Site seeing and log books

[CharlesD]

I'm curious how folks handle this. You make a delivery and you want to do some non work stuff that would involve driving somewhere. (theater, gym, sports stadium, etc.) How are you logging that? I've heard a lot of varying opinions on the subject. How do you handle that, log it as driving time, loose leaf logs, don't bother going anywhere...?

 

[beachbum]

Depending on the company you drive for it would be logged Off duty not driving..Personal use of vehicle. That said, no load can be on the truck, you have to be empty.

Some companies make you log all miles as on duty driving.

 

[teamjdw]

If i understand the rule correctly,you can drive from point A to point B to point C etc....but you must return to point A.You (solo)or (each team driver) has 45 min.each total drive time.Log it as off duty driving,and not under load,or PRE-DISPATCHED.Some carrier's may allow more,or less travel time.

 

[RoadKing06]

We log it as driving, personal conveyance, we are a team son one of can always drive. Although we don't go sight seeing very often due not wanting to interupt the 14 hour log time for a load. Also hard to find places to park the truck, also the price of fuel. At a cost of .50 cents a mile to run the truck it is too expensive to sight see. So we sit a lot at the truck stops, unfortuantly.

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[cheri1122]

How to log it is situational - depending on what rules the carrier imposes, [personal conveyance time is set by the carrier] how far you want to go, how many hours you have available, etc.
If it's a special occasion, I'll get a motel room with secure parking, and use local transportation. Routine shopping I do while moving here to there, when time allows.
I don't visit theatres or gyms, so I can't help with those kinds of little excursions - sorry, I'm pathetic, I know.

 

[layoutshooter]

We are restricted to 45 minutes per 24 hour period. If we really want to do something over a long weekend we will rent a car. Driving a car all you want is OK.

 

[mcbride]

With the electronic big brother logging equipment in place for FedEx now we are either forced to log our personal usage from dinners to movies to whatever....or try and get everything done within "their allocated/designated" personal time of 45 minutes. We have resorted to renting vehicles as well, kinda sad we to have to rent a vehicle when one of the perks of owning/paying for/driving/having a small straight truck was our ability to park and travel just about anywhere in an area. We almost did it once without starting one of our clocks in L'ville....we missed getting back to the Pilot by 3 minutes...then my clock started...so no 34 hour restart for me that weekend.

 

[moose]

Recycled carbon paper is good for the environment.
if the St. truck is moving, i show driving.
if Mr. drunk like to ends his life on my bumper, I'll be ready and legal for his layer.
on the TT i'm covered with the unladen insurance ,or bobtail when apply, i am careful to not use that privilege for business related drives. i show drive at all times, just as if i had Elogs, if there's any electronic footprints of that drive, that's what will end up on the weekly log ..., well, carbon paper is good for manor .

it is my own opinion that Elogs carriers never really got properly approved by the FMCSA for that 45 min, personal use per driver per day.
not only that, but in it's recent EOBR PRM the FMCSA was clear they will not allow it.
ambulance chasers are an accident in the making. and your carrier will not back you up.
as tempted as it is, I'll be very shay of using that 'virtual line 5'.

 

[truckn-lace]

We team husband/wife so we plan our time if it is a Walmart we need we know we we will be down for a couple of days (hours hopefully) we log it off duty and do our shopping and then head to our stopping point. If we plan to go see a zoo or some site seeing adventure it is usually after one or other has a 34hr restart and usually close by where we stopped and enjoy a few hours and back to persay truck stop and other is got 34 restart. Ya all need a break sometimes and it gives ya a good feeling you enjoyed out of the truck and ready to do some major truck driving. Life is short enjoy it! We enjoy what we do and we fit in pleause with our work, may it be site seeing as we travel at the scenic pull offs, take in a zoo here or there or just grilling out with other expedite friends take time to enjoy life last time I checked you only go around onece!

 

[bigshow345]

What I do is I will check into a motel (usually a chap one) leave the truck locked and if I wanna go anywhere I take a taxi.

 

[rikd57]

If you read the FMCSA HOS guide, no such 45-minute rule exists. I would also suggest that you read 395.2 and 395.8 along with ALL guidance/interpretations. Further, there is a helpful thread on this website with a couple of explanations from Fmcsa officials of these rules. FEDEX CC arbitrarily chose 45 minutes, but moving my household furniture, or taking my horses to a show (examples given in the FMCSA brochure) are going to take more than 45 minutes. In addition, one of the stipulations in the personal conveyance regulation is that you must be free to do as you please and can go where you want to go. The decision by FDXCC to regulate personal conveyance violates this stipulation and your independent contractor status.
According to the FMCSA official who responded to one of the questions of a driver (posted on another thread), as soon as you are unloaded you can log OFF DUTY but you must mark or flag the personal conveyance as long as there is no commsercial freight on the truck and there is no business purpose for your travel.

to find this in the EO website: 1. click "Open Forum" tab
2. click "Search" tab 3. Type in "personal conveyance" in the search box 4. choose the thread by "Swwetbilliebob" about EOBR's
and read all the posts because he presents conversations with the FMCSA and their answers throughout the thread. This should help.

 

[ATeam]

Further, there is a helpful thread on this website with a couple of explanations from Fmcsa officials of these rules.

Here's the link to that helpful thread. It is in the FedEx Custom Critical forum:

Eobr - "off duty/driving" fmsca feedback

Re-reading the thread, I see that my May 2, 2010 post was the last one made and the questions I raised were not answered.

We now know that FedEx Custom Critical dismissed the good and thorough work done by BigRed32771 and the sentiment of contractors (no contractors were asking for a 45 minute limit, others were asking to be free of one). Without explanation to the fleet, the carrier imposed on its contractors a 45 minute personal conveyance limit.

 

[rikd57]

Thanks Phil!

 

[Monty]

After 40 years of trucking, maybe it is easy to understand why I am under 10k .. no logs.

However, while I still was at Hot Shot, I logged it all off duty .... oh sure, there could have been complications, when one splits hairs.

But no harm, no foul. And there was no way Jones could track the truck, we used no QC equipment. Unless I was dumb enough to use my ComCard .. which, (dummy me), did a couple of times!

I even did an ATM withdraw in Aruba, just to see what I would hear from them!

 

[DieselDriver]

When I drove for Bolt Express their EOBR had an option where you could drive off duty for 2 hours...this was so the driver was not trapped in one location during their 34 hour restart.
The company that I drive for now does paper logs and after I unload my time is my time and I don't log anything as long as I stay in the town that I delivered in and don't run up hundreds of miles...is it right, I don't know, but its what I do and in 8 years of driving trucks I've never been challenged.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

We log it as driving, personal conveyance, we are a team son one of can always drive. Although we don't go sight seeing very often due not wanting to interupt the 14 hour log time for a load. Also hard to find places to park the truck, also the price of fuel. At a cost of .50 cents a mile to run the truck it is too expensive to sight see. So we sit a lot at the truck stops, unfortuantly.

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Holy crap.@ 4 bucks a gal. you only get 8 MPG? That is one fuel hog ya got..

My cost is .16 cents a mile...so in theory...you should be making 3x the per mile rate? LOL

OR I am making 3x more then you....hehehe

 

[RoadKing06]

Holy crap.@ 4 bucks a gal. you only get 8 MPG? That is one fuel hog ya got..

My cost is .16 cents a mile...so in theory...you should be making 3x the per mile rate? LOL

OR I am making 3x more then you....hehehe

Exactly, it cost us more to run, but we are a straight truck and can carry more. Which is whywe are supposed t get a higher pay. But lately we have been reaaly struggling and have done no site seeing other than the truck stop. Spent 4 days in the same spot in Colorado over the weeked. Had a full tank of fuel, since we were supposed to be picking up a load going back to MI, before it got stolen from us. Quite a depressing weekend to say the least.
Yep it cost us .50 a mile to run this big truck. It is rough, but it is what it is.

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[greg334]

I just got an email for FedEx, not to change the subject but they are offering $2500 bonus for those who get that gov'mint clearance to haul freight for the military.

 

[ATeam]

I know this topic has been previously discussed but today I happened upon this FMCSA-published Interstate Truck Driver's Guide to Hours of Service. This thread came to mind when I read the following paragraph on page two of that publication.
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"Personal Use of a Commercial Motor Vehicle

"It is possible that occasionally you may not use a truck in commerce at all. You may be moving your personal belongings to a new house or, as a hobby you may be taking your horses to a horse show. As long as the activity is not in support of a business, you are not operating in commerce.

"If you are not operating your truck in commerce, you are not subject to the hours-of-service regulations."
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The FMCSA could not be more clear on this issue. Your carrier's policy may differ. A scale cop may not cite you for a violation for not logging personal use of your truck, but your carrier that requires you to log such use may terminate your contract if you do not. Know the rules under which you operate.

 

[bigshow345]

I seen one truck at a weigh station one time that had one of those scrolling marquee signs on it. I walked up to the trucker and asked what was it for. He showed me the messages you could program into it. The one he used most frequently was off duty.