This is the first story in a FreightWaves series on the electronic logging device mandate. Federal regulators began enforcing the mandate on April 1, 2018. Check back at freightwaves.com this week for more.
On a Tuesday evening in March, Lisa and Lee Schmitt left their home to move a 42,000-pound load of pre-cracked, pre-whipped eggs.
As truck drivers, every minute of their move was accounted for. They ate dinner at their home in Wisconsin and left around 8:30 p.m. At 11 p.m., the Schmitts arrived in the tiny town of Gaylord, Minnesota. Their customer, a multimillion dollar supplier of “value-added eggs,” allows truck drivers to park overnight — a rare treat. Because of federal regulations that date back to the 1930s, the Schmitts weren’t able to start their day until 9 a.m. the next day.
They hit a snag. At the value-added egg behemoth, the warehouse managers found a mechanical issue in their trailer and had to get it fixed next door.
It took hours for the mechanics to fix the issue — and even more hours to get loaded. The Schmitts started driving at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, even though they came on duty five hours earlier.
The Schmitts were watching the clock. They had to stop driving by 11 p.m. or else face a hefty fine and a black mark on their safety rating. But they couldn’t park their truck too far from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where a restaurant supply giant was awaiting the pre-cracked eggs. The drive should only take six hours, they said, but a nasty traffic jam or...
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