My day on Elogs

Yep, and that is one thing I have seen. Many of the outfits I work around, and with, started putting ELDs in the trucks months ago. Accidents are up, they always drove like idiots, but now they are driving like raving lunatics. Especially now that Michigan raised the truck speed limit to 65 in the past few months. These companies have also raised the limiters on the trucks so they can go faster. And they do go faster, everywhere, construction, truck stops, the docks, the plants, etc. Get out of your truck, and you are a moving target for them to hit.

What is funny is when they run past their 14 at the dock. Oh that is a mess, some of these guys refuse to move the truck and really gum things up. Others I have seen just grab there gear and start heading to the guard shack to wait for the wife or company to come pick them up. Going to be real interesting when ALL of us have these egg timers on our dashboards.

 

I'm not taking on to much. I'm fine. If I had a crystal ball I would not be here. I cannot help what others do in the supply chain. When my trailer is half loaded and a machine on the line goes down I go on the hourly clock. I leave when they allow me to leave and then I go deliver. that is how this works, thank JIT shipping for that. I did not create this mess, but I work around it. I am out here to earn a living, not an existence.

 

Egg timer, that's a good way of putting it.

I've had that timer for a few weeks now.

It hasn't hurt my miles, a little over 3000 each of the last two weeks. It has had me shutdown earlier than I wanted to a couple of times due to the fact that I wasn't sure if I could make it to point x in the time available and I refuse to do the raving lunatic thing due to cutting it too close.

I don't like them but IMO anyone who uses it as an excuse to drive stupid would find an excuse to anyway.

 

Congratulations for stating your experience, I guess your epeen is larger than mine.

Also good on you going 35 years without a log book violation. Either you are 100% legal all that time, or you was just good at hiding it. My dad did tyre same thing from 86 up to about 4 months ago, he's got no complaints

 

The thing is, if you give some the "flexibility" to take an inch, some others will take a mile. It's the trucks out there running with foreign "indentured servants" who are forced to run solo, 14-16 hours a day, and various other assorted morons, who are the reason we're having this discussion. And yes, I feel there are enough of these out here in the industry running very hot 90+% of the time to effectively keep rates anemic. Yes, a level playing field would be nice. It would force many to realize how much of their labor they're "giving away" for free and will force shippers to deal with reality of the HOS rules, and accept higher rates

Change how you do business, raise your rates, work fewer hours, whatever. IF 100% magically adopted eLogs overnight, and actually were forced to live with the HOS rules as they're currently written, I promise you the US Chamber of Commerce will force the FMCSA to introduce a better system because of the loss of economic productivity that will ensue with no quick or easy fix. They keep telling us there is a shortage of drivers, right? So, if thats the case, they will be forced to allow drivers (carriers) to be more productive with the working assets they have. And there are a number of ways to do this. The easiest and quickest start would be simply do away with the 60/70 limits.

But if a significant loss of truck productivity is actually seen, this would go to illustrate just how much falsification is/was going on. That may or may not be a bad thing. One thing's for sure, truck stops and truckers likely have not seen the worse of the parking nightmares.

 

Very well, then do so without having to break out coloring cook and crayons. I understand you haven't created this mess, but working within the confines of the law is what we are supposed to do. Some do, some don't. That is the game we all choose to play, some choose to play it legit, others try to skirt the rules. Its just funny when those who choose too skirt the rules then ##### and complain when they get caught, or they want to complain that its no longer fair because they can't cheat

 

This is another thing I want to clear up about my earlier post. When I say many are "giving away their labor", I mean ...

As a carrier, an application to numerous state and federal agencies was made to begin operation. Part of this process and approval states that the carrier will abide by the various laws and rules that govern the industry at all the various levels, and must pass random audit inspection. So to bill a customer $x,xxx dollars for work that requires 60 hours of drive time inside a 5 day work week, you're effectively giving away 5 hours of your time according to the HOS model which you are required to adhere to. There are a number of ways to rectify the situation, granted some are easier said then done, some hurt [the carrier] financially, but it is what it is.

I did not make the HOS rules but I'm forced to work within them. And running 100% refrigerated freight, and 100% to load and delivery appointments, all over the clock spectrum, I'm well aware of the challenges this presents but I make it work 99.9% of the time. My point is change what you can with smarter clock management, change the rest with modified business agreements.

In the mean time, keep pressing for a better and smarter HOS rules system.

 

Getting caught? I rarely see a scale house. I drive the speed limit or under. I keep my logs up to date, I start in the morning when I leave the truck stop. I make it work, I have no violations, and no accidents. I'm an adult trying to earn a living in a corrupt over regulated industry. I am no better or worse than anyone else out here. You will learn that in time.

 

I'm not talking about CDL school grads working to repay tuition. I'm talking about foreign drivers brought to the US to work (under constant threat) for a "sponsor" who has zero regard for operating legally, at any time. These fly-by-night operations work on the principal run hard, run cheap, run fast, run as long as you can, while you can. When you get shut down, no problem, your rich uncle in Moscow or Novosibirsk will set up another company to run under.

No. I don't consider the 100 or so 20-500 truck operations running out of Chicagoland and Jersey ("white Volvo crowd") "mega carriers" or giant corporations. Giant corp megas are not the problem with hot running drivers. In fact the if you read from some mega bosses, they're happy if a truck can only run 450 miles a day maximum. In fact their business model is built on that premise. A bunch of trucks, running at 60% capacity. That way, they never have to turn down freight, and they never have to worry about dealing with short term seasonal volume spikes ... good for them, but bad for all their drivers