A large trucking company has just asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for the right to count their drivers’ loading and unloading time as their federally required 30-minute break.
Transco Inc. operates McLane Company. McLane has distribution centers across the country which each employ hundreds of drivers. The drivers are doing mostly just-in-time deliveries which means stopping around nine times a day at grocery stores and restaurants and returning to the distribution center after every load. Each ‘loop’ takes around 19 hours.
In their exemption request, Transco says that for most drivers, the 30-minute rest break “serves as an opportunity to break the monotony of driving and relieve some of the stress of continuous driving,” but that their drivers don’t need that break since their drivers have to stop multiple times a day to unload anyway.
As an added bonus, Transco points out that not only does unloading provide a break from driving, but it also requires “vigorous physical activity.” Transco claims that “the exemption would increase the health of their drivers by increasing their physical activity through the course of their deliveries and substantially reducing any sedentary periods.”
Not only would drivers be healthier without breaks, but Transco also claims that having the mandated breaks would increase the miles their drivers travel by more than 8.2 million miles per year and would require 18,000 additional loads. The additional miles would burn 1.3 million gallons of fuel, cause eight reportable accidents per year, and contribute to congestion and wear on critical infrastructure.
The public comment period on their exemption is now open. Read the full application from Transco here. And then you can submit a comment here.
Source: overdrive, fleetowner, FMCSA
And maybe the company also wants their drivers to eliminate bathroom breaks and food breaks? And while we at it, maybe the company wants loading and unloading their trucks to be counted as sleep breaks?
This is no exaggeration. Far too many companies have pushed drivers who drive all kinds of trucks in this direction far too long. Give a driver a break!
Nicly put
When I read what this company was saying, I wanted to vomit. I think every trucker that works for that company should just call off for about two days. Teach them a lesson. I wish truckers had some guts to take a stand but no………….they will for the most part, just shrug their shoulders and drive on.
The problem is far bigger than what it looks. It’s not that the truckers have no gut. They just can’t afford it to spill it, and it’s all because of crooked elected officials that are running this country, and running almost every hard working man’s life down the drain. These days, if you can hire a lobbyist, and afford a bribe, you can get away with pretty much with anything.
Loading and unloading SHOULD be counted as a break! Whether you are sitting and waiting or unloading the cargo, it is NOT driving! I for one am SICK of sitting at a dock for hours to get loaded or unloaded either sitting in the seat or napping in the bunk and then having to stop for a 30 minute break because big brother says so! I lose at least 30 miles a day and 150 miles a weak which means I lose $60.00 a week! I will admit I work my paper log to show the 30 minute break. I actually do take the 30 minute break but at 10 minute intervals at a rest area pee break. 3 of those give me 30 minutes and I log it all at once later in the day. Not once has anyone said a word about it! Sick of someone who can’t even spell TRUCK trying to tell me when I am tired!
Mike, I understand your concerns. For an OTR driver, doing stop/dock/wait deliveries, this transco thing makes sense. For drivers that are required to tailgate, or fully offload and stock, freight the delivery is nothing like a break. If the company is allowed to *mandate* drivers to use 30 of the 45 minutes they spent busting their butts humping the freight off the trailer, the driver could conceivably work a straight 14 w/o a break. EOBRD track every start / stop, and companies could use multiple stops as evidence a driver is lazy / no account / stealing… Etc.
Sorry, does not make sense. Take the 30 minut break before you reach the first 8 hours of being on duty. Problem solved. Period.
Absolutely agree. McClane drivers are the ones you see with ramps extending down out of the sides or backs of their trucks at restaurants and gas stations and the like. And they’re humping these dollies up and down those ramps. Then it’s immediately pack up and hustle to the next stop and do it all over again.
And Mclane wants to force their drivers to STATE *FALSELY* that they took a federally mandated break during one of these periods of rump-busting.
I hope the feds laugh in their face. Then I hope every driver they have quits and goes and looks for jobs at better companies.
You obviously don’t know how to log your book!
Wait till you are under electronic logs. That practice will not be allowed. Unless you are actually hand unloading you can already log unloading time as your break. But when your hand unloading, it should not count as your break, because you are performing actual work. This company is wrong on their assessment, and are proving they have no concept of what their drivers do on a daily basis.
The companies know exactly what their drivers do every day, they are just greedy jerks that do not care about that part of the business, only the end run and what the money is going to be for them..
I’ve had electronic logs for years. You can simply change it from “on duty” to “off duty”, so that’s not the problem. My situation is not comparable to McLane’s drivers. When I’m unloading my tank, soon as I back in, I put the Qualcomm into “off duty” and set an alarm for 30 minutes. When the alarm goes off, I switch it into “on duty, not driving” while the tank continues to empty.
I do this because I like to stop and eat early, usually right after I get loaded. Unfortunately, stopping early doesn’t count, so I would run out of hours if I didn’t “cheat”. And the fact is, I’m not doing much while unloading. Once the hose is connected, and the pump switched on, unless something would happen to go wrong, I’m just sitting around playing Angry Birds or something.
But these McLane guys are actually working during their stops. If they’re taking away their break, when are these guys going to eat?
Your nuts just go jn the sleeper berth during live loads and unloads. Who give a rats ass I ALWAYS do and no inspector has questioned me after i said I was physically in SB resting.
If I’m in my sleeper im on sleeper line period.
Sitting in the seat or taking a nap in the bunk IS a break, (unless you don’t want to log it as such to add to you wait time before you get paid). Loading or unloading a truck IS NOT a break, it’s WORK!!!! Logging 3 “ten minute pee breaks” as 1 half hour “break” is FALSIFYING your logbook!!!
The 30 minute break is supposed to be away from the truck, supposedly so you’ll have an excuse to get out. Like nobody ever stopped to eat or pee before….
If you’re sitting on your ass doing nothing that is break time and can be logged. If you are physically loading and unloading then that is additional fatigue to driver. It makes driving more dangerous for everyone. No touch freight is not what Mclane does. 30 min is so drivers can eat…in normal jobs it’s called lunch. Stop thinking your situation covers all.
Totally agree with you.Why are all the rules applying to trucks enacted by people who have NEVER been in a truck let alone know how to dive one.
if you are sitting and waiting you can count that as a break, if you are the person unloading the truck you are working! if you have half a brain cell you know you can log that time as a break if you want to.
maybe you are superman and never need a rest good for you, the reason for the mandatory break is to gives drivers a period of rest. most states have a law that if you work a employee 5 hours or more you have to give them a min. of 30 minute break of paid or unpaid time off.
Mike I have to say I agree and Yes I also truck!
Now read the story and try to understand. They do Burger King, ECT. Unload the truck, Manager comes out and counts, THEN YOU put it where it needs to go. YEA, STOCK THE STORES SHELVES. The drivers get paid to do this….only thing is, they don’t want to pay for it. Thanks
Fuel deliver driver here. My employer has been making us do this since the 30 min break rule first started. I make anywhere from 2 or 3 to 12 or more individual stops a day at customers. They told us to go off duty at a long drop or while we are loading at the bulk plant. I thought this was pretty much the norm.
JD, that’s not only wrong but quite possibly illegal?! I hauled fuel before and know for a fact that your required to be next to those hoses as the product is be off loaded.
I’m in California, the last thing you want is to have someone from the EPA (environment protection agency ) walk up and catch you somewhere other than next to that truck when it off loads.
Not to mention, your suppose to be within reach over the emergency shut off valves in the event of a problem.
With that being said, how are you legally on a break while your monitoring this equipment?
No, I’m still right there by my truck/hoses. We have elogs, when we get back in the truck we go off duty, edit the time for 31 mins ago, then change back to on duty and go to the next stop.
I drive for McLane. We generally work through them anyway because of how much work is scheduled on the routes
I am sure a lot of drivers do that, all this is, is a attempt by the company to stop the drivers who DO TAKE A 30 MIN. BREAK.
yeah…it’s all about MONEY !
Face facts. Trucking is never going to change nor life of a trucker, or today wheel monkey until the day comes when freight is charged from the time a truck bumps the dock to load to the time it’s unloaded. And as long as there’s enough wheel monkeys and 72 inch condo life dwellers to keep the freight moving at the cost it does now. Trucking will suck.. Sorry that’s just the truth. Your in that piece of equipment 24 hrs..Your responsible for the freight 24 hrs. Your responsible for all the Gov’t rules, regs and safety 24 hrs. Your responsible for customer service 24 hrs. But are only paid a pittance of actual time put in.. There isn’t any other job in the world where the worker would accept that. Trucking does.
I totally agree, that’s why I no longer drive a truck.
Welcome to the club , I don’t miss it !
When a truck driver works on payroll and gets pay overtime after 60 hrs what else can you say , WE TRUCK DRIVERS coming from another planet and physically we are different, when the other people bump to overtime pay after 44 hrs max.
I’m also a “used to be driver” for those same reasons. Never knew of any job that operates under such ridiculous rule bending/law breaking ways, supposedly ‘legally’ and you can not do anything about it. I was working no less than 90 hours a WEEK, granted I got paid hourly which is different in trucking and that was nice and drove only three states, but I can tell you those hours kill you but all our breaks were counted as we were loading or unloading. How standing out in the weather…rain, snow, -20 to -30 degree wind chills…is considered a “break” is beyond me, it wasn’t very restful. A legal break SHOULD be NO WORK AT ALL….including NO PAPER WORK….NOTHING that has to do with your job, that should be a legal break. Trucking will never change, after ten years of it I called it quits.
that’s why I went union and hourly.
I work for Mclane out of a terminal in California. Mclane is still paying off a lawsuit they lost here in CA when drivers sued for uncompensated breaks and no off duty 30 min lunch breaks. This exception would never fly in Cali. Labor laws are too liberal here. Sysco just paid out millions for uncompensated breaks for the exact same thing. Maybe the exception would work in other states but definitely not here.
I’m a little confused that a large trucking Company doesn’t understand the 30 minute break rule. First, to get credit for the 30 minute break you have to be on line 1 or 2 of your log book or ELD. Lines 3 or 4 would not put you in a 30 minute break status because you are driving or On duty, not driving. Doubt if their request will be approved.
They understand the 30 minute rule perfectly. They understand that it’s hurting them in the pocketbook because their drivers are sitting for 30 minutes a day being unproductive. The health benefits angle is just lawyerly mumbo jumbo. This is about money plain and simple.
I can almost guarantee their drivers are already doing this anyways because many if not most companies and the drivers themselves have figured out how to play the game even with e-logs. All e-logs can prevent is falsifying drive status but as long as the truck isn’t moving it doesn’t know if there’s on-site work being performed or not. Kudos to McLane though for trying to legitimize the common practice with justification of physical fitness!
To qualify for the 30 minute break you have to be on line 1 or 2. You can’t load or unload if you put yourself on either of these statuses. Leagally, you have to be on line 4 to load or unload in which case you are not on a break.
Even the drive line can be falsified. In many cases the driver isn’t able to make the edits, directly, but if a dispatcher needs you to have the hours, they will get you the hours. There is always someone in the company that can edit the drive line, and if they are drawing a paycheck from the company, then whatever the company decides to be in it’s best interests, wins. Not whatever the driver decides, but whatever the company decides. If they decide that compliance is in their best interests, then that’s how it will be. If they decide that fudging the log is in their best interests, well… Ultimately, you have to sign your log, or they’ll fire you, no matter what your log actually says. And if it’s not compliant… somehow… then you’ll be responsible for that, too. Even if you weren’t the one who logged it that way. E-logs don’t make it impossible to edit the drive line; they give the power to edit your logbook, to people that aren’t/weren’t in the truck.
If you decide to drive if the company edits your drive time and you are involved in an accident, especially if a falality is involved, then guess who’s going to jail. Also, the company will be shut down. So, I don’t think these companies are dumb enough to falsify your logs.
But have you ever seen the final print out of an edited elog? The edited areas are in red. They can tell if you’ve been driving when shouldn’t have been.
depends on which system you use and how it is hooked into the truck computer.
If you don’t have faith in the company you drive for then quit.
Why is it all these big companies get special exemptions the rules are the rules I’m sick of these nonsense rules tht the government picks and chose who has to abide by them trucking getting ridiculous
Even in regular non trucking jobs the fed and osha require thirty minute breaks for employees workin more the 6 hours so why is the driver getting worked to death. I personally don’t think any on duty time should be countable as a break. Call me lazy say what you want but the end result is and I have done it myself running local routes no break more tired. It’s just that simple the break does more then just relieve the stress of the road hell it gives you a minute to step away from you job and think about something else other then omg I got 25 mins to unload so I’m not late to my next stop. Just another way to get more of a person without giving back. This lazy ass society needs to do some work and stop crying about things and the cry baby’s need to take a chill pill. I’m serious guys we got nothing in common with anyone that’s home everyday at 5
Once again more complaints about trucking if you Dbl like your job then find another one my truck job is gravy I love every day of it
“When does the carrier propose that their drivers stop to eat, or go to the bathroom? What guarantees that drivers will be given time in which to do so?
Employers in the trucking industry already do not have to provide bathroom facilities, give 15-minute breaks, pay overtime, or bear responsibility for the equipment/working conditions that they impose upon drivers (that responsibility is transferred to the driver, during inspections – and the only recourse that the driver has to enforce correction of any defects found, is to refuse to work). Are we now to believe that it is in a driver’s best interests, that they not be given time in a 14-hour day, to eat? If a telephone call needs to be made to their family, or their children’s school, the landlord, the bank… Would we like this to be a distraction while driving, or should a driver be given some time during his shift to accomplish such routine, personal, necessary, and time-sensitive tasks? What guarantees that the driver will be given time in which to use those bathroom facilities which they are already not guaranteed availability and access?
Who are we kidding? This carrier wants to enforce more production from it’s drivers, in less time. This is in no way intended to benefit the drivers. They are not concerned about their driver’s health; a better suggestion to that end, would be to mandate that drivers no longer be employed as 1099 contractors -only as w-2 employees, so that they can all be covered by workman’s compensation insurance – or a mandate that paid health coverage, compliant with Affordable Health Care coverage requirements be offered to all drivers. This is about getting more production for less money, plain and simple, and if it gets approved, that just proves once again that the regulators are in the carriers’ pockets.”
I’m tired of hearing about all these rules that are supposed to benefit your ‘health’. Since when can the government mandate that we (or anybody else) be healthy? Take care of your own self. Don’t smoke. Don’t chew. Don’t drink. Get some exercise. Live yer own life, for cryin’ out loud….
I don’t know what crack pipe they smoking on or the kind of drugs those top executives are doing but they sure are out of their god damn minds! If i’m reading this story correctly…. There is NO WAY in hell that they will get approved for this!!
You lose nothing if you take the 30 minute break and log on lines 1 or 2. Only lines 3 and 4 count against your drive time and on duty time. I find it a good time to eat lunch and relax.
You lose a half hr of on duty time because your 14 hr clock doesn’t stop. You also lose a half hr of your weekly 60/70 because you can’t stop either clock without 10 hrs off.
No you dont ..you HAVE to put that 1/2 hour off duty..the 14 clock STOPS for that 1/2 and continues after your break…. But does not add on to your 10 hours off..
Both of the above comments are wrong. Your 14 hour clock stops for NOTHING once it has been started. If you come on duty at 6 a.m. that means at 8 p.m. you cannot drive anymore whatsoever no matter how many hours you’ve driven during this period. You can, however, work “on-duty” after the 14th hour has passed, just no driving until you complete 10 hours off duty or sleeper berth combined or you can use the split sleeper rule but I’m not getting into that and confusing you more. Now the 60/70 hour clock is not a continuous countdown like your 14 hour clock. On-duty and Driving time are the only 2 things that count against this. If you stop for a 30 min. break, it does too. If you’re in your sleeper, it stops. If you take a 10 hour off duty/sleeper break, it stops
If I could take a dump or sleep during the stop, I would log it “off duty”.
If it needed my attention, I would log it on duty.
These guys are clearly on-duty since they are physically offloading.
At my current job; I do several different tasks in a day. I still take breaks.
A break if just that a break, unloading a truck at a stop is not a break. A break is sitting there having a cup of coffee, taking a walk around a truck stop, taking a little power nap. Transco just wants more work out of drivers. I worked for 1 company that had GPS on the trucks, I get called in one day with the shop steward, “What happened the other day?”
I go through the what day, I don’t recall anything, etc. (Thinking maybe I clipped someone with the trailer and didn’t know it.) To make a long story short, I had stopped, safely off the highway at a convenience store, (at 2am) and took a pee break and got a cup of coffee. The manager said, “Don’t stop”, I was going to ask for that in writing on company letterhead, so I could take it to OSHA the next day.
They can’t fire you for a bathroom break, but like the BA from the union said, “If they tell 10 guys not to stop and one doesn’t, they win.” I’m sure they get up from their desk and go whenever they get the urge.
If your an intra state driver in CALIFORNIA.. YOU HAVE to also get 2 ten minute breaks or they HAVE to pay you in addition to what you worked.. they just had a big labor law suit over that one.. but they got pissed at you for taking a break?.. your a union shop? fed law used to say you got a 10 minute break along with a lunch break.. check it out..and ask the boss how many times the go on a smoke break?
Yes…Maybe, Transco would like to apply to FMCSA, in order to be exempt from paying their drivers any wages.
Wow why don’t someone address the real problem child the nonstop 14 hr workday or are they not enough professional drivers left that can remember how it was when they controlled their own destiny an not the dispatcher or company clowns
The problem is that most of these professional drivers, as you call them, can not tell the difference between tired and I’m sleepy. I would like to see the day when we go to a 8 hour work day.
The way i see it is that transco doesn’t really care for their drivers because you are preforming work if you are on the docks or in your trailer and if you read carefully it stated 19 hours to complete where do these guys and gals get their break
Now long retired, but in the good old days would log 15 minutes not driving and the rest of the load/unload time as off duty. Easy way to get extra hours. So glad I don’t drive anymore.
The fact that we’re even discussing this is insane?!
Are you kidding? We’re talking about off loading anywhere upward of 3,000 to 4,000 cases of products, hand printing each case. You call that a break?
It’s bad enough that these companies want you back on that truck exactly ten hours after you clock out, now to call unloading a break is just plain ridiculous!
What’s next, when the truck breaks down in another state and requires two days to get the parts, is this going to be counted as home time?
This is all just one big heaping pile of absurdity. Just put your paper or electronic log on line 2 the moment your truck stops and leave it there until you leave the facility. Except drop to line 4 for a few minutes (15 in the case of paper) somewhere in between to make the DOT happy.
While you’re at the facility, do whatever you please. If you think it needs to match your logs, then let me suggest purchasing the latest in industrial attire, the new strait-jacket safety vest.
Make NO MISTAKE…NO MISTAKE…this is NOTHING MORE than a ruse to get more work out of a driver without paying the driver! When you are loading or unloading YOU ARE WORKING but not driving the truck. The bottom line is with these food service jobs, forget being called a “driver”. You are a LUMPER. These food service jobs have massive turnover rates because this is the worst type of job involving driving you can get! When they thought up this idea it was in two parts: 1. “How can we get MORE WORK out of a driver without paying anything?” 2 .” Let’s phrase this so it looks like we’re so concerned about a driver’s health and we’re offering a way to improve that health. In that way, this will make us look good and sound reasonable but internally we know this is just about getting more work for no outlay!” Now a word to my fellow drivers! When you post things here or on any other similar site, please, please keep in mind how we write makes a difference! Let’s put our best foot forward! Someone earlier used the word “Your” over and over. Grade school English teaches us the difference between “your” and “you’re”! I’ve seen drivers write stuff with very valid comments but were nearly unreadable because of the incredible lack of punctuation, capitalization and basic sentence structure! Come on…unless you want to look like a total illiterate, WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS!
I too loved the way they profiled it as a benefit for the driver, the infrastructure, fuel consumption and highway safety. We know the difference between relaxing for a few while we eat and stuffing our face while driving.
McClane is a club… McClane is high paying …And McClane thinks they can push everyone else around…
Sounds like slavery to me ……
It should be at the drivers discretion. Nobody knows what the driver needs or doesn’t need better than the driver.
So in other words EVERY OTHER TYPE OF WORK GETS AT LEAST 1/2 FOR LUNCH.. AND THIS COMPANY WANTS THEIR DRIVERS TO UNLOD OR LOAD while on their lunch break? Log books LAWS state that loading and unloading is ON DUTY NOT DRIVING.. NOT OFF DUTY..the only way that you can log off duty at a shipper or reciever is if you are not working as in sitting in a coffee room..where you are not doing any type of work…
Why would any driver want to work or live that way. I’m guilty in my younger years of not taking a break like I should have. It never benefitted me or any other driver I know long term to not take a break.
Fellow drivers, this is the modern form of slavery that we are allowing ourselves to endure.
The 14 hour clock does not stop during the 30 minute mandatory break.
Think this won’t be approved? Why not? C R England received an exemption to allow permit holders to drive under load to their home state to obtain there CDL.
This just shows us how much we are valued, not!
Drivers have been falsifying this type of work for decades.. now they are going to feign shock over the company wanting what they do? LOL!!!!
The article says the drivers routes take 19 hours, I would be more worried about that than a 30 minute break! That is dangerous, and illegal right?…
I’m a LTL driver. I normally take my “30 minute break” at a stop that I know will take a little longer to complete. The people who go home daily in day cabs and LTL work should be exempt from this anyway. Some days I’m working only 9 hours, but I still have to get home a half hour later due to the ‘break’.
as a ltl driver no thanks, no one should be forced to work 14 hours with out a break.
Does anyone else find this last paragraph of the article confusing?
Not only would drivers be healthier without breaks, but Transco also claims that having the mandated breaks would increase the miles their drivers travel by more than 8.2 million miles per year and would require 18,000 additional loads. The additional miles would burn 1.3 million gallons of fuel, cause eight reportable accidents per year, and contribute to congestion and wear on critical infrastructure.
Copied from Transco’s application
Additionally, Transco states that the 30-minute rest break requirement causes its drivers to travel over 8.2 million additional miles each year on more than 18,000 additional loads. This increase in miles traveled results in eight additional reportable accidents per year, and also requires Transco CMVs to use over 1.3 million more gallons of fuel each year. This influx of CMVs on public highways also increases congestion, and wear on critical infrastructure. The 30-minute rest-break requirement also degrades the health of Transco’s drivers as leading clinical studies reveal sedentary activities substantially increase the risk of cardiovascular disease among adults. By insisting that the rest-break requirement be performed off-duty, it essentially forces Transco’s drivers to stop physical activity and become sedentary.
Transco believes that the granting of this exemption would offer two benefits—(1) the exemption would reduce the number of motor vehicle accidents and congestion on public roads by reducing the overall miles travelled to serve its customers; and (2) the exemption would increase the health of their drivers by increasing their physical activity through the course of their deliveries and substantially reducing any sedentary periods. Transco contends that under the exemption, its operations would maintain a level of safety equivalent to, if not greater than, that achieved by complying with the regulation. In its application, Transco lists a number of on-going company safety activities already in place to provide continuous training to drivers about both safety policy violations and driving behaviors that increase risk. These activities include on-board visual monitoring systems, Automatic On-Board Recording Devices, driver training, weekly safety inspections, full compliance assessments, and periodic safety committee meetings, which Transco contends would ensure an equivalent level of safety if the requested exemption is granted.
Where are these drivers taking their rest breaks???
I wish I could have this exemption at my disposal. I hate taking the 30 min break always have. I personally prefer to get my shit done. If my destination is 5 hours away, I drive 5 hours non-stop. Back before the 30 min BS started, I regularly drove 10-11 hours without stopping. Im a high-energy type. Once I get going, I go hard and I go til whatever I’m doing is done. Stopping for a break (whether it be 10 minutes or 30 minutes) just kills my momentum.
I don’t load or unload, never have and never will. I exercise good, take break for personal use, I’m a good cook eat outta my truck, got crockpot, George Foreman grill, toaster, small oven, microwave, stop at Walmart once a week and hit the produce section good. Nope not interested in unloading /loading for any company any wheres. ..lol..my opinion of course, but that’s how I roll…now have a safe one, and catch on down the road
Humm so if they are considered on break “while working” does that mean the company doesn’t have to pay them for taking their “break”? Didn’t think so.
Breaks should remain mandatory. If you are waiting to be loaded etc and can have no concern for your duties you can log your break then. If you are actively working for your carrier (as is the case in point) you are not on a break and it should not be counted as such. Without DOT and FMCSA your carrier would not be keeping your rig safe and they would be exploiting you even more. Drivers are at a premium now, we should have the upper hand but we agree to push ourselves too hard too long for too little.
I think that the definition of a break in trucking should be clearly defined, because from what I have read here in the comments already, there are as many definitions as there are drivers. Now, I am not saying you are all wrong. That’s precisely my point: I don’t know what a break should be. Some say the break means, a break from driving. Others think that if you are sitting on your ass, even behind the steering wheel, while at the dock, is a break. In my opinion a break is a break from work, and that includes being near your work and thinking about it, too. So locking your truck, walking away from it and the noise and polution of it, relaxing in a quiet and comfortable environment is a break. Or at least that’s what a break should be. When I am sitting at the wheel, while being unloaded, I am still at my work, still thinking about it and can be easily interrupted and asked to move the truck to another location, a different dock etc. No matter what I do in this situation ( whse loading, unloading ) I am never completely relaxed. To ask someone to unload and call it a break is like saying to a soldier that he is having a break, when not shooting and blowing shit up. Or to a chef that he is having a break when nothing is on the stove etc. It is an example of extreme greed on the part of the company owners and slave-like servitude on the part of the worker. I would never agree to it. But that’s just me. After 20 years of driving that’s all I have left: dignity. And I won’t allow them to take that away from me.
They need to stick their 30 minute break where the sun doesn’t shine …..This MANDATORY break is BS just makes you tired !! Nothing like the day going great just to stop and sit 30 minutes after 8 hours and make a guy tired. FMCSA can piss up a rope
Hey McLane/Transco a 30 break is just that A BREAK not more work time. Oh and let me guess if they log off duty for that time are you going to not pay them while their out the truck humping freight into convenience stores like 7-11. Sounds like just one more way to screw a driver, not to mention if they get hurt while on their offduty time (but still working) workman’s comp won’t pay because they shouldn’t have been doing it in the first place, or should I say you won’t pay them because we all should know the company is the one that determines whether or not the employees get payed when their hurt on the job.
One word, e-logs. Of I know I am going to be at a stop for a period of time, I take my 30. That’s just me though.
Should be”If”
So they are working 19 hour days?
The drivers are doing mostly just-in-time deliveries which means stopping around nine times a day at grocery stores and restaurants and returning to the distribution center after every load. Each ‘loop’ takes around 19 hours.
Hey, I hear McClane is hiring…because a bunch of their drivers just quit!
Between waiting to get loaded, waiting to get unloaded, traffic slowing me down, construction blocking my exit from the freeway (that I didn’t know about), a lot of my days were 19 hours long before I could finally stop and eat dinner. Oh, my on duty times were legal, of course, and so was my driving. I never showed more than 11 hours on any one day. Is it any wonder I said the heck with it and started my own business and left the trucking lifestyle? I tried to put up with it and suffered through two divorces since 1989, before we even had a CDL program. You folks can have it and God bless every single one of you out there banging your head against the wall to earn a decent living.
Anyone who has delivered to McClain would not be surprised be any of this foolishness. Try making your delivery there. You will see plenty more. Dispatch says got a McClain load going here, I say ” throw it back and try again”. Only other place I don’t deliver to is dollar general, and McClain is almost as bad as them.
Gee…doesn’t that sound like what Walmart did–make their employees work off the clock?
OH WAIT–Walmart owned McLane from 1990 to 2003 when they sold it to Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett)
Seems like the Walmart mentality is still at McLane.
The Mclane center I work out of pays drivers by the piece, stop, and mile. It’s called component pay. If the driver works through his break he is being compensated through the piece pay. The 30 minute break should not apply to drivers in this type of work as we don’t have long periods of seat time. I don’t get paid for breaks, it just keeps my away from home longer for no more money.