Stevens Paperless Log

If you need to massage your log's to make a whopping 50 grand a year, you need to find a different job!! jmo

 

That is what he said. I have no experience to base anything on.

 

Stevens loves to experiment

Have heard that the QC GPS sucks. Uses the map tuit feature, which you have to request, and does not update.

Now for everything man does to try and control another, someone will figure out a way around it. Goes for the paperless logs too! A criminal has 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to figure out how to beat any system, and they will figure it out.

Dispatch has never asked, implied to me to run over my legal hours to get a load delivered. The QC already keeps track of when you move the truck, when you stop, what position the key is in...Compliance is supposed to match that to your paper logs that we all scan in. My last compliance review, they had matched mine, and I had ZERO violations.

 

I've kept it 99.9 percent legal for 8 years. 70 hours is plenty to make a good living provided to many customers don't ruin too many days. 99.9 percent, yep. I have never done a 34 hour restart 3 hours from home after 8 long days on the road.

When E logging comes around my company is going to ensure this won't happen. Other than ten hour breaks, we move freight. Being a smaller company we have built relationships with a handfull of great customers that understand our time is valuable.

I used to drive for Knight and I can tell you that they are a large carrier that is going to get their butt handed to them on a platter when E logs are implemented. As of six months ago when I left they did not even pretend to care about HOS rules. Shall be interesting to say the least.

 

That's good to hear. As a newbie I've heard stories, but then again truckers rival fishermen when it comes to a good story. I'm hopeful that my experience is similar to yours, and 14 hours in a day is enough work anyway!

 

First of all, there's the mantra that I live by.

Proper prior planning prevents piss poor projects.

I run very much legal all the time. The only necessary fudge is that if I'm forced to move the truck at a shipper or have my sleep interrupted to load produce in the middle of the night. In that case, you can use the "same city rule" of the logbook which is that you may log all time spent on duty at the time you leave. So if you arrive at 10PM, you're 10 hour break would end at 6AM. However at 3AM, they knock on your door and have you back into a door. Then you stand on the dock for an hour and let's say you burn two hours of time getting the truck into the dock, loaded and off the dock. If you choose, log it as 10PM - 11:00pm/ post trip (I know guys. 1 hour for post trip. You should have students )

Go to bed. At 6AM the end of your 10 hour break, log the two on duty hours you spent doing all that work and leave at 8AM. If you log it at 4AM and leave at 6, you violate you're 10 hour break.

The same thing is achieved if you predict and log the time at the arrival time at the customer. However you really know the time you spent working AFTER you've done it. Logging at the end is a gray area, but at least it's truthful time accounting for the number of hours worked.

Let's take another situation however (remember we're logging legal here)

Arrive at destination at 7.08. Must log at 7:15. 7 Minutes lost.
Post trip 37 minutes. Must log as 45 8 minutes lost

Next morning get up at oh 9am do a pretrip and fuel (by the way fuel at night if you're fueling at a truck stop. Then you can shower in the morningl, pretrip and roll. without starting your 14 hour clock while not moving)

Fueling 9 minutes. Must log as 15 minutes. 6 minutes lost.

Just these simple examples 21 minutes is gone. Fudging the numbers downward can lead to thousands in fines. The FMCSA regulations require you to ALWAYS round up. You're company may tolerate it, but federal regulations say otherwise and most dot officers will not be able to catch that. But if you log legally and you would like a 0% risk of getting tickets in the thousands and even potentially shutting down your employer.

Electronic logbooks log accurately to the next highest minute , not to the 15 minutes so you don't lose the time.

hope this helps.

 

So WGcarver, would it be wise to invest in the Iphone's IDDL(Driver's daily log)app? The logbook's and all the steps and rules you have to know is quite intimidating for the new guy. Or is there a formula that one can use while the individual is in training. I am not at all familiar with logbooks, and I don't want to embarass myself or my upcoming trainer. Any words of wisdom? That goes for you too TLheart spread some wisdom with us....lol

 

not having any expeience at all with logs it seems to me that paperless logs would even things up for all companies and drivers.just my 2 cents. course i could be totally wrong also.

 

Logs are quite simple once you understand that It only regulates how much you can drive, but driving and working count down the 70 hours available.

Each day when I start my day, with a dry erase marker, on my side window I write the time I am starting, when my 11 hours drive time (or how many hours I have available) and when my 14 hours are up. Example today, started at 0900, 11 hours up at 2000, with no breaks, and 14 is up at 2300. I can not drive after 2300, without a ten hour break. Keeping it simple here. Any breaks I take during the day, ie sitting and waiting to be loaded, not in the dock, is not working, and extends my stop driving time up to 2300. So since i have been sitting here typing on the computer, for 3 hours now, my drive time and day both stop at 2300.

Hope that makes it clear as Mississippi mud.

 

While a student, don't invest in anything electronic at the moment. It will be important for you to learn how the logbook works so that you may be able to discern when the software has it wrong.

Don't worry about embarrassing yourself with your trainer. He and I both started somewhere knowing exactly what you already knew just before you started this. Of course don't forget to embarrass your trainer by telling him that his fifth wheel is flat right after you do a pretrip. If you catch him, it will be worth it.