New FMCSA rules July 1st 2013

[Packmule]

I have always split my break up in 10, 15, or 5 minute stops. Rarely did I ever take but maybe 5 at the building. Unlike some machines out there, I find I need to use the bathroom more than just one half hour out of the day. That and I liked to get a cup of coffee, or call home for a minute. Now I waste the whole half hour in the middle of the day and am forced to take more break later for personal needs. While it would be nice to be so naïve as to think this will force UPS to dispatch better, 30 years on road tell me better. Just get ready for them to expect you to UNOFFICIALLY overdrive speed limits and violate safe work practices even more so than before. New rules will only make the UPS man a bigger menace on the road than he was before.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

If u get in an accident on break does that mean u can't be fired?

You get paid anytime your driving the truck. Some rural routes I may drive 3-5 miles to go take lunch.

The way I read the law. Break must be finished before 8 hours.

My.management team is interpreting it this way as well. However, the law doesn't say we must HAVE a break of 30 mins before 8 hrs, but rather TAKE, which doesn't mean the whole thing must be completed before, but it should at least start. And then there is the principle behind the law: we shouldn't work more than 8 hrs without a sufficient break; MORE than. You can work a whole 8, but before you go any further, you gotta rest.


However, while I meditated on and dissected the law, my understanding stopped mattering when it became clear how management was interpreting it; work (and now.rest or play) as directed.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

If u get in an accident on break does that mean u can't be fired?

You get paid anytime your driving the truck. Some rural routes I may drive 3-5 miles to go take lunch.

The way I read the law. Break must be finished before 8 hours.

Your example sounds extreme, but in most cases drivers may go up to a half mile for a suitable location for lunch. This is to compensate for the fact that our lunch cannot begin until we are no longer in charge of the truck. Your dispatch, time study, and planned day should all account for this. OTOH, you may need to.do some tweaking. Perhaps there is an area with food stops, but currently you get there before the third and fifth hour (or whatever parameters have been set in your supplement). Maybe you should, or they'll have you, do another area-say the one you'd normally do immediately after-and then come back to the area where the food is, so when you finish it and it is time for lunch, the company is not hit with as much dead time.

 

[Brownslave688]

If u get in an accident on break does that mean u can't be fired?

You get paid anytime your driving the truck. Some rural routes I may drive 3-5 miles to go take lunch.

The way I read the law. Break must be finished before 8 hours.

Your example sounds extreme, but in most cases drivers may go up to a half mile for a suitable location for lunch. This is to compensate for the fact that our lunch cannot begin until we are no longer in charge of the truck. Your dispatch, time study, and planned day should all account for this. OTOH, you may need to.do some tweaking. Perhaps there is an area with food stops, but currently you get there before the third and fifth hour (or whatever parameters have been set in your supplement). Maybe you should, or they'll have you, do another area-say the one you'd normally do immediately after-and then come back to the area where the food is, so when you finish it and it is time for lunch, the company is not hit with as much dead time.

You know it's funny. The dead time is going to be there one way or another. It may just be after break instead of before.

I'm coverage I've ran 20+ routes out of my center. On some there just isn't much you can do. One route I drive past all the food and deliver my way back towards it. So as you said I'm not pulling for lunch. Depending on the day though and where the stops are I may drive for 10 miles AFTER lunch before I get to my first stop.

 

[Wally]

Just start taking your lunch when you are allowed. Let management worry about the problems. Maybe you have to lose some stops or pickups if u can't. Just make sure thay know there is a problem and involve your steward.

 

[toonertoo]

I cannot believe how people are fighting this. I guess some people don't know what consecutive means. I really like the idea of breaking my 50 total minutes into 5 breaks, but now I cant. But if I need more time, which I do, when I work late, I just take it.
I guess we had the only 2 guys in the district who screwed up. We had to hear about it for 15 minutes, but they started the preload so late I was loading til 935 anyway.
Shut your door, go on a half hour lunch. Call your kids or spouse, read a book. I kinda like it.

 

[toonertoo]

I dissected the law also, and I don't think it was meant to apply to US.

 

[Benben]

I dissected the law also, and I don't think it was meant to apply to US.

Wasn't meant to but we got caught up in it with the trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds. I think they need to adjust it to simply say those operating with/under a CLD license must comply.

As far as interpretation I do not think you can drive to a lunch location while on the 30 min break. If the wheels are turning you are not on a break.

 

[40andOut]

Say you start at 8:20 A.M., take the 1/2 hour plus at 11:20 A.M., and work past 8:00 PM. Would the clock re-set 8 hrs after your 30 minute break....Would you be required to take a 2nd 30 minute break since you worked 8 hrs in a row after your 11:20 break?

 

[Dracula]

Yep.

 

[bumped]

Say you start at 8:20 A.M., take the 1/2 hour plus at 11:20 A.M., and work past 8:00 PM. Would the clock re-set 8 hrs after your 30 minute break....Would you be required to take a 2nd 30 minute break since you worked 8 hrs in a row after your 11:20 break?

Yes, I'm going to try that at peak. Take my breaks right after air and then my 30 minute lunch at the 3 hour mark. I wonder what will happen when i tell them I can't work past 8.

 

[toonertoo]

Wasn't meant to but we got caught up in it with the trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds. I think they need to adjust it to simply say those operating with/under a CLD license must comply.

As far as interpretation I do not think you can drive to a lunch location while on the 30 min break. If the wheels are turning you are not on a break.

As of now, there is not a report if your wheels are turning. Im not one to carry a lunch. I asked and was told, yes I could go potty, wash my hands at one place, grab some chow and drive across the street. Thats today, tomorrow it could change. UPS has lots of clout, this will kill them, I see it gone in 30-60 days..................

 

[Jackburton]

Say you start at 8:20 A.M., take the 1/2 hour plus at 11:20 A.M., and work past 8:00 PM. Would the clock re-set 8 hrs after your 30 minute break....Would you be required to take a 2nd 30 minute break since you worked 8 hrs in a row after your 11:20 break?

Yes, as some of our drivers found out this morning.

 

[Jackburton]

Yes, I'm going to try that at peak. Take my breaks right after air and then my 30 minute lunch at the 3 hour mark. I wonder what will happen when i tell them I can't work past 8.

Make sure you check the language in your supplement before trying this.

 

[bumped]

Make sure you check the language in your supplement before trying this.

What is there to check. My lunch (30 minutes must be taken between the 3rd and 6th hours) My breaks are allowed as long as it doesn't interfere with my NDA's.

 

[Brownslave688]

It cracks me up the number of people that are like oh this shouldn't apply to us. Why?

Take your break (you should anyway). It's really simple. Outside of peak I've taken my full (hour) break 99% of the time for 3+ years.

This won't kill ups. All it means is they will have to set up routes how they should of been set up all along.

 

[bumped]

I told my center manager yesterday that because of this rule I'll have another 5 send agains a day. He told me he hasn't even thought of that yet.

In the ghetto, after dark, be it 4:30 or 9:00 at night only about half the people answer their doors.

 

[serenity now]

Take the 30 minutes; it's just one more thing.

If a driver from 10 years ago came back and tried to work under all the rules and restrictions in place now he/she would feel shackled to the point that they could not do the job. But since we are still active, it's just one more thing. Adapt, and roll with it.

 

[Jackburton]

What is there to check. My lunch (30 minutes must be taken between the 3rd and 6th hours) My breaks are allowed as long as it doesn't interfere with my NDA's.

Some mandate (like ours in the Southern Supplement :Article 54,) you're entire hour must be taken before the 8th hour, with no more than 3 increments. Some only have language for 30 mins. Depends on what you're covered under. Make no mistake, peak is going to be interesting.

 

[oldngray]

At one time I would skip or take short lunches until UPS started forcing everyone in my center to take lunches. At first it was hard to sit still in middle of day but once you get used to it its for the best. You just need to develop an attitude of if business stops get missed then so be it. And until those missed stops start showing up on reports nothing will change. Also, when you have so many stops left after pickup every day there is little incentive to skip lunch to get off earlier. I had the attitude if I could get off early I would try to but if its going to be late I put it into cruise control after 5.