Hours Of Service Question (Time At Shipper/Reciever)

Brett,

Thanks for your website; it’s very down to earth, insightful, entertaining, and very informative. You aught to be receiving a consulting fee, from the motor carriers, for drumming up the profession for them. Your dedication to the profession is as refreshing as it is apparent.

Though I have plenty of practical experience I have not had to deal with FMCSA because my time flat-bedding was all in the military. So I have a question regarding HOS as I am looking to move into the cab before to long.

How are your hours counted while at the shipper/receiver? Reading the following I take it that while at the shipper/receiver your hours are counted on-duty. Others on another forum disagree. Can you help me out or point me in the right direction please?

On-duty time means all time from the time a driver begins to work or is required to be in readiness to work until the time the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work.

Excerpt from:

Hours of service of drivers

§ 395.2Definitions.

On-duty time shall include:

(1) All time at a plant, terminal , facility, or other property of a motor carrier or shipper , or on any public property, waiting to be dispatched, unless the driver has been relieved from duty by the motor carrier;

(2) All time inspecting, servicing, or conditioning any commercial motor vehicle at any time;

(3) All driving time as defined in the term driving time;

(4) All time in or on a commercial motor vehicle, other than:

(i) Time spent resting in or on a parked vehicle, except as otherwise provided in §397.5 of this subchapter;

(ii) Time spent resting in a sleeper berth; or

(iii) Up to 2 hours riding in the passenger seat of a property-carrying vehicle moving on the highway immediately before or after a period of at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth;

(5) All time loading or unloading a commercial motor vehicle, supervising, or assisting in the loading or unloading, attending a commercial motor vehicle being loaded or unloaded, remaining in readiness to operate the commercial motor vehicle, or in giving or receiving receipts for shipments loaded or unloaded;

(6) All time repairing, obtaining assistance, or remaining in attendance upon a disabled commercial motor vehicle;

(7) All time spent providing a breath sample or urine specimen, including travel time to and from the collection site, to comply with the random, reasonable suspicion, post-crash, or follow-up testing required by part 382 of this subchapter when directed by a motor carrier;

(8) Performing any other work in the capacity, employ, or service of, a motor carrier; and

(9) Performing any compensated work for a person who is not a motor carrier.

Depending on the company policy at the company ur with this is a catch 22 figure.

some companies are 99% no touch freight and say log in the sleeper while at the shipper/rcvr some say no log it as its to be logged on line 4 so before doin either check with ur company policy.

Here's the thing. Let's say you arrive at Wal-Mart at say 4:00 a.m, for a 4:30 a.m. appointment time. They tell you NO DOCKS AVAILABLE. They will call you on the C.B. or cell phone when one is. They tell you to park your truck, with the other trucks. They call you at 5:00 a.m. and tell you to park it in Dock # 25, and disconnect from trailer and park in bobtail section. They will call you when they are unloaded. You do that. They finally call you at 7:30 a.m. to get your bills and reconnect.

Do you really want to count the entire three hours as on duty? Also don't forget, you started your day at 3:00 a.m.

Dave

Depending on the company policy at the company ur with this is a catch 22 figure.

some companies are 99% no touch freight and say log in the sleeper while at the shipper/rcvr some say no log it as its to be logged on line 4 so before doin either check with ur company policy.

That is the MAIN POINT. What does the trucking company want it as?

As far as I know, my company does NOT have a policy, but I usually log about 10 minutes whenever I am at a shipper or receiver or fueling.

Dave

Dave

Hey Randy - welcome aboard! Great question.

Technically speaking, when you're doing things related to the job - taking paperwork inside, counting product as it gets loaded onto the truck, doing paperwork, etc - you're supposed to log it as on-duty not driving.

But the reality of it is that 99% of drivers log all time at the customers as sleeper berth. In reality, you will be in the sleeper berth most of the time you're at a customer. But regardless, that's just one of those situations where almost everyone logs it as sleeper berth to save hours on the logbook.

You're going to find once you get out on the road that there are a ton of gray areas and catch-22's. The best thing to do when you're unsure of something is do it by the book and speak with several experienced drivers from your company about it. But make sure you get more than one opinion on it.

You'll find that a rookie who seems willing and eager to learn will get a lot of help from the veterans out there. We've all been there and we remember well what it's like in the beginning. It's brutal, to be honest. You're pretty much unsure of everything you're doing for about the first 6 months, but then it gets better and you're only unsure of about 75% of what you're doing the next 6 months.

That's trucking!

It didn't take me long to come to understand the value of the Sleeper Berth choice while at a Shipper or Receiver. Initially, I left a lot of my time as On Duty prior to realizing that it is also taking time from my 70 hour clock. The only thing that stops the 70 hour clock is to be either in Sleeper Berth or Off Duty (which is not allowed when at a Shipper or Receiver). Now, I generally allow about 10 or 15 minutes On Duty for Customer Check/in/out and the rest of the time is Sleeper Berth time while on-site at the customer.

Hey all, forgive me for resurrecting this ancient thread, but it's a pertinent topic to me and already has some useful information others might see. I was looking for some clarification on this topic that I haven't found so far, and I can't quite figure out just reading the regs.

So say you're at a shipper/receiver and you're logging hours in the sleeper, BUT you get your papers etc and are ready to roll after an IRREGULAR number of hours? For example, if you're logging sleeper and you get woken after, say, 4 hours? In that case, does sleeper berth ONLY help to save your 70? So far as I understand, unless you happen to nap there at the shipper/rec. for 2 or 8 hours (to initiate a split) or extend to 10 (to reset your 11/14), any other number of sleeper hours that you come out of won't have stopped your 14 clock, right? Might you still be in some predicament with HOS and getting somewhere else (if necc.) to park unless you magically happened to be waiting for one of the convenient off-duty/sleeper hour cut-offs?

I feel like i'm missing something here. Does going sleeper at the dock most of the time only serve to save your 70, or do you find yourselves making sure that wait time hits 2, 8 or 10? If not, is it more a trip-planning case and making sure you have a lot of clock when you first arrive, so you can get away again if you've been held-up a weird number of hours? Any clarification is much appreciated!

My company's policy is that we must show 15 min for live load or live unload. That is what they get. If at all possible I try to show up to the RCVR for a LU the night before. I start my 10 hr. I take care of the unloading while still on my break. If my 10 hr is up when I get the green light I will switch to on duty, not driving. Showing the status of pretrip and live unload. About time I get paperwork, close the doors etc. my 20 mins is up. 15 for live unload and 5 for pretrip. If my 10 hr isn't done I either go park outside the exit gate or in an empty parking spot near the gate, then finish my 10. Again, once my break is done, I will show my mandatory 20mins. Every minute of your 70hr counts. I always do my pretrip and postrip when "off duty". That way I can babysit my clock for the on duty portion.

I agree with something I once heard/read. This is the only profession will you will vehemently lie saying you are not working when you are.

Drive Safe and God Speed

Sculpy, it also saves your 11 hours of on duty time for the day.

Sculpy, it also saves your 11 hours of on duty time for the day.

I think you meant 14 hour on duty clock.