The Indiana State Police - "Effective immediately .......

Profiling is only illegal if it's based upon race or religion. Any other time, it's called "good police work".

 

I didnt said anything about things never breaking, mid trip or otherwise. I said road side inspections are not about the dot playing gotcha games with trucking companies over things breaking mid trip. They are out to prevent those companies from slacking on proper maintenance.

Besides which, when proper maintenance is followed things don't break mid trip nearly as often as drivers claim. Every single part on a truck has an expected life span, companies like ups that have implemented maintenance programs based on those life spans don't wait for parts to break before they change them.

The reason you rarely see them getting road side inspections is the same reason you rarely see one broke down on the side of the road. They keep their stuff in top tip condition.

 

We're all entitled to our opinions and mine is UPS should be inspected just as much as everyone else.

 

I blame the labor unions for indirectly causing this ELD mandate ckusterf

 

They are inspected just as much as anyone else with their safety ratings and history of compliance. If you work for a company that doesn't fix a truck until it either quits working or gets put OOS, then you'll be inspected more often.

Just like it is ridiculous for TSA agents to be wasting their time strip searching your 90 year old grandmother while a dozen military age middle eastern males speaking in arabic walk through unmolested, so is the case with DOT focusing their attention on a low-risk company while the trucks held together with duct tape and baling wire roll through. When TSA focuses on the people causing the problems, there are "civil rights" groups that will cry foul and sue for profiling...which is BS. Problem groups SHOULD receive more attention from law enforcement.

Profiling is perfectly legal in trucking, and nobody is going to come to your aid when the DOT does good police work by focusing their attention on problem carriers. If you don't like being profiled, motivate whatever group you belong to that is causing you to be profiled to get their act together and stop causing problems. In the mean time, keep YOUR $#!+ together and act appropriately when dealing with law enforcement...show them YOU aren't part of the problem and you'll be on your way quick enough.

 

In 19 years I've NEVER seen one single UPS truck being inspected by DOT on any level. It seems they are nearly exempt and my standpoint is that an extra eyeball on the equipment surely couldn't hurt because things can be caught in route. Thing is it's about, money not safety. Reflective tape lol?! Please.

 

Just because you've never seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Saferweb shows they've been inspected over 10,000 times in the past 24 months, with a vehicle OOS rate of 8.2% (national average is 20.72%) and a driver OOS rate of 0.8% (national average is 5.51%).

 

That's true but 10k over a time span of TWO YEARS with a fleet size of 108k?! I'm not impressed. That also doesn't include their contractors. They get special treatment. Safety takes a back seat.

UPS Fact Sheet

 

With all due respect, the fact that you have not personally observed a UPS truck being inspected does not mean that it never occurs.The only way to judge how often they are being inspected would be to have access to the broader data.

The company I work for does get inspected but not as often as some others. We are encouraged to inspect our equipment and report problems promptly so that they can be remedied quickly. The company does not want DOT to find the problems with our equipment, they want us to do that. Our company also replaces parts at specific intervals, just as Spyder referenced earlier about UPS.

As others have said, companies that foster this culture are far less likely to be inspected roadside as compared with companies that have a different approach. In theory, working for a company that keeps equipment in tip-top shape gives me an advantage in my daily work in that I am far less likely to spend time being inspected. That is a reward of sorts. In other words, I am motivated to inspect my own equipment, not only to ensure that it is in a safe operating condition, but also to help protect my company’s safety record. Properly maintained equipment is safer for me personally and the motoring public around me. How is this a bad thing?

If the DOT spent as much time inspecting companies with good records as they do focusing on companies with poor records, that could effectively act as a disincentive for companies to protect their safety record. This is true not only for companies with company drivers but also for owner op companies such as Mercer, which is one reason Mercer is so particular about inspecting the trucks that run under their authority.

 

I didn't say they NEVER get inspected as if they have some sort of inspection exemption but as mentioned above the frequency and leniency is obvious. Actually, if you crunch numbers and look at the true proportions Mercer and UPS are about the same in the vehicle safety department.

SAFER Web - Company Snapshot MERCER TRANSPORTATION CO INC

SAFER Web - Company Snapshot UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC