Cheating on logs

Have you really drove for 50 years Stump?

 

FMCSA making rules in the name of safety? That's an easy one. Make it illegal to pay by the mile and give drivers the flexibility to take breaks as needed without negatively affecting their paycheck.

 

Yep ... pay a driver based on how many hours he says he worked on his logbook.

But, how would you pay owner operators?

 

By the load of course...lol

 

I'm surprised more companies don't have this pay structure. I fill in dispatching for a milk hauler that runs like this. The company gets paid to haul milk to certain places, and the drivers get a predetermined price for hauling it. Works out well, most dudes are putting in 4 or 4.5 days and bringing home 1200. It's not the best money in the world, but it certainly isn't bad money. On the dairies that are slow to unload we have drop yards set up (25 bucks less for dropping) or they can chance it and live unload. Very little backhaul, and when there is it's at another farm. So dispatch wise all you have to do is make sure that someone didn't jump the gun and take a tomorrow load to sit on it and then there is no waiting. All communication is via cell phone and text. There has been some talk about going to eLogs there, if they do it still wont hurt them, most runs are about 5 to 5.5 hours.

 

Check the age to years driven, 18 years

 

I didn't know which one you were fibbing about, age or trucker...

 

There, FTFY.

Drivers eventually figure out how far they can move before the e-log puts them on duty and how little time they can get away with for things like pre-trip, fuel, customer check-in/out, etc.

If e-logs were seriously "logging it as you do it" a reefer driver (and many others) would be so handicapped they wouldn't be able to survive. Case in point, arrive at a consignee at 2200 the night before your 0500 appointment. Most times you will not get a door upon arrival, so the driver parks and waits until someone tells him to take a dock. So at 0430 the driver moves the truck to the dock, but he knows the e-log won't put him on duty for this short move, so he stays on line 2. At 0800 the lumpers have him unloaded and he gets his paperwork, checks out and performs a pre-trip to start his day with a full "10 hour break" completed.

If he went to line 4 to move to the dock and again to pull out of the dock, he would have to start his 10 hour break all over again at 0800. E-logs only track line 3 more accurately. Everyone in the industry knows this, but if you ask any questions, the pat answer is always "log it as you do it" and the "official" company policy is to go on line 4 for each and every single move of the truck, but nothing is said if a driver does it like in the example, that's why they allow it, but they don't want to take responsibility for it and let the drivers hang themselves in the event that there is an incident while moving the truck.

 

I disagree, I personally think that the big bottom feeders, love the fact that they can see almost everything their nit wit hire is doing at any time of the day. Are they double clutching? Are they holding it to the floor for 64MHP top out govern? Are they setting the cruise at 62MPH like they are told to? Are the shifting at the correct RPM's? It's hard for me to believe that they would pass on these micro-management tools.

As pointed out, dispatch has already figured out how to 'fix' these e-logs under certain circumstances. So, rule breaking as a 'favor' is still in the picture. It's just now micro-controlled by dispatch taking driver independence almost totally out of the picture. Sure, the driver could still refuse, but then be fired and perhaps slapped with an abandonment under load, or even theft.

Just sayin'

 

They were doing that before elogs. Goodness gracious man. Where have you been. How do you think they were able to check logs?