New Hours Of Service

Its a wonderful world isn't it Not.What happens if you blow a tire? Turbo etc.Its a machine bud it doesn't care how organized and on time you are.14 hr clock is dangerous you just cant see it in your perfect world.Lets say I get up at 8am I have till 10pm to do my 11 right.Well what happens if I don't feel right or maybe I need to rest?Do I burn the hours or do I continue?In your perfect world I bet you would say no park it,but there are 100 other drivers who will say yes.So how can you sit there and say that it is a stretch?I bet you are new to the industry.I will give you a couple of years and you will be singing a different tune.

 

Its a perfect world.

 

Make more rules so you can sit more.

 

That's easy. If I got there the night before (like I usually do) I don't start the clock until the unloading is done and I am getting things ready to move on to next location. So taking the 30 min somewhere between the 3rd and 8th hr is no problem.

 

Cowpie.You ''don't'' start your clock until unloading is done..?..That is providing the reciever allows you on the property to SLEEP...If not then you have to start your clock 30 miles from where you slept that night...So your clock is ''running'' while unloading...Not many customers allow drivers to sleep on the lot..

 

Hos rules- IS JUST ANOTHER REASON I will sit home and not haul cheap freight..!!!!!!..It better pay well these days or i will enjoy my castle...I am not a ''needy'' desperate O/O living week to week....

 

The vast majority of my customers allow me to get there the night before and sleep on the premises. A few don't, but there are parking areas nearby within a very short distance. The elog doesn't kick off till just over a mile, so I can go down the street a block or two when they open in the morning without the clock starting up. Probably less than a half a dozen customers I deal with that the clock would get started just to get to them in the morning, so it is not high on the list of problems with the new HOS. And yes, that is correct. I don't start the elog until unloading is done. I get there the night before, I back into the dock. I show all of that and a post trip on the Elog and then the time is mine. I go to bed. They do all the unloading or loading. I am not required to be anywhere near the load while they are doing that. When done and then I start doing something, then the elog starts. Did that last night as usually happens, and am sitting here waiting for them to get their collective act together this morning and get me unloaded.

On the unloading side of the equation.... when I get unloaded, if I am not heading to get another load at the time, I just go to OFF DUTY DRIVING and head out to go get a bite or a place to park if I can't stay there. So the clock still doesn't start on the Elog. And that is legal by old, current, or new HOS regulations. The time at the dock was shown the night before.

Many will say that this can't be done by everyone. True. But most of them also have not gotten their operation set up so that it can be done. That is why I have spent more than the last decade getting my situation worked so that this can be done on a regular basis. Even before the new HOS regs we are getting were a glimmer in some FMCSA official's eye, I was working on changing my operation to adjust for most anything they would come up with. Problem is, most of trucking is reactive instead of proactive. That is why this all get so messy.

 

cowpie, so because you have certain conveniences doesnt justify them adding yet more rules upon us

if they mandated that i eat a peanut butter sandwich every day, it wouldnt hurt me, but that doesnt mean that i should blindly accept it

 

once again one size doesn't fit all

 

I never said that it did justify more regulations, nor do I concur with more regulations. You're insinuating something that is not true, and no one is "blindly" accepting new regulations. I am a realist though, and I will learn to maneuver around and thru each new regulation as it crops up, until such time as they are repealed. I have only made the case that if one gets into the 21st century on how they do things, the new HOS will have less negative effect. Continuing to truck like we did in the early 90's is not going to work well anymore. We can't do a whole lot about the regulations, but we can do something about how we operate. It's either that or whine and cry and watch our business' go into the toilet. Take your pick. And while I am finding ways to make my business work within the regulations, I will also be beating up my hired help in D.C. to get this nonsense repealed. Until they do, we are stuck with it.