Hanging up my Hat to ELD's

Freedom doesnt exist in trucking anymore, politics love $$$$ from lbgt, and they are slaves to money.

 

Just curious, did you find that eld cost you too much income or are you hanging it up before trying?

 

Havent driven ELD yet as a owner/operator. But the fleet i drive for, have been on eld for a year. Didnt impact my paycheck, shows accurate mileage, so i can argue the dispatcher that many miles and your directions shows 10 miles shorter than my elog shows when I drove as instructed. I can live through it, use Big Road log app as my eld or trade my 04 t600 for pre-2000 w900L.

 

As a company puke, I've had it both ways. I can tell you the paper is really nice when you're trying to get home, which you already know. But I didn't lose a penny of earnings on the electronic logs either. And there was less paperwork, which I hate. Form and manner violations? Not happening on the electronic logs.

I do prefer the paper myself, as I hate electronic technology. Pick your poison, and pick wisely

 

Problem with the current H.O.S. is they aren't a perfect fit for every niche of the industry. With that being said, I have lost $00.00 due to ELD. Where I have lost money is not being dispatched the miles (don't have that problem any longer) I have been on them off and on for several years. Only drawback to them is as stated by someone else when trying to get home. (no longer have that problem either) In fact you gain time because as opposed to paper logs ELD is by the minute. not 15 minute increments. If it takes you 7 minutes to fuel... then 7 minutes is all it's going to log instead of having to log 15 on paper. As far as being babyitted?, Someone looking over your shoulder? I think nothing of it. Ain't crazy about them by no means but I don't think about it. I am grown, I know how to do my job. If you want to waste your time looking over me feel free to waste valuable company time that you could be being productive doing other things . I do it my way anyhow. As long as loads are delivered safeley on time I stop/start when I want., I get tired I pull over. (Benifit of running team). Over time ,throughout the years we have learned to adapt to changes. If you have been out here long enough you remember when we had the 8 And 10 hour rule (God I miss those days) well when they changed it from that to what we have now,over time we learned to adjust to them. Do I like it? Nope!!! But we adjusted. We will with this. No I'm not all for ELD's. But they are not as bad as one might think.

Of course with the JOB I have now for some, all that is easy for me to say. I realize it's not so easy for others. But as far as loosing money due to ELD's? Nahhh !!!! Someone looking over my shoulder? Knock yourself out... guess others see it differently. Feel free to beat me up over it. I'm tuff nuff to take it. Oh as far as being harassed by a Leo , being on ELD..... LOL never.... they see the sticker on side of truck even having a level 1 insp. They might glance over it for about 20 seconds ( not knowing what the he'll they're looking at) But never harassed not one time use a ELD


That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

 

This, in a nutshell, is why ELDs combined with the current HOS regulations are such a problematic combination for this industry.

 

As a company driver the last half of my long driving career, I fought against the idea of eLogs for a long time. But eventually had to go to them about 3 or 4 years ago, and quickly learned to adapt to them. I would not go back to paper at this point due to all the other added benefits of eLogs. Yes, they can be a problem at times, but nothing proper and well-in-advance planning can't usually fix.

But I'm hopeful this requirement will get rid of a lot of the "flaky" small operators that have played a big part in driving down rates, "trashing up" the industry, and causing a lot of recent issues for the industry as a whole. If they "can't afford" to move to an eLog or ELD system, they probably have no business in trucking in the first place. And it's not like they haven't seen this coming for the last 3+ years

 

Good luck to you in your future endeavors. I can still find enough moments of satisfaction and revenue to continue slogging through.