[Jim-Bob]

In order to understand how the truck is driven, you need to see it in terms of a sort of brute force economics. On a busy day the amount of deliveries taken depends on speed. How rapidly you get to a delivery and back determines just how many deliveries and thus tips you will make. On a busy day then it pays to drive quickly as the additional tips offset the savings in fuel costs. On a slow day though, when you are not likely to come back to more deliveries it pays to save on fuel costs. On both kinds of days certain hypermiling techniques can be employed to save on fuel and time. I time my traffic lights, use hills to coast down to red lights, plan my routes, etc. as well as reading traffic to adjust to the best possible way to attack each circumstance. There is never any good reason to speed up to a red light only to be stuck behind 10 other cars. I have even tried pulse and glide but found it impractical for my needs.

As far as braking goes, during busy months it is not uncommon for me to run through a set of front brake pads in as little as 2 months or 6k miles. During those times I end up late braking a lot because it makes economic sense. After all, a set of brake pads is only $20. Right now it is unusually slow-probably due to a U-6 unemployment figure of 20%+ in my county. Thus I go through a set of front brakes in about 5 months. In fact it is so slow now that I will start looking for another business to work in in the next few weeks.