HOS Confusion with local work?

I was thinking "Dump and a Pup" as we have a lot here in CA as well as A/B dumps. But I guess a "pup" is just a trailer towed behind any straight truck after looking it up.

 

One minor point that I doubt it applies to you anyway.

It doesn't matter if the driver stays in Cali. It matters that the load stays in Cali.
For example, pulling cans out of the port of L.A. would be interstate as the load crossed a state (and country) line. Pulling bottled wine from Napa Valley to L.A. would be intrastate.

 

I'm sure anything coming out of the Ports of LA or San Pedro would be a CDL run just based on the weight. But when I run to NASA in Mojave, those loads come out of LAX and have been shipped from Russia to LAX. And when I do China Lake runs, it's from a "secure facility" in San Diego. Both are sealed loads. They load and seal it up right there with me watching. They load it, I secure it, and then they take pictures with a digital camera. Seal that camera in a tamper proof pouch in front of me, and that becomes part of the load. I have to record the seal # on my BOL. When I get to the destination, they look at the pictures break the seal, and then inspect the load (it's not like they're going to turn it down). When it comes to Intrastate, I think it has to do more with the point of pick up rather than the point of origin. As a note, I still hold a "secret" clearance from the Gov/DoD so that's why I get those loads, especially the China Lake loads. And while I have a "clearance", I'm still escorted from the gate to the hanger/receiving facility at China Lake under armed guard.

 

A DOT officer will look at your bills when determining if you are hauling in intra or interstate commerce.

 

What you just described is in fact interstate commerce, and makes you subject to the Federal hours of service regulations. The definition of interstate commerce includes point of origin and destination. Fe Courts have ruled on many occasions that interstate commerce is also affected by the intent of the shipment even when it does not leave the state. Example would be locally produced food stuff hauled from the field to a warehouse that ships nationwide. Even the short trip from the producer to the first warehouse is interstate commerce due to the intent to ship out of state at a later date.

So, this means that your employer is violating Federal hours of service regulations and hoping you will not get caught since California does not inspect pickup truck and trailer combinations. The short article by Great West Casualty explains it perfectly, even addresses the under 18 drivers that are commonly used in-state but prohibited from operating in interstate commerce.

Intrastate vs. Interstate: Which is Which?

 

Love how you worded that.

 

By the way, CDL has no bearing on hours of service for interstate commerce, unless you are using the short haul or local exceptions that allow for a 150 air-mile radius for non-cdl drivers and allow for two 16 hour "big days" for non-cdl drivers vs. the 100 air-mile radius and one "big day" for cdl drivers.

 

True that. Thankfully the few out of state runs I've done were SeaTac to Reno twice, Coos Bay to Reno once and LA or SD to Las Vegas a few times. Thankfully when I get most of my "longer" runs, they are truly "intrastate", not too big on the LTL short run stuff. Especially in the SoCal/LA basin.

 

Better check the California intrastate hos rules.
If a load originates and stays in California until delivery and isn't the furtherance of an interstate load there are hos rules quite different than federal rules.
The furtherance of an interstate load is a gray area and seldom enforced but all the DOT guys are aware of it and can and will use it when it suits their purpose.
In the meantime dial down the arguments a notch until you're sure of your facts, okay?

 

Not true. Point of origin and point of pick up are two very distinct things. If you pick up a load in CA of Chinese made shirts, do you list the point of pick up as China, thereby exposing you to the wrath of a DOT that says "if the point of origin / pick up was in China, you're out of hours" and then you get parked for 10. That's just ridiculous