For most OTR drivers, home time is the thing they care about more than almost anything except pay. Many carriers promise something like a few days home for every two or three weeks out; regional fleets promise weekends. Whatever your company promises, your job is to make it happen.
Get home time requests in early, put them on your calendar and plan backward from them, just like an appointment. A driver who needs to be home Saturday morning needs a load heading toward home by Wednesday or Thursday, not a scramble on Friday.
Home time is where planners and driver managers pull against each other. The fleet wants trucks loaded; the driver wants to go home. Your job is to speak up for the driver early, with a clear date and place, so the planner can find freight going that way.
When a driver is home, the truck usually sits. Some carriers ask drivers to take home time in places where freight is easy to find, or book their first load out before they go home so they leave on time. Plan the trip out the same week as the trip in.
If a home time is going to be late, tell the driver as soon as you know and give a new realistic date. Missing one is a problem. Missing two in a row is often how you lose a driver.
On the desk
A driver who lives near Memphis needs to be home by Saturday at noon. It's Monday and he's in Phoenix, about 1,450 miles away. When should his plan start heading him home?
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Terms in this lesson
Home time
Days off at home, the promise drivers care most about.
Home time request
A date and place a driver asks to be home, logged ahead.
Out
Days on the road. 'Two weeks out, three days home' is a common OTR schedule.
Trip out
The first load after home time.
The scenario answers
A driver who lives near Memphis needs to be home by Saturday at noon. It's Monday and he's in Phoenix, about 1,450 miles away. When should his plan start heading him home? Wednesday, with a load toward Memphis. 1,450 miles is about 29 hours of driving, roughly three days with breaks. Loads toward home need to be lined up mid-week. Starting Monday wastes the week; starting Friday is too late.
A planner wants to send your driver on a load that will take him 600 miles further from home the day before his home time. What do you do? Push back with his home time date and ask for freight that gets him there. Speak up for the driver with the facts. Planners can usually find something heading the right way if they know early.
A driver's home time has already slipped once this month. A customer delay will now make him miss it again. What matters most? Telling him right away with a new firm date, and doing everything to keep it. Two missed home times in a row is one of the most common reasons drivers quit. Tell him early and make the new date a priority for the whole desk.
General training, not legal or compliance advice. Rules are the US federal ones (FMCSA) as of 2026; check the current text and your company’s policies.