The new mandatory 30 minute break...

How would a paper log cause harassment? Oh wait, I know! An O/O friend of mine with 25 years in the industry was fudging his logs big time a while back.

Of course, I know none of you do that Allow me to indulge a little though. He was doing the normal stuff that log cheaters do. Backing up his days, trying hard to remember when he crossed what scale and what not. Which logbook matched for which day, etc. Stuff that none of you guys would know about (wink, wink).

Anyways, he fixed up his loose leaf logs (last 7 days) all nice and pretty one morning. Straight lines, neat as pin on his form & manner, etc. Got pulled into the Cottonwood, CA scale house for an inspection. He gladly announces to the officer, "I'm so glad you pulled me in, I needed a new window sticker!" Gleaming with confidence as the officer starts to look through his last 7 days. He curiously stops between two pages, flipping back and forth between the same two pages.

"Driver, I'm having a hard time understanding something here...why does this end of the day log show you stopped in this particular town, yet, your next day log shows you started in a town several hundred miles away?"

The answer is obvious, however, I'll tell you what he did. He substituted one of the un-fudged logs with the stack of new ones!

Needless to say, he paid a price. However, you know what? So did all the rest of us on the fleet who have been paying the price for all the cheaters who have gotten busted cheating on their logs at my company. I'd explain in what way, but most of you are smart enough to know how. Besides, I'm too tired and need to go to bed now

Ciao!

 

landstar8891, I didn't call you a log cheater! I said the stuff that log cheaters do, of course, you have never cheated on your logs.

My point is that his cheating and the other drivers who have been busted cheating at my company have now created an environment of "harassment" by the DOT sometimes when they log the DOT number of our company into the computer, pulling our drivers in frequently to "check out" the logs.

Thus, paper log cheaters have made those of us who don't cheat in the company more susceptible to scrutiny.

For me though, I'm not bothered by them because I proudly display the "THIS VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH ELECTRONIC LOGS" bright green and black sticker on the side of the truck hood for the weigh master to see in plain view.

However, the guys who drive where I do who don't have ELOGS get pulled in more frequently. Not to worry though, because all the rest of them will soon have them in their trucks too Then, like me, they'll be some of the safest truck drivers on the road!!! LOL

 

Let me also say that a lot of you guys run back in areas where the scale houses are often not even open, let alone pulling you in for inspections. I know, I used to run 48 states and would go for days sometimes before I even saw an open scale.

Here on the west coast, I run, California, Oregon & Washington. Three states who have some of the strictest enforcement emphasis in the country. They use cross referencing technology, infrared cameras at "closed" scales and still tag you. So, since I don't have anything to gain one way or the other by using a paper log, I prefer an EOBR. It's just so much easier for me.

Now, if we could just get back to discussing the "Mandatory 30 minute break"