Prime shifting to Paperless Logs

I think that paper less logs will only be a concern to company drivers and maybe L/O for the mega carrriers.

 

Prime's use of electronic logs is experimental, limited to one company fleet and a number of lease-ops who have requested to be included in the experiment. Safety has announced that anyone who has problems keeping their paper logs up/put out of service will be placed on the electronic logging system.

For us it's a relatively simple change - you need one of the newer QualComm terminals (standard on our newer tractors,) and then it's just enabling the software. The folks I know who are on it aren't complaining... to an extent it gives you better control over your hours because it allows you to log to the minute instead of the quarter hour. I personally don't like the way it moves you to the drive line (I'm still on paper logs) viz dealing with places like WalMart at the end of a duty day.

OOIDA announced that the FMCSA seems to be going the existing route of mandating it for carriers with a history of illegal and falsifying their logs (so now you know why your carrier is doing it!) and will extend it to a voluntary program for carriers that will reduce their burden in compliance reviews and the amount of electronic data they must retain in terms of GPS location data, etc.

Finally, the federal government as one of the enumerated powers in the Constitution, is allowed to "regulate interstate commerce." They do that via the federal DOT and the FMCSA. To that end, if they really want EVERY truck on the road to log electronically, they certainly can. I agree... it'll certainly end a lot of individual owner operators. Heard that the majority of freight is carried by small independents, so that would be a chilling move by the feds on the industry.

 

I don't get how big companies can even use paperless logs, considering the way drivers are pushed into using every available minute of driving time. Oftentimes when it's getting to be time to look for a place to park, because of where truckstops are located (and because lots of rest stops are either full early or closed for repairs), a driver will have to choose between driving only 9 hours and parking or driving 11:30 and parking. Obviously with paper logs you can drive the 11:30 and just put down 11, but you can't get away with this kind of thing with paperless logs. (Of course, DMs seem to think XL truckstops are always conveniently located right where we are when our hours runs out ... and they seem to think they never fill up.)

Plus ... from what I hear, if you honestly can't find a place to park DOT gives you some leeway. But these big companies don't (at least Swift didn't.)

 

Thanks for the input, tough guy, but when you work for Swift and have an ####### for a FM, you don't do your planning, THEY do. Or you get parked for two days in Houston or canned.

 

Well... I've met folks who were totally happy running for Swift, but IMHO, they're one of the bottom-feeder companies.

 

I'm glad to hear things are a lot better with Prime, because it looks like I might be joining the team. Anyway, I made a general comment about paperless logs being stupid, which you responded to. I think I'm allowed to make general comments about things as long as they are related. If you have a problem with this, too bad.

 

Yeah, I totally agree. But they aren't all bad, because they train a lot of people the other companies turned down.

 

= bottom feeder

sorry couldn't help my self