Question about bobtailing and e-logs

With electronic logs, you're put on the driveline after the truck is driven a short distance. If I'm at a shipper waiting to be loaded, will bobtailing a couple miles down the road to the nearest Cracker Barrel put me back on drive time?

 

Different systems are different. The proper way would be switching to personal conveyance or 'line 5' but I'm guessing you don't have that option.

 

Contact your company's log department and ask. I'm gonna guess they won't let you drop the trailer and leave the premises....

 

If you don't have line 5 you would have to skip.
Meaning, you drive less than a mile and stop and shut down to stay off duty.
Start up and drive a little more and do the same thing.
And all the while you have to watch your duty status, and switch it back if it changes.

Keep in ind that those changes may be marked in the e-log, even if the duty status stays the same.

 

Or call uber, a taxi, or walk....

 

This subject is one of the few in the trucking world that makes me angry. I generally try to not let my feelings about "big brother" get my goat but this time it has. Back in 2011 I had a medical emergency in Mississippi and was able to drop my trailer and bobtail to the hospital. About 2 weeks later during a routine Safety audit the safety person actually tried to write me up because my log did not match my quailcomm GPS data for that day. I exploded in anger and demanded to speak with her higher ups in safety. They sided with me but did it in a left handed way that left me feeling as if I had been raped. Then I had problems with that dang sudden stop tattletale that sends a report when you hard break to safety. I don't like the way the carriers micromanage the local movements of bobtails. My last tractor had that dang radar sensor on it that drove me crazy at times. It was hooked up in the cruse control and actually would hard break if any traffic got in its happy area. I lost a very expensive laptop because this terroristic monster hard braked me near Knoxville one day. You can add ALL of the above to the other reasons I simply walked away from trucking in 2013.

 

You also have to check with the shipper if they will allow you to leave. Some of not most will not let you drop trailer while they are loading or unloading you. Also, if they need the door, they want you to be there to move it. I'm allow to line 5 so if im early at my customer, i'll drop my trailer at the customer and go where i want to go. Then when my appointment time is near, just come back and rehook. It doesn't burn my clock.

 

If you are driving your tractor without a trailer behind you, you can use driving off duty time for that. Both People Net and Qualcomm have that ability.

if you have a different system I do not know what the correct answer is. However, leaving your trailer at a shipper while it is being unloaded is a good way to get it damaged. Just wait until you are empty.

 

Thanks for the replies, folks. I'm not actually driving yet. We covered (paper) logging yesterday in my CDL class, and I was just wondering how bobtailing worked with e-logging.

 

Those systems have a skip or line 5 IF the company has those options activated. A previous employer had line 5, and my current company has a 'skip' option, but they watch and if it is being abused to cheat the logbook, then they will turn it off on a driver-by-driver basis. A friend works for another company out of TN, they don't have any provision for personal conveyance. If their truck moves, it logs it on line 3.