Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/305892
May 2014 | Overdrive | 25 M 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 M OFF SB D ON 11.50 00.00 11.00 01.50 1 2 3 R 4 5 6 7 more dramatically if regulatory pressures send more drivers away from over-the- road trucking. "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 respon- dents 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 man- date. It comes on the heels of changes in interstate truck drivers' hours of service regulations that in some ways were equal- ly 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 exec- utive in a 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 Oma- ha, 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 older driv- ers as being most opposed to ELDs. Al- most 30 percent of 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 need for income isn't the only rea- son weighing against a huge loss in drivers over ELDs. A common refrain among drivers who've made the switch to e-logs is one of surprised positivity. St. Louis-based Artur Express' first experience with ELDs came when the op- ELD support among drivers and small fleets Opposed ■■■■■■■■■■ In favor ■■■■■■■■■■ Neutral/other ■■■■■■■■■■ Company drivers/leased owner-operators Independents/small fleets 70% 15% 15% 88% 2% 10% ELD_Survey.indd 25 4/30/14 3:37 PM