For Those Who Went From Paper Logs to Electronic

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by Raiderfanatic, Jul 7, 2012.

  1. NavigatorWife

    NavigatorWife Road Train Member

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    Once your 14hr window is open, it is open no matter which way you go. The e-log has it to where you can go off duty not driving, and you still have 11hr driving time as long as it is in the 14hr window.
     
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  3. x#1

    x#1 Road Train Member

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    so basically,and i am not being sarcastic,the elog is dictating your day because ANY forward motion from the truck penalizes your driving time and that 10 miles is indeed froward motion.point made.just hope that ya'll find the time to shower often enough to represent well.

    we all fudge our time to a certain extent,whether elogging or qualcomming or both,or not,and i prefer to not have my every move monitored which is exactly what elogs and qualcom do.at the end of a day,i get my legal 11 driving in as the miles can be verified if the dot wants to dig but i will not be stifled so much so that i am forced to park 10 miles away from a shower and basic necessities.That is total control by the company forcing you to start your day in that manner.

    my opinion only obviously as i have never run under the constraints of elogs,nor will i,and my last experience w/qualcom was in 1993.there will not be another.either or is forcing you to drive in a specific manner that could even be counter productive when compared to driving w/out either.just as many oppose elogs as enjoy them.it will always be a topic that is solely dependent on that particular driver and how they actually run-
     
  4. striker

    striker Road Train Member

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    Few years back, DOT inspector doing a company audit told me they expect a 15% "fudge" factor when auditing logs. Logs that are too exact or more than 20% "fudge" will send up a red flag to dig deeper. Too exact means your trying to cover your tracks, too loose means you don't care.


    We tried elogs for 30 days, it may be fine for an OTR driver, but for local/regional, it sucked, I hit 70 hrs on the elogs every week when I would normally only log 60 hrs per week. Generally it was because of driving, it would log those little 10 mile 20 minutes drives I would take between customers or the rail and a customer as driving time and count it against me during the day. I usually work a 12 to 13 hrs, at least twice a week I would log 11+ hrs of driving and it recorded a violation.

    Something I saw during Road Check 2012, Werner was being inspected next to me, inspector asked for a recent recap of his elog, plugged in to his computer to pull it, and spent more time going over it than he did actually checking the truck. That concerns me. I want them to spend more time looking for safety violations than worrying about my logs.
     
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  5. x#1

    x#1 Road Train Member

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    something was lost in my communication w/boyd driver then as i distinctly recall how agitated he was regarding how far he had to drive and the elog was about to start working against him. I am ignorant in all the new electronic ways of driving and go by what i hear and am told. I use loose leaf.

    thank you for the reply.
     
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  6. x#1

    x#1 Road Train Member

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    striker- it is great that you are concerned about the dot checking the elog more so than the truck and trailer.we all should be concerned w/that.strong points that you made regarding fudging as well.thanks for making them.I agree 110%.
     
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  7. Cranky Yankee

    Cranky Yankee Cranky old ######

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    well i never seem to sleep 10 hours so showering isn't a problem
    with a brand new DM apparently miles are the problem so i am very clean
     
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  8. daf105paccar

    daf105paccar Road Train Member

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    If you don't log those...............it think the DOT would call that fiddling/cheating.

    My friendly advice............don't ever be involved in a bad wreck.
    Those "missing" minutes will be expensive.(and i'm talking worse then losing some money)
     
  9. Raiderfanatic

    Raiderfanatic Heavy Load Member

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    This is the attitude that bothers me. It says you've got less than one year experience. So I'm guessing all you have ever done is E-Logs. You have no idea what it's like to actually have to log your day then.

    The having to stay at a shipper/receiver instead of driving ten miles to a truck stop is one thing I couldn't deal with. For instance, we deliver sand to a place in Lincoln, NE all the time. It's a solid 3 1/2 hour blow off there, once you finally get a hold of someone to give you the okay. Numerous times the 14 hour clock has long expired by the time you're done unloading. There's no way I'm staying there when Shoemakers is ten minutes away.

    Or, just like last week, I took a load of starch from Columbus, NE to Russellville, AR. The Flying J is 5-10 minutes away from the customer. I didn't start my log when I left the next morning to run over to unload. I waited until I finished unloading and was ready to actually truck. With E-Logs, that would not be possible.

    It would be different if I was actually out busting my rear working. But most of the time unloading, you're sitting in the truck watching TV, listening radio whatever....Jump out everyone once in a while to check gauges or switch hoppers. I only have to show 15 minutes for unload at that customer in that city. Doesn't matter if it's a 5 hour blow off or 45 minutes.

    I'm just finding it hard to believe that E-logs are going to be beneficial. I kinda wonder what the drivers I talked to were making before going to E-Logs. I will make over 52 grand again this year. I get percentage of load. I just think I would lose a significant amount of loads if I was being electronically logged.

    Appreciate the responses.
     
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  10. NavigatorWife

    NavigatorWife Road Train Member

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    My husband has driven with both. I am not sure if it can add any more miles to your day or not, you still have only 11hrs, except for the time it takes to play and work on the log. As long as a person remembers to log the time the right way, ie. driving, off duty, sleeper berth, inspection time etc it should be a lot faster. The log still has to be approved though by you.

    Some drawbacks on e-logs I have noticed are; if qualcomm goes down the paper logs have to be sent in to company, this marriage of paper and e-log may never gel for whatever reason; he has had entries for false fuel entry; missing miles. This does not include any other violation you might have done yourself. You do have to pay attention to the time to make sure you log in or out at the right time for your entries, (being late on an inspection time is better than being late and going over your 14hrs), and making sure you log the entry with the correct info. You have to either sleep at shipper if out of time so no running down to the local TS on no nickles, so try to make sure you arrive with your window open just in case it takes them 9hrs to get you out where you can get to that TS or exit.


    Drawbacks on paperlogs: chasing that line around from duty to duty, having to mail in packets all the time. Not worth the fudging on any other deal.

    I don't know if it keeps the company more in tune to what hours you have left or have done or not, that may depend on the company I think; they still want ETA's, PTA's and all the other drivel (so you are still doing their homework for them.)


    We never wasted time on loads like some mention with casinos, etc., would always prefer sitting in their front door at shipper or as close to possible so as not to have to open that 14hr window till truck was at dock, sometimes this is not an option, esp is some areas like the east where it is hard to find parking, or the shippers are in small places with no allowed parking.

    Mainly it takes pre-planning so you know where the truck will be if you have to stop somewhere to park, etc. I don't ride with him right now, but have the computer at home that helps plot where and when a lot faster than in the old days of just maps. He has a Roadmaster so that helps and I google things for him, esp the addresses that do not compute or are not correct. I know there are those out there who have driven for many years and probably have roadmaps in their eyelids now and know exactly how long it takes from Point A to B and where they are going to stop, but the laptop makes it a lot easier in my opinion so you can decide where you are going to pull off at before you run out of hours on the e-log, you do have to give it 15min for your post-trip inspection.
     
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  11. NavigatorWife

    NavigatorWife Road Train Member

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    I imagine he had already opened his log for the day and spending time at the TS for repairs was eating into his 14hr window. If he had been at the truck stop you can move real slowly for a short period of time and it will not kick in the log, but if having to move from somewhere else you are doomed to the window being open then and no way to stop it or fudge on it.
     
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