What's Next??

Yes, I saw that today also. Now telling us that if we are at either a shipper or receiver, and it is going to be awhile, we need to drop the trailer so that can move off the property and then log off duty or in the sleeper. Then that will also cause a problem. I am waiting to see if the L/O's or O/O's are going to pitch a real stink on this one. Like I am going to log on-duty the whole time that I am sitting in a door and waiting.

 

OK this guy needs to do his homework, we are not required to log On Duty Not Driving while sitting in the driver's or passenger's seat. Also I would argue that sitting in the break room of a customer would qualify as Off Duty.

Edit, OK I've been thinking about this almost nonstop while driving the last few hours.
Of the 10 things he listed as "must log On Duty Not Driving" for, I have a problem with just 3 items.

3. At customer (pickups and deliveries)
4. Sitting in the driver or passenger seat
6. Scaling

OK I do remember way back in orientation they said 100% of the time at the customer must be logged On Duty. The tacit exception would be to log Sleeper.

Sitting in the driver seat is no longer a violation of Off Duty time for almost a year now so that could be an exception as well, for both being at the customer or at a truck stop or anywhere.

The state of readiness he talks about, I don't see a problem at the customer of logging Off Duty and stepping into their break room. If they want me to move my truck of course that would be logged On Duty.

The basic end-around for this would be to give the obligatory x amount of minutes On Duty at the arrival of the customer then log sleeper the whole rest of the time before loaded call and show again some x amount of time On Duty before departure.

Scaling loads at the Cat scale. OK as a company driver I always logged On Duty for this activity because Swift was reimbursing me for the price of the scale ticket. When I became a lease operator and saw that the scale ticket was not reimbursed on my settlement, I called Rapid Response to complain about it, was answered back by a snooty snippety angry woman who told me to turn those over to my tax guy next April as a business expense.

So I look at it like Swift is out of the loop when I scale the load; my money, my time. For all Swift knows I went to that truck stop for food or coffee.

If Mr DOT wants to tear my truck apart looking for evidence I scaled a load Off Duty, he needs probable cause first. But that would only happen once if I got caught, the end-around on that would be to drop the receipt right in the mail box to the tax guy on the way back to the truck before I left.

In short, you want me to log On Duty needlessly and excessively Swift, you need to pony up some cash because the only way I'm making any money out here is by the mile; it's gotten so I've given up on the whole detention pay trick as the entire culture has shifted to one of deny deny deny the lease operators their due money at every given chance.
Some of the (excuses) reasons I've heard when I've called asking about why my detention wasn't on my settlement have been:

Your logs shows Sleeper for the detention time in question, we don't pay you to sleep

We don't pay owners Layover pay (this was a load that was supposed to pick up on Friday but was held up til Monday)

The customer has to put the In Out times on the BOL not the driver--

The computer says "Denied", final answer

Your logs show a violation for the detention time in question, we can't pay you because that shows complicity
(this was a load they told me to be there at 1100 but the customer said the appointment time was 1500 so my clock ran out when they assigned me a dock door.

 

Logging all the time at a shipper/receiver as on duty- not driving will surely eat up our 70 much quicker, which would mean many more 34's.
(Funny that they brought up that point, and dismissed it in the same breath.)

Is Swift so eager to hire that many more drivers and put that many more trucks on the road, and to have every truck that much more unproductive?

Sounds like they are trying to shoot themselves in the foot - without looking, of course.

 

Good to see you back Moosetek.

OK this AM delivered to the customer, they said back up to the dock, give them my keys and sit in their break room/cafeteria. So I figured since I don't have any keys to move my truck, naturally that is Off Duty time. Nice break room too, full kitchen with 2 refrigerators, dishwasher, double sink with garbage disposal, 2 microwaves and the coup de grace-- an industrial sized Keureg (sp) coffeemaker with a full assortment of coffees to choose from. I fixed a bowl of cereal, chilling out in there break room for 45 minutes, no way am I giving that time away On Duty.

What does Swift think the reefer haulers log when they sit on the docks for days at a time? There is a thread right on this forum where guys talk about being backed up on a dock for days waiting for the cows to come in and be killed, chopped up into steaks and hamburgers, prechilled before being loaded into the reefers.

Here's a good hypothetical situation:
Team drivers back up to the dock both are asked to wait in the driver's lounge. Will Swift require both drivers to log On Duty Not Driving then?

Some of these shippers place gladhand locks on the trailers so they cannot be moved by the driver til the customer says so.

Currently getting loaded, the shipper asked me to drop my trailer in the door and pull ahead a few feet. I'm logging Off Duty thank you.

So to avoid conflict with Swift the best thing to do would be to log Sleeper while at the shipper, there can be zero argument that the driver is relieved of all duty in that status.

The next best status is Off Duty while sitting up front as they have decriminalized logging Off Duty in a parked (keyword: PARKED) commercial vehicle.

Swift says drop the trailer and leave the property. OK fine, back up to the dock, jump out and disconnect the pigtail, the system will recognize the trailer is disconnected, who's to say you didn't drive out the gate?

More than 1 way to skin a cat....

 

Here is another question regarding this. What about in the case of a Mentor. Pulls on the property and the sign says no student drivers. I guess that the student would then have to log off duty while he sits in the guard shack and the Mentor would do what. Drive the truck to the dock, after logging off from On-duty to driving.

 

i had one of those signs that said No Students while on my mentors truck... My mentors response... You'll be ok, just don't tell them... And don't damage anything....

 

Technically there are no student drivers at Swift who are with a mentor. That's just a term they use but if you really think about it, the 'student' driver has a full blown CDL so it isn't the business of the customer to be dictating who can drive on their property (well yes it its but there's no need to tell them who you are).

I was trying to find this phrase "State of Readiness" in the regulations that is in the What's New post. He talks about us being required to log On Duty due to this State of readiness. I think what the true agenda here is, this was just lip service to cover Swift's tail. I don't think a trucking company or truck driver could honestly survive logging absolutely 100% legal. Elogs come close but there's many a slip twixt a cup and a lip.