F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

As we have had such utter drivel on here recently thought we might discuss something sort of to do with trucking...:ohmy:

Electronic Logbooks - Yukk or no Yukk

I believe the US have passed legislation in regards to implementing these but can see sometime before it meets total approval of various organisations therefore has anyone got points of view on them, companies using them, what you think, software to aid the use of them, costs of implementation.... ????

Just general chit chat or info.....

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

I was talking to a Werner driver who was runnig on electronic logs, in Laredo a few months ago about this and he was saying he sticks to the speed limit everywhere but has no speed limiter fitted so he can do 75mph in Texas etc.
I explained we were limited to 100 kph and he reckoned you will lose money if the rate isn't put up or the limiters removed.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Our guys are limited to max 65mph, and they dont lose money. We would welcome ele logs:thumbup:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

while I was hauling cryogenics the company wanted everything done 100% legally and paid drivers accordingly,our guys in B.C. were using electronic logs and loved them.Read into that what you want,but they are definately coming.
As I don't travel very far nowadays log books aren't an issue and I threw away my "magic pencil" a long time ago.;)

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Thanks for the input..

Think it may be a wee while off yet until the industry irons out all the issues regarding the implementation and assuring drivers and hauliers it's the way to go.. but it can only be a good thing in my view.

:)

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

" The Great American Trucker " is slowly dying out, thankfully, hopefully the younger generation will embrace the "Newer" technoligies and work ethic that we Europeans have known for decades. I cant see Electronic logs being made mandatory in the next 5 years or so. Just as important to the logs would be uniformity in the the gross weights, axel spreads etc from state to state and cross border.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

as someone that has never used a e log can anyone explain it?
do you use your laptop, have to carry a printer in your cab and if you do what happens at scales etc,not being a troll just interested..
james..;)

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

I guess James it would be an Electronic Tacho

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

This is a good vid / explaination.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EyRWmLd-es

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

that looks worse than log books to me..:ohmy:looks like a lot of probs with your dispatcher for some companys i know..

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

As I understand it, at present the only people using EOBRs are either doing it through choice or at the instruction of the DOT for excessive log violations, one such company that has been forced by the DOT is JBS Carriers of Greely CO, they've had to fit EOBRs to all 650 trucks in their fleet because they're naughty boys!

As far as I know the EOBR uses a form of satellite, like a Qualcomm system, it's linked to the ECM of the truck, so it knows every move you make in much the same way as a traditional tachograph does.

I can't say I welcome their introduction, not because I run outlaw, but the paper log does have some inherent flexibility in it, at times I do use that flexibility to suit my own interests, the loss of that will make things a little awkward at times, it may mean that instead of maxxing my log out every day I have to stop a little earlier sometimes, this could, over the course of a month, have an impact on my pay packet.

The way things are structured now the mileage pay works, as you can, in theory, do the maximum allowed miles each day within your daily duty time, if EOBRs are introduced then hourly pay is going to be the only way to earn a decent living.

I also think that far from making the roads safer, they will make people run at the posted limits so that they make the most of their 11/13hrs behind the wheel, as long as mileage pay is still being used.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

As far as I'm concerned it will be a total disaster. The big companies will be ok with their hundreds of drop trailers and no waiting time but for everyone else it will be a nightmare. I dont like running bent but I do like being able to pull off a loading dock and driving 3 miles down the road to a truckstop to have facilities such as toilets, showers and proper food and not have to stay stationary on a dock for 8 or 10 hours just because an electronic tracker says so. The whole transport industry here is not geared up to work to a draconian set of rigid rules like the ones they are proposing. I'll be happy if I never run bent again but what I object to is being made a prisoner in my cab when this thing beeps and says I'm out of hours. If I'm just coming off a meat inspection in Detroit, I'm not parking there for my daily rest, EOBR or not, it can go to hell and I'm not staying put on a loading dock for 10 hours when there is a truckstop down the road that I can park in for those same 10 hours with proper facilities so that I dont have to live like a tramp sh*tting in a bush at 4am because the warehouse I'm stuck at is closed for the night.
Before anyone says that it wont be that bad, the industry will have to change and run things better, it wont happen, not for a long while, we get paid by the mile and no one gives a damn if we sit or get stuck anywhere, it costs them nothing and until we're on hourly pay and we stop getting held hostage in shippers/receivers for 6/8/10/12 hours these EOBR will not work. They make the job in Europe a nightmare, how anyone thinks they'll work here across the board is beyond me. Werner, Day & Ross and the like are not typical of the entire north American trucking industry. The only losers here will yet again be the driver when we get pulled up for a DOT check and get criminalised for making a 3 mile movement to a truckstop or such like. The days of being able to stop for a 2 or 3 hour sleep will be over, we'll have to keep going and ultilise our time to the maximum, its not safer, we'll just be stressed out and clock watching the whole time and have to make every minute count before the clock ticks off.

No thanks, not in my name!!! The UK would almost be appealing again!

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Try Doing 1100 kilometres a day when Big brother is watching every move.
you have 11 hours drive time in the US can you earn enough$$$ :thumbdown:
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Will company's pay by the hour:thumbsup:I dont think so:blink:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

this man has a point thats one of the reasons i came over here is to get away from the bs of big brother watching the digi tacho back home was just a nightmare as u move a foot and stop it will round up the minutes i had friend who left yard at 8 am got stopped an hour and half down road and tacho said 1 hour and 45min all because he got caught in traffic now if that comes here it will be bad.....industry here could not handle it will take years to get there

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

EOBR'S simply mean more power to the DOT and bosses and less ability for drivers to use their own discretion. What is good about that?...Unless your a boss or the DOT of course.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

29 years ago when Tacho first hit the UK we all moaned and groaned, we all tried to cheat them with rubber bands, cigaret butts bending the needles and god only knows what else. We all said it wont last , that its like having the 'cops" in the cab etc. but we survived he freight got delivered and we earnt our daily bread. It wont be any different here either, adjustments will have to be made, but we will all survive and eat our daily bread:thumbup:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

But i prefer cake. Both having it and eating it.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

So what, just because we can adjust, it doesn't mean its a good thing. Tachos in Europe make you a prisoner in the cab and digital tachos are worse again. The stresses of the job back home are a major reason why driving over here is so desirable to most and now they want to make it even worse here. I say worse because the whole system here is and always has been set up in such a way that it can only work with very flexible enterpriations of log book rules and it allows drivers move themselves to safe parking (which is very important in many parts of the US) and somewhere with facilties. At current I work up and down the eastern seaboard in the US and unless the whole industry is revolutionised, which it wont be, I will never be able to comply with an electronic log book because there just isn't the parking available in the area and you get held hostage at the majority of places, only to be deposited on to the street after your 14 hours are up or with very little time left. In England you can just park on the side of the road in an industrial estate in most places, here you'll either be robbed or ticketed/impounded. I was threatened with having my truck impounded just last week in Woodbridge, NJ because I wasn't allowed into the gate of a warehouse until half an hour before my booking time, I was told to be there at 4:30am which I was, my booking time then turned out to be 8am and they actually called me in at 11am. All well and good with a paper log book but I'll be a criminal in a few years time if I did the same, and earning $400 a week. No thanks! EOBR's are just more sh*t dropping from the cuckoo in the clouds.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

I did say adjustments would be needed :o I would for see a pay system of miles & hours for example. Shippers would have to be more efficiant with loading and appointments. But at the end of the day i see it being a good thing.:thumbup:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

well it would not be a bad idea if the whole industry did it shippers and recievers were to have things organised and dispatch had things planned out down to the last second then it may work. but in my experience it would take alot of work and effort and $$$$$$$$$

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

tachos were tamperproof for about a week and the digi tachos were tamperproof for about a week and a half so these electronic logbooks won't last much longer.

If its electronic and someone can switch it on then it won't be long before somebody finds out how to switch them of.

The system would only stand a chance if the trucking companies played hardball with shippers and receivers and if the DOT would start putting some responsibility with shippers and receivers which will never happen as there is always some weasel that gives in thinking he can make a fast buck and ruin any progress made.

wages won't change instead they will just put 2 chinese / indian drivers on for less cost than 1 north american (european) driver.

Over in europe you'll have difficulties to find any non eastern european long haul drivers nowadays. Even the polish are to expensive for this and bulgarians, rumanians or russians are now coming in.

The idea is good and it would be good if you were able to run completely legal only it's a shame it doesn't work like that in the real world.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

On our system it stays on 'on duty time' till you go over 15 mph so maybe you could creep down to that truck stop very very slowly ;)

My problem was getting used to pushing the buttons as i'm doing it, you can't wait and catch it up later like a paper log. A couple of times i've stopped for the night, had supper then flopped in the sleeper and woke up in the morning to find i'd been on duty the whole time. Then i have to call the office and they will edit the log to what it should be but then i have sign a form saying i was a bad boy, and they call this paperless:confused:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

This is just it though, its all totally pointless and does nothing but restricts our freedom and treats us like machines. If they would build in some safe guards against stranding drivers in unsafe and totally unsuitable locations such as the ferry movement allowance in the EU where by you can interpupt your daily rest period by up to a certain time period then fine, I havent got a problem with it but the idea of being stuck, totally stationary without exception is just an unbearable thought, the freedom to move and park my truck when and where I want is something I have come to really appreciate after driving back home and not being able to do a thing. At the end of the day this is just using drivers as scapegoats and will only punish the symptoms of the problem and not the causes. Bad management/dispatching is one major cause but beyond all else is the way we get detained at shippers and receivers for several hours or more. All I want is the freedom to be able to then park somewhere proper and not have to stay in an unsafe industrial area in Linden, NJ for example while all the shippers, dispatchers, DOT officers and politicians who think of these things have gone home to their homes with showers, food and the security of not having their diesel stolen, prostitutes knocking on the door, their load getting stolen or even getting held up at gun point for the $60 in your wallet. Even getting paid by the hour wouldn't prevent drivers being made criminals for tiny log book violations that will flag up on an EOBR but arent recorded on paper. It would seem that the north American trucker will soon have two choices, carry on as now and drive to a proper parking area when you've been detained beyond your HOS totally against your will and risk running up a massive list of offences on your record or embrace the European way of living like a tramp, a third class citizen parked on the hard shoulder, wasteground or loading dock and having to go to the toilet in the bushes like an animal....what next, all wear tracksuits and sandals, speak Bulgarian hope Willi Betz expands over here?
EOBR's without safeguards built in to protect us all from the scenarios I've mentioned are a very dubious and unwelcome addition to our industry and more importantly our whole way of life.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

+1:thumbup:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

+2:thumbup:

If it happens then I will find a new type of job. Gremmie, your point of view is office bound now. You don't like having to try to decipher them so you would prefer it was on a computer..

remember your roots, man!!!

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

I've worked for Werner.

didn't like the company or the electric logbooks.

you can cheat them a twee, but can't obviously take the piss.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Not true Bob, and I resent the implication. Electronic Logs for all would make this whole industry far more efficient, the 2-3-4 hour waits would drop down to 1 hour loading times, simply because the whole trip would have to be calculated better. If a customer wants his freight to move from A to B in X hours, then both dispatch & the shipper are going to have to work closer together to solve the problem, not like now where the transit time can be fudged by all concerned.
If your dispatcher even with todays system gives you loads that only are do able by cheeting then more fool you both.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

you mean turn 8-10-12 hours wait:lol::lol:you Clown
You must have despatched your:thumbdown: Loyalty some where as well:thumbdown:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Dont judge every one else by your own pathetic and miss guided views and experiences. Your knowledge of the North American trucking industry could be writen on the back of a postage stamp.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Well gremmie. i do have a large stamp collection:thumbup:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

sorry if i called you a "clown " gremmie i have received complaints from clowns.... and i take all low paid truckers thoughts! into consideration.
You are indeed a swamp donkey...a key into the abyss of your all knowing of all things pond life.From one wally to a welly:o:o
*
LMFHO

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Maybe you should invest more time in that than trying to be a poisoned chalice on here then, Hughes.. I have had to wait to load on occasion, but the truth is that I get paid for it..

Gremmie, that simply is not the case. Tachos are supposed to do that in Europe and they haven't done so. In fact, they have put unnecessary constraints and pressure on the industry. E logs out here would not help the industry at all. The only way to streamline it is to actually make things tie in perfectly with appointments, and that is too inflexible.. rather like our uninformed loser friend in the guise of hughes....;)

Just an addendum, why say such about Gremmie? He managed to make the transition from a driver who was fortunate to survive a nasty accident to a despatcher. You see, success. Not like you who, by your own admission, supposedly tried 3 firms and couldn't succeed.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

:eek::eek:

I have spent a hell of a lot of time in RDC's and they are all the same sit there for the Day and its not very pleasant when you only get $25 for the day and I dont know of any company that pays waiting time.If you get paid bob i take my hat off to you for having such a good and generous Boss.
And when the New system comes into effect which quite simply like a Digi tacho.How can you adjust that to compansate for not Earning money.
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The only way forward is to be paid salary or by the Hour.....But Canada being Canada will come up with a Scam Like AYR Motors are doing fill trucks with Cheap Labour and the Monkeys that fill there seat For PNP:eek::eek:
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I am a failure......It is Snowing here in Yorkshire. the Sun is Shinning and i am spending the weekend with My Family not stuck Unpaid in a distribution centre

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

I thought that to Bob.. seems the grammer etc has changed from the very first postings on here... doesn't weigh up.

Fishy..:sneaky:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Funnily enough, I am home with my family, too. See, if you actually get on with your work then you get home.

You have snow in Yorkshire.... today. We have had 43 cms of snow in the past week with more forecast this weekend. I managed nearly 7000kms this week, completely legally.

And yes, the firm pays waiting time, and layovers, but they actually get loads so there are few layovers.

Funnily enough, all of north America pays this way. If you do the miles then you get paid. If you are a lazy loser like you then you will never make a living. It really is that simple.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Robdog Just keep looking for the pigs? they fly in Canada.:zzz::zzz:
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The only waiting time you get paid for is the waitresses!!!
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Knock!Knock!...some one at ya cab door!!
*
Like i said its OK for you single people

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

You really are none too smart.. I am here with my family.. and I am sole breadwinner owing to my wife being very ill...

No, I get paid after the first 2 hours of waiting as long as I am on time.

You are a bit weird, aren't you..:rofl:

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Maybe Mrs Hughes thinks this way... Such a shame to be a has been

Appropriate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk

:)


I want you to notice
when I'm not around
You're so f******' special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here

I don't belong here................

:rofl::D:p

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Love it.....:rofl:

Yep, looking back it would appear that they are trying to tag team on here, but if this is the case then that means there are twin trolls.

Re: F*** Me an sensible thread - Digi Logbooks
 

Just when i thought it was not possible for pigs to fly along comes Daveoncrac another None stop 14 hours a day driver running to a truck stop to:ohmy: "meat":p up will fellow Thespians.
Who wants to be the lead protagonist in the Lies of trans Canadian trucking "Dummy's".
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Lets see you earn money when the new ruling for digi logbooks are mandatory.14 hours a day 1250km's..I dont Think So:frown::rofl: