ELD Mandate....Any O/O's left the business because of it?

there hasn't been a better time since the 90s to start out ... rates are high and looking to go higher ... kinda flat now but still high .... I want to add a truck or two but hard finding drivers (decent drivers ) most definitely not lease on to a flat rate carrier . they blame the elog but it's the economy for the most part ... I don't really mind the elog that much if they would get rid of the 14 hour rule and the half hour thumb up your ### time

 

Rates went up suddenly because the fake capacity from logbook falsification vanished suddenly. I'm not making a statement on the merits of paper versus ELD. It is what it is. The market will settle down as fleets get more competent with scheduling with ELDs, and capacity adjusts upward to meet demand.

 

Just run the freight .as we did before.yea my eld goes down at least 2x week

 

Does anyone has experience with this ELOG

 

Rates went up because there is more freight and the opertunity of those market setters took advantage of it and pushed the rates up, they are still 40% below what they should be but it is expected to see at least another 10% by the end of the year.

 

I still don't think rates are high enough. Up north they are bad right now and even in the busy areas freight isn't paying what it should in many cases.

Just hired a team driver, a good one, too. Paying him well. Picked him up Monday afternoon here near saginaw mi and nothing. Had him drive to ft Wayne where we sat all day. DH to Elkhart and ended up having to settle for a solo run to Dallas paying $1800 and asking for del appt tomorrow. $1800 a day ain't gonna cut it. Looked at the Dallas board, yeah it's busy. Called on a posted team load back up here to NW Indiana lady offered $1850. 1050 loaded. I imagine someone would pay $3000 right now but someone might take it. I'd go broke. I need $12,500 gross per week. $8800 is break even with no pay to me.

I see loads to Seattle $5000 2000 miles. Ain't good enough for team OR solo when Seattle is dead. If it paid $2.50/mile out of Seattle then $2.50 would be fine going in but it's not. It's $1.30.

$2/mi avg is bare bottom minimum. Survival money.

Lots of people still driving without elogs. Believe it or.not.

 

What’s up with those rates? Your not doing something right @BoyWander?

I’m over $3 mile on all miles this year almost all loadboard stuff. Like 35k miles so far this year. Granted I’m flatbed but still?

Heck I got a buddy that’s claiming $100k in the first quarter driving hot shot pickup. I don’t know if I believe him? But could be?

 

Not exactly . The truck stops and rest areas are fuller because all the trucks On ELD's run in there earlier scared they will run out of time on their "Ankle Bracelet " aka ELD. For every driver that quits not wanting to deal with it the Mega Carriers will pump 100 more clueless goofballs into the industry.I know most companies I deal with are hurting for drivers and have had drivers quit due to the ELD nonsense.Some have left the industry ,others went to work for companies that have ELD exempt trucks ,and others have taken local hourly local jobs that don't require logs.
I know this first hand from talking to owners who can't find drivers. As far as cheating on logs,trucking has lost a lot of the freedom ,respect and pride it once had and the mega carriers who pushed Elogs are trying to turn trucking into
A rolling factory job where they can monitor your every move with ELD's ,driver facing cameras etc.
Remember laws are made by men. Men with agendas to make money,further there careers and gain power. Not for the public good as most people think.The politicians who make the laws are corrupted by the high paid lobbyists who make back door deals with the politician who are paid off by wealthy companies with agendas to profit from those laws. The cops who enforce those laws are some of the biggest breakers of laws . How many times a day do you see a cop driving 80, 90 miles an hour talking on a hand held cell phone not going to an emergency just because they can.
Trucking by the masses on elogs with driver facing cameras,hard breaking warning systems ,speed limiters,
Etc will be one day be dominated by the ball less puppets who want to be controlled ,while the type of people who made this country great will not participate. This country was born and made great by Mavericks who had grit and took risks and had brass balls ,not obedient pack mules.
Benjamin Franklin said it best
"Those who would give up essential Liberty,to purchase a little temporary safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"
I've been driving 31 years and I'm grateful to have experienced the freedom and brotherhood of what trucking used to be about ,but very disappointed where it's heading.

 

We’re thinking about parking my fathers truck. $800 for a VDO RoadLog.....they say it’s a one time charge but I expect that’s BS. It’ll probably break after the warranty expires. Not a time saver either because he’ll still have to run paper for the times it craps out.....and for someone whose never had a HOS violation. Really? The ATA’s corrupt lobbying is so disheartening.

 

Wait until June 5-7 when they do their national DOT blitz. There theme this year is HOS violations. NY State alone has hired 160 more DOT cops and they've been out constantly "training" since Dec 18th . I was DOT inspected 5 times in a month and a half. All new DOT cops being trained by older DOT cops training them to treat you like the enemy.

The last week they've
Been doing a lot more rolling DOT checks ,chasing trucks down and pulling them off the road to inspect them. It's getting really ridiculous. What other profession has to put up with this type of money grab on a daily basis.