E-log users love it or hate it

That's right u work in logs not driving as a transportation specialist we get our loads there by,any means necessary. if we couldn't do that my company would not have spelled our ways 2 beat the qualcomm. and since I was on a road where the only traffic was the catus I passed on side of road who cares how fast I was going. If my company tells us we can do certain things by golly i'm gone do it. I did what I had 2 to get in a safe place. I might want 2 sit on side of road 4 yo break awe I forgot u a log man. Yes my company say we can move our trucks on off duty, yes my company say we can send our arrival called a couple miles out, etc. as long i'm not in anybody way who cares what u think. And if I was in anybody way they got a steering wheel that moves left and right. The sheriff officer that passed me didn't have a problem and MY COMPANY DIDN'T EITHER. what company u say u work 4. Ur the person in saftey that got the thumb up u no what thinking everything suppose 2 be perfect.

 

Didn't you scold me pretty harshly on another thread for violating HOS no matter how serious breaking them is breaking them.

 

Yea with what u did and what I did is totally different I didn't drive 1100 mi in 1 day I stretched my clock 7min so I wouldn't be on side of road with the catus, wolves, etc. I did what my company said they would allow. And if I was on a busy hwy I would have called the police on myself like I have before and they have escorted me 2 where I had 2 be And I still say the same thing.

 

You falsified your logs and admitted it on a public forum, you didn't stretch them out by 7 minutes you did it by 1 hour, and if you didn't take a qualifying break from the ending of the falsification a good lawyer will show how the entire next day is also a violation. Just so you know, listening to your company tell you to violate the rules is not a defense for violating the rules. In every possible scenario 7 minutes of violation is preferable to your choice of actions.

 

That's my point violating HOS is violating them, from your stand point since I am my own company well I listened to my company. My only point here Miss Hawk is we all do what is necessary and it was only 950 miles that day not 1100. I am not stirring trouble or picking on you merely pointing out you broke the law in the same fashion as I did. Only because it was you it makes it ok. Previously in this thread you pointed out there are other times as well so like me you are a repeat offender. Makes hard to call the kettle black IMO. Again please don't take this wrong I am in no way speaking ill of you or your actions only asking you to not talk down to a bull hauler for what he has to do to feed his family. We are both truckers stronger together than against one another.

 

Back on topic, from the office POV (which nobody cares about) I love them and hate them.

 

u see it yo way and I see it my way when I stopped 4 the day I still had 4min on my clock. I'm a big girl I can take it with the best of them. No matter what I say 2 each it's own I simply stated that my company allow us 2 move our trks while our clock say off duty and that day I moved my trk enough so I could make my destination that was 11mi away. it maybe wrong or right in yo eyes but how u run yo trk is totally up 2 u if u feel that u have 2 press yo clock on a daily basses or not if u ain't scared thats a judgment call just like I don't no yo circumstance it's true. BUT IF I OFFENDED U BY ANY MEANS THAT'S ON ME IT WASN'T NO I'LL INTENT . but u got yo view on how u need 2 provide 4 yo family and I got mine.

 

It has it's pro's and con's, Here is a pro, dispatch can't try and get you to do something illegal, And here is a con, you cant run illegal, Just kidding or maybe not , but here is a real con, you can run out of time at a shipper/receiver and have to go into log violation to get to a safe haven, this happens, at least to me, at least once a week, and my safety guy says, cant you just stay at the shipper/receiver? my response is, No

 

I have had it happen, a few times, where the time just flat ran out a few minutes before I could get to where I was going. I just kept going for the few miles, got stopped where I was intending, and then immediately did the post trip and break. Sure, I was over by a few minutes, but no one really had a cow. In fact, I can't recall anyone ever mentioning it. We all live in the real world, and things don't always work out nice and tidy like they do in planning rooms. Having to fudge it all with creeping around at 10 mph and other little gimmicks is not fooling anyone. And truth be told. everyone who is looking at these things knows that everyone cannot get stopped safely somewhere, each and ever time, each and every day, without sometimes violating a few minutes. And they also know that we just move a short distance to re-park at the same general location like a truck stop or large customer facility, and that none of us show it as driving time. No need to. It is nothing substantive. The charts showing GPS locations really don't mean much. There was no real distance involved. It is easy to show that this was just a short move around the truck stop.

For those that have been at this a while, think about what we did on paper to save time that was legal.... flagging something that was under 7-8 minutes, and showing no time block. Literally going over on the e-log by a 7-8 minutes or less, is the equivalent of a nothing more than the flagging we used to to on paper. that is why no one has ever even made a peep about the times I have gone over a few minutes before getting stopped for the break. And even having to leave the customer property when my time is up on the logs? If it is just a short distance, I may not even have to do anything since the log doesn't kick in for 1.25 miles or over 25 mph. If that isn't doable, then I just hit the off duty driving selection and move to safe location and finish out the break, and in doing so, I flag a memo in that block stating having to leave customer property to another safe parking area.

Too many folks get their rubber band stretched too tight over stuff like this. They throw common sense out the window and worry too much. E-logs are not this inflexible, "if you step out of line you will be killed" kind of thing. They are not some babysitter that "nannies" you. They simply record logs. Pure and simple. They can't force you to do anything, they can't stop you from doing anything, they don't judge the actions and use a stun gun on you or literally shut your truck down along side the road if you get out of line. They can't think, so you have to think for them sometimes. You know... like telling the thing that even though you are driving, the event should be logged as off duty driving because you are just bobtailing home or to the grocery store, legally.

Once you get everything in perspective, the nerve racking perceptions disappear. This is why I have no problem with e-logs after 3 years of using them. Sure, there have been, maybe, a handful of times that they put a crimp in things, but it doesn't happen often enough to cause me to want to go postal on the thing. I am never worried about that it might catch me doing something I shouldn't. I like not having to fiddle with the paper stuff anymore, and that even the data for my IFTA reports are neatly stored for me so it cuts down on the time wasted doing that necessary filing also. It is a time saver and a tool to keep records that I need for both logs and fuel tax reporting. It does not have a life of its own. It is just a machine that does a job it was programmed to do. No different than the circuit board in a fancy microwave oven, the ECM on your truck engine, or your smart phone.

Where folks tend to get into trouble, is trying to hide stuff. If something you are doing on the e-log is questionable, then put a remark in the remarks section about what you are doing. That way, even if you are dinged, you have a record to remind you later of the circumstances as to why you were doing that. Just like it goes easier for someone who breaks the law in other areas and admits to doing so, and it also goes much worse for someone who breaks the law and tries to hide it, logs are no different. If you document things as to why they are happening, it can make a big difference in the outcome.

 

Yeah some office people don't have any clue at all. Some thinks shippers/receivers provide full scale truck stop service or something.