Originally Posted by
ThumbsUp
Like someone else said—give bidnav a try. Other options are using SET commands to limit your commute (min time between work locks, max number of work blocks, credit range, etc.). At the very least, using Bidnav for a few months will help you to get the syntax down and in the big scheme of things, it’s pretty small $$.
Be VERY careful using SET in your bid group, especially at the lower end of Line holder range.
Bid groups will fail if a SET cannot be met, it wont even look at the rest of the BG. I would say at your seniority you use AWARD statements to shape your bid. BG will not fail if award statement cannot be met, only go on to the next award statement.
While I agree that the the bid software is not the most user friendly, it is infinitely customizable. I am not willing to give up the flexibility of our current software for one that has a fancy GUI.
Compromise would be to put a more user friendly GUI on the current software keeping all the flexibility we currently have.
I will also add that more days off and better lines are a function of the trips. Crappy 20 hour 4 day trips and 15 hour 3 days will lead to working more days. On the other hand, less sit time and more productivity will lead to more days off, not commutable, but more days off. We should have 26+ hour 4 day trips. That would be 3 a month plus maybe a 1 day in there somewhere.