E Log question

Man, in all the years I've been driving and all of the various levels of inspections I've had, I only had one inspector (at Cottonwood, CA) that I thought was scrutinizing my (paper) logs.

He was going back and forth between the pages, using his calculator, glancing up at his computer screen, etc.

He was just positive there was something there. After about 10minutes he handed them back to me and with sly smile said, "good job".

Now as far ELOGS go, I ran into a guy I know this morning unloading. He's on company ELOGS.

He arrived at the consignee last night at 10 pm and parked outside the gate. They opened the gate at 0630. He checked in, docked, unloaded and parked right back outside the gate at 0800.

Got his new dispatch for a 1300 pick up 45 minutes away. Waited until 1045 to start his ELD, showed 15 minute pretrip, 10 minute onduty docking, 50 minutes unloading time. Started his truck and drove away for his 1300 appt.

This goes on ALL day long by thousands of ELOGGERS. Yep those ELOGS ensure compliance all right

What a bunch of cheaters!

 

Well, he made several mistakes. I would not have shown the unloading time, and I am not required to. Once I get there, I show some on duty time for checking in and bumping the dock. Once at the dock, Off Duty. I am not responsible for the load after that point. I have done similar to what you describe many times... gotten there the night before and parked, then got unloaded in the morn, took some more time goofing off, then went to the next load. I would only show time in the morning for a pre-trip. Nothing different than I ever did on paper.

I will agree, there is no way the E-logs are going to show total compliance, except for drive time. That is hard copy. Everything else, sure, it can be manipulated. But it is no where near the "cheating" that those on paper are generally guilty of. Tonight, I showed time fueling at Fly J along with a post trip, took the trailer just down the street to Freightliner, dropped it, and then bobtailed off duty to do my own thing. All legal and compliant. Will bobtail back to the trailer in the morning, off duty, then hook up and do a pre-trip and start the day.

 

What I meant by showing unloading time was after he showed 10 minutes for docking, etc, he went right into the sleeper berth status while they were unloading.

I do always get a kick out of cheating eloggers who justify it by saying it's not nearly "as bad" as what paper loggers do

According to the regs, most of what eloggers do as I described, can still get one put of service or fined.

The fact that it's even come to all us this is pretty dang stupid. Most guys are responsible, know the limits of their own bodies and do a fine job.

Elogs don't in any way ensure safety by mandating rest time. I know guys that spend half of their rest period playing video games, watching tv, etc.

 

I'm surprised none of you have been popped for not flagging load or unload times.
I know i got greifed a couple of times and all i've been flagging was 1 hour for flatbed.

Specially considering the regulation that states ALL TIME SPENT ON COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SHALL BE LOGGED AS ON DUTY.

Don't ask me to point it to you but it's been posted on this forum quite a few times.

 

Does the manager specifically state you are supposed to be sleeping? I thought it only stated rest.

 

They also have guidance stating that if you are waiting to unload you can log yourself in the sleeper. So long as that is actually where you are

 

My first experience with e-logs was with Marten. I didnt like them, but thats because Im an ### and am resistant to change. However, being the sneaky person I am, I learned ways to beat the system.
I would get to the shipper or rcvr and sleep as close as I could. In the morning I would idle in. About 30 minutes before they were done, I would start my clock. Saved me boo-coo hours.

 

Haven't heard anything about that one posted on here. I"m sure most of us flag off duty.

 

That is a falsehood. If I get unloaded at a customer, and then decide to take by 8 or 10 hr break at that customer location, I do not have to log all the time on customer property as "on duty". That is pure internet folklore. It may state that all the time I am dealing with the customer must be on duty, but there is nothing in the regs that states all time on their property must be on duty. Never has been.

Just the way you capitalized your comment, that would imply that all time at a truck stop must be logged as on duty, since it is commercial property. Obviously false.

 

There's more to it then just the capitalized remark. And i guess you missed the part where i said it's been posted quite a few times on this forum.

I don't remember the exact wording of the commercial property statement. But that's the generalization of it.