Elogs..The good,The bad and the ugly truth

Compensation is the key. Hourly or salary. Now when cap happens it's the companies problem and we still get paid the same.

 

First off, as i have said before.....


ELOGS are not the problem. Elogs only enforce the HOS rules were already supposed to follow. If you have a problem with elogs, fight to get HOS rules changed, not to get rid of elogs. Also if you manage you time well, you wont loose any miles. My elog failed recently so i went back to paper for 3 weeks. I didn't gain any miles. on 2 nights I could have fudges my logs a little to get a longer day (limited by 14). In both cases I was getting pretty tired by the time the log said i needed to pull over so even without HOS i would have pulled over.

As for rates going up? Rates are controlled by supply and demand. If drivers truly do average less miles, then the supply goes down. The total number of miles that all drivers drive going down decreases supply. If drivers quit because they don't like elogs it limits the supply even more. If there is a shortage of supply, rates go up because shippers want their freight moved over the other guys ad pay more to make it happen. Companies will pay drivers mroe to since they want you working for them giving them a larger supply. In other words, rates will fluctuate based on availability of drivers. If HOS changed so we could only drive 8 hours a day, we would all probably make almost as much money (once the market has time to adjust) and be working a lot less. Elogs arn't our enemy. Learn good time management skills and do you best while staying legal. I make tons of money and i run 100% legal.

 

The only problem I personally have with elogs is when im right down the street from the house and run out of hours...they should have it where if u a certain mile away from the house you can get there without receiving a violation

 

As I've said before, the non-driving members of trucking companies are paid either hourly or salary. If some issue comes up, breakdown, no empty when you drop at WM/Target/etc, detention,weather, traffic,whatever...... They get paid the same. Even when issues are caused by company operations staff, there is no penalty to them, no loss of income. My last load, the company sent me to the old address to the receiver. In Austin. At 1700. Now I'm burning up my time finding a place to stop so I can call the receiver to find out where they are and if they will still take the load. Real-world crap happens in real time and e-mail doesn't get things done in real time.
Salary or hourly compensation would also eliminate being shorted on miles driven vs paid miles.

 

So no one has a good answer for us if.....You are within say a 1/2 hour of home and the clock runs out....

 

10 hour break or park the truck and walk home, or call for a ride.

 

does being 30 min from home make you more awake? if your to tired to drive, your just as likely to crash in those last 30 min. Really, you should plan to be 30 min early not 30 min late. If your gonna be late, have your significant other come pick you up from 30 in away. OR, drop the trailer and bobtail home under "line 5" or "driving a commercial vehicle not under load for personal use." If you get pulled over in the last 30 min on paper you would be in violation to.

 

Personal conveyance is only for short trips not furthering the direction of travel.

The proposed changes to the electronic logs will do away with the infamous line 5.

 

Yes 30 minutes from home makes me very awake...

 

Thats why i said drop your trailer. If you drop the load you are no longer taking the load in the direction of travel and thus are commuting home from where you dropped it. Changes to elogs in getting rid of Personal conveyance is a company choice and NOT mandated by DOT/FMCSA.