Electronic Logs VS. Paper Logs

There seems to be a lot of hype against electronic logging, being new I am not sure why it would be such a negative thing. Can some of you with experience shed some light on the pros and cons of paper logging vs. electronic logs

With paper logs there is a possibility of cheating the hours of service requirements and driving longer/further thus making more money. With electronic logs cheating is basically impossible. There is also a significant cost associated with upgrading from paper to electronic. I am not suggesting all people against electronic logs want to cheat, some of them don't want to spend the money upgrading.

Paper Logs are work to maintain. e-logs,...very easy. I ran Paper Logs during training. Cumbersome and easy to make a mistake.

I also agree with Bill's points. The switch to electronic come this December might be the end for many smaller outfits. Time will tell.

With paper logs there is a possibility of cheating the hours of service requirements and driving longer/further thus making more money.

Good point. This is the case for many drivers using paper logs, but a lot of drivers simply like the flexibility cheating provides without necessarily running more miles. I've never used paper logs, but if I had I probably would have cheated some to allow myself a schedule that fit my own body/sleep patterns better. Hours of service (HOS) regs can be a bit rigid, and E-logs hold you to them 100%.

I see this one all the time. And honestly it's maddening to read people gripe about it. Elog is just a tool. (One that won't let you cheat) So all the old school guys on liars row in the truck stops are dead against them. Thing if it is, it's not the tool. It's the dumb rules behind it.

Brett had a nice long thread on rule changes, and the elimination or modification of the 14 was a hot topic.

I don't think people cheated so much to drive more hours, but cheated to change driving/napping times, because when you cheated on paper, your logs had to appear reasonable. You couldn't say you were in Town X when it was not possible to be there. Your fueling had to make sense too. My ex was a master at creative paper logs. I do know back in the day if he showed up in California (before he could have legally gotten there) they would have issued him a speeding ticket and/or a logbook violation lol.

That said, I love the simplicity of elogs. Our company doesn't allow us to do basic minor edits but some companies do allow drivers to make minor changes to elogs. If we have an error, we have to call our log compliance person or dispatch to get anything changed.

E logs are much more simple to use when it comes to logging driving time. There also down to the min or 5 min depending on your company specs. There are lots of fees associated with the elogs from the hard wear and soft wear to the monthly fees. They are by no means cheat proof. They also cut down on personal for log auding in large companies. They are also not compliment with what Congress ordered.

Paper logs much cheaper to run for a small out fit. Also easy to fudge on as well. More cost to run for a larger outfit.

The real difference between elogs and paper at this point is one kicks you on duty driving and dose not require a pen.

Think you all for shedding some light on this.

Yeah, everyone pretty much nailed it.

I only used paper logs and I cheated every day of my life for 15 years. We all did back then. It didn't make sense not to. Why would you force yourself to adhere to a certain schedule when all you had to do was drive the schedule you wanted to and write down something different?

I figured out over time that you really can't run more than about 3,200 miles per week on average without burning out at some point. You just don't get enough sleep if you drive much beyond that. There were times I averaged more than that for some length of time, but it just really wasn't sustainable for months and years at a time. So I settled in around 3,000 - 3,200 miles per week and that was perfect.

So when I cheated it was simply to drive when I wanted to drive, and park it when I wanted to park it. The ambitious drivers today are turning just as many miles with elogs as I did on paper. The only difference is they don't have the flexibility I had to run the miles any way I wanted to.