200 miles on a 4 hr clock?!

Doing OTR and getting home on time don't always mix. That is just the nature of the beast and some companies are better then others at getting you home reasonably. As far as your hours go once you are empty then your considered "unladen" and can use personal conveyance to go home. Personal conveyance is logged as off duty driving and can be used to go to your home terminal, residence, stores, restaurants , etc you get the idea. Now with that said it is up to your company rather or not personal conveyance is allowed. It is a very "open to interpretation" topic and can easily get you into hot water if the DOT officer is improperly educated on the subject.

 

That is false. If the CMV is unladen, and you are not under dispatch, and have been released from duty, you can commute home in the CMV under PC. For example, make your last delivery for the week and dispatch doesn't have anything for you, you can PC back to the house. If you then receive a dispatch while at home, you would be on duty and driving leaving the house to get your load...even if that takes you back to where you were released from duty. If you're under a load and drop the trailer to PC home, then you have to return to the load (still PC) to hook back up...otherwise it appears that you moved the load illegally by fraudulently claiming PC to avoid an HOS violation. If, however, you drop the trailer to PC home...and then dispatch reassigns your load and has another driver grab the trailer you dropped, you wouldn't have to drive back to the location where you dropped the trailer before going back on duty...you'd be on duty driving from wherever you received the updated dispatch assignment.

 

I have illegally PC'd many many times. And not just to avoid a violation(which I have done) but also just to add a few hours of driving to my day without a blinking red exclamation on my Qualcomm. I guess some DM check better than others. Mine on the other hand, she retired yesterday, so I guess she's not been paying attention to #### for a long time.

 

A 6 month random DOT audit will see it as well as your company may red flag excessive use of PC. A little digging and they will see you using it while dispatched and any number of disciplinary actions will take place against you up to and including termination of your contract.

Worse than that is if someone crashes into your rig and dies, their lawyer will dig up your logs and discover the same thing and you may end up in prison for the rest of your time on top of this dying planet.

 

"PC" was a worthwhile [carrier option] workaround to address legitimate needs that did not involve taking on more revenue miles/time. But it's no surprise many abuse it and it will be no surprise if it's temporarily no longer recognized as an option until the FMCSA can find a way to make it official and with very strict and explicit rules for its use.

 

I start work for another company tomorrow evening at 18:00. This company does not allow PC but they are also on the Texas HOS, so they don't really need to be. At any rate, my employment with Swift is technically, if not officially terminated by me already. Leaving my truck leased to them and putting a team in it until I can find a new company to move it to.

I did, however, get the last 6 months of my logs from Swift so if/when I get audited for claiming the per diem for 336 days this year, I have evidence in my favor. Times when I was line 5, my logs show off duty, not driving. Not sure if that's them covering their ### by intentionally not showing it as line 5 or a technical glitch. Either way I will take it.

 

This goes against the intent as I understand it. If you can move your #### without using hours, what's to stop somebody getting told where the next pickup is and have them PC closer before technically dispatching it?

 

Technically, there is no "line 5" in a log book...the computer just needs to be told you're off duty while the truck is in motion, so it prints out the same as you'd show it on paper, on line 1.

 

It's all in the guidance on the FMCSA site if you don't want to believe me...and unless you've got a good reason for rolling toward your next load, you'd probably have difficulty explaining it during an audit. For example, I deliver friday evening 40 miles north of home, and when I call in empty they say "That's it. Have a good weekend and call us Monday morning." So, having been released from duty I'm free to PC home. Monday morning when I call in, they say "You're picking up 30 miles South of your house." So, when I roll out I'd be on line 3 heading to pick up. I also have a legitimate reason for heading that direction...just going home for the weekend. If you live in Chicago and delivered in Nashville, you'd have a tough time justifying PC driving toward Memphis for your reload. For those who report to a terminal every day, it also allows them to commute to and from the terminal off duty in the CMV, provided they receive their dispatch at the terminal. If dispatch calls to say "Your load is ready, come to the yard and pick it up", now they are on duty driving on the way in.

Like anything else, there are loopholes to be exploited by those who want to do so. I've very rarely used PC (once in 15+ years)...but then tbhat's always been on paper and I don't work enough hours for it to really matter. That one time, I was delivering an hour from the house on a friday night, and was 30 minutes from the end of my 14 when they got done with me. Our yard is at the half way point in my trip home, and I needed to leave the empty trailer at the yard...so I dropped it at hour 14 and PC'd the last 23 miles home, because it was legal to do so. The other option would've been to drive home and let the truck catch up to me the next day...which would've been less-than-legal.

 

You are already enjoying day 1 of your home time.