Switching from Electronic Logs to Paper Logs

Hey now, old man! Not that I'd encourage it or anything, but you well know the old habits die hard! And reconfiguration is just so much easier with the 'puter! (Saves ink and trees, too!) Geez, see what ya done, 'olhand? I've done gone and corrupted another youngun'!

 

I just started using e-logs about 3 weeks ago.
I would go back to my loose leaf paper logs in a heart beat! I have never used a laptop or any phone app.....

Really though,once you learn the basics it is not hard at all.I bet you will have it down in just a couple of days.

 

enjoy your new found freedom. cuz it won't be long before EVERYONE will be on them.

 

Hey EZ Money. Nice truck. May i ask if you bought new or used? How liking it? MPG?? Thanks

 

I have a timer. Pretty cheap from wally world. It will time up to 9:59:59. I start my day and set the timer for eight. Sure a watch is pretty simple but at a glance I know how long till I need to take that 30. Cool for those split sleeper days too.

 

Some people are using the alarm on their cellphone, set for about 5hrs out after they open their window for the day, then when it goes off you start looking for a place to pull over for your 30 min break. You still have only have 14 hrs with 11 hrs driving allowed. This would be logged on your log as off duty, not driving. Then you get back on duty, driving if you are driving again. You will need to flag the city and state on the p/u, and receiver, your fuel stop, not sure about the break.

You might want to google map an area about 250 miles (more or less) from where you start your day at and see what is in the area, rest area, Truckstop, whatever so you have have an idea what is around there and where you want to pull off at.

I use www.findfuelstops.com for hunting things out for my husband, it does not carry all the chains in the US, but a large part of the major ones. It will have a map of whatever cities you start and finish at with all the truckstops listed, click on open in another window one of the truckstops and you can see the info for it, also at bottom will be other places in the area that might work like a rest area, Walmart (call first, and is a good way to spend time if parking allowed), also some truckstops are not suitable for parking on this like the Wilco Hess in the northeast. There are others like www.nttsbreakdown.com that do carry truckstops also, but I don't believe it has a map.

 

I am getting ready to move to a company that uses paper logs after I have been on Elogs for 2 years. I think what I will do is when starting the day (pretrip) is move over 8 hours and make a little dot to I know that I need a 30 minute break before then if driving, then a dot at 14,

 

If a hillbilly from Arkansas can do it anybody can, it is easy to lose time when you are stretched out on one road for a while. I usually say self when you get to point x take your break. When at this point in the journey shut it down for the day. I do all my fueling and piddling before I start or when I get to where I'm gonna end my day.

 

BB, I drive for IDC and use the DDL program. Drop me a PM if you need help setting it up. Logs department loves it. Also under IDC thread there's a post that shows the set up.

Pal

 

I love my electronic logs, I'll never work anywhere that requires paper logs again. But to each their own

Almost all of the major brands of truck GPS units (Rand McNally, Garmin, etc) have programs in them to electronically monitor your driving time. These can be really accurate because they detect when the truck is moving and all that good stuff. A smartphone can do the same thing, assuming you remember to turn off the logging feature when you're driving your personal vehicle at home. But I remember my Rand McNally TND 720 setting off alarms when I was coming up on the end of my driving time before I figured out how to disable that whole system.

I will ask one thing. Now that you're running paper logs, please do it legally and correctly. A big reason why we're all stuck with a 30 minute break and why they keep throwing out new regulations is because drivers still insist on fudging their logs to make a few extra cents. I find it both funny and ironic that the drivers that hate e-logs are the same ones that are 100% responsible for companies moving hat direction, because they got tired of those same drivers lying about what they were doing.

So please, run your logs legally. Regardless of what anyone tries to tell you, you DO NOT have the right to falsify your logs in any way, regardless of whether its 5 minutes or 5 hours. The law is the law. Those who don't like the HOS need to move to a different career. Do the entire industry a favor and do it right.