Honest logs

Politeness doesn't bother me. Speaking without knowledge and acting as if what you are saying is fact....now that irritates me. If you have no experience in something there is no way you can speak on the subject.

Books don't teach you the real world. Only setting in the seat will.

 

People said what I was saying is right, it was how I was saying it that drew the ire...I'll work on both aspects...

 

No you can't beat them driver BUT...you can turn them to your adavantage. All your time eating, sleeping etc. can be ( questionable ) put on line 2 sleeper. While it doesn't stop the 14 ... you are collecting drive hrs on the back side of the remainder of your split break and.... if you don't use the hrs. to roll on....they push your 70. All you have to do is stop 2. It's about planning.[/QUOTE]

yeah i know all about that ain't my first rodeo.. and yeah i plan but remember you only pick up what was in front of that first break. so if you work 3 hours take 2 then drive 7 take 8 you only pick up 3... trust me I am on elogs and that is how it works. we can argue about it but there is no sense as to that is what the computer does. so you might as well take a 10.

 

I have a friend who worked for USA truck and he had creative logs pretty often. I have been with Watkins and Shepard for 4 months now and NEVER once had to get creative on my logs. Might want to look a little harder at companies. Read through this forum. PM me I did about 3 months research before a decided on Watkins and Shepard. I had a short list here they are

1. Watkins and Shepard was tied with May whoever called 1st I went with
2. Prime Inc.
3. Stevens
4. HO Wolding

Those were my top 5 I had others that really do not matter they were going to be strictly to get experience.

I wish you luck, I say it again do some research, go to truck stop and talk to drivers, that is what I did I spent a total of 5 or 6 hours over a few days talking to drivers.

 

1. I am out of hours 45 minutes from home. Am I going to sleep in the truck on the shoulder of an on-ramp with no food, truck stop or conveniences within 20 miles or drive home for a hot shower, a nutritious meal and my own bed?

2. I am out of hours at Frazier Park in the middle of the night. Do I take 8 or 10 off there and drive into LA traffic in the middle of the day, or head down the hill & park at my consignee?

3. I arrive at a consignee at 2 AM with a 7 AM appointment. Do I screw my 10 off by showing that I woke up for 30 minutes to make the delivery (Which would make it impossible for me to get to my next load)?

4. It's 3 PM. I'm in the middle of whatever major metropolitan area, I started at 7 AM, I'm tired & traffic is gridlocked. Do I blow up my 14 nodding off in traffic or do I find one of my quiet little hiding places, take a 4 hr. nap and then go truckin?

These are scenarios that I deal with on a weekly basis. I have never worked for a co. with qual-coms & I never will. I drive truck for the freedom and independence the profession offers. If I have to give those up, I'll go do something else.

 

Will do!...My head may be thick, but it's not impenetrable!

 

what i want to get across is i run as legally as i can as much as i can, and it usually isnt a problem. like one of the above posts said its really just little things just to keep your hours up are pretty much a given. if your waiting 3 hours to get loaded that adds up and kills your driving time if you keep it all on duty like they tell you to. you arent getting paid, my guys give me 5 bucks to load or unload whether its a half hour or 15 hours and thats it. if you log EXACTLY this the way schools teach you are about a fool, dont know a nicer way to put it.

you can do what i do if the little voice in your head has a problem with it, go in the sleeper and watch a movie or sleep and log it as sleeper time. do show the time for backing in, checking in and all that fun stuff, but no reason to waste hours doing nothing.


parking, i like to wake up early and end early and drive days(when time allows) to avoid the parking situation. that is also an excellent point. i also stop around 9-10 hours so i have at least the last hour a day dedicated to making sure i get a good place to spend the night. thats how i avoid potential issues, so if your still hell bent on by the book at least remember that much.



another example im stuck sitting all weekend, i had to drive from the reciever to a terminal if i wanted to sit where i can have food, shower, bathroom...not the middle of nowhere. i logged all my drive time, BUT i logged it a couple hours earlier than i did it to ensure i have a 34 hour reset in by the time dispatch shows up and gives me a load monday am.
little things to help yourself out are the type of thing everyone is doing, and its usually not a big deal. so i might not be getting in my full 34? well i slept 10 hours last night plus a 2 hour nap, im pretty confident im rested enough to hit it sefely. this is where its up to your better judgment.
its tough out here especially when your new, no reason to make it harder on yourself. again, just be safe and smart about it and theres no problem.

you will find not just with the logs but almost everything, it is a completely different machine than they lead you to believe you in school. a lot of the reason they drive the rules into your head so hard is to basically cover their ###. they really cant give you the full story, thats where these guys come in.

 

Gremlin -- thanks for the clarification and for the pm discussion. I'm glad we're good. *smiles*

 

I kind of agree with that. The rules have to be broad generalizations that cover everyone and miss a lot of situations like this.

As responsible adults we should be able to make decisions like this. However, if you think about the biggest rule breaking, most irresponsible trucker you have ever met, the rules are brought down to his level to keep them running safe at the expense of the rest of us. There really should be a better system, but I can't imagine how it could be done without making a rule book a foot thick.

My company is real good about not asking me to do anything illegal. I mention HOS and it's always the end of the discussion. Haven't pulled that one too many times, but I have yet to see anything negative from the times I did.

I try to run as legal as I can. The only exception that I am comfortable with deals with parking at the end of the day. Seems to be all too common to end up in a situation where I am starving and in need of a shower, and 15 minutes makes the difference between getting to the only truck stop in the area or sleeping next to a no parking sign on a narrow on ramp.