E-logs and Reality

If the goverment cared about saftey and the saftey of truckers, they would make laws for buyers and shippers, because that is where the over hours start. Buyers push for quick deliveries, shippers hold truckers up, truckers pushes to make up, trucker is faced with threats for ontime delivery or lose his job, trucker screws up, trucker is made out to be bad guy, pays all the money to goverment, (because that is what its about, money,not saftey) buyers and shippers move on to next pawn.

You can say, "If your pushed that hard, move on." But for some, untill the buyers and shippers are regulated, its not that easy and will never end untill the WHOLE transportation world has so called "saftey laws"

Saftey Laws in trucking are just a "SAFE WAY" to say make money for the goverment without calling it the evil "Tax" word

 

Let's see if that is true per a certified commercial pilot:

1) What is the max # of hours a pilot and co pilot can be ON DUTY in any 24 hr period?

For DOMESTIC operations, 14 hours in a 24 hour period in the USA

However, that duty day can be extended up to 16 hours if something "beyond control of the airline" occurs (weather).

2) How many hours can he fly?

For DOMESTIC flights, 8 hours (but possibly up to 10 if the situation above occurs per Federal Aviation Regulation 121.471 subpart G).


So, I guess your 11 driving hours in 14 is more restrictive than a commercial pilot? How?

 

Only a wuss would allow a shipper/receiver dictate how they do the job. The shipper/receiver can state what they want, but I dictate how the job is done. Now, I do communicate this at the start as opposed to waiting till an hour from the receiver to call and say I can't be there. That will make you real welcome when you do arrive. But even as an O/O with an EOBR in the truck, I usually run around 60-62 mph and still my NET last year was almost $70K. Have solid, consistent customers who treat me well. I will do the best I can to meet their needs, and I will "put a wiggle in it" and step up the pace to meet a critical demand, but we also have an understanding that regulations are what they are and have to be met. Their freight will be handled with care and will arrive intact and undamaged in a timely manner. Not a load damaged or lost in 3 decades on my part.

If you are with a carrier that doesn't handle it that way, then vote with your feet, and move on. I know you didn't want to hear that again, but no one is forced to drive for anyone. It is all volunteer. If a person puts up with this, they only have themselves to blame. Find another place to drive or get out of the business altogether. There are a lot of good carriers out there. Sure, you might have to "beat the weeds" to find them, but they are there. I have worked for a few over the years.

There is some merit to your last comment though.

 

Too many auditors use GPS from phones to detect falsification by mile averaging . Some safety departments are also doing that now after being burned in an audit by GPS .

 

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2011/May11/051611/052011-01.shtml
'Nuff said . ATA wins again . Get used to working for free if you choose to work for a carrier that doesn't pay detention time . But don't think for a minute that carrier isn't charging detention time . They're just not giving any of it to the driver .

 

That is why a person should thoroughly check out in writing what the carrier pays for and the amount. Many drivers just jump in with only asking what type of equipment and the pay per mile. There is sooo much more to researching out a carrier. If a carrier will not outline its detention policy and compensation, then why hire on? Everyone wants to blame the carrier (with some justification), but they didn't even bother to check out all of this type of stuff before they signed on and demand whatever the carrier is promising be written in some sort of policy that you can actually read. Not based on the word of a recruiter.

The motivation for a carrier is not some government idiot mandating something. It is when they cannot fill the seats with competent drivers. If drivers would apply due diligence in selecting a carrier, then the ones who make it a practice of screwing over the drivers would not have anyone to hire. They would have to change or go out of business. Which the latter is what some carriers need to do anyway.

In 30 years, any carrier I have signed on with, I have spent upwards of 3-4 months researching them, asking questions of people in the various departments of the carrier, other drivers, etc. Only once did I not get what was promised, and that was not that a major thing. When the policy changed in a negative way, I analyzed the situation and took a hike if it was called for. The last two carriers I have worked with always honored their word and did the right thing. I would still be with the last one, but the owner sold the company. My present one is a keeper.

 

And...... pin it down.

Some carriers will only pay detention after the first 4 hours of waiting. So, you are giving them 4 hours for free and then typically collecting some insulting paltry wage after that.

My rule of thumb was give up the first hour, and then at least $15 an hour after that. If you are burning up time on line 4, it's not too much to expect.

Detention usually only counts if all appointment times are met. Make sure you know their policy. If dispatch tells you 8AM and you show up and it's a 10AM, hold dispatch to paying detention from your instructed appointment.

Shippers and receivers need to be held accountable - it would be a great benefit to the industry if this was put into place. I did operations for LTL with grocery warehouses years ago, and it was a nightmare if one customer delayed a delivery. It all snowballed from there and I spent the rest of the day stomping out fires.

And..... if my truck was there for it's appointment, and was delayed, we billed the shipper from the minute he was supposed to hit the dock on, and paid the drivers accordingly. It was a way of rewarding the handful of guys who grasped the simple concept of showing up on time.

 

I've said it before, mandating e-logs WILL have very stiff consequences on the whole of our nations economy.

It just will not work for certain driving jobs in the upper-midwest. Fuel hauling being one of them... and livestock transportation also comes to mind.

With fuel hauling, and the market driven system now in place... wait times for loading and sometimes unloading would drop a load off of every fuel hauler doing it per day. This in turn would reduce profitabilty in the endeavor which would lead to shortages and drive up fuel costs for everyone... which will impact ALL transportation of goods...

Logistical planning will NOT help as there are just to few places to load product... It's a major problem in which I hope someone(lawmakers) are thinking of, before mandating ANYTHING (e-logs).

It will create an inflation nightmare, that could break our already struggling economy.

 

So you're saying fuel haulers are running illegally now and should be allowed to continue to do so .

 

I agree appointments are the key . I had a lot of unpaid wait time when I ran hopper bottom . No loading appointments and at times I'd be 5th or 6th in line to load and loading could take an hour per truck . The bad part was the expected the line to move up as each truck loaded so drivers couldn't get any real rest . That was under the old HOS though and we were told to log 5 hours sleeper while waiting .