Petition to stop EOBRs

so basically what you are saying is that drivers were gutless before to tell their dispatchers NO, so instead of having their dispatchers drive their trucks for them, they are opting out for a computer to drive their trucks

why not exhort your fellow drivers to be more in control of their livelihoods instead of teaching them to exchange one master for another?

 

Funny thing...I was on e-Logs (essentially the feared EOBR) with Werner, and I didn't see a single instance where a shipper or reciever gave a single crap about how long any of the Werner trucks were held up. I'm sorry, sir, but I don't see any way that EOBRs are going to suddenly force shippers and recievers to work more effeciently. Nor do I see EOBRs suddenly opening carriers eyes to the possibilities of charging detention time.

Today, a sitting truck costs the carrier money in lost revenue. And yet the carrier does not charge the cause of that sitting truck to offset the lost revenue because if the carrier does, the cause (be it shipper or reciever) will then no longer use that carrier and instead go to a carrier that does not charge them for holding a truck for a period of time. How are EOBRs going to change this? Is there an alarm system that immediately informs the ever-famed US Marshals that a truck is being held? Do the Marshals then arrive with guns and tanks and demands that the company delaying the truck to immediately pay the carrier and the driver for the lost time? They don't? Well dang...now what do we do?

Give it up, detention time and layover time are myths with most major carriers. A recruiting tool, nothing more. And we all know how honest recruiters are, don't we?

 

I wouldn't go as far as saying "Forcing" shippers and receivers to become efficient....

There's still a huge number of them that don't give a sheyat.....One being USS in Houston....

You get an 0700 appointment....Check-in a 0600....You're lucky to get started by 1300.......

They load two trucks per hour there....No more....After each truck is loaded....They take a 15 minute break in between.....And they're not even a union shop.......

 

That is where being with a carrier that pays a decent detention is the name of the game, or having it as part of the negotiation at the front end if doing your own thing.

I will agree, I have seen only a few instances where shippers/receivers are changing the way they do things because more carriers are on E-logs. I never really believed, at least without some form of mandate from FMCSA, that there would be much change in detention times. Mostly on the grocery side of the equation. Those characters have been stalling trucks since early in the last century. The only thing that will possibly change them is just not hauling for them. I know this is not practical for some, but I have made it a point that I rarely ever take a load going to a grocery or food supplier outfit unless it is already setup as a drop and hook. I do get hit with a delay once in a while, but detention usually is paid on such things as those are usually solid accounts that are more amiable to compensating a driver for a delay.

When, and if, E-logs are forced on everyone, then shipper/receivers will have to make some changes. Not for our benefit, to be sure, but a shipper will not be able to goof off at the risk of the receiver not getting what they want in time. The receivers will be the ones having the fit and lean on the shippers. Now, those receiving can only be leveraged by the carrier. And in that case, it is just a matter of "don't unreasonably detain a truck or we don't haul to you". Those taking broker loads are just going to have to negotiate any possible detention at the outset or turn down the load. Either way, continuing to do things like we have done them in the past is not going to work well if an E-log mandate gets put into place.

At least many have a few years yet. FMCSA was supposed to have a proposal out by fall of 2013. They now say it will be spring of 2014. And that is just the proposal. It has to be commented on and tweaked. I got a news update from one of the trucking management rags in my email today that suggests any mandate will not be fully in place until 2018 at the earliest. So, no use anyone getting their shorts in a knot quite yet. Just take a chill pill and keep on doing what you are doing. Today already has enough to worry about and no use piling on the mental anguish by worrying about what MIGHT happen.

 

More to this point. The huge carriers that have thousands of trailers and are able to drop them in a door and the shipper can take their time. How is the little guy who doesn't have thousands of trailers able to do this? He just eats the cost and that EOBR will reduce his productivity time, therefore giving the shipper even more reason to choose the huge company over the independent.

 

Just another way larger carriers are using increasing government regulation to cut out competition by smaller carriers.

The whole idea behind all these new regulations and government mandates is to simply make it too expensive for smaller carriers and O/O's to operate, leaving all the freight to the largest carriers (Werner, Swift, JB, and CRE). And if you follow the money, there are some very interesting connections between the companies, particularly on the number of times Mr. Jerry Moyes name comes up.

 

Well, so far with me I have seen improvement with time being in a dock due to the E-logs. It has been causing problems with getting to pick up the next load on time. If the receiver does not provide overnight parking for the driver and the driver has to start his day at around 0400 and you have to drive 20 to 30 mins to get there after taking a 10 hour break...................

Well, if the receiver keeps you there for 6+ hours and ruins your chances of being able to pick up and deliver another load because of the delay, dispatch takes notice of this, or least they should.
My experience has been that things are changing for the better and shippers and receivers are actually getting better at logistics. They have to get better with the rules, the way they are. They can either adapt, or they will go out of business, really they will go out of business. Someone with a lot of smarts who can figure out logistics properly will figure out a better way of doing this as opposed to booking in way to many trucks and making drivers sit there for hours because they are a butt-hat and can't plan logistics properly. It is not our fault shippers, receivers and dispatchers have their head up their behind.

With the E-logs I have been delayed at shippers and have wound up in a position were due the delay I have gotten to a receiver and said I need to park here and sleep or I won't be able to deliver onetime. They usually get all indigent with me and say, no one can park here overnight. I say fine, I guess I'll see you in few days, ask me if I care. I hope I'm not carrying anything you really needed or were going to have trucks show up to load some of the product I have. Don't worry about it, I'll call after my 10 is up and we can reschedule, it's all good with me I say. Usually someone comes out and says OK, OK park over there. If I can't park overnight, I leave and send a message to dispatch and say due to not being able to park overnight at the receiver I can't deliver on time due to being held up at the shipper.

It's amazing the shippers and receivers you can park at now, many more then when I first started. The rules are dictating that you have to work with the drivers or your logistics are going to go right out the window and the receivers of the products we deliver will be wondering were the hell their product is that they ordered.

 

I have been on E-logs before with a different company and I will be the first to say they solve a couple problems;the fights with idiot dispatchers/brokers and yes sometimes receivers are a thing of the past if on them. But shippers taking into account I was on e-logs? Not in the world I was in. Strangely enough the company I'm with now E-logs would not be that big of a deal,as the runs average at least 1800 mi if not more. Woe be to the regional driver on E-logs who is not on a drop & hook system as I think he would (will) take a financial beating.

With regards to this thread,I have heard a former member here has started another petition on a different forum. I wonder how that one is doing,as she is quite literate and has a way of driving a point home.

 

I was loading the other day at a steel mill and an E-log company driver pulled in behind me in the lot. I told him I had been here for 45 minutes waiting to get in the door and so he is going to be here a while. He said he has 2 hours left on his clock. So he went inside and asked the supervisor in charge how much longer it would be. The supervisor said 5 minutes and I will let the both of you guys back in together so I can get you out of here. Guy said okay great as I only have 2 hours to get loaded and tarped and find a place to park since you guys don't allow parking here. I got loaded first and then he got a coil sat down and chained and the crane broke down while getting his 2nd coil. 3.5 hours after hitting the door we were loaded and pulling out. The E-log driver mentioned politely that he is now out of hours on his clock and asked if he could park on their property since the crane broke down. They said no and he went up front and asked the security officer at the front desk. She said no also and he continued to plead that he has no hours available to move his truck off their property. Within 10 minutes of sitting out front doing my paper log book a local City Cop pulls up and ask the E-log driver why he hasn't left the property yet? He politely replied that he was out of hours even though he did his part and asked before the fact if there was enough time to load him and now he can not move his truck off the property. The local cop nicely told the E-log driver that if he didn't move within 30 minutes he would be charged with trespassing.

Why should this driver be "mandated" to recieve a log book violation because he is forced to run E-logs?

 

I'm on e-logs. I don't know about loading steel and how long it usually takes. If under say 1.5 hours start to finish is a reasonable assumption, that would leave time for a driver to do his deal and find someplace to park. There are always the unknown's and e-logs don't leave any wiggle room for those situations.

However, ( my belief) if you're on e-logs and crap happens then you write safe haven in the comments and do just that. Drive to a safe haven. It's not any shippers or receivers responsibility to provide a parking spot for this.

Maybe it's not right for a driver to get stuck with a violation. But it is what it is. (sucks) However a driver on paper ( who can "fix it") and finds themselves in the same situation is in no less a violation. They just don't get caught.