Friday Short Haul - DOL On Sleeper Pay, UPS Drone Delivery, Geowiz ELDs

In this Friday Short Haul the DOL writes an opinion on sleeper berth pay, UPS set for nationwide drone deliveries, and Geowiz offers no-fee, FMCSA-compliant ELD logging.

Friday Short Haul - DOL on sleeper pay, UPS drone delivery, Geowiz ELDs

So we want to get paid for SLEEPER TIME too?

An interesting note though - "engaged while waiting", which also refers (obliquely to DETENTION PAY). Most drivers will go off duty or sleeper, as soon as they check in, or at least when they hit the dock - to save on their 70 (and potentially start a split or 10 hours break - in case they're stuck for 8, or stretch it to a 10 to reset their 11/14). So if you're logged "off duty", should you be getting paid? "Technically" (legally) - all the time when you are "responsible for the load" - should be On Duty/Not Driving.

This debate always comes up - as does the classification of employee versus contractor - versus: should drivers be paid by the mile or by the hour?

Obviously - the industry has been operating based on CPM pay forever. There are some rare cases (commiefornia, most around guys who are working the ports) where drivers have been re-classified and paid by the hour (some of this is union stuff too). So pay is based on PRODUCTIVITY. Should the entire industry switch to HOURLY - PRODUCTIVITY will go WAY DOWN, because who wants to HUSTLE when they get paid "on the clock" - whether the wheels are rolling or not.

The notion that "sleeper berth" folks should get PAID, is almost laughable. The case in point in the article - sounds like a (small) company is ALREADY PAYING HOURLY, and had questions as to whether or not they're "legal" under the regs governing hourly employees. So this really (only) potentially affects a small segment of the industry. And certainly not 99% of the people here, who are working under the CPM pay model. Likewise, the opinion (one way or another) will likely have little (to no) effect on potential HOS changes (except where the may apply to the "local/hourly" type of drivers - 150 air mile HOS rules).

A recent discussion here on "detention time", and the fact that many people are actually netting a couple of 100 extra a month for detention is a GOOD THING. Detention time is something congress has discussed and kicked the ball down the road more than once - and something FMCSA has largely ignored also. Being "unreasonably detained" and wasting HOS hours waiting way past appointment times - where shippers/receivers could really give a rats patoot about how they're KILLING OUR CLOCKS - is one of the larger issues in our industry, and one of the reasons why folks are tempted to "cheat" on HOS to make up for time WASTED at docks/yards. But in a de-regulated industry, congress can't really make laws (regulations) mandating detention pay - because trucking is a free market/supply/demand competitive industry.

Rick