Stories of: Asked to go over hours- share yours!

[One]

example 1:
Go out with a trainer to learn new equipment, at the end of the day I am told we have to leave out at midnight to go on our next run...we got back to the yard at 1700! He hands me his logbook and tell me to copy his! I make a copy, dont sign, go to my car to start heading home and decide to call safety. After telling him this, the Safety doode tells me 'We do whatever it takes...long hours...serve customer' and i ask : ' so it is required to falsify me logbook? If yes, tell me now, ill turn around right now and bring you back your equipment and resign' and he gets quiet, then sais he will talk to dispatch and call me back. Later when he calls h sais' nevermind that run at midnight, just call dispatch tomorrow'. I call the trainer midday and he tells me what run we are supposed to do and i ask if that run can be done legally and he sais' its possible but unlikely because we would be detained loading/unloading.' So i call safetyagain and he sighs and tells me to just bring back their equipment, this would not work out.... After all the safety blabble he gave me b4 hiring- this- unbelievable!.

Ex2: I arrive to deliver with 3 hrs on my 14 remaining. I send qualcom message to my DM to inform about the long line infront of me that puts me empty in about 5 hrs in a place where im not allowed to park overnight. He tells me i have to stay in line and deliver or i get a service faliure, I tell him how can it be a service faliure, im here, i wanna unload but they rnt honouring their appointment. And if he can call and ask if they can make an exception and let me park overnight after im empty. He doesnt reply to that but he does tell me that with electronic logs, i can drive after im out of hours as long as its within 2miles and under 25mph! and if theres a problem to call his boss. So I call his boss and he sais that its legal to drive after im hos under 2miles and 25mph and i ask him to put that in a qualcom message....He does!! Meanwhile i been sending quotes from fmcsa 395. Within a minute of sending that message that i can drive etc, he sends another telling me to get out of line, go to truck stop and come back after my reset. Im already on the phone with safety; The lady is all ears and puts me on hold for about 20mins, then comes back on and sais ok i informed him, i copied all the Qcomm messages and will be discussing this in a meeting on monday with the VP, thanking me for doing the right thing.

[repete]

Don't ya just love the safety bla-blah safe blah legal blah blah then "oh come on you can do it it's just a little over your 14"
My story sounds a lot like your's.

[mgfg]

Put your "big boy" pants on and go to work! You will soon realize there's a better chance of winning the Power Ball than having your log book checked so, get out there, haul freight safely and make some dough!

[repete]

Put your "big boy" pants on and go to work! You will soon realize there's a better chance of winning the Power Ball than having your log book checked so, get out there, haul freight safely and make some dough!

OH YEAH! I just had a minor accident with a 4 wheeler, even tho he addmitted he ran into me guess what the first thing the LEO asked me? Yep where's your log.

So much for your "big boy pants"

[One]

Put your "big boy" pants on and go to work! You will soon realize there's a better chance of winning the Power Ball than having your log book checked so, get out there, haul freight safely and make some dough!

Wow, he told u that? lol, i would have popped a vein!

[GMAN]

That isn't very smart for a safety guy to say. Risks are much too high for both the carrier and driver. While I think the logs books and hos are BS, they are the rules by which we must abide if we plan to stay in this business. Whether you are at fault or not, if you are involved in an accident they will do everything they can to make it the fault of the truck driver. Pockets are deeper with a carrier.

[Ford390pwr]

Driving local my hos are 12/16. When I told my DM after 10 hours that there was no way I could complete the route legally, he sent another driver out to take some of the stops off of me. Well the other driver got lost and I sat for 1.75 hours just waiting for him to take 3 stops. I told the DM I would get what I could done and he said that I had to make all the remaining deliveries no if's and's or but's about it. I said "will do". So I made all the deliveries and started heading back to the yard. About 30 minutes from the yard my 16 expired, so I parked on the side of the road and called my DM. He said to take the surface streets and stay off the highway. By the way, the company had a bad safety audit 6 months ago and is under the microscope with DOT! So, I called the transportation supervisor and told him the situation. He said sit tight, I'm coming to get you with a relief driver. The next day, I had a different DM and never talked to the other guy again!

[One]

Driving local my hos are 12/16. When I told my DM after 10 hours that there was no way I could complete the route legally, he sent another driver out to take some of the stops off of me. Well the other driver got lost and I sat for 1.75 hours just waiting for him to take 3 stops. I told the DM I would get what I could done and he said that I had to make all the remaining deliveries no if's and's or but's about it. I said "will do". So I made all the deliveries and started heading back to the yard. About 30 minutes from the yard my 16 expired, so I parked on the side of the road and called my DM. He said to take the surface streets and stay off the highway. By the way, the company had a bad safety audit 6 months ago and is under the microscope with DOT! So, I called the transportation supervisor and told him the situation. He said sit tight, I'm coming to get you with a relief driver. The next day, I had a different DM and never talked to the other guy again!

I dunno nothing about the 12/16 hrs deal but i just know 16 hrs is long enough a day imho...to think most office peeps work only 8...

[Ford390pwr]

I dunno nothing about the 12/16 hrs deal but i just know 16 hrs is long enough a day imho...to think most office peeps work only 8...

With this company there are several routes that are over 16 hours. I actually rode with another driver, we started at 2200 and made 7 stops before we returned to the yard at 1800 the following day. He started driving while I rode in the sleeper then after the final stop I drove while he slept. Made for a really long day with very little sleep!

[Double R]

With this company there are several routes that are over 16 hours. I actually rode with another driver, we started at 2200 and made 7 stops before we returned to the yard at 1800 the following day. He started driving while I rode in the sleeper then after the final stop I drove while he slept. Made for a really long day with very little sleep!

What type of work do you do? I have worked for two foodservice companies that did routes like that. One did it the right way, leagal and the other did it the wrong way;log slepper while working.

[Ford390pwr]

This is a foodservice company as well. Long hours with a million trips up and down the ramp while carrying 300 pounds of chicken.

[Musicman]

How about in 2001 and 2002 when I had a team cut flower run and my co-driver quit and they had me solo the run for six months… does that qualify? Schedule was like this: leave Apopka, FL around 2am Monday, drive up to Thomasville, GA for my first delivery; then on to Enterprise, AL; Montgomery, AL for two stops; Calera, AL, three in Birmingham, one on Jasper, AL; Hodges, AL (usually get up there about midnight); then last stop at Bi-Lo in Chattanooga at 6am Tuesday. Then deadhead down to Brooksville, MS to pick up chicken by 10 pm that night and then get the load dropped back in the Apopka yard by Wednesday around noon or so. Then repeat the whole thing again (excluding the Chattanooga delivery) leaving out Thursday morning and getting back Saturday afternoon. These were all hand unloads (often without customer assistance). One of the two chicken loads I’d bring back, I’d be expected to bring down to Sysco in Riviera Beach, FL and then down to Homestead to bring back plants to Apopka. I was doing 20 plus hand-unload stops (never a dock), running over 4,300 miles and still had 1 1/2 days off a week. You know, even though I was doing the run on the same time schedule as a full team, the cheap bastards I was working for wouldn’t pay me the full team rate? They wouldn’t even pay me the team rate for the deliveries. I don’t miss running like that, but NETTING $1,400+ a week was nice.

[geeshock]

heh, sounds like a plant farm I used to work for. I realize we are working with live plants and they can dry up quick in a dry van but I don't fudge my log book. I used to but for those that don't already know, it isn't worth it. I was tired most the tie, and my time off was spent mostly sleeping. I was just to tired, My health wasn't the best in the world at that time eather.

[BanditsCousin]

I think example #2 is legal. Despite the 3 hrs remaining in the 14, you could stay on duty for several hours past the 14 hr rule, but ONLY on line 4 until you unloaded, then gone to line 1 (off duty) as personal conveyance to a motel/truckstop within a reasonable distnace and then taken a consecutive 10 hr break before driving towards your next dispatch. I'm only guessing, but having your reload assigned to you before departing your original destination may make this void.

Just a guess, just my .02.

[GMAN]

I don't see how having a reload assigned would have any effect on whether you run over your hours unless you need to pick the load up before you have the hours to do it.

[BanditsCousin]

I don't see how having a reload assigned would have any effect on whether you run over your hours unless you need to pick the load up before you have the hours to do it.

I think driving in the direction of the next pickup may have something to do with it. My opinion is based soley on a black/white line with no room for a gray area. I could defiitely be wrong.

[One]

I think example #2 is legal. Despite the 3 hrs remaining in the 14, you could stay on duty for several hours past the 14 hr rule, but ONLY on line 4 until you unloaded, then gone to line 1 (off duty) as personal conveyance to a motel/truckstop within a reasonable distnace and then taken a consecutive 10 hr break before driving towards your next dispatch. I'm only guessing, but having your reload assigned to you before departing your original destination may make this void.

Just a guess, just my .02.

As far as i know off duty driving is only allowed bobtailing.

[golfhobo]

As far as i know off duty driving is only allowed bobtailing.

This is not true according to the regs. Don't feel like quoting them right now during Mon Night Football, but... the operative term is "unladen." The "length" of the CMV is not relative (per the regs,) just whether or not it is UNDER a bill of lading.... or...."laden."

I'm with the B'ad Cousin. Ex 2 should be, (and I believe is,) legal. Once unloaded (all time at the controls in the process of unloading should be line 4,) you are considered "off duty" and can take your "unladen" CMV (of any length or combination,) to the nearest truckstop for the rest of your 10 hour break. You couldn't get away with a shorter 8 hour sleeper berth break. But, you can show the first few hours as line 1, including driving while off duty, eating, showering, etc., and then maybe an 8 hour sleeper period... for a total of 10 hours off duty.... and THEN accept your preplan (or consider yourself in readiness to go and pick up that load.)

I don't think having a preplan would be a problem. When I had a dedicated run, I was "planned" to take the same load every day. [Sometimes my hook slip, with trailer numbers assigned, was waiting for me when I came in.) When I finished the run for the day, I was "relieved of responsibility to work" until I needed to show up the next morning. Whether I drove home in my car or in my CMV would not matter. Even driving BACK to work wouldn't matter for ME.... cuz, I drive TEAM, and I was going into the sleeper when I got there.

A SOLO driver would be considered ON DUTY if driving EITHER his pov or his CMV back to the terminal, or to a shipper, if he was doing so at the direction of his dispatcher on a specific load. If, however, he just knew what time to return to the yard, and THEN got his dispatch papers... well... you call it!

I gotta look at Ex: 1 a bit more. I think I got somethin' to say abouit it, but it may have to wait.

Good to see you still hangin' round here, B-Cousin! Thought we'd lost you.

[BanditsCousin]

I'm here from time to time