ELD mandate: Independents’ final straw?
What would the trucking industry look like without 70 percent of the independent and small-fleet owner-operators in business moving freight on the roads today?
What kind of recruiting and training efforts might be required among more sizable fleets if 52 percent of their company drivers and leased owner-operators suddenly exit the business?
Such questions aren’t strictly rhetorical. An Overdrive survey of readers shows such percentages of respondents saying they would either retire or look for another line of work before they’d ever run with an electronic logging device.
Under the proposed rule by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, ELDs could be mandated for virtually all interstate haulers by late 2016. Many of the largest fleets have adopted ELDs or are phasing them in, and medium-sized fleets are following suit. The smallest fleets — whether unable to afford electronic logging systems, objecting to the devices as an invasion of privacy or without personnel devoted to safety technology — are likely to be the last holdouts.
It’s unclear how many of those small independents, as well as some owner-operators and company drivers not using ELDs, would not follow through on threats to quit. But the recent experience of older drivers leaving when the current hours of service regulations were introduced shows the threats are not all idle. The ELD mandate likewise could accelerate industry retirements, says analyst Jay Thompson, president of Transportation Business Associates.
“Those are the drivers I would expect to actually leave – those that see in [the mandate] a reason to go ahead and say ‘I’m done with it,’ ” he says.
Here’s how drastically the numbers could play out. Assume the 71 percent of independents who say they’d quit actually do, and apply that to carriers in the for-hire population with one to five trucks. This would equate to an overall loss of about 260,000 trucks, according to data mined by RigDig Business Intelligence, Randall-Reilly Business Media’s equipment- and business-data analysis unit. That would remove more than 10 percent of the industry’s capacity.
When the 71 percent is applied to carriers with up to 15 trucks, it leads to a capacity reduction of more than 27 percent, or about 709,000 trucks.
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“Will some people leave? Yes,” says Thompson, though it will be much less than 70 percent of small fleets. “It’ll be a really begrudging kind of adoption” once the mandate is in place, he says.
Most clients at owner-operator business services firm ATBS are leased to sizable fleets, and 75 percent said they were running electronic logs when surveyed in 2013, says President Todd Amen. However, only 26 percent of company and leased operator respondents to Overdrive’s ELD survey indicated they were running electronic logs today – and just 2 percent of independents and small fleet owners.
“I do think there are plenty of older independent contractors that are scared and stubborn” and thus opposed to electronic logs, Amen says. “But when it comes down to it, they’ll work under ELDs if they still need a paycheck, and most of them won’t be able to retire on Social Security [alone].”
However, Amen does view the exit of experienced drivers from the industry as a primary downside of the ELD mandate. It comes on the heels of changes in interstate truck drivers’ hours of service regulations that in some ways were equally unappealing to those with long industry experience.
Those changes appeared to be the final regulatory straw for many older drivers at Werner Enterprises, said a company executive in a 2013 story by Kevin Jones, reporting in Overdrive sister fleet publication CCJ from the American Trucking Associations’ management conference in October.
“In the 90 days leading up to the hours of service change,” Jones reported, the share of 60-67-year-old drivers at Omaha, Neb.-based Werner “fell by half.”
Said Werner President and Chief Operating Officer Derek Leathers: “It’s my belief that’s a representative sample across the industry of drivers who just said, ‘I’m out. I’m done. Thanks, but I’m moving on.’ ”
As with the Werner drivers, Overdrive’s survey response also points to the strongest dissatisfaction being among older drivers. Almost 30 percent of survey respondents said they would retire before ever trucking with an ELD. Of those respondents, 80 percent had more than 20 years of experience in trucking, and nearly 60 percent had more than 30 years.
The simple need for income isn’t the only factor weighing against a huge exodus of haulers over ELDs, however. A common refrain among drivers and owners who’ve made the switch to e-logs is actually one of surprised positivity.
St. Louis-based Artur Express’ first experience with ELDs came when the operation transitioned in June to recruiting owner-operators to run under the fleet’s authority rather than their own. Today, of a total 300-plus-truck capacity pulling the company’s trailers, about 20 units run with ELDs. Todd Walthall, recruiting manager, says though some drivers do hang up at the very mention of e-logs, “We’re not losing a lot of prospective owner-operators because of it. With everybody around the industry coming to a conclusion that [the mandate] is coming, I think there is a bit of an acceptance of it.” Drivers 40 and under, he adds, “are more accepting.”
Others are more than just accepting: “I have had people mention to me that they don’t know how they’ve gotten along without them” after making an initially reluctant transition, Walthall says.
Amen has “witnessed ELDs firsthand in a truck with a driver on a multiday trip,” he says. “It is not a big deal if the driver doesn’t make it a big deal. It takes much of the guesswork and burden [of computing hours] away. In fact, I believe for a fleet, it gives them a huge advantage to better plan and help independent contractors to be more productive.”
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Old Time part-owner and -operator Mark White says the Omnitracs ELD system the company installed has defied conventional wisdom that ELDs do nothing but reduce hours flexibility and create an unmanageable situation for many drivers with increased pressure to run when tired. On the contrary, says White, “They’re not the end of the world. You can actually make it work better for you.”
The switch also forced operational changes, notably shifting more work to dispatch. “There’s a lot more relaying loads you’ve wouldn’t have before,” White says. “We always try to book ahead, to keep the driver aware of which load he’s on and is going to be on, so that he can plan today for tomorrow.”
As White sees it, the added dispatch workload actually took pressure off of drivers to make up for dispatch mistakes. “A small carrier should jump into it with both feet,” he says of ELDs, particularly when combined with sophisticated fleet-management functionality to refine back-office dispatch.
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Independent owner-operator Brad Lambert witnesses the same: “I constantly see them tailgating to try and pass, tearing through work zones, and I agree the aggressiveness will only become worse as they try to tear down the road to make up more time.”
Access to the kinds of tools that enable efficient, improved dispatch to combat such dynamics can be expensive. Old Time spent $20,000 for the hardware and software in its 20-truck fleet, and $40 per unit/month airtime subscriptions are ongoing costs. Less-expensive options for basic logs/driver vehicle inspection report functionality, as well as dispatch capability, are available.
It’s expected that costs will continue to fall with technological advancement and proliferation of ELDs.
“For us, we give away the hardware,” providing a connection to the truck’s electronic control module and charging only the subscription/service fee, says Ryan Barnett of XRS. “You do see some [logging] apps out there free for drivers” today, he adds. However, such software-only packages are today not capable of doing the work the ELD mandate will require of the devices.
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Considering the entire trucking landscape, says Amen, “I don’t think [ELDs] will be a sea change for our industry.” Most truckers will adapt “like they do to all change in our business. I think small fleets will find a way to do the same thing most of the big ones have already done.”
How about the government take the wheel is how it really is? 35 years trucking when dot came out with a sliding 14 I said accidents will go up. When they came up with manadory 30 minute break I said accidents will go up. When they mandate Elogs accidents will go up. I haven’t been wrong yet. Sliding 14 is very dangerous for new driver who haven’t lost their sleep pattern.Report
NOT ENOUGH FLEXABILTIY IN THE HOURS OF SERVICE AND OF COURSE THE DRIVER AND COMPANY PAYS FOR IT. THERE IS NO SAFETY IN IT, JUST TRYING TO PUSH IT THRU FOR THE BIG MEG COMPANY TO ELIMINATE THE SMALL GUY. NOT BEING ABLE TO STOP THE CLOCK IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I SEE IN IT. SO IF I SIT IN A DOCK FOR 4 OR 5 HOURS MY DAY IS PRETTY MUCH GONE AND MY TIME HOME CHANGES,BUT THAT DOESN,T MEAN ANYTHING WHEN THE PEOPLE MAKING THE LAW DOESN,T HAVE TO LIVE BY IT. ALL I KNOW IS AFTER 28 YEARS OF DRIVING EVERY THING HAS TURNED FOR THE WOREST. AND THESE SO CALLED DRIVERS THESE MEG COMPANYS ARE TURNING OUT IS VERY SCARY. AND YES THIS IS NOT AMERICA ANYMORE, SO I SAY HELLO COMRADE WELCOME TO RUSSIA. AND YES MY RETIREMENT DATE HAS MOVED UP. JUST TRYING TO MAKE A LIVING WITH THE GOVERMENT RIDEING ON MY BACK. MAYBE I SHOULD MOVE TO MEXICO A START A TRUCKING COMPANY DOWN THERE ALOT LESS REGReport
Everyone of you who sits there and says Eld logs are going to be fine and will not hurt the industry. One you are not a real truck driver you are probably a new truck driver and don’t give a damn and you don’t know nothing about this industry. 2 I am not a old truck driver I am 33 if you do not understand why owner operators or small company drivers that do not want this then you are a fucking lap dog, who probably never understood how the leaf log works in the first place, if you did you would not be for e logs Report
easy solution park them.Report
Mr Amen, i’m not an old veteran and i still dont like or see any benefits of elogs. I used an elog for close to a year and it was a horrible experience. Report
I say JACKROCKS dropped inn every truck stop will be the answer to Elogs.Report
How is this going to work with hot shot truckers who also use there pick up trucks for personal use?Report
Well I agree with 4b on this as I own a fleet of heavy haulers this ELD is not going to work for me as I am already held up on permits from the states we operate in and city curfews I have been trucking long enough to know when I’m tired and I don’t need some ass to tell me when to sleep or stop and take a break in funny in a natural disaster they can wave all logs and you run run run no matter how tired you are but run past 15 mins and your a tired piece of crap truck driver and time to fine you put you out of service so on and this is what we as American truck drivers who lives away from home watching kids grow up on weekends earning a honest hard living eating BS from the GOV , the DOT, Brokers, Shippers, Receiver’s, the Public doesn’t see or understand that everything they touch and I mean everything has moved on a truck and if this forecast of around 72% quits over this ELD guess what happens watch the cost of toilet paper I want to see them wipe their ass with them ELD’sReport
You tell them brother case they do not know shit what they have just doneReport
Well I agree with 4b on this as I own a fleet of heavy haulers this ELD is not going to work for me as I am already held up on permits from the states we operate in and city curfews I have been trucking long enough to know when I’m tired and I don’t need some ass to tell me when to sleep or stop and take a break in funny in a natural disaster they can wave all logs and you run run run no matter how tired you are but run past 15 mins and your a tired piece of crap truck driver and time to fine you put you out of service so on and this is what we as American truck drivers who lives away from home watching kids grow up on weekends earning a honest hard living eating BS from the GOV , the DOT, Brokers, Shippers, Receiver’s, the Public doesn’t see or understand that everything they touch and I mean everything has moved on a truck and if this forecast of around 72% quits over this ELD guess what happens watch the cost of toilet paper I want to see them wipe their ass with them ELD’sReport
I had a driver tell me he ran out of hours in w. Memphis. AR took 10 hours off and started driving the next morning in Little Rock, AR how in the hell did he get to Little Rock ? Another driver told me he goes off duty in Conroe, TX and goes back on duty driving after he gets south of Sugar Land, TX ? Another driver told me he only takes 5 minutes to get fuel ? Another driver told me he always goes off duty in road construction zones till he get all the way through them ? And these Dumb Asses in Washington, D.C are stupid to think ELDS/EOBRS can be hacked just like a Computer ? Report
The mark of the beast is here and this is how Satan is deceiving truckers and everyone else…
Satan knows how to boil a pot of frogs too just like the government does on a daily basis…. 666Report
People do not realize, but there is a study going on whereby these ELD’s will be reporting real time to Government Officials as to the status of the truck. Any possible deviations from the already over burdensome rules would be reported to local law enforcement for action. Even if no action is taken, Carriers are being looked at to secure a bond that allows the government to reach into and immediately take money from the bond to cover the related fines associated with whatever infraction may occur. I believe it is referred to as The Motor Carrier Financial Responsibility Act or something of that nature. Be careful what you wish for. How many more privacy rights do we need to give up on. Still no industry level push back in the near future. I hope all of the fuel haulers go on strike, and that will take care of the rest of the dimwits that so readily surrender their individual sovereignty. The nation I have fought for no longer exists. Mr. Obama, Tear Down this Wall!!!Report
So, does it count against you on the eld. When you stop to take a crap or pee? How about, when im 20 mins from the house or a customer. Do you think im actually stopping? Or, or how about $3.50 a mile min. Do they want me to get rid of a 1994 rebuilt truck. Just to hook up something. I dont want. To amuse them. WTF?Report
I’ve been trucking a long time . I’ve loved the lifestyle and the pay . It’s been a blast . The thing is I don’t want a computer to control me , for any reason . I never have “fit” in to a square peg . Make no mistake , this is not about money , or safety , its about control . No thanks . My exit strategy is to get a degree in the medical field . Learn Spanish , and head for parts unknown . Costa Rica is looking pretty good . My beloved United States of America ain’t what she used to be , and I think we’ve let both major political parties carry us past the tipping point . That’ll be enough soapboxing for me . Turn out the lights when you leave … would ya ?Report
It’s just big companies monopolizing the industry taking their competition out. Drivers being told when to sleep and when they can’t on top of that most places don’t let you stay in their lots after load or unload so what are you to do. Elogs only work for drop and hook. They should look at the facts more then 65% of accidents on the road involving trucks are trucks running elogs. Report
well when DOT fucks the industry I will take 52 weeks of unemployment and DOT can kiss my assReport
On that bull-shit E-Log! Never got sleepy until it was time to drive.Report
I did drive for over 30 years, did keep my paper logs up to snuff, do miss the driving (medical shut down) and would no longer driver for a large company – not because of the e-logs but because of the way the customers treat large company drivers. E-logs are the lazy way to keep up with what a driver is doing. ‘Mommy’ with a readout. Not all who chose to drive a truck actually care about the public they are serving, only about what they can get out of it. Watched that when I was driving all those years, still around and still seeing it.Report
The man needs ro leave drivers alone. They don’t regulate doctors hours on duty. A construction worker can work 15 hours a day. An individual can drive for 40 if he wants, and that person could be a truck driver behind the wheel of a four wheeler but that’s ok so what’s r he difference.Report
It’s my truck when you assholes want to pay my bills and take care of my equipment. Then you can drive it to. the whole trucking industry needs to go onetime and take back our freedom. Before it’s over these assholes are going to tell you when you can shit and when you can’t. Report
I want to see the crash statistics for those propane haulers that were exempted from the hours of service regs. These guys were hauling liquid (unstable) loads or running empty in some of the worst operating conditions imaginable (winter roads in the upper Midwest and Northeast.) If their stats mimic those of the general trucking population or are better, would that not indicate that the HOS rules are more about control than they are about safety? There really is quite a large statistical sample readily available for analysis here that isn’t theoretical but would be backed up by hard numbers. If those numbers would turn out as I believe they would, maybe the next “experiment” could be to exempt OO’s from those rules and see how that subset would perform. They have a greater vested interest in safe operations than just about anyone out there, and maybe we could finally get the heavy hand of Big Government that wants control more than anything off our backs. If the Propane haulers are proven worse than the industry average, then bring on the E-Logs. Otherwise, forget ’em!Report