DOCK/FACILITY ETIQUETTE 101 long format.

The ATA admitted their push for ELD’s was to level the playing field. Same as their push for speed limiters. If everyone is on ELD’s and everyone has to drive the same speed and everyone is paid roughly the same they figure drivers won’t leave their trash member companies for greener pastures.

 

It aint argument man, we're just talking and exchanging ideas. I don't think ELDs constrain efficiency at all. In fact, if anything, it forces drivers to become more efficient. Big fleets pushed for them sure, and they may say it levels the playing field. I don't really think it does all that much. I just think there are other bigger advantages big fleets have than logging.

 

The ATA admitted that but I dont really think it levels the playing field all that much. I did paper and electronic, and I've seen better money on electronic than paper. Others may dispute that. Having "flexibility " with paper very seldom put a significant increase in my pay. I just dont think there is truly a level playing field in trucking. I think it's 2 different worlds.

 

The main purpose of the cattle prods (ELOGS, bendix braking, the lane change thingy because they can’t used mirrors…etc) is to stupefy the job to the point to where Braindead morons now qualify for the job.

It’s like dumbing down the senior school SAT to the point where the kids who shouldn’t get a diploma now qualify for a high school diploma. The kids on top still do well after high school but will now be saddled in college with a bunch of curriculum that should have been taught in middle school.

Suddenly, you are in college going into finance, and the average person in your class can’t tell you what 12x5 equals without a calculator.

“But Six, I am making straight A’s in college!”
I wouldnt tell anyone I was in college.

 

I don’t have much of a comparison because I didn’t spend much time on a completely rigid ELD. But I can tell you what I did at my flatbed job running to Utah and back.

Oftentimes in the summer I’d stop and sleep at Downey ID because it was usually 20 degrees cooler than it was in the Salt Lake valley. In the morning I’d drive down, untarp and deliver, drive to my pickup, load and tarp, then I’d drive back to Montana. Or if I was reloading in Ogden I’d show unloading in Ogden no matter where I delivered. If I delivered south if SLC I always showed unloading SLC, especially if my reload was going back up to Kalispell.

Now that I’m on a time card with no log in the truck I don’t think I could go back to an ELD.

 

Did you ever truck on paper logs? Yes the 14 hour limit on ELD makes truckers inefficient. It's a hard limit that can't be avoided. On paper there's no hard limit there when you can just toss a log sheet in the trash and make a new one look as good as you please. That's just one example.

 

I did truck on paper logs and I much prefer elogs.

 

Ok then you understand the inherent inefficiencies at all the shippers and receivers? You know the inefficiencies that didn't magically go away when electronic log devices were mandated? Drivers didn't lose time due to shipper/receiver inefficiencies or traffic jams on paper logs because they'd just tear out the old log and draw up a new one that looked clean. People who do that have a competitive advantage over someone else on electronic logs who can't edit their's and have to push deliveries out. Make sense now?

 

Sure....I guess. I've done it both ways. There were days I cheated too. Lol. The big myth is that you make more money on paper logs. I may have cheated logs from time to time, but that doesn't mean that it was a foregone conclusion that my paycheck on Friday was going to be any better. A shipper and receiver can hold you up, and whether its paper or electronic, you still may have to reschedule. A driver could rip out the page, drive, and still not make it before their receiving window closes. Sometimes ripping out the page works, sometimes it doesn't. In my opinion, I think the competitive advantage you speak of is a false sense of a competitive advantage. It still takes 10 hrs or more to knock off a 600 mile run, and if its a firm appt, then what are we talking about? Hurrying up to wait?

When I was talking about efficiency, I was speaking more in terms of drivers learning to become more efficient. For me that entails adequately planned stops, learning every part of HOS, and figuring out the best way to maximize mileage in a day. I can do that by knowing the variables that I can control.

In any event, there are far bigger advantages than logging that a big company has over the small company.

 

I think braindead morons have always been in the trucking industry lol. I don't too much like adaptive cruise and lane departure in the trucks either, but these manufacturers are pandering to distracted driving. Everybody texts and drives so they add the extras.

I don't think elogs dumps people down. I think it adds efficiency and the element of strategy because trip planning becomes more paramount than ever. The time it takes to rewrite a log book for me is a waste. I hated having to fill out the paper log and rewrite it. I think there's higher probability for error. Elogs are so much easier. Touch the screen and go to sleep. I like simple.