Electronic Logs

Here's the bigest problems I have with it. First I'm not going to be tracked like a child. second it violates your fifth amendment rights as to self incrimination and giving statements agianst yourself. Third lets say you have a 550 mile run. You can make it in your 11 hours. But lets say you get sleepy halfway through and take a 4 hour nap, now you won't be able to finish the run till you take 10 off duty. With paper logs you could slide an hour
or so back and finish the run then take 10 off duty. I bet theres lots drivers out there who get sleepy like that.
I beleive that it will be less safe on the road if everyone has them. It corrects a non-existant problem. It's the ATA's and big companies way of spreading the pain to everyone. Your idea of stating you "know it's coming" displays a defeatist attitude implying everyone should bend over and accept what lahood and co. want's to toss upon us. I rather fight them. I personally would like to see a real truckers shutdown wouldn't take long to have a affect on everyone. You bargian from a posistion of strength not of weakness.

 

And that is a valid choice. Each person has to weigh these things in their own mind and determine what they will do. There are any number of reasons that some folks have had "enough" and are considering leaving trucking. I have no beef with anyone who decides to call it quits over the new HOS, e-logs, CSA, home time, or whatever. At least that is an informed, intelligent decision based on something rather than whining like a bunch of school children like many drivers do. Be and adult. Decide what you will do as an adult. And act on it. I get so sick and tired of the whining and crying that goes on by some like a child who just lost his lollypop. The day will probably come that I also call it quits in trucking. I won't holler and have a fit. I will just put a FOR SALE sign in the truck and be done with it.

No, it is not a "defeatist" attitude to say I know it's coming. It is here! It was mandated by Congress in the recent highway bill that the FMCSA get this implemented. FMCSA will have a proposal out this next year, and quite probably have the full mandate deadline in 2 years. And that doesn't mean I have "given up". I have my congressman in full support of a no e-log mandate (even have seen him on Youtube arguing from the house floor for no e-log mandate). But he is only one of 435 congressmen. I don't like any kind of mandate on anything for anyone. I don't like, and never have, the seatbelt mandate. I don't think that even Marijuana be illegal. The Libertarian in me. But the arguments being made about e-logs and how one cannot make any money with them is nonsense. Thousands of us now are doing just fine running e-logs. And we do not have to do things unsafely any more than when on paper. If the e-log mandate dies, I will be happy. But I will continue to use an e-log. It is simpler for me, easier to keep records for compliance purposes, provides solid evidence in the event of some legal issue (read: an aggressive lawyer bent on proving the "big bad truck" was at fault), and easy record keeping on my computer for per diem deduction on my taxes. And it makes sure that some anal DOT cop can't get me because I forgot to sign the inspection part of the log or forgot to write in a trailer number. Just makes life easier for me. Far outweighs any perceived inconvenience.

And this idea that someone is tracking you like a child because of e-logs exhibits more of a "conspiracy" mindset or down right paranoia issue. Guess what..... no one is watching! That's right. Unless you do something that really gets outside the bounds and catches someone's attention, then no one cares. The e-log information just goes to a computer server and no one sees it unless you give them a reason to look. What do you think? That there is a government idiot and company employee assigned to each and every driver and watching what you do? I would suggest your paranoia could be helped by professional counseling. I only had two semesters of Psychology in college, so it is outside my pay grade.

 

Wouldn't matter to me on pay since I work for percentage anyways. The poor guys that run for per mile wage have to run non stop to get the miles in per day and per week when on paper they could take their time and be rested and make still make the money. The only thing E-logs will do is force drivers to run while not rested in order to make the money. By rested what I mean is while a driver on E-logs is running constant to make miles I on the other hand will stop and have a decent meal and relax in the middle of my drive and still get to the same place as the E-log driver but I am well rested and relaxed. I don't have the headache of the nanny state intruding in MY truck and pushing me to keep driving to get my miles. Most of the E-log lovers stating they make more money now using E-logs are stating they are running 3,500-4,200 miles per week. How is that working smarter? Its not. They are having to work twice as hard now then before to make the same wage. Sad if you ask me.

 

But it still begs the question, vovodriver01, "how is anyone forced to do anything"? No e-log, no customer, no dispatcher, mile or percentage pay... no one can force anyone to do anything. It is all about choices. If someone "feels" that they are being pressured, they can always say no and go someplace else or quit trucking altogether. This really bothers me, that so many truckers will exhibit a "macho" image and yet be coward into a corner like a whimpering pup by a carrier or an e-log. If one feels the need to take a nap or whatever to be safe, then communicate that to the carrier and customer and if they don't like it.... tough! No load is that pressing. My truck and my life, as well as the lives of others, is non negotiable. Only a wimp, in the truest sense, will allow themselves to be dictated to and "forced" to do anything. Even on a per mile pay basis. There is always the option to leave. If they can't run enough, legally and even on a per mile basis to make a living, then find another job you can make a living at. This isn't the former Soviet Union (at least not yet) where the government determines what your career will be and forces you to work at it. And the "nanny state" isn't watching. Hard to break those paranoia issues for some.

I wouldn't go so far to say I am an e-log "lover". I like using e-logs. And I hardly ever run over 2800 miles a week, am home every weekend and holiday, and take several weeks off a year. Only ran one load in the last 7 days. I am doing ok. Won't ever be Warren Buffet, but not sure I would like to be.

 

Okay my point is that running E-logs yes you can tell the dispatcher to screw off and take a nap but after that nap you are stuck with no hours left and therefore you will not make any money. The only way to make money running milage while using E-logs is to keep the wheels turning. Therefore E-logs for the most part are more dangerous to the roads and safety of everyone involved in interstate travel than paper logs. Also E-logs force guys to work double what they did on paper. There is no benifit to running E-logs other than some enjoy it cause it doesn't infringe on their daily routine. I am happy for the 30% of E-log guys that aren't bothered by running them but what about the 70% that are forced to run them and are working twice as hard as before?

 

You don't think a paper log is just as good as e logs for tax purposes? So you think the goverenment won't believe you otherwise? Isn't that a little paranoia on your part?
A dot cop can be anal about e logs too. The way to deal with them is to drag them through the process everytime they write you up. I have won the last
four tickets and write ups I've gotten. If they're not going to look at these e logs then why they did they use trickery to get them in a MUST pass bill?
You can say conspiracy or whatever name just one time the goverenment didn't collect information and try and manipulate it somewhere down the road? And what about constitutional issues" I guess thats just a out of date document to you? No what us truckers need is another Jimmmy Hoffa to unite US to force them to dismante the fmsca. This is a rouge agency with no other agenda than to keep us working for pennies until they can get rid of the last independent O/O.

 

Any one know how i can get my csa score thanks 4 your help

 

Because you've evaluated every single driver in the country right?

 

I really feel sorry for you as you must be one that never understood how to do paper logs and now you are making a killing running E-logs.

 

Well, it is obvious that you will not take a more objective look. I have explained that I do not have to work harder under e-log than I did under paper. My revenue has not suffered one iota. I still decide when the truck runs and when it does not. I feel no pressure to be anywhere and "beat the clock". Is it better than paper? Of course not. It is just an alternative way of logging. Sure, paper logs are valid for tax purposes on per diem. I never said they weren't. I only stated that I like that my logs are in easily downloaded in PDF form on my computer and easy to access. Easy to make backups and never lose a singe page. I explained the reasons I like using an e-log. you are confusing that with the idea that I think everyone should use them. Never said that at all. I also stated I am against any mandates. I was only confronting the bogus idea that a person on an e-log will be inherently more unsafe and make less money than someone on paper. For me, it is a wash. Either way, paper or e-log, nothing has changed one bit for me. I will not make grand claims that I am making more under e-logs. But I will contend that I am not making less.

While one side claims that only those that are forced to use e-logs seem to like them, a equal argument can be made that those that have never used them have no clue what they are talking about and are experiencing severe paranoia issues. They "perceive" what it is like using an e-log and think that is the way it is. And God forbid, someone come along that can show that e-logs are much ado about nothing. I can fully appreciate their objection to being forced to use an e-log. I, also, think no one should be forced to use one. But to act like Armegeddon is upon us and the highways will become a mass of carnage and no one will make money under e-logs shows a severe lack of objectivity, if not downright dishonesty.

The sky will not come down. Big Brother is not watching. No one is trying to play nanny. No one is using them just because they don't know how to log on paper. It is just a tool. Period. No different than any other tool. I could do all of my accounting on paper, but why? I like using a laptop with spreadsheet software. It makes things more organized, easy to keep track of, easy to play "what if" games on how net might be affected with a change somewhere, and easy to forward to the tax preparer. E-logs, to me, are no different. Just another tool that helps keep documentation neat and organized, I never have to worry if I might have missed something on a log because I was tired and forgot to sign it, messed up on the recap because I added wrong, or some other little goof, and can be a plus in the event some lawyer wants to try and make a name for himself that I am one of those renegade truckers that run illegal.

Sure the DOT cop can be anal about e-logs as he would be on a paper log. But with the e-log, I just forward him the last 7 days and let him have a good time trying to find something wrong. I can show him on the screen if he wants to see it. But he sure won't be able to find some goof like I failed to sign a log or my recap is messed up and now I will be shut down. If he wants to waste his time looking for something, who am I to stop him. He will just look like a fool. And both of us will know it. But there is always the risk, using paper, that I might have failed to sign an inspection portion, forgot to document a trailer, forgot to write the date, or any number of other things that the DOT cop could use against me. The e-log, for me, just makes my life a little easier. Yep, just lazy. I learned both from my Old Man, and many of my professors in college..... if there is an easier way to do something, then do it that way.