Why CSA 2010 and E-Logs are a good thing.

That's why I used it as an example, I'm not as dumb as I look (I'll post pictures later). I hear ya on the regulations, I don't necessarily agree with them, but I am paid to monitor compliance and I make my bonuses off of identifying and changing unsafe behaviors. We more than exceeded our proposed bonuses so we're getting a double pay out and they're going to come up with more changes to the bonus structure.

 

meltom, dont take this the wrong way

but you are jumping thru hoops, and the better you jump, the more they give you

is this how you want your sons to approach life?

 

Sure, do you want your sons to think it's ok to pick and choose what rules to follow?

 

Actually yes, I created my own position and sold myself to my company. Who wouldn't want that for their kids. I have enough passion for what I do and faith in my abilities that I was able to sell myself to a company for a position that it never had in 45 years of history. #### straight that I want that for my kids.

 

How about this, why don't you guys quit getting all butt hurt about what others are doing as long as the others are not causing problems and killing people on the road????

Do what you want, work your 6 hours a day and I will do my thing and be safe while I do it.

Just because some people need to stop after 11 hours on the road, doesn't mean I can't spend 11.5 or 11.75 hours on the road. It is not hurting you or anyone else.

Just like when I was turning wrenches for a living. I used to stay at the shop till past midnight getting someones car or pickup finished then go home and be back in the shop at 6:30-7:00 am.

Or when we were a snowmobile dealer. Worked all day then brought home new machines to be setup and dealer prepped in my garage till the wee hours of the morning.

 

Something that has been on my mind about drivers pushing the use of e-logs is I keep wondering if they are just lazy and cant do or understand basic math. Is this the reason why they love them so much? Its not hard at all to do and keep track of properly a paper log. Its great that your company uses them, its great that you like them but why push it on me? Extra costs is not what I need as an O/O. If they make it mandatory then it needs to be free. I wont have such a problem with them then. But then again, why dumb the trucking industry down more than it is already? There are some real 'Einstiens" that I come in contact with everydaym Heck I know for a fact I'm tarded I dont have an issue with CSA 2010 except for the pts system needs to be modified. 30 pts for a burned out marker light is a bit much but maybe not enough for a headlight or stoplight that has a higher probability of causing an accident

]The only thing an EOBR will show is that you were either in or out of compliance. It won't prevent you from being sued. It won't prevent you from being involved in an accident. It will cost you, or your company thousands of dollars for each truck. That could very well lower your pay since the company has to spend money on new toys for special interest to be happy. You are mistaken when you think that the only reason people oppose EOBR's is because they want to cheat on their logs. Most of us see it for what it really is. It is an unnecessary increase in our operating costs. It is also something that will monitor our every move, when most of us don't want either. I have been an adult for a long time. I have no problem taking responsibility for my own actions. The roads are relatively safe just the way things are. I can see more accidents and problems for those using EOBR's than paper. Major carriers who push this want to limit competition. They understand that smaller fleets and owner operators may have a difficult time paying for the costs of operating under the EOBR's. Someone will need to pay. If this progresses, you could make a fortune by investing in companies who manufacture them. It is like Obamacare. Insurance companies stand to make hundreds of billions of dollars due to a forced mandate. Safe drivers don't need an electronic nanny in the truck with them. Next, they will want camera's installed in the trucks to check for driver fatique. OOPS!!!! I may have given someone an idea.

You know the other day I was driving thru Wy and they had the speed limit down to 35mph going across I80. Myself and a few more O/O's and a few company drivers were just riding along, gabbing on the CB that it was BS that the speed limit was this low just for a few and I mean a vary few slick spots and high winds. About half way thru the west bound drivers were telling us that in about 10 miles we would be back to 75mph. I was thinking that could not come soon enough. Not two mins after they said that here comes the big box bottom feeders blazing along at I would say better than 55mph. We were passed by Warner, Schindler, Pride, Prime, England, and 4 or 5 carriers that I didnt get the names of. In this little group I was running in not one took off with them. Not 15 miles after we got back into the 75mph zone we were passing all of them back.
Point of this is they all had qualcomm, e-logs, EBOR's AND slow trucks and to try and make up time they risked there CDL by trying to make up time in the slower speed zone. For me it was just an inconvenience at the time because I knew I could make up most of my time once I got back into the higher speed limit, they cant.
I had my "cowboy" days back when 55mph was the law of the land and got the tickets to prove it, now most of the states I run in the speed limit is now what I like to run at anyways and I havent gotten a ticket for speeding in years now.

Looks to me like E-logs + slow trucks= risking your CDL all over again.

Somebody mentioned in another thread that insurance companies have already noted a marked rise in speeding tickets and preventables at companies running all e-logs due to this very behavior. I see it every day in construction zones 45mph, 55mph with their "elog" sticker on the side of the truck blazing by at 62-65mph.

Actually it's an industry issue where drivers are all underpaid. Paid by the mile then regulated by the hour. No amount of training in the world is going to change the mindset of some guy with a family to feed always fighting against a clock. I never would speed in construction zones or urban areas where it was 55mph even when I was paid to rack up big miles. I have found since I've switched from working for a flat mileage rate to getting paid on a percentage that I hardly ever go over the speed limit anywhere now. When I was all about racking up the miles, cause that's what the incentive was, I always felt self induced pressure to go, go, go. Drive a full 11 hours every day, or more... I hardly ever use my full 11 hours since that change. Working for better rates as opposed to more miles has taken so much stress out of my life.. Like I said, elogs compound these problems and make for lots of unsafe drivers out there...

Just liked these posts and wanted to put em out there again.

 

tell the government to drop their rules and I'll find something else to do.

 

You want to elaborate on this statement yet? Deep down you're on the same page as the rest. Take yourself out of that office and tell your real feelings.

 

Elogs make people dumb. Some drivers will rely only by what is on the box and stop trip planning altogether. This industry doesn't need people to get any dumber.

 

What this has boiled down to is not an issue with E-logs is but with issues with the current HOS. The examples people are giving of needing to be able to fudge their log book has nothing to do with running on paper or e-logs but the fact that their run had 25 miles too many. The issue is that E-logs will no longer allow people to hide this fact and that is why they are resistant.

If a carrier is now held responsible to the HOS as well then it will be up the them to renegotiate the contracts they currently have. All carriers operate with the assumption that their truck is going to produce them X amount of revenue and expenses. If that is subject to two trips being hauled in a day then they will set the rate at whatever it needs to be. If the enforcement of HOS only allow them to run 1.75 loads per day then they will need to adjust their rate charged to compensate for the reduced revenue. A shipper or receiver if they are not willing to pay the new rate will have to streamline their process somehow ensure that the two loads can be hauled (ie shortening dock time, pin to pin model).

This is what I have had to do. One of my back up locations for hauling product loads much slower and usually has a line up. For essentially the same distance I charge them about 15% more. My expenses are around $50 more in pay and fuel. But I charge over $200 more because if things don't work out I will pay my driver a few hours of wait time as well as may miss out on a second load and cost me even more. The supplier seems to be fine with this method as they have not made a real improvement to their systems in over 35 years.