Millis OTR journal

These are issues I won't miss. Maybe I'll just hang on to my unit til it's time to go pick up my shiny new ride.

 

Yup, that's exactly what I'm gonna do. No point in bothering with it.

 

I've gotten hosed a couple times by not manually putting myself in drive, and one of those occasions resulted in a violation. I'll give you the scenario, so it doesn't happen to you. I was at a Menards DC, I believe it was Holiday City. Just like Eau Claire, that place is very spread out. I was almost out of time when I got there, and needed a 30 to continue with my day. So, I did an on-duty stint for dnh, then went on sleeper. I had to move around (as you do at a DC) to drop my trailer and pick up an empty. When I was finished, my 30 was complete, and I was good to go. However... The QC has a very specific set of programming that reacts to what your truck is doing. I was parked and not moving at the time my 30 showed as completed. But, I did a tug test on my trailer before that and didn't engage the parking brake on the truck. The trailer brakes were on, which is sufficient, but not the truck. Because of that, the QC took my break away and considered the truck to have been in motion even though I had been sitting a while. Now, if I had taken a second to manually put myself on the drive line before I took off, all would have been well. But I didn't. The QC negated my break, and showed that I was moving past the allowed 8 hour drive barrier. Lesson learned, it's never happened again. If you have an older unit that allows you to put yourself in drive, give it a friendly pat and show it some love. If the new ones are as @keen98 describes, that's a real bummer. I'm quite sure that there is probably a work-around, there always is. ELDs like ours are given specific paramiters by the company you work for. In other words, if another company wants to use QC, they may have completely different programming for the exact same unit. Everything is 100% customized to the company's preferences. Just like our transmissions, and our engines. They react a certain way based on what the customer wants. It's all programming. You'd be amazed at the options that are available on a completely stock truck that you can change by simply plugging in a laptop. Want your truck to shift at the top of the torque range instead of 1500 rpm's? You got it. Want your truck to have fully functional reactions in manual mode? You got it. Want another 50 horsepower with absolutely zero additional parts needed, and directly from the manufacturer? You got it. Welcome to the computer age of trucking. In this industry, experience is king. But, not all of that experience is road experience anymore. My dad is an O/O and he's finding that out the hard way. All of a sudden, I'm no longer the "kid" that won't listen to his father's advice. Now I'm the guy that HE calls for advice. Funny how that works.

 

Yup, I got it. I simply posted what I did because I thought the situation was personally amusing. It was just a simple life observation. I'm really getting sick of the emails and the unnecessary responses. I'm not an idiot, I completely understand finances and depreciation. If it's ok with everyone here, I'm calling for a moratorium on finance stuff. I already knew the answer, I was just having a moment where I was pointing out how ridiculous the process is. My home time has not been at all "free" time. In fact, my world has been turned upside down. I have a lawyer and an accountant and a finance guy on my side, and I'm quite sure that their college educations and experience are correctly guiding me. Jesus man, I kinda hate that everyone has a voice and opinion these days, and that contact is so easy. In a small way, I miss black and white tv's and rotary phones. Maybe the 70's and 80's were better than we thought they were. I know that y'all are trying to be friendly and helpful, but trust me I'm good.

 

Saturday morning in front of a black and white tv watching the Bugs Bunny and Road Runner show with a plate of french toast. That was the life. Couldn't get reached on the phone unless you were at home. We'll never get those days back and that's a GD shame.

 

Here's a pallet cleanser....