Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/757641
34 | Overdrive | December 2016 EYES ON THE PRIZE recent anecdotes from sales representa- tives have told the story of "customers talking about even older trucks to avoid electronic logging devices." Kendall says his dealership cautions buyers about financing. Even with a 2007 truck, he says "there aren't as many finance sources, and rates aren't near as good as on a newer used truck." Mileage on a 10-year-old unit is often 800,000- 900,000 or more, and closer to 1.5 to 2 million on a 1999. The increased cost of operation and maintenance for such a truck is a lot "just to avoid electronic logs." Landstar-leased owner-operator Gary Buchs agrees. "If operators rush in and then they run into a huge maintenance problem," disaster would be the result, he says. "One of the biggest reasons people fail is that they get hit with a dev- astating bill for maintenance." Morin says that with any pre-2000 truck, it'd be safe to assume the need to rebuild the engine, up to a $20,000 investment or a lot of time if you're per- forming most of the work yourself. Also consider the overall cost of oper- ating older equipment, Buchs says. "It could easily far outstrip how much e-logs might cut into their ability to operate." An easy way to find out the latter would be to download one of the non-engine- connected apps that will give you the abil- ity to game your operation on e-logs with- out making a full investment. BigRoad, KeepTruckin and others have basic log book apps that can allow you to easily simulate an ELD environment, though you'll have to manually key in all changes in duty status just like on a paper log. Kendall ultimately believes the rush to ELD-exempt trucks may never mate- rialize in a significant way, particularly as more owner-operators not in ELD- exempt trucks today get over the "fear of the unknown" that is trucking with e-logs. "Some of the feedback that I've gotten from company drivers and owner- operators is that at first, e-logs can feel constrictive, but once you get used to it, you don't want to go back to keeping paper logs." Morin, for his part, remains categori- cally opposed to the ELD mandate. He makes a variety of arguments against it, believing it amounts to a prejudicial rul- ing. All of Z-Tranz' trucks are well-main- tained, he says, and "have gone through in-frame overhauls. All the ABS systems are kept in working order as well. We have invested a lot of money and time into the two trucks that will fall under the mandate — the 2000 and 2001." He believes the mandate renders these trucks useless to him for resale, with little chance of being in demand. "Although they are in good working order, no one will buy them due to the mandate." Over the last decade, many larger fleets have adopted ELDs for two reasons: • The advantages – productivity, reduced violations and more – were worth the costs. • The fleets expected a government mandate and other industry pressures, so they decided to convert on their own timetable. The same rationales might well affect owner-operators, as some observers see it. While many owner-operators continue to resist ELD use, in some cases pinning their hopes on the pre-2000 truck exemption, re- maining a holdout could prove problematic. Some shippers may favor ELD use over paper once the mandate is in place, says Craig Kendall, president of the Used Truck Association. Referencing specifically hazmat loads and their enhanced security/ safety needs, he says, "Government might not require ELDs, but for the hazmat haul- ers not using the electronic logs, maybe their customers will dictate it." FTR Transportation Intelligence Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Starks extends this view from shipper customers to bro- kers. Within 24 months of the ELD mandate going into effect, he believes, "nearly ev- eryone will need an ELD, whether they like it or not, purely from a market standpoint." Starks believes shippers and brokers will require ELDs and/or other functions, such as real-time tracking, that are satisfied easily by having one installed. Presenters at Truckstop.com's recent Connected 2016 conference underscored this view. Drew Herpich, a leader in Coyote's Carrier Sales and Operations unit, noted that technology-enabled services such as Uber in the taxi space are "changing the entire landscape" of customer expectations. "If you're not jumping on technology, you're going to fall behind." Among shipper customers, real-time tracking is a function that's hitting the trucking mainstream in an exponentially increasing way, Herpich and others say. However, simple smartphone apps can pro- vide such a service to brokers and shippers without ELD assistance, including the "Load Track" function in Overdrive's own Trucker Tools app. Carriers leasing owner-operators may be likely to require leased drivers to run with ELDs, even if the truck's model year means it's exempt. In a survey of fleet owners taken in the months following the mandate's release, 70 percent of fleets with more than 10 trucks indicated they'd require ELDs on pre-2000 trucks owned by their leased owner-operators if mechanically feasible. IS THE ELD EXEMPTION SIMPLY DELAYING THE INEVITABLE? Courtesy of Tim Hepler Tim Hepler's 1998 Volvo 770 primarily moves trailers, often on lanes between Hepler's Charlotte, N.C.-area home region and Florida. He uses laptop program Driver's Daily Log, long popular with owner-operators, for his recordkeeping and has no plans to move to an ELD with the mandate in December 2017.