Schnieder National ..... What BS!

And I'm not trying to discourage you. I'm only pointing out the very thing you comment in this post. It's a J-O-B, like anything else.

It has it's good days, and it's bad. The big difference is, when things go bad. They generally go bad where you have NO support structure. 100's of miles away from friends and family.

Some people are okay with it, some not.

Despite the "dirtbag" image that most drivers are labeled with. The vast majority are die hard survivors. The average American worker would curl up in the fetal position when faced with many of the things we deal with, on a daily basis.

 

Generally on a 34hr you don't want to move a Qualcom truck. I am a company driver. Makes you wonder with maintenance. I wonder what the O/Os and fleecers do -I bet there are issues with it.

The computer will flag you and you get the regulatory in the mail about a week later. -Happens alot now.

Same for a 10hr break. I just got a letter from reg after I moved on a cosignees lot during a 10.

Bicycles: usually they mount them with a load bar or two right behind the cab. Never had heard of a complaint about it.

Bottom line for company driver w/Qualcom: after you are done for the day you shut it down = you walk, bike or use the company car. -and the companies promote this as "exercise"

 

VERY VERY well said.

 

I am not sure if I could call my friends or family to come out and change a tire. =You have a cell phone, wifi, Qualcom, and road service. There are people that can live on the road and people that cannot.

It's a different lifestyle. Where were you last week? IL, IN, OH, PA, NJ, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX, AR, MO -It's hard to explain something like that to family.

 

Well I don't know if SNI specifically has a policy regarding off duty use of the truck during a break. However, it is not illegal to bobtail while off duty. It doesn't need to be reported and is not required to be by the DOT. Regulatory would flag you if they caught that, but I think pointing out the fact that you were off duty on personal business would resolve that...in theory. They

 

You are right -but if the truck moves the clock starts again. I asked about it today.

 

DOT Regulation 395.2 may apply.

I think I hung around Ed too much while I was in Little Rock.

Maverick gives us a card stating that we are relieved from duty for meals and routine stops...not sure if it applies to the subject here or not

 

What exactly did they say? Im just curious as technically, you are on your break, so you arent under DOT hour guidelines. The QC is going to record that information and all...but you aren't violating DOT stuff. Yes you moved the truck, but you didn't move the freight.
For example, yesterday we got home around 330pm. I disconnected and bobtailed home (few miles away) for a few hours to clean out the truck. Then drove back to the trailer. I've done this a fwe times before and nobody has said anything about it.
I know that, in a sense, they are right, only from the point where the QC starts recording the information that the truck moves. I don't think it has the ability to record if there is a trailer connected or not. They probably automatically assume the driver is bobtailing under assignment, which would require line 3 recording, I believe.

I think it might, i was thinking about this earlier. Not sure if Schneider does that or not.
Someone even had a link to a DOT page where one could print it out and get it signed so that they could be away from the tractor during this time. Their definition of off-duty is where you aren't under responsibility for performing work...so if you are bobtailing and get pulled over...I think you might need to prove you aren't responsible, and having that card or print-out from the DOT signed by your carrier might do the trick here.

 

This how it works When you frist move your truck that starts you 14 hour day with 3 hours of non driving time. you get 11 hours of Legal drive time so what you do on the other 3 is up to you eat, shower, drive etc...
Look you could chose to drive those 3 hours (that is illegal) to do "personal driving" but state troopers are on to that. Most trucking companies will let you get away with it though (it helps them).
If you can drive for 14 hours straight you can get from Philidephia, PA to Memphis, TN. but look you have to know how to log it and make it look legal.
IF the trucking companies were fair, you would'nt have to do this But life isnt fair.

 

Um, I think we all know how to log the logbook. However, what we have been talking about on the last page or so is personal use of the truck. It does NOT need to be logged as it is personal. You need to log duty if you are under assignment or hauling a load, otherwise its off duty. Ie...if we drove a full 11 hours and also filled up our 14 hour window when we parked, we could STILL bobtail around town if we wanted as there is no DOT regulation saying we can't. There might be company policies regarding this, but if you want, you could bobtail around and still be off duty.