Zipline Logistics’ carrier team surveyed more than 150 trucking companies in their network about the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate and its impacts, and discovered some comparative differences between now and their first survey from March 2018. Part of the reason for a follow up survey was to see how the market has adjusted since the December 2017, what preferences and procedures have changed with fleets, and how drivers and dispatchers feel since its introduction.
The majority of fleets surveyed were moderately sized between 6-100 trucks and the majority of fleets employed company drivers. Sixty-seven percent of the fleets surveyed were compliant prior to the ELD mandate while another 21.85% of fleets were compliant by the ELD enforcement date in April 2018. Whether specifically due to the Mandate or the scarcity of drivers, fleets have had to expand to handle the same level of orders.
Among the key findings, the ELD Mandate has required fleets to expand to handle the same level of orders, but they believe the real issue is the driver shortage. In fact, the driver shortage was listed as the biggest factor affecting the market and rates currently, not ELDs. Many owner-operators of course believe there’s actually a surplus of drivers and the problem is that they aren’t getting paid a comparable salary for other similar job opportunities. Clearly, the problem is nowhere near being resolved.
Seventy-seven percent of carriers reported being more selective in the shippers/receivers that they are willing to go to, and overall carriers and drivers believe that shippers and receivers have not caught up with the ELD implications. Eighty percent of carriers state that there are now facilities they will absolutely not load out of. So it probably comes as no surprise that 54% of carriers have changed how long they will wait at a shipper/receiver since the Mandate went into effect—unless the surprise is that more haven’t changed. Carriers did state, however, that they also tend to avoid any shipper or receiver that has strict appointment times and does not offer delivery windows.
Certainly one piece of good news is that 60% of fleets surveyed felt that safety is improving among their drivers. This is almost exactly the same as survey results from March 2018. When it comes to rates, 48% of carriers felt that linehaul rates have increased due to ELDs. This is different than survey results from March 2018 where 71% of respondents said per mile rates increased due to ELDs.
The majority of carriers haven’t changed their length of haul preferences, but smaller carriers with 30 or fewer trucks have changed their tune to some extent. Thirty-seven percent reported they prefer haul lengths shorter than 500 miles, and only 15% preferred haul lengths of more than 500 miles.
While 60% did say that ELDs were forcing drivers to stop, rest, and run legally, the other 40% of respondents felt that ELDs decreased driver safety, as well as for others on the road. They reported drivers speeding more and driving recklessly to cover more ground in the time allotted by ELDs—which is more of an HOS issue, and of which is purportedly being addressed by the FMCSA. Drivers also noted that they are now forced to drive in hazardous weather, and when tired so they do not burn their ELD hours after the time has started running. In fact, many respondents also stated that flexibility needed to be built into the HOS.
16 Comments
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Mike
You can’t regulate metabolism, the biggest beneficiaries are the ambulance chasing attorneys, big companies that run teams and speed limiters. The ELD is only as good as the operator. They are harder to cheat but it is still possible. Better pay with overtime and good benefits would go a long way in solving the problem. Holding shippers and receivers responsible for lost time would help as well. Allowing, not giving the 2 hours for loading/unloading is a good start. After the 2 hours is up to back to the appointment time and charge from there.
Brad
How about scrapping the ELD and limit drivers to 700 miles in any 24 hr period and entrust the driver to decide when to run. NO DRIVER wants to endanger himself or others on the road, they want to deliver in a timely safe fashion and get home like anyone else. Give the driver options to sit out rush hour traffic and make it up during the later hours when the road is less congested give the driver the option to pull over if tired or hungry and not feel like the race the clock is all they concentrate on.
Travis J
I got a CDL to drive. I don’t the damn government telling me when to sleep or eat. I’m a grown ass man. I don’t need a freak’n babysitter. All drivers are not created equal. Do away with this stupid ELD, go back to the way it was! Don’t punish drivers for service violations, punish the damn dispatchers that tried to run the hell out their drivers. Then, you’ll have safer drivers.
Charles Thomas
The company I work for has lost a lot of good drivers do to ELD’s. They know just as I’m experiencing the loss of time that is brought apon the driver coupled with the lack of common sense companies have to correctly set a run up with ELD’s in mind along with the hundreds of other hurdles a driver has to go through just to do his or hers job on the road. Noone wants to deal with the bullshit the government has placed on the trucking industry. Yes it does cause you to not want to stop. We are rushed do to overly tight schedules. Home time has been shot hell!! This bullshit needs to stop!!
MicksterD
Simple solution to the HOS issues…. Off duty is off duty, sleeping is sleeping. When doing either the 14 hr clock should stop. Problem solved
Brian Ristau
The elog does not help a driver do a proper pretrip or post trip. The elog does not help a driver turn coroners, back in or maneuver in tight spots without running anything over. What the elog does is the math for a person who has no common sense with simple math, It makes one drive tired in fear of losing miles. I run all pre elog equipment mostly because of the EPA regulations but I do have a friend that drives for a carrier and says you dont even want to stop and shit through out the day. the motor carrier he works for also turned the trucks up to 90 mph and encourages his drivers to use every bit of it. The carrier he works for has a fleet of 50 trucks and does a lot of dropping and hooking to burn up every last minute he can. He says he drives tired a lot because he sometimes sits after he has had a break and drove an hr to a shipper or receiver only to sit, go reload, sit again and then finish out his day but planning to stop sometimes before his time is up. We as Americans need to stand up, shut the system down because the next step is speed limiters like Canada and Australia. Eliminate technology completely because it eliminates jobs. I still mail my bills. Why? Think about how many jobs 1 stamp creates. The same thing with paper logs. Think about how many jobs are created by using a paper log book.
K
You want to end the driver shortage then move the crossing of state lines down to 18. No eld can tell me when I’m sleepy or when I need to stop.