Made to use PC to leave shippers/receivers to benefit the company

Please explain how I am "logging something I am not doing" if I am putting on the logs that I am using personal conveyance to leave a receiver and go shopping when I'm not under dispatch.

As per https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-ser...ce-when-they-run-out-available-drivingon-duty

"Personal conveyance is those times where a driver is operating solely for a non-business purpose and cannot be used to extend the duty day. "

That is EXACTLY what I am doing if I leave to go park, shop, etc not under dispatch. In fact, the fact that I am using it BEFORE I run out of drive time in the duty day would make it MORE appropriate.

 

Good for you. I can't tell you how many times I've had a 7am delivery 3 hours away and a 430pm pickup 2 hours away. I don't set that crap up but I have to live with it. And yes, it means running out of time while being loaded. I can "trip plan" all I want and I can't bring those two times closer together. Sometimes I can cheat and arrive a bit early but sometimes it bites me in the butt. Right now I've been sitting 4 or 5 hours waiting for a trailer to be loaded. A "pre loaded" trailer, thank you.

I have ZERO control over the appointment times I'm given. I don't have my own authority. I am a company driver. But the situation I describe has nothing to do with running out of time because I'm talking about leaving PC to go shop or park when you still have drive time but are not running under dispatch.

 

As I said earlier, I take advantage of the split sleeper rules. I log into sleeper 15 minutes after I’m parked at a receiver (and I physically go back into the sleeper berth). At the two hour mark, I get those two hours back, and won’t lose any more clock time while I’m waiting. Obviously, this doesn’t help if they’re fast at loading or unloading, but that isn’t usually a problem.

 

You don't even have to do that to take advantage of split sleeper. You can log off duty and if you wish, at the 2 hr mark, edit the logs from off duty to sleeper. BAM, same result without having to go into the sleeper every time which looks a little odd, IMHO. That way you'd only show SB in a time slot long enough to actually benefit you.

 

You can put it all on personal convenience for all I care, but that doesn't mean it is. You log pc when it should be on duty driving, that's falsification, plain and simple, and virtually everything you're describing is driving. Going to the shop, driving. Going to park your truck? That's driving. For crying out loud, your link says so too! "Question 6: May a driver use personal conveyance when they run out of available (driving/on-duty) hours?

Guidance: No, except for the one exception described in Guidance Question 26 to 49 CFR 395.8 where a driver who runs out of hours while at a shipper’s or receiver’s facility may drive from that facility to a nearby, safe location to park, provided that the driver allows adequate time to obtain rest in accordance with daily minimum off-duty periods under the Hours of Service rules before beginning to drive. " What part of "NO" do you not understand?

 

You keep quoting the wrong thing as if you're right, and you're not. It's not falsifying logs. I asked you to DETAIL EXACTLY HOW IT IS LYING AND YOU REFUSE TO DO THAT. Then you come back and say its falsifying logs. HOW, EXACTLY am I falsifying a logbook? What am I doing that I am not logging? In fact, if I drive ON DUTY to Wal Mart and I'm not picking up there nor being paid to do it, THAT IS FALSIFYING LOGS. If I did what you said to do, I WOULD be violating the law by falsifying logs.

What part of "When they run out of available hours" do you not understand? You need to read what you quote because it does not apply. You literally quote things that have no relevance to the topic at hand. I have said numerous times that I PC out to go shop or park WHEN I STILL HAVE HOURS AVAILABLE BUT NO DISPATCH THUS NO WAY TO ADVANCE A TRAILER ON PC. So why would you quote regulations that discuss AFTER you run out of hours?

Where does it say "A driver can ONLY use PC once he is out of hours?" Or "A driver cannot PC anywhere if he has drive time available?" Until at least one of those things is satisfied, I remain correct and you remain wrong. The answer is it will NEVER say that because that would mean after I get unloaded I can't PC home with an empty trailer and no dispatch until I run out of time 14 hours later. That's insane.

The ONLY exception to this is if your dispatcher has told you, as I've been told a few times, "I've got a load in such a such a city, start heading that way." Well technically you have no dispatch on your truck but you know you will soon so you have to go on duty then. But without instructions like that, you're a free agent. You can PC anywhere you want as long as you aren't doing work for the motor carrier. How much time you have left is irrelevant.

 

Yesterday I took a load to Grand Rapids MI. I used PC to drive from my house to the tank wash and arrived at the shipper at midnight. My trailer got rejected due to a missing seal so I drove to another tank wash to get it washed out again and then back to the shipper while staying on PC the whole time. I finally got loaded at 7AM and made the drive to Michigan on my regular log. I got back to my house at 9PM last night so all in all I had a 22 hour day due to using PC(and this was all after leaving the house).

 

Been out here for six years. I’ve used PC exactly 3 times. And all three times it was completely legal and warranted. I won’t use PC for anything. If DOT goes over your logs and sees regular usage of PC, you can rest assured they’re going to dig deeper. With your company you need to just flat out tell them when you’re available to drive. I stay off the clock as much as possible and I run splits at least once if not twice a week. But when the truck has to move and it’s not just like putting from a parking space into a dock where I can stay under 5 mph, that truck is going to go on the drive line.

 

Anytime I’ve used PC after running out of hours at a receiver I always make sure to get 10 hours off duty after I get parked. I don’t make it a habit. Other then that it’s for totally non work related stuff usually during a 34.

 

That must be nice because where I work at our 10 hour break starts as soon as we get on PC and usually involve 2 to 3 hours of driving.