Where Are You Continues, Again.....

yes, breaking in a new company is time consuming and rarely easy..

 

Twas a two day.
He sent 9am pick up at K-Solv followed by pick up at Harcross. K-Solv went to First Transit which is a Houston Busses place. Took me a while to find the delivery entrance. Got rid of that 1 drum of Flammable brakes cleaner. Wish I'd have looked up the second pick up before.
First Transit was up a little way on 290.
Harcross was across town in Pasadena.
It was one drum of Acid that keeps concrete from sticking to or cleans it off one or the other.
That went about 8 miles above Brookside.
Got there 3pm. Couldn't have gotten back up by the airport if I tried. Yesterday he sent 10-4 to almost every text I sent. Today total silence.
No other communication. Traffic was SERIOUSLY jacked up. Stopped in Cleveland at O'Reilly for transmission fluid. Got home 7:30. Tacos and Towards. Yummy! Should and very soon will be asleep.

 

Thank you Mr. Otter...
My company safety boss and I exchanged several emails today... then I had to drive and couldn't resume the conversation. Sent her a few links to FMCSA and examples, etc... To which she agreed but said that "our" company abides by a strict 14 hr on duty rule allowing for no work duties after the 14 hr mark... Said this is to ensure drivers get their rest... (yeah right...) and do not eat into their 70 hr/8 day allowance causing a need for 34 restarts continuously... (BS.. only for those who don't know how to manage their hrs...) Said "our" electronic logging system, as well as the electronic logging system of most other trucking companies, adheres to the same strict 14 hour on duty limit.... (another BS...)

So... I wrote her that in that case, I violated company's HOS rule but not DOT HOS rule... I didn't know they had this rule though... each company makes their own...

Now she and I and another upper management person are beating heads about flagging the PTI (post trip inspection)... When I started in this company, she instructed me to not go to line 4 and not show any minutes when flagging PTI but other management person insists in taking away some of my precious minutes when I ask him to correct something on my elog... Last Saturday I asked him to show that I went to sleeper cause I forgot... and he did so but also showed that I took 4 mins doing PTI
And now she is saying that I should go on duty and show a few minutes for PTI... WTF???
We will be discussing this some more... I will not change what I have been doing unless company tells ALL drivers to change...

Got empty this morning in Denver, then rushed to another shipper and got loaded... Now at a rest area in KS... going to deliver in OK next to TX... Gotta go now... You all be safe and take care...

 

Rocks, I don't know, of course, but it sounds like your safety person may be one of these "I am always right" type of person. Unless she can show you in the policy manual for the company, where it says you can't work more than 14 hours.
OTOH, is this worth alienating her over? She could likely make your life miserable, if she wants to.

@Dave 1960, how long have you been with this outfit you are with now? How long since you've been with PAM? How is your employment record other than PAM? I'm not asking you to respond with answers, but this is something to think about. Don't know how long it will take, but eventually time is going to tip the scales back on your side, if your other job records are good. Just something to think about.
FWIW I understand that hating change. I used to be quite flexible, and looked forward to change, but those days are long gone...

 

OK Miss Rocks, here's how you handle their madness. Since the FMCSA changed the requirements of the DVIR (Drivers Vehicle Inspection Report) to the following: Unless there is a mechanical issue, or something wrong with a vehicle unit, no DVIR is required to be completed by the driver. If a DVIR is required to report any defect, the driver shall use Line 4, On Duty Not Driving for the amount of time required to complete the form, along with time spent investigating the issue. That would be for the POST TRIP INSPECTION.

For the PRE TRIP INSPECTION...the rule states that the driver needs to be satisfied that the condition of the vehicle/s is safe and road worthy. There are no forms to be completed (DVIR) so the PRE TRIP would only require a flag and notation of location and time the driver took.

If your EOBR device is not working, or driver does not use EOBR and is using paper logs, the PRE TRIP can be notated by location and also in the notation the actual time used to complete the inspection. In other words, under the line note it took say 4 minutes. So even on paper logs, the driver is not required to use up an entire block of 15 minutes for an inspection. Other items of Line 4 that do not require a full 15 minute segment (or 30 minutes, or 45 minutes) such as fueling (8 minutes or 10 minutes)...these can be noted during the course of the working day, then totaled and rounded to the nearest 15 at the end of the day.

Keep in mind, this is what FMCSA regulations require. A company can be more strict with their preferred policy, but not less strict.

 

Learn something new every day!

See, I knew you were good for something!

 

Could be the company is concerned about an upcoming DOT Audit, and they are "tightening the screws" to put up a good face for the auditor.

 

SHHHHHHH.... I had a moment of weakness! Won't happen again till the next time!

 

Such a delicate balance between making sure you look like an idiot and aren't much better than the average employee, and actually showing off what you know...

At my previous job I made the mistake of letting everybody know how well I knew computers. Don't get me wrong, it was great job security. But it also meant they would call me on my day off and ask for troubleshooting before they ever called the company's troubleshooting service……



It was so bad my 15-year-old cousin drew a picture of me and included my constantly ringing phone.

Since then I've learned to make a great show of the things I don't know, and let the things I do know come out in random spurts just far enough apart to where people wonder if I'm just lucky.

 

Chinle, AZ..

Just delivered the last ambulance now it's back to the Que to start loading cars for Tejas..