When it comes over the “Onboard Computer [OBC]”, I take the time to get all the information into a spreadsheet, all formatted the same for each month previous and to follow. With a Blank Spreadsheet, I started adding in the heading and purpose of every information to follow in rows. In the beginning, I was not sure what I really needed, so those fields (top heading in the first row) was copied from a corporate notepad, and other fields added when there became more than two stops planned.

Although I use a “Driver’s Daily Log” program, along with sending load information through the OBC, the purpose of doing what might be called extra work by copying all this information in separate programs is that the same information needs to be in a format that is specific to who may need to review the information. A D.O.T. officer would need to see this in a log sheet form, while for finance, or submitting information to someone else, would be in spreadsheet form, since they do not need to see it in log form, let alone want to learn a log format.

The Pre Plan also includes the estimated miles and the cost of the specific load. A second spreadsheet (designed more for finance) list the load separate from the Trip Plan Spreadsheet, and I designed it to subtract any fuel stops from the cost of the load, to give me an the amount I am left with as an income. There is also another spreadsheet for truck expenses, such as oil purchases, window washer, etc., and another separate spread sheet for miscellaneous expenses, such as batteries, clothing. There is another expense spreadsheet specific to office supplies. All need to be subtracted from the cost of each load to see an actual amount I earn. The load income spreadsheet is the most used, since the pay of the load, is specific to every load assigned, and fueling is the largest expense to get the load from one point to another.

Like in precious day countdown, I use a map program to plot my needed breaks, and possible stops. Using the map program I can get each leg of my trip down to the hour and minute, and it is accurate to 15 minutes off, depending on how long I travel from one point to another. This all happens while pre planning my trip. As I travel, and things change, I can open the map, add or change stop or locations of breaks, to keep an accurate time frame of my final stop. The preplanning used to be done by estimating the total distance and divide it against a formulated speed. Now the only variance to the software program, is adding an additional 15 minutes for every 250 miles traveled, to compensate for accidents, construction, or any other unplanned stops. Until such time there is a website that tracks construction and traffic accidents nationwide, this is as accurate as I can get to estimating my time, against actual time spent from start to finish.