Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/148061
Voices Losing money to the hours changes Has the new hours of service rule caused your revenue to decline? Wendy Parker chronicles her journey on the road with her owner-operator husband, George, in the George and Wendy Show blog on OverdriveOnline.com. Scan the QR to read more from her on your phone or tablet. Readers respond from OverdriveOnline.com and Facebook OverdriveOnline.com poll As of July 10, we'd lost about $300 due directly to the new hours of service. Two good loads had to be turned down because George wasn't able to do a reset and didn't have the hours to get them to the final on time without it. We've spent an inordinate amount of time dragging short loads just to break even. Those who feel that "good planning" is the answer must live in an alternate universe. One where you've never sat at a shipper with an 8:30 a.m. appointment and waited until 5:30 p.m. to be loaded. You've also never run into traffic and been hemmed up for hours because of a wreck or construction. Good for you. Now back to the real world. The new rules have little to do with safety and a whole lot to do with control. It's been my experience that when the gubmint says they're doing something to make you "safer," what they mean is "more controlled." The 30-minute break causes us to be on the road 30 minutes longer every night, making finding a parking spot harder. George says it actually makes him more tired to sit for 30 minutes because he's stressing out about losing 30 minutes of his day. I hope someone in Washington comes out of their stupor and realizes the people they're hurting are the ones who followed the rules in the first place. People who cheat are laughing at your new rules while they continue to cheat. If you're concerned about hours of service, then mandate eLogs. Don't keep the professional driver who follows the rules from being able to make a living. Governments don't regulate people into submission – they regulate them into a revolution. Jennifer Mathis: My husband has the same thoughts on long hauls vs. short hauls and will only consider [hauling legal]. And we then end up with the exact same concerns with scheduling and finding profitable runs. We are praying for the same results as well — that those grossly overpaid stuffed shirts wake up and realize what it takes to drive and maneuver in and around the conditions that truck drivers have to actually deal with. Dave Nichols: There is only about three days of supply in the retail food chain – less in the fuel supply chain, and less yet in the movement of perishables. When the demand for transport service bumps against supply, rates will rise. We drivers have worked these 70-hour-or-more weeks for decades. It is time to change that, and these rules will help us do it. Sit back, run easy, stop when it is convenient and behave like an hourly union driver would. In a few months, you will see the demand jump for trucks, but there will be none. The barriers to entry these days are just too high, and you will find yourselves in control. Brooks Gregg: The break is adding 2.5 hours to my week that I'm forced to be at work. This stinks for the local drivers. I'm in and out of my rig 10-15 times a day. Too early to say 29% No 13% Yes 58% By late July, more than half of the operators responding to this poll were able to see a negative revenue impact with the new hours rule, mandating new breaks and restrictions on restart use. Greg Vellender: Learn to live off your recap. That's what I'm doing. I run Wisconsin to Florida weekly. [Without the break] I ran 3,200 miles in 5.5 days, then took a day and a half off for my restart at home. It worked perfectly. Now, I do the round, spend a few hours at home, go back out, then after the 168 hours are up do a restart. I live off my recap to get home, at which time I do my 34-hour restart. They stole precious home time as well as money out of my pocket. Jason Cyr: Some weeks I'd be out eight days, the following week I'd be out four and home on the weekends. Can't do that with the new hours. I'm running out of hours running U.S. and Canada. Jason Haggard: You cannot implement all-encompassing rules like this and expect everyone to remain profitable. As George and Wendy have found out, at even a $300 loss per week at only 45 weeks of running per year, that's a $13,500 loss, which for many is a year's worth of truck payments, or about 28 tires or 3,500 gallons of fuel. Why should anyone accept that? Would you be accepting it if someone removed thousands of dollars from your bank account? 8 | Overdrive | August 2013 Voices_0813.indd 8 7/29/13 10:24 PM