Clocks, Stops and the DOT

Depends really in how your carrier handles stops and if they state you can go off duty.

Beat thing you can do is try to get yourself into position so that you start you 14 either as you leave a shipper or just as you get there.

If your carrier allows you to, go off-duty or sleeper at the shipper too.

 

I worked for two Elog companies; we logged 15 minutes for checking in/out then sleeper berth at the shipers/receivers. Still paid detention pay while sleeper berth. There is no law stating a company can't pay you while you're sleeping, that's a company policy.

 

technically your supposed to be "relieved" of duty to go in the off or sleeper. When your at a shipper/reciever normally your at a "at ready" status, what I do to cover my own butt is I ask if I can leave my truck when I get there and give them my cell number when they are ready/finished for me, most will say sure and now your legal to be off duty. I have sat at a shipper once for 6 hours, been at some shippers/receivers that only end up taking 10-15 minutes, went to a munchkin place 2 days ago and they loaded me once I backed into the dock in less than 10minutes, I was out trying to fix a trailer light and before I even had the thing screwed back on the guy was next to me with the paperwork, I was shocked.

 

Thank the good Lord that all carriers aren't Swift.

 

Sitting at the customer all day is normal in trucking.Alot of times you don't realize how slow the customer is till you get there.Many times your company knows this,they also know you may be at a shp/receiver with a lot of trks ahead of you.There's no getting around it..The only way to leverage loads and hrs is if your company works with you on this.But in trucking its all about money and their main concern is that load at that time.Concerning detention time,thats your companies call whether they wanna pay it or not after your off duty.Which it total BS.The customers pays detention so no matter what the company receives that and you the driver are left out.If you know this is going to be a long wait,I would go off duty and take your brk there.I.ve done that hundreds if times.If you get fined and refuse to sign any ticket,don't be surprised if the officer takes your license.This is where you either hire a lawyer or plead not guilty at the court house.

 

Good Luck !

This will all depend on the company you hire on with.

2700 miles/week..........

Keep us posted.

 

Shippers/receivers who pay detention are not still not very common and that's why few drivers get paid detention. Partly because many carriers are reluctant to send a shipper or consignee an invoice for detention and risk pissing them off and losing a customer over "a few dollars". Not much you can do to mitigate clocks running out due to long times sitting while loading unloading. It's going to happen, best you can hope for is those good weeks when it doesn't happen. In the last 10 accumulated years of trucking, I've never received or had to pay a fine for speeding, logs, or weight. If this is happening frequently, you're doing some things wrong.

 

Why is the driver at fault?