"FORCED to break-the-law!---"Elogs and the Catch 22???"

Schneider would actually send out a wrecker to drag you back to a yard or truckstop, rather than let you run over on your hours.

 

All the years I was on elogs except 1 company I don't recall ever running out.Thousands of drivers on the road and using elogs aren't having issues you learn how to make do.

 

Theres always a backup plan

 

I heard a manager at a Walmart DC tell a driver either drive it out or pay for a wrecker to pull it out. Your choice. Once your told to leave you are trespassing. Can't use the HOS rules as an excuse. I'm also not getting into a pissing contest on this one either. Once you are instructed to depart and fail to do so YOU the driver are violating the law.

I can't tell you how many times I have been faced with this problem. It is what it is. Thread on this very lightly and before it becomes a problem try to get some information. Sometimes asking nicely helps too.


Edited to add. There have been many times in my career I was forced by a shipper/receiver to bust my 14. If I had an idea where to go I went there. Good example was ( I forgot the name of the town) south of Kansas city on US 71 there is a Walmart DC. I busted the 14 there but was told to go into town and park in a shopping center. I was using paper logs only logged enough time to go from the DC to the shopping center and flagged why. I'm not sure about the new elogs, but this situation about being told to leave is not going to change. It is a bane of the industry and there is no easy answers regardless of anybody trying to see how high their stream goes.

 

My warehouse I work at, if you have an hour or less we will let you stay. If we have the room. Fall and winter can be dicey, but I know a few places drivers can park, if they ask me. But most dont think to ask the yard dog.

 

I'm as "irregular route" an OTR driver as there is and I manage on either coast and everywhere in between ... Me and thousands more.

But, please. I'd love for several thousand current paper OTR drivers quit because they assume it's going to be "impossible". More freight and pay for me.

That said, there are some current paper regional operation drivers that are going to have major problems in the beginning until they figure out how to fully work within the system.

It takes much more careful planning and guesstimating possible scenarios that may crop up, and planning accordingly.

 

Learn how to properly falsify your logs. Shipper takes 5 hours to load, log it sleeper, creep off the docks in sleeper, creep out the gate in sleeper and finish the remaining 3 hours in the sleeper for the 8 hours split break sleeper win. Drive the remaining legal hours off and find an offramp to illegally park for the 2 hour portion of the 8/2 split and keep going. Next break can be 8 in the sleeper or the full 10 to clean things up.

 

I ran out one time. The shipper closed. Had 2 hours. Leaving downtown Philly. Missed the PA Turnpike and some how was ended up lost in historic Gettysburg. I finally got turned around and was an hour over my 14 before I found a service plaza. Immediately sent message to dispatch. They said ok. Last I ever heard about.

 

They could fix this entire issue if they allowed 2 things:
Split sleeper
- for when you get to a customer before your appointment and you do not have time to do at least 8 hours before moving to the dock
2- allow a driver to move from a customer to the nearest place he can resume his rest period. Even if it were a 30 minute or 20 mile limit it would suffice in most situations

The elog is just putting the driver in between a rock and a hard place. I do it exactly as I log it but when every single inch driven is recorded and when will make it very difficult. I foresee all of the loads being rescheduled to where you now have an extra 12 hours on anything over about 400 miles in order for the driver to take the break before going to the customer. Any way you cut it without a small amount of wiggle room it is going to drive productivity down.