Personal conveyance

Nope.
1. "You're the captain of your ship. "
2. The driver is always responsible.

The 7 responsible drivers were fired.

Personal responsibility. Think for yourself. Don't be sheep.

 

In the old days Dispatchers convinced a lot of drivers that a driver's job was to overcome all obstacles to complete the mission. You don't ask Dispatch questions about driving or regulations. They are not drivers or regulators.

Drivers are governed by HOS so the driver has to become expert on HOS. When you have questions ask experts. A lot of new drivers enter the industry having done retail work or other jobs with no responsibility and NEVER out of site of their supervisors. Trucking is not that type of job, so those habits don't apply.

New drivers seem to ask permission of Dispatchers for everything. They are setting themself up for getting used up andvtossed out. Your license only matters to you. Only you can protect it. Your license depends on following the regs and not VOLUNTEERING to work at companies that will happily throw your license away for some trivial reason. If you let yourself be talked into ignoring the regs your Dispatcher can't un-eff you.

 

Best advice yet.

 

This applies to all management requests to skirt HOS. What is the commodity being hauled? Another load of paper towels for a Dollar General whse? A flatbed load of steel with a crane appointment? A stage for a major Rock and roll star? None of them justifies breaking the law, and the driver will take the brunt of the repercussions. It all involves MONEY, nothing else.
I might break the regulations if I had a beating heart for a transplant patient, late and they die.
That's what it would take.

 

Personally I could see PC’ing to truck stop after being set free from being detained at a shipper or receiver, if they have no parking. I’ve done it many times. I have never PC’d TO a shipper/receiver. That difference is huge. My dispatch NEVER asked me to conduct their business unless I had legal hours of service to do so. But, once loaded/unloaded I have the right to a safe place to park and at least basic human services, such as a restroom.

I always considered myself a professional waiter secondary to a professional truck driver.

 

This is awesome. I would give a thousand thanks for this one if possible. Drivers make the mistake of waddling into a room of Suit Officers of a company and try to tell everyone what for. They don't wanna hear it from pipsqueak. If you were really doing your job correctly, you would not even be the subject of that kind of high level discussion.

One time I worked for a company in Batesville Arkansas which itself was a good company with one exception. Dispatchers who constantly tried to get us to work around HOS where possible. It was a royal mess at the end. I was pulled into the big office, then my dispatchers were pulled in and then the log people were pulled in.

Big boss was looking to hang people for the problems related to one load gone bad due to HOS. That would be my fault when I tried to assert that it's time for sleep and not time to drive through the night as usual making a very expensive cosmetics load late to some very powerful people in Chicago who pretty much wanted to find someone else to haul their freight.

To this day I do not waste time or money buying friviolus cosmetics from department stores in that brand. There is trucking and then there is trucking. You don't want to be under attention by the officers or owners of the company you work for. Its very good for them to not know your name at all. You will work there forever.

But you have to do it legally with HOS.

Thats another reason I have the record I have. One example a dispatcher in Darden told me I could use the exemption to put in a 16 hour work day when I was flat out of hours and facing a scale. It will be another day before i got back. When I did get back she read to me what I already knew. I explained to her the particulars of that rule. She did of course not want to hear it from me. Who am I to explain to HER this thing?

I quit. Told her where she can shove the truck. Then the real yelling started. I was not around to hear it. Its a example of a conflict with HOS and logging back then. It seems the entire industry will tell you to log this way and then lean on you to have it 1500 miles overnight and don't be late.

Flat stupid if you ask me.

 

Still cost 7 drivers their job, they sent me to that terminal to help haul freight they didnt have the drivers to do, then when I found out why, the guy tried to get me to haul 90k from Savannah, Ga to Morris,il wirh no overweight permits, I refused and went home.

 

Haul 90 or gross 90, not that you could get away with either one, but hauling 90 would be pretty obvious. lol

 

not only does that put your CDL on the line. it is also your FREEDOM on the line .. if you were to get in an accident and hurt or kill somebody and they check your logs and see u using PC when u should be ON DUTY . they will throw u in the cell. it aint worth it at the end of the day. if you like the company then stay with them but dont do anything illegal. if they force you to do it then u need to take it to a safety manager or DOT office

 

They wanted me to gross 90k.
And the wonder why the spreadaxle chassis are in great shape for the scrapyard, here’s one I was assigned and seen this on that pretrip you best do!
RHS infront of front axle