There is nothing wasteful about it, and I’m including the comments regarding your labor hours.
I’ve posted this on the forum and discussed it with you a few times. I have put this to long term tests, and the results were virtually the same miles over the course of a year.
At the end of each year, the only verifiable difference was a massive amount of fuel savings.
The extra labor hours? Only way this would be an argument is by someone who was on a set dedicated route, and could unload at one end as soon as they arrived, reload immediately as well, and travel back home.
Otherwise, the typical labor is the same. You are either in the drivers seat, or you are sitting somewhere waiting to unload or reload.
I’ll happily take a 12 hour break rather than a 13 hour break, if that hour sacrifice is the difference between 6 and 8 mpg. I’m still going to deliver my load at the same time the next day, and I will still get to my reload without issue. Running faster just means I spend more time waiting.
More importantly, it’s the stress level. A slower truck is a quieter truck. Constant noise equals stress. The more noise, the more stress. Dealing with slower traffic equals stress. Running slower results in less stress there as well.
So, at the end of the week, each and every week, I go home with more money, and more rested due to lower stress levels.
I run faster when I have to, like tonight thanks to getting stuck at the dock for 5 hours. The short drive from St Louis to Concordia at faster than usual speeds made me aware of the stress immediately.
There comes a point where fuel mileage is no longer a real value as well. Given today’s fuel prices, I put that number around 8mpg. Higher fuel prices, that number goes higher.
