refers to the load I am on, then, it have other columns for location, fuel amount, and other columns that detail that one task, fueling. When parts or supplies are purchased, same thing, job number and date, always hand in hand. Basically, what was I doing, and when was I there always remains the two strong anchors to the story to be told. The receipt already has the date on it, so I simply write in the job number, to keep the story detailed. If that receipt ever was found over time, and alone, that job number and date can be tracked to the job, and based on how you record your work, the story comes back to life.

      Making time to include those details are just as important. A fuel receipt is recorded on my spreadsheet on where I fueled, how much I fueled, the price per gallon, the total amount, the fuel surcharge, purchase order number, location number, and so on. The more detailed the spreadsheet, the more understandable the story.

      Why a story? Well, lets think about who might need to read that job. If there is a problem with delivery date the customer and contractor might want to know why it was not delivered in a time set; when it comes to my own taxes, the income, expenses, and loss or profit can be determined by what occurred by the amount of documents included, such as breakdowns and repairs. A spreadsheet can be made to fill in the blanks, with a comments column for including “stuck at a traffic accident”, “It snowed too deep or became icy to get there safely”, “Delay in loading”, and anything else that not only answers the question, but makes the story detailed and complete. So, investing the time to detail the story at work may not be how you get raves and reviews, but if the story is brought up long in the future, the questions and recalling what was involved is all there, for the reviewer and you.