Personal conveyance

It seems pretty clear to me. PC is used to go wash clothes or get food or movies. There is a video some explaining it good on YouTube. The FMCSA says Entertainment and Restaurants but people want twist it as much as possible and say going home from delivery is PC and it not I think. The DOT is also probably looking for a pattern. If some it using PC regularly and going long distances it probably won’t be legal. If you on Oklahoma and PC to Amarillo to Big Texan Steak house technically that a restaurant but it probably won’t be seen as legal unless to when back to Oklahoma to deliver load or something.

 

Personally i say no. Im pretty sure it depends on situation legally speaking but me PERSONALLY. If there is even a CHANCE someone can argue i was under dispatch and on a load i log it as on duty. That said i live in SD but my home terminal is in KS. So the offsite rules do apply to me in any case. But PC is playing with fire imo and unless you have an air tight case for using it. Just log on duty and prevent most issues.

Even in the way i use it, the truckstop i use is 2 hours from my delivery and the last hour/hour and a half is going over the dirt backroads you gotta use to get to my place. Otherwise when i do use it. Im bobtailing to a landromat restraunt or store. Because those have crystal clear guidance.

 

Let me boil it down to the essential answer:

No, you can’t use PC to get back to the warehouse. Not even if you first PC to a restaurant.

 

This thread reminds me of the guy on here who used to run to the West Coast (something specialized, can't recall what, always went home empty) and then claimed he could PC back home because he hasn't been dispatched on his next load yet.

 

What?? That's one of the very reasons there is a PC. You can most certainly can PC back to the warehouse from a restaurant if you PC'd to go eat. There's so much bad and wrong info in these kind of threads...

Somebody actually posted the correct answer early on in the thread, check with your company. They set policy that may in fact be stricter than the minimum the feds have for the regulation.

 

He clarified in this subsequent post:

He can’t go to the terminal on PC from the restaurant.

 

PC DOES NOT REQUIRE YOU TO BE EMPTY OR BOBTAIL. At one time PC did require vehicle to be unladen (empty or bobtail). That is no longer the rule. PC can be legally used EMPTY OR LOADED, bobtail or pulling trailer.

 

Yes, I know. He was asking about going back to the terminal "from a shipper like Walmart", ect. ect. after "buying something". All the places he named would not be shippers (from the STORES - DC, yes, but you cant buy stuff from a DC) so I figured he meant receivers, which would mean he is empty...

 

Empy or loaded make ZERO difference with regard to PC. PC NEVER requires truck be empty. Every situation one can use PC it can be used while empty or loaded. There is no PC situation where empty or loaded changes the legality of using PC. Empty/loaded are as relevant to PC use as the brand of AM/FM radio in the truck. It's 100% irrelevant to PC.

 

A lot of confusion about the regulations in trucking come about from not reading the regulations but about 10% of the way through reading/hearing the regulation's words jumping right into a practical example. Your actions as a CDL driver are measured against the regulations, not someone's past behavior, not what you could/couldn't do when you got your CDL in 1970, 1990, 2010, 2024, not what your first company allowed/prohibited when you first started working, etc.

When someone has a question about what the regulations allow or prohibit your first stop should be your internet search engine and entering a search term that begins with FMCSA. The FMCSA are the people that list the regulations for trucking. Their words matter more than MakeBigMoney.com or TruckDrivingMagazine.com or TruckingCompany.com. If you want the truth about splitting sleeper berth time or using Yard Move or Personal Conveyance what the FMCSA says matter more than what anyone else guesses the rule might be or what happened once in Dirty Shirt, OK at the portable scales in 2004. If you can post a question to this forum you have enough internet to internet search "FMCSA Split Sleeper" or "FMCSA drug screen" or "FMCSA 34 hour reset". The FMCSA regulations are free, online, and also in handy book form at most truck stops if you prefer.