The ELD mandate and you

This past December, a new trucking rule went into effect. Most people didn't even notice, because it didn't get a lot of coverage outside the industry. Under the new rules, all trucks that aren't under temporary exemption are required to have an electronic logging device to record their hours of service.

Despite having three years advance warning and multiple attempts to put the rule in place, there have been multiple issues with the new devices, many of which simply plug into the truck computer to record movement, and your phone to change duty status. Systems frequently crashed, and networks weren't ready for the sudden load of all the drivers logging into them.

The reasoning behind the rule is to make the industry safer, which is debatable. The FMCSA members that pass the rules for drivers are all non-drivers, most of which haven't been closer to a truck than passing one on the road, going to work. Regardless of the reason however, the rule is about to start hitting non-drivers harder than drivers.

Normally at this time of year, the freight market is down, and decent loads are hard to find. When they are found, prices are down until spring, when produce starts to ship more. This year however, is already starting to show serious differences.

The produce market from Nogales, which is in its peak, before the new year, would ship produce to the LA area for approximately $1200 a load. Immediately after the new year, due to truck shortages, that same load shot up to an average of $2,000 with rates as high as $3,000 seen just after the first of the year.

Many old drivers have decided that the time has come to retire due to the mandate. They're unable to make the kind of money they used to, and more than one small trucking company has had problems finding drivers to run loads. This results in loads being delayed, and higher prices, because the companies that come in to run the load can just about name their price. The end result is that prices being passed on to the consumer are going to go up.

Over the next few months, produce will probably be the first to go up, but other goods will follow. Everything that is on a shelf, or that is bought is put on a truck at some point. That means that the rise in load costs is going to affect everything on the market, no matter what it is. In December, the average cost per mile, for a 53' reefer van was $2.46 a mile. That was up $0.03 a mile over November, and $0.46 a mile over the same period in 2016. The current rate for a reefer van is holding at $2.70 a mile. It peaked at $2.71 the first week of January.

Nogales freight.

www.dat.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
This past December, a new trucking rule went into effect. Most people didn't even notice, because it didn't get a lot of coverage outside the industry. Under the new rules, all trucks that aren't under temporary exemption are required to have an electronic logging device to record their hours of service.

Despite having three years advance warning and multiple attempts to put the rule in place, there have been multiple issues with the new devices, many of which simply plug into the truck computer to record movement, and your phone to change duty status. Systems frequently crashed, and networks weren't ready for the sudden load of all the drivers logging into them.

The reasoning behind the rule is to make the industry safer, which is debatable. The FMCSA members that pass the rules for drivers are all non-drivers, most of which haven't been closer to a truck than passing one on the road, going to work. Regardless of the reason however, the rule is about to start hitting non-drivers harder than drivers.

Normally at this time of year, the freight market is down, and decent loads are hard to find. When they are found, prices are down until spring, when produce starts to ship more. This year however, is already starting to show serious differences.

The produce market from Nogales, which is in its peak, before the new year, would ship produce to the LA area for approximately $1200 a load. Immediately after the new year, due to truck shortages, that same load shot up to an average of $2,000 with rates as high as $3,000 seen just after the first of the year.

Many old drivers have decided that the time has come to retire due to the mandate. They're unable to make the kind of money they used to, and more than one small trucking company has had problems finding drivers to run loads. This results in loads being delayed, and higher prices, because the companies that come in to run the load can just about name their price. The end result is that prices being passed on to the consumer are going to go up.

Over the next few months, produce will probably be the first to go up, but other goods will follow. Everything that is on a shelf, or that is bought is put on a truck at some point. That means that the rise in load costs is going to affect everything on the market, no matter what it is. In December, the average cost per mile, for a 53' reefer van was $2.46 a mile. That was up $0.03 a mile over November, and $0.46 a mile over the same period in 2016. The current rate for a reefer van is holding at $2.70 a mile. It peaked at $2.71 the first week of January.

Nogales freight.

www.dat.com...

The problem is you get a few high profile cases with a trucker working too many hours and winds up killing a family and then all the regulations come. We went through the same in the mortgage business. A bunch of regulations get passed the general public knows nothing about but the true effect is much higher prices. The bureaucrats pushing the regulation get to pat themselves on the back despite not being able to show where said regulation amounts to a hill of beans or prevents what they claim it would.

a reply to: Edumakated

Exactly. You have these people that can identify a truck, and that's about it, deciding what's best for the industry. It's ridiculous, because they're going to be the first ones complaining that prices went up.

Shipping costs on produce vary widely by season.
They always have.
Summer fruit costs a lot more in the Northern hemisphere in Winter.
It has to be shipped from the other side of the globe.
Vice versa.
Running moonshine to dry counties a short distance away is the most profitable, and yes "not legal" way to turn a high profit margin.
I used to load up a van with cases of beer and liquor and drive less than 20 miles, doubling my investment.
Gotta have the right connections and make the right payoffs.
Same old game it has always been.

a reply to: skunkape23

Not this high, not this early in the year. I run a lot of produce and all I've been hearing is that while the market is soft, as it usually is now, costs are higher than they should be. All the various types of freight are reporting driver shortages right now.

Stupid question. Does anyone think we should start relying more on the rail system? I know the economic cost to drivers but it seems like it will be costly no matter what. I'm not a trucker and have no idea how the business side of it works or even the licensing. Would it not be cheaper to ship from rail yard locally to markets with the new rules in place?

Again. Stupid question.

a reply to: Somethingsamiss

Wouldn't work. It's slow and you can't get rail to the places a truck can get. My other half and I can get coast to coast in under two days. Rail can take at least twice that if not longer.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I control a receiving bay in my job. The unloading time is the key now, we have a limited time frame subject to extra charge.

a reply to: Trueman

Opposite with me, we're shipping product an despite this being our "slow time" we've got loads sitting while our shipping office is struggling finding carriers to deliver. Currently Mgt is resisting raising product prices but something's got to give eventually.

It's not just the price of goods that's going to affect people.
That extra cost is going to stall facility improvements an probably wipe out any yearly raises we had delirious hopes of.
So less pay in real dollars while the prices of everything creeps upward.

As someone who has to had to implement many new regulatory requirements (health care facilities) I can say too bad for the truckers.

3 years notice? The industry dropped the ball & now want to complain that they're being over regulated.

This sounds like excuses, either they failed on installation (didn't bother) or went with the crappy system architecture (too cheap).

K~

Are logging trucks going to fall under the exemption?

You've got me worried about what was left of my profit margins going to hell this spring.....

I don't drive my timber, just cut and stage it for the drivers. Prices went up 60/75$ load last year.
I don't even want to think about it doubling.

a reply to: aethertek

It wasn't the industry this time though. It's the suppliers of the ELDs and their networks. The ELDs were installed on time, but the people that supplied them didn't account for the amount of traffic they would see, and didn't beef up their networks for it. That wasn't the fault of the drivers or the industry. It wasn't their responsibility to worry about the network.

Yes, drivers waited until the last minute, but I don't blame them. This was the third time the deadline had approached, and the expectation was that it would be delayed again, like the previous times. But at the same time, the providers of the devices had plenty of time to setup their networks for the influx and didn't.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Sorry it's on the industry to make sure the products or services would meet their demands.

Vendors used to hate me because I was the guy who would tear their system apart & find the weaknesses.

I remember the big push on radiation detectors for delivery bays & trash pick ups after the LA port scare.
Ended up choosing & installing the system my self as most local vendors were wholly inadequate.

We only had six months to implement or face big fines, between me & the head of radiology we got it done.

Nope sounds like everyone just procrastinated till it was too late.

K~

a reply to: aethertek

The problem with trucking is that unlike with other industries, it's majorly fractured. You have the major companies like Swift, C.R. England, Schneider, etc. They average somewhere around 3,000 trucks. Then you have the smaller fleets, that might see a couple hundred trucks, down to the independents, with 1-2.

The monitoring agency is the FMCSA. All they're going to do is pass the rules. They're not going to do a damn thing to make sure they are implemented seamlessly. The only other agencies are the ATA and OOIDA. Neither of which were going to test the system for drivers. The major companies have been on ELDs for up to 15 years, and would love to see the smaller companies shut down, to get more of the market to them.

Yes, a lot of blame goes on the procrastination of drivers, but not all of it. Some goes to the fact that the industry has become so fractured and broken it can't get anything done.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Oh wow okay.

a reply to: Somethingsamiss

Before the 30 minute break requirement was added, the fastest I got from Atlanta to Fontana, in a team truck, was 39 hours. Most shipping now is known as Just In Time. Places don't want to get something in and have to store it for days or weeks before they use it. So they schedule it to ship out and arrive say a day or two before they need it. Sometimes it comes off the truck and goes straight to where it's needed.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Isn't that the truth?
We have product getting made & palletized while the truck is at the dock door.
We're fined I'm sure for delayed loading times.

a reply to: Caver78

I do love JIT shipping. Got to one place and was told, "We're a little behind. We'll call when we have a door". We finally finished loading and left 20 hours later.

One of the companies that pulls refrigerated trailers announced that they are looking at double digit increases in rates, because of how badly the ELDs are hitting the reefer divisions. They said they're looking at 7-9% increases for larger customers on the low end, but increases as high as 11% will be common.