Time Management

Asking for more time is always the first option.

I am a meticulous trip planner and one of the most detail oriented people I know (many others told me this).

For two years I was on an acct where everything was JIT. Keeping the door closed and rolling 8-9 hours non-stop was a necessity often. It sucked constantly getting plans last minute with no time to spare.

When you'd tell the fleet manager you can't get it there by 0800 on Tuesday but could get it there by 1000 sometimes it would work but other times they would say it has to be there by 0800 if you couldn't do it they would give the plan to someone else and you'd sit waiting for them to offer you another plan. You might sit for two hours or for two days before the qualcomm would beep with another plan offer.

They say necessity is the mother of all invention. When you sit for two days, burning through your money waiting for a load you got lots of time to think of solutions to problems. You think "is there any way I could've taken that load and gotten it there on time legally?"

Sooooo in a tight spot you gotta do what ya gotta do. If you can't find a solution that's fine just sit and wait some more.....

 

False.

Don't confuse company policies with government regulations.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_zLBsRYD8w[/ame]

 

That's news to me. I knew you could flag scaling a load and post trip inspections and the like. But I was told by a DOT CDL test administrator, a CDL school instructor, as well as carrier orientation instructors that you must be on line 4 to reflect a fuel stop. They told me it was a DOT requirement.

So while I will concede this since I'm unable to prove otherwise, the time management trick still works since the 15 minute logging is required by my employer. I suspect it is required by most companies that use paper logbooks.

 

I expect it is instituted as a policy in order to avoid the type of violations you referred to in an earlier post, since a lot of guys would try and "shave" a few minutes if they could. By showing at least 15 minutes (which, on average, is about what I have noted in my driving for a fuel only stop) then there is less likelyhood for additional scrutiny on the part of enforcement. Although some stops may be longer, so they should be logged accurately.

Of course, in the case of e-Logs, the actual time applies.

A "flag" is a change of duty status, it is just that it reflects one of less than 15 minutes. So it can be considered to be on line 4 if that is what you are trying to show. The erroneous information you have been given is very common.

As far as the instructions you have been given, it is one thing about this industry that makes me crazy... and I see it over and over and over. Why not tell people, "This is the rule, but as a policy we want...", because as soon as I find one wrong piece of information (even if the intent was to simplify or prevent future problems) I have to wonder what else they are doing wrong.

 

The same information/explanation applies to "Brake Check locations"....if the company tells you it is OK to "flag" the brake check (or the load securement check with HazMat) how would that be any different than a fuel stop that uses less than 15 minutes?!