For Those Who Went From Paper Logs to Electronic

Paper logs or e-logs, you are supposed to be legal no matter which you are using!

 

cat scales are NOT linked. sorry to say. and if your on paper logs. your not gps'd.

but if they were linked, who's paying the bill.

i haul a tanker. OVERLOADED. have yet to be stopped the two scales in utah and the one in california. and they're 90 % open.
course, by the time i get to cali. i'm pretty darn close to either being under or over.

the only reason they tank your truck and trailer and whatever else. is probably becuase of what some companies want to keep there tickets straight with there bills. considering most you reefers are constantly swapping trailers.

 

I am getting used to the e-log system, but have yet to go thru dot inspection with it. Knowing the dot, they will find something to fine me for.

 

All I can tell you is that I am related to a retired Wisc state trooper who works part time in a Wisc state scale house. I believe what he tells me and don't doubt it one bit. You would be surprised at what they know when you cross that first overhead proxy beacon. All they have to do is set their software on that given day to red light let's say loads that send their BOL macro that weigh 42K +. Tomorrow, they will red light all hazmat loads period no matter how much they weigh etc. They can access the CAT scale tickets across the country. They're not sitting there watching every single one but they can access it.

I know everyone here is running legal so you having nothing to hide anyone right? As far as the e-logs, we're being watched whether we like it or not. Go to Walmart, you got cameras all over you. Pull into the toll booth, cameras all over you. Guess you just get used to it, glad I live in a country where we have laws.

 

started with this company on paper logs. then they put me on e logs. my truck had issues and the new truck they assigned me was not set up for e logs yet so i went back to paper. the paper logs take alot of stress off because i can move some when i need to. the problem with e logs is when im sent a load say, 800miles, if the hours i have dont allow me to get somwhere safe to park after i unload, im screwed,if i cant stay at reciver. i call dispatch and let them know, then load is cancalled and my next load offer is only 300miles. loss of miles because i could not maybe move 5miles or so, sometimes less than that. it happens often, maybe not alot but over a period of time it adds up. then when dispatch wants you to run short run they plan you so you run your hrs down and run on your 70 picking up maybe 5 to 8 hrs a day. short hauls till yu get a restart. e logs are easy to use and keep track of you hrs and location but it all about control.

 

Any positives to e logs are completely thrown out compared to all the negatives for sure.

 

I think the benefit of elogs is that, as some have already stated, it takes some responsability off the driver and puts it on the dispatcher. And that may be fine for drivers that work at what I'd consider, crappy companies. But there are a lot of drivers who don't need their hand held like that. And what elogs does instead is reduce the freedom of the driver to make decisions about his day. For instance, I pulling into a shipper/receiver at the end of your day, while it might be fine for some, other drivers may prefer to eat or crap or shower. And unless shippers/recievers are going to start implementing "services" for drivers, this puts drivers in a bind.

It seems there are a few drivers who abuse paper logs to such an extent that the DOT has decided everyone must sacrifice their freedom in order to crackdown on these select few. How anyone can be in favor of sacrificing freedom for security is beyond me.

Maybe, DOT should make stronger efforts to check paper logs over instead of trying to implement a system which will cost the trucking industry millions of dollars, and make what is already a less-than-ideal lifestyle even less enjoyable. They are trying to turn drivers into robots, removing all manner of decision making and freedom, so that even a monkey could do it. I suppose this is of interest to the higher ups, so that they can hire lower-and-lower forms of human life to move freight. This will save them a lot of money in the long run.

If you are in support of being a robot (which is essentially a slave), I guess elogs are for you.

 

I agree completely hup and have been kicked out of the lots of shippers and receivers to many times. I have never done e logs but know the - 's add up to more than the +'s. Also, it is a fact that as long as there are paper logs, people can and will cheat the log. I believe that was the main purpose of the e log, to try and completely eliminate this possibility, but I am not defending that idea at all, because in bringing in e logs they also bring in other possible elements of unsafe driver behavior.

 

Cat scales are not even tied together via a database. saying DOT can access that information is just not true. There is enough to worry about without adding rumors to the board. They do however flag trucks by a variety of maybe red trucks today , some days are double days, or refers. Just depends on mood.

 

I hear ya when I was doing paper logs I wrote in 34 hr restarts but only sat them maybe 2 times in a year unless Home time. E Logs can't equal that