E log vs paper

No insults meant, I'm sorry mama raised such a sensitive wittle boy. If you don't have an eld, then what are you ######## about? The fact that it's gonna happen? Or the fact that eventually you either do it or retire? Whichever it is, its gonna happen. Just because some people are willing to use them and not ##### like a 2 yr old means that they are adaptable top change, unlike yourself. Personally I'd rather ruin like my father did for years, however I'm a realist and understand that the trucking industry is severely crippled by the government. It is what it is, I'll go with it.

 

Paper or eLog, it doesn't make a difference to me but an observation I have made after reading this thread, those touting how paper is better than eLogs all give examples of running illegally. One said if he want to make it to the truckstop 10 miles away he could, another states how he breaks his 30 into 2 smaller segments, regardles how they see it, they're running illegally.

One thing that makes me laugh is how drivers say elogs is a nanny. Seeing how a nanny takes care of children, I am trying to make the connection of nanny to elog. At no point does the elog tell the driver what to do. If the driver doesn't record a pretrip inspection, the elog won't do anything. If the driver records all his stops at customers as off duty, the elog won't do anything. If the driver wants to drive that extra 10 miles to make it to the truckstop, the elog won't do anything other than alert the driver he is out of hours. That is the only thing the elog will do that a paper log won't. The eLog will only tell you when you are running outside your legal hours to drive. Of course your company will know how you ran when you submit your logs but had you logged exactly how you did it on paper, the same would apply. If the paper logger was to set three alarm clock at the start of his day for 8, 11, and 14 hours and was to run within those alarm clocks, he would be doing the exact same thing as the eLogger. If eLogs is a nanny, it is a nanny that doesn't care what or how you do it.

Paper logs and eLogs both have their advantages and disadvantages. Obviously paper is more "labor intensive" whereas eLog is largely automated but on the flip side paper is more flexible as opposed to eLogs which is more rigid; one is no more better than another.

And if the powers that be said "No More Elogs", I'd be fine with that, or if they said "No More Paper Logs", I'd be equally fine with that. I am not so set in my ways that I cannot adjust and work within the bounds given.

 

An interesting proposal I've heard being floated will actually "fix" the problems most nearly honest paper logbook fans have, is some sort of 1-2 hour limited-use "free pass" for every week or 70 hr duty cycle. That would enable the "adjustment" most are doing to stage at a truck stop before/after loading. Make it through some traffic jams or construction. Or get that extra 30 miles home before needing a 34 reset. IMO that's really the biggest problem. If they implement this, I'll start shopping for an ELD solution the next day.

I agree with the ELD tending to dumb down drivers on understanding and making HOS work as-is. That DOT inspector I met as much as said that, having seen it first hand. All you have to do is look at the threads on here about logging an 8/2 split. That feature alone solves 3/4 of poor scheduling I have to deal with. However, I'd bet fewer than 1 in 10 drivers really understand it enough to use it for planning.

Those are the same drivers that can't use paper logs when the gadget fails. I use computer logs (not ELD) and have no backup on the truck, outside of the previous 7 days printed out which is all I need. If the laptop dies, all I need to do is buy another one or use the leftover paper ones on the truck and I'm good to go.

 

No insults meant? Interesting, since you follow that statement with insults. No, I'm not sensitive. I really couldn't care less what a sanctimonious rookie like you thinks of me. I'm quite adaptable to change, but it doesn't mean I like it.
A shining example of why not just our industry, but our country, is in the toilet. "It's coming. Deal with it. Don't try to change it, even if it's wrong, just suck it up like a good little sheep."

 

I'm still waiting for the e-log proponents to chime in with the old "well, if I have to drive over my hours to get to a truck stop I just use line 5 off duty driving" or the best one I read in a thread the other day about a guy running slow down the shoulder of the interstate to "fool" his e-log so he could get to a truck stop. You holier than thou e-log cheerleaders can get off your soapbox. You cheat too, just in your own special way that makes you feel somehow safer. If I had a nickel for every e-log truck I've seen speeding through a construction zone or small town I'd retire.

 

According to fleet owner mag, they just revised and now allow digital signatures. It's a headline today.
http://m.fleetowner.com/regulations/fmcsa-revises-digital-signature-policy-log-software

 

What about the paper guys that speed? Are you saying they don't?
You guys always blame the EOBR. I've never had mine tell me to speed. Never had it tell me I couldn't drive. Never had it tell me anything actually.
So once again, how does having a EOBR make me do something? I

 

I got harassed by a elog mega carrier slob in a construction zone on 80/90 in Ohio a few years back. Apparently 50 in a 45 wasn't fast enough for him, so he proceeded to hurl insults and tell me i didn't know how to drive, was holding him up, etc. When one lane turned back into three I watched him keep his 62MPH POS in the middle lane for miles in rear view mirror.

 

Yes, only eloggers speed and paper loggers follow the speed limit religiously.

 

That's not what was said and you know it. Eloggers tend to speed in very inappropriate places like construction zones, truck stops, small towns, etc to maximize their miles for their 11 and to not hit their 14. Almost every time I enter a Truckstop there's an Elogger driving through it at 20 mph.