Brian Pape left the trucking industry because of a lack of benefits.
He was told when to stop by a tiny device that measured how many hours he drove each day.
"That was it for me," Pape said. I sold my equipment.
There is a maximum of 11 hours driving for truck drivers. They need to take a 30-minute break after eight hours of driving.
These regulations have been in place for a long time, but the DOT mandated electronic logging devices for drivers in order to eliminate the use of paper logs.
The hours-of-service regulations are mostly in favor of the truck drivers, but they say that E-Logs were sometimes too strict and left drivers stranded close to home.
"If you're 30 minutes from home and you get to your 11 hours, you must shut down or else you get an automatic hours-of-service violation," Pape said. This could jeopardize a trucker's license.
Mark Rumps runs his software on a device.
Mark Rumps
Prior to the introduction of E-Logs, Pape sometimes exceeded the 11-hour limit by an hour to reach a certain destination, but never to a dangerous level. Other drivers made similar comments.
Some companies avoided using E-Logs by buying and refurbished trucks with engines that were manufactured in 2000 or earlier, according to Mark Rumps.
Pape quit driving after using E-Logs for two weeks.
The supply chain has been disrupted due to low pay, long hours, and bad treatment from trucking companies.
Brian Stauffer said that E-Logs were one of the reasons why he quit long-distance driving.
Stauffer said the hours-of-service rules were crazy. He said there should be exceptions, like if the driver doesn't want to park overnight in a high-crime area.
Truck drivers are paid based on their mileage.
Doug Watters, a Mississippi truck driver who has been in the industry for almost 30 years, said that driving time and miles equal dollars.
Stauffer said the hours-of-service policy makes it difficult for fatigued drivers to drive at high speeds.
Prior to the E-Logs, some drivers cheated on their paper logs and drove recklessly to maximize their mileage.
Rumps said that E-Logs made trucking companies accountable and stopped pushing drivers to take more loads when they reached their limit.
Watters said that the trucking companies will be held liable if there is evidence that they coerced or forced a driver to do something.
Rumps said that E-Logs reinforce policies that were already in place, even though they said E-Logs were more convenient than paper logs.
He said the same hours of service were in effect. Drivers were violating them all the time to get home.
"If you violate hours of service that's because you're not being paid correctly," Rumps said.
Are you a truck driver with a story? This reporter can be contacted at gdean@insider.com.
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