Stevens Paperless Log

No...in fact when the recruiter was at our school, he said that they do not ever plan to go paperless.

 

I have spoken to some Werner drivers that love it...so I am sure it is just whatever you get used to.
With paperless, you can not fudge your logs...which I have no intention of doing.

 

Well, as for the paperless logs at stevens....the recruiter will always say that as to paperless has a lot of disadvantages....i'm not going to list cuz if you don't know then you need more experience. But Stevens Transport has been testing the paperless log system and may or may not implement, varies on what's more beneficial to the company. Which a higher turn over rate would help them push through more students.

I don't think paperless really matters to the legal drivers anyway. Just means less money for us rule benders out there (99% of the industry)

 

That last sentence says a whole lot about your attitude.

The entire industry will be paperless in 5 years or less, mandated by congress, or the FMCSA. Paperless can still be fudged, cheated, screwed with by those so inclined. Just takes more brains.

And the FMCSA is giving companies incentives, to go paperless....That is why many are going paperless this year.

 

TLeaHeart your posts have been noticeably more judgmental recently. I used to enjoy reading your opinions but this kind of response is a real dissappointment. I like that you "tell it like it is" but sometimes a little more tact or courtesy would go a long way. JMO

FYI, I just got off a truck with a trainer at Stevens and there was an "EXPERIMENTAL" qualcomm unit that had a paperless log feature. It also had a built in GPS that looked a lot like a garmin or such but it really didn't work very well. Problem was you had to send in for directions and sometimes it took 5 minutes to get them. For a reroute due to a missed turn, you would have to stop in order to get new directions because of the huge time lapse.

The paperless log cannot be "fudged" (created) like a paper log. The operator has no control over drive time. If the truck is moving, the drive line is ON and the logged in driver is locked out at that time. The only way to change drive time is to have it done back at Stevens (Dave in Fuel is running it).

Of course if you move the truck your 11 and 14 starts.

You CAN edit lines 1,2 and 4 the way our paperless was set up, and I heard Dave say that he could set it up so that the truck wouldn't automatically put you in the driver's seat unless the truck went at least 2 miles. That will help if you are in a Walmart lot waiting for 10 hours and you have to move the truck.

Also the paperless automatically puts you to line 4 when the truck stops, so if you forget to change it to line 2, you must later edit prior to approving the log.

I heard someone say this upgrade would cost Stevens roughly 5 million and that they really didn't want to go paperless anyway, they are just testing different systems that are available for now.

I can certainly understand how someone that is accustomed to cheating their paper logs would not want to go paperless, but personally I LIKE the idea that dispatch can't push you to go that extra hour or two because your paperless logs won't allow for it. It's just safer for the driver.

 

I applied at a local company and he basically told me that they expect you to massage the logs in order to get a load delivered so that you cold get another one right away.
He said it was the difference between making 40k or 50k. He said it was working within the system.

 

Yeah, working within the system is a phrase I've heard in my 7 week career already. And there really are "practices" that you can use to stay and run legal while running along that fine edge. From what I've seen though the difference in making 40 or 50K can also be attributed to top notch planning and good communication with the dm. I'd rather be known as a guy that can handle what he takes on rather than a guy that needs to "massage" information in order to get the job done.

That being said (and keeping in mind I'm still a student in training) - I'm sure there will be many times when I'm going to be asked or told to push it into that fringe area - and I've also heard that disappointing dispatch leads to less desirable loads or fewer miles.

 

There was no doubt that he meant falsifying the log.