You've got your load assignment, and you're ready to go. But do you have everything you need to complete that assignment?
Many truckers start out trying to do planning on the cheap - buy a copy of the latest Rand-McNally map book and plot the route by hand. Consult the list of company fuel stops and try to figure the least number of stops that will get you there. Run until the DOT says they must stop, and start looking for a place to park, hoping one can be found and that it won't be disturbing any residential area and earning an early morning visit from the local police. Using the company recommended routes and fuel stops.
Many truckers get by on this, and it seems to work better as the trucker gets familiar with the more frequented routes. They learn where the rest stops are, where the better food is, and even a few places where they can get a prescription filled or load up on groceries. It all works well enough.
Until a new route into a new area is encountered, or an old one closed. Until a tight schedule requires the most efficiency in the plan. Until a snowstorm stops you in a strange town where you've never been before. Or until an unexpected route change leaves you without a company approved fueler in easy range. Until a new state weigh station crops up before a load can be scaled. How does a driver prevent or recover from these problems?
The capabilities of modern computers and software, along with their availability and ease-of-use for almost anyone, means that computers can be used to enable a new level of efficiency, and the trucking industry is certainly not untouched by this. The trucking company uses computers to plan loads and keep resources where they are needed, and they use automated messaging, "Qualcomm", to facilitate that. Why should a trucker be squinting at a squiggle on a printed map and trying to determine which way to go in this day and age, when he can use this technology too? With a cheap laptop and software a driver can plan to go where no trucker has dared to go before (sorry for the hyperbole there).
Combined with one of the easiest to use street-level mapping applications available, TruckTrek provides the information that is needed - where the important trucker resources are, and a means to easily access the internet to locate followup data.
Before you release your brakes in the morning, know where you're going, where you're fueling, and where you can stop to take a breather. See where the toll boths are, where the runaway ramps are. Microsoft Streets and Trips combined with TruckTrek will do all this and more for you.
And the best news is that you can get TruckTrek for free in return for just keeping your eyes open. See the Payback Challenge.
TruckTrek and the contents of this help file are
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