I am not one way or the other. I have serious issues with any sort of mandate, but I have been using e-logs for 4 years now and have no problem with it. Actually, I rather like it. But that works fine for me and what I do. I fully realize that the wide variety of trucking will make using ELD's a serious problem for some. I don't waste a lot of time on whether it is some sort of conspiracy or something. I figured a long time ago that it was inevitable that ELD's would come about. All the technology that is going on in all of society made it almost unavoidable. I have written my "hired help" in D.C., several times, and made my concerns known. Just got canned letters back, so knew it was something that they were not going to focus on. I do see some positives to using ELD's and I also see the hassles.

The only thing that I see positive for using elogs is that it might reduce costs to larger carriers. For the small fleets and owner operators, I see nothing positive. If we are to be forced to continue logging our time, then it should be an option as to whether you use elogs or paper. It is my understanding that even if you use elogs that you still need to use paper in case your electronic nanny malfunctions. It that is the case, it defeats the purpose of having elogs in the first place.

You're understanding is incorrect... You have to carry a paper log in case the system fails... but that's it. People who demand to run paper are simply demanding to run illegal logs. They aren't fooling anyone.

You do need to have at least ONE log sheet at minimum. I was DOT'd a year or so ago and when he asked for my log I was HUH??? When he explained I needed one sheet just in case the elog went down I looked in the drawer and took a blank page out of an old log. Came out ok.
I run the exact same roads every night and have noticed that I use less driving time on the elog system than I did on paper. It works good for me and if it works even half as good for you you'll like it too.

i have 0 to hide.. but.. this will cripple the small carriers.

That is good to know about the paper log. But, not everyone who prefers paper logs wants to run illegally. It cost a lot more to run elogs than paper. It is an absolutely unnecessary cost. There is no justifiable legal reason for the feds to require elogs. The only reason we are being forced onto elogs is money. There are billions of dollars to be made by those who invest and manufacture elogs. It is a cash cow and I have no doubt that a lot of palms have been greased to get this forced through congress.

could not agree more. its the only logical thing. the only thing that makes sense too. between the people who make the e-logs and the big fleets this is what happened. i'm super lucky, i make my schedule i can work around the traffic. for someone like me that goes in and out of nyc you can easy sit in 4 hours of traffic so what do you do? as a o/o how do you make the time?

OOIDA seems to be the only organization that is fighting the elog mandate. If you are not a member, it would be money well spent to become a member. I am a lifetime member. Another thing we could do is put pressure on our elected representatives. After all, it was our so called representatives who voted this idiocy into law with one of the highway bills. If enough drivers and owner operators call, send emails or snail mail and explain how this type of mandate will negatively impact our ability to earn a living and how it will cost us so much more money to install equipment along with the monthly fee, then we could get this changed. Elogs were not wanted by the majority of drivers, owner operators and fleet owners. We should be pushing that information directly to those who can actually do something to change things. As an industry, we need to spend time checking how our representatives are voting on key issues that affect our livelihood.

You could call it as you wish, but IMHO a vast majority just want to have some common sense and a bit flexibility. You could go by the letter, or by the spirit of the law.
I also heard an expression, that if 80% of people breaking the law, the law is wrong!

Common sense would say that you would have some sleep studies to create hours of service regs that are better for humans to comply with. That's already happened and even the recommendations from the studies have been toyed with bent enough so even they are not as good as they should be for the health of the drivers and the safety of the general public. Most of the things that the super truckers complain about are things that allow them to disregard their own health at the expense of other humans. The tough guy stuff is just over. When having discussions on this topic for the last thirty years its always the same.. supposedly the drivers can and will shut down when they are tired.. and its proven time and time again that they will not. When the drivers refuse to comply with regulations and laws more and more mechanisms to insure compliance are forced on the industry.