Does 20 hours off duty = two ten hour breaks?

If a 34 is going to make you late, then roll on. If sitting when your recap says you to sit will make you late, then use this time now to call your dispatcher to find a power unit prefereably with a team to take your load off you and run it. (Repower)

Or get a new appointment time in which you can complete the run legally.

If nothing at all works and you get there late due to your logs, then there will be much more to talk about. It's fairly common in trucking.

 

No. Your time zone is where your headquaters is. Regardless of where you are in the USA. That time of your home base is the time you log at.

There is a advantage in going west you gain time against the customer';s appt time in his local, but it's only 3 hours at best from the eastern time all the way to the pacific. Most of the time you can get there half a day to a full day ahead.

 

Ouch.

 

Ouch is right. If it's only three hours due to logs.. then call dispatch and they will have someoen call customer to get a new appt time for your unloading.

If Dispatch is any good, they already know from a recap on their computers based on the logs you turned in that there is going to be a problem with appoitment. Always communicate and let someone know ahead of time.

I once made it to within a hour and half of customer before was stopped by my logs against a midnight new day recap hours and my dispatcher went ahead and made me a new appt time for the next day, I got a night's sleep out of it and it worked out well. If I had continued on breaking my logs against a known good scale between me and customer then I don't make any money and the load will be late for sure.

I managed to squeak past a comprehensive inspection with 45 minutes left on my driving time until the mightly 70 hour rule kicked in. The officer there checked it carefully knowing he was making me late by about a half hour on duty inspection time. But he chose to let me out and I made it to delivery that morning within the hour. But load was late. Sorta. That was the end of my workweek provided I did not come back south into PA because this officer would be looking for me for sure LOL.

 

Wow, truck driver logic never ends!

 

Nope never ends.

Ive also shaved a workday to a 400 mile 8 hour day instead of the full 10 hour 500 something day so that in a few days I will still have hours to work with against the 70. Instead of sitting I would be running. The laws have changed since my time and unfortunately the comic books go bye bye as well the Elogs leave no room for cheating or bending system.

So communciate with dispatcher they will have someone argue with customer for new appointment time. Based on the idea that if you are late to a appt they can fire you. It's always better to make the phone call before you run out of hours. And before the appointment time comes and goes. That gives people time to make a decision above your paygrade.

Trucker logic, Dispatcher decisions and sometimes the customer becomes a bit of a inconsolable cry baby and demands his load there at that old appt time. That is why you let dispatch call them and argue. Saves you the trouble.

When we ran with FFE as a husband wife team, one of our jobs was to be the national rescue team. Go grab a late load off a single whose recap is busted or that driver was lazy and spent too much time in the fleshpot or casino rather than running load on time etc. We would grab it, give him empty (For better or worse...) and go get it in and hope that the customer is happy and FFE could keep the account.

Teams are always better than singles. It's really hard to stop a team on log recaps. But if you were able to run say 8000 miles a week as we did, you will eventually manage to stop that team too. LOL.

 

Why does DOT care how long you're in SB, as long as you do the minimum? I mean, I live in my truck; if I catch a flu and sit 2-3 days in misery with a 102 degree temperature do you really think I'll be giving a rat's rectum about bookkeeping? Even if I'm in perfect health on a 34 I could sleep 12 hours no problem.

 

Being sick is important. I have been also sick for 4 days in that truck. Usually it starts with a phone call home to either wife or parents who call dispatch who sees the truck working towards home. They mark you sick and wait until your fever breaks or you end up in the ER sometimes.

As far as living in the truck, my case is that sitting for just the 10 hours sleeper time provided you have availible hours to work until midnight today or tomorrow morning makes dispatch happy to see you moving. If you sat for 15 hours or more in sleeper without a cause like hours etc, there is a call me on the satellite so they can question you as to why you are sitting around under a load, you sick or something? You better be. Or no hours to work etc.

Living in the truck regardless of hours is normal. It's good to have sleeper time. It;s better to have a hotel room time now and then (Or home) to get out of it and really get rested.

This converstation is about this gentleman's appt time being late because his recap does not have hours tomorrow until the midnight second morning. Now is the time to talk to dispatch and get something settled. New appt, repower and deliver or sit and be late with a price to be determined ranging from being fired or whatever it is customers do to truckers who are late.

The alternative of running outside your logs on a second log book or even a third to make your appt rather than sit is no longer valid in today's technology. You will be caught running illegally some way. Either through a scale visit, prepass time stamp, fuel reciept stamp time, tolls time etc.

Your dispatcher has a running recap as well, he also knows who is running late today by sunrise, There is a list made of trucks running late against say a 45 mph fleet average versus time left to appts.

 

Welcome to the goofy, antiquated, useless HOS 70 hour rule. It needs to go but for now, it is what it is.

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