PooDoo said:
aezmvp said:
Scruffy said:
DOT regs need to lighten up on hours.
Pay needs to be better and trucking companies need to stop trying to cheat drivers.
Shippers/receivers need to stop making pick ups/drops difficult and wasting drivers time.
I've been watching some youtube vids by several truckers. It has been eye opening.
Part of the problem that washes a lot of CDL drivers out is the down time at pick up/drop off. The drivers really aren't paid for that time. And it used to be you could park at those locations and not notate it on your paper logs, with electronic logs those hours count against you and it really hurts your earning potential.
I don't understand how those hours would count against you? Could you explain?
OTR Truck drivers work off of 4 clocks.To your question...the biggest hang up is the 14 hour clock. A driver can only work 14 hours a day...driving, tarping, strapping, loading, unloading, sitting around waiting. Even if a driver puts themselves in "Off-duty" status, that 14 hour clock keeps rolling...and often times when a driver is sitting at a shipper/receiver for numerous hours, waiting to be loaded/unloaded. It burns their 14 hour clock down.
There is a workaround to stop the 14 hour clock, but you have to remain parked for at least 2-3 hours. No truck movement. Often times, when a trucker tries to pull a 2-3 hour "off-duty/sleeper berth" split, to stop their 14-hour clock, the shipper/receiver will have them pull around to a door, or make them pull away from the dock, moving the truck before the 2-3 hour split is complete. The 14 hour clock resumes right where they tried to work in their split.