How much does EOBR cost for an O/O?

I know there is a company making one just for O/O's and it is around $700 I forget who it is but if you google for it, it should pop up. That is the cheapest I have heard of, it ran in landline mag a while back and someone should pop on here and help me out...

 

JJ Keller has one and Rand McNally has their unit for $700. I think the monthly charge was about $35 or so. Not sure what you get with that.

 

That's right, Rand McNally is the one selling the one for $700 and it is basically a GPS device that has logs. Has a cable that plugs into the OBC port on the truck. What ever company you lease onto, can simply log onto the Rand McNally website and monitor your truck..

 

At our safety audit from DOT last year the officer said don't buy into the "its coming so buy one thing" as he said it will never ever pass - constitution and too intrusive. The sellers of the dang things are the ones pushing it !!!

 

It will never be mandatory except for those with numerous log violations and poor csa scores..is my opinion..

 

There are many different systems that can be bought for less then 1000 bucks. If you dont need communication, there are units that print logs on the spot for around 400. Qualcome told me they dont do small fleets. if i had to buy one today i'd buy rand my so i can combine with my gps and have one less screen cluttering my dash

 

I would be the last kid on the block to buy one.
EOBRs are a PIA...breakdowns, poor cell communication (QC) and multiple problems with screen freeze, microprocessor lockups and more.
At any one time, 25% or more of our QC's are not working...many are just needing simple resets, but at least 10% are needing a shop.
Our fleet of 2,000 tractors has nothing but problems and I can tell you from the dispatchers side, I hate them.
In addition, you lose flexibility that may technically be a violation, but with paper is just not an issue and certainly doesn't violate the spirit of the law.
A common example: you arrive your receiver with 4 hours left on your 14. They drag their feet and your 14 expires while you're there. They won't let you stay, but if you drive 3 miles down the road to a truck stop, you are in violation and the Company is required to report this to CSA, even tho you had no choice. ANY violation HAS to be reported.
And the driver gets points.
Get caught in traffic and pull into the truck stop at 10 hrs 59 minutes and you're a hero of mankind, deliverer of fine goods and hero of the working class.
Same scenario and pull in at 11 hrs 1 minute and you're akin to an axe murderer, enemy of the state and proud recipients of more CSA points!
Stay away as long as you can!

 

Several ones that work on cell phones or tablets with bluetooth device that screws into port on truck. Software is typically free, bluetooth device is less than $100. Service is cheap. $10/month.

It isn't going to be FMCSA that makes it mandatory it is going to be the market. Look at how CSA is calculated. Look at what the scores used to calculate percentile are on HOS. No one can afford even a single violation on HOS. EOBRS all but eliminate these violations. It is why you are seeing so many companies with perfect scores.

Most drivers don't understand how the score is calculated. So how can you expect a customer to understand that being a 65% isn't unsafe. It is just how the system is calculated.

 

My Garmin "commercial truck" version has logging would that ever count if the push comes to shove ? I used it at first just to see how it works and it is easy. Basically just drive and it does eveyrthing with even reminders of how many hours you have left etc. When you stop you have to tell it if you are on duty or not and if you forget you can go back in and edit it. I just never trust anything electronic to live long enough to "save" my records nor my ability to put those records to paper if required to.