Comments By Vendingdude

Thumbs up for sharing. New guys and old guys alike love reading these.

"My trainer had all of the papers ready to hand him should he ask me for them. "

Sounds like they were in his hands, while he was sitting in the seat. Hmph. Almost sounds like the trooper couldn't find anything to "bust" you on, so he just got creative to scold you on something.

Yes we are in complete agreement

Look up the Interstate Truck Driver's Guide to Hours of Service. It's an FMCSA pdf that explains all this in black and white.

One thing it makes very clear is that any work done for another employer is considered as duty hours for the purposes of the 60/7 or 70/8 rule and needs to be in your rolling 7/8 day log. It's in there. It also affects your 14 hour window in terms of when you must get your next ten hour rest period. 8 hours at pizza, 6 hours driving, you must stop and reset. (for example) This is why it needs to be logged.

^^^ and this is what I was referring to when I proffered "didn't they cover that during class?"

Thanks for the kind words Big-T. Sounds like you're a very thorough guy, which will serve you well in this business. There are SO many things that can go wrong, the guy/gal that succeeds will be the one that plans ahead, sees the big picture, double checks everything and doesn't let anger, hurriedness, boredom, etc. get the best of him.

BTW, I went to a community college school prior to driving for ...... Swift.

For many years in my twenties I worked for ........ Domino's. Lol.

Welcome to trucking, brother. Avoid the Noid. (whoops, showing my age again using that slogan)

Well I did say "in that case, they should require logs/work history for...". I assumed one would understand the phrase "work history" to be equivalent to "time worked statement". My bad.

Back in the dark ages when I went to trucking school, we actually kept a log book for the three weeks of school. Since I was under contract to the school and the carrier, I assume those were legally binding records, and not just "for practice". I don't know if that experience happens today, or more particularly for Big-T. I considered myself an employee of the carrier at that time, while in school, and not having been on the road for pay yet (though we did actually drive on the road around the community in the second week, logging those hours).

I was thinking of a case where for example what if you were hired immediately by a company to drive, and they were prepared to dispatch that second. They would have to know that you hadn't worked in the last day, and not need a reset, or a boatload of hours at your window washing job in the last week, before sending you out so you could legally complete the run.

This is similar to Big-T's situation where he worked for a week or two at a pizza job BETWEEN hire date(?) and "hit the road with mentor" date. The gap between those two events happened and could have been for illness, vacation, accident, paperwork snafu or any number of reasons. That is why I was wondering when his actual career begin date is, so you can determine what to account for for a week prior.

Good grief, what are you talking about? No hijacking here. His question was about how to log his time, and being mildly upset that how to do it wasn't properly communicated. The fact that he's waiting to get behind the wheel, and why he's waiting (the birth certificate) is not really relevant. What was relevant was when was the actual date of hire (which could be anything from application date acceptance, or signing school loan papers, or beginning of school date, or school graduation day, or first day on truck with trainer, who knows??). Only by knowing his company determined hiredate can the first question (what dates to be used for the time worked statement) be answered. I asked, he replied. Future readers of this thread will be better armed to handle unsual circumstances like Big-T's, should they occur.

To know the exact answer to your dilemma, we need to know the exact day you were hired. Today is 6/14 and the other date mentioned is 5/26. The way you wrote it it isn't clear to me if you're saying you were hired on 5/26 or if 5/26 is the date THEY say you need to start a log.

The actual hire date is May 24th, I have been home since the 25th after passing my exams.

In that case, they should require logs/work history for eight days prior to the 24th, which includes all work from May 16th to the present. That should have been covered in your class/training. Did they talk in logbook section of your training about how to account for hours while not in a truck? Sorry for your predicament, but it should have been covered.

To know the exact answer to your dilemma, we need to know the exact day you were hired. Today is 6/14 and the other date mentioned is 5/26. The way you wrote it it isn't clear to me if you're saying you were hired on 5/26 or if 5/26 is the date THEY say you need to start a log.

"Today and yesterday, I've been awake over all roughly 23 hours as of writing this post (0547 on 6/14)."

I didn't interpret this to mean he's been awake 23 hours straight. If he's counting a whole 24 hours of the previous day, plus six hours of this day that's 30 hours. If he logged 20 hours of driving, and ten hours sleeper, it's all good. Apparently, part of those ten hours "sleeping" is really dorking around at a midnight shipper, interrupting a continuous 10 hours off. Even many a veteran would get beat up running a schedule like this.

This is not to question at all that if Reaper is reporting he's tired, he's tired. Yes, all the previous advice applies: plan ahead, don't work too hard, communicate with dispatch, etc.

...but don't know how.

Take screenshot of Google Earth image, it saves to Photo Gallery and then I add to a post as attachment, right?

But how do I draw the lines and signs on the image that says "this is the door" and "there was a car parked here"?