Oh no! Another "PC to a truck stop thread"!!

Must non transportation-related work for a motor carrier be recorded as on-duty time?

Guidance: Yes. All work for a motor carrier, whether compensated or not, must be recorded as on-duty time. The term “work” as used in the definition of “on-duty time” in §395.2 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) is not limited to driving or other non transportation-related employment

 

So what you’re saying is log it like you do it, which is what we’re saying too. All a few of us are saying is that if your “work” can be done in less than 15 minutes that there is no 15 minute minimum like what people are saying.

 

How about this, my company wants us to show a minimum because when dot does an audit. They're gonna question certain things done in under 15 minutes, occasionally i show an hour for arriving, checking in, backing....covers my behind from violations, they cant say i tried to hide anything....

 

Fair enough. But don’t quote your company’s policy as some non-existant FMCSA regulation. You choose to log how you want, the rest of us choose to do it our way. Personally, if I’m waiting for my appointment I’m not going to log on duty time, and if I’m waiting in the truck because we’re not allowed to do anything to assist with the loading process I’m not going to log on duty. If it takes me 5 minutes to run upstairs and sign in then that’s what gets logged. If it takes me 1 or 2 minutes to drive onto the scale and park to get loaded then that’s what gets logged.

 

I think my point was showing whats realistic, and honestly its not realistic showing only 5 minutes for checking in, when most dot will know u probably waited in a line of some kind, thats why i show at least an hour, that covers what i feel is a true amount of time that it took me to complete the delivery process.....

 

Not all of us do the same kind of work. If I drive in and park where that other truck is I can easily walk the 5 truck lengths to the red square, drop off my washout ticket, write my pickup number by my appointment slot, and walk back to my truck in 5 minutes. It’s been done quite a few times. Then I log off duty while I wait. Then when I pull in to load (up close to the red square) it trips to drive for a few seconds. When I am parked and getting loaded I am off duty. I can’t assist in the loading process in any manner. So like I said, your company’s policy isn’t FMCSA regulation and if I’m logging it how I’m actually doing it then how can they say it’s false?

 

Not only is it acceptable to log driving, it's actually the law.

From art 395
Driving time means all time spent at the driving controls of a commercial motor vehicle in operation.

 

On a public highway, yes...not in a docking area, that is on-duty....