By Fred FakkemaVP of Compliance, Zonar
According to the world’s leading experts, there are three types of procrastinators: thrill-seekers, who wait to the last minute for a euphoric rush; avoiders, who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success; and decisional procrastinators, who cannot make a decision.
Regardless of which category you may fall into, if you have yet to make an action plan to implement the technology required to meet the new FMCSA Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate, it’s time to get on board and here’s why:
The ELD Mandate isn’t going away:
Many small carriers thought it was prudent to wait until the lawsuit was decided. As of October 31, 2016, the federal mandate was upheld unanimously by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Avoidance only puts your business further behind the competition:
In a recent survey of 2000 fleet owners by Transplace, a North American transportation management services company:
- 81% of large fleets with more than 250 trucks reported that they had achieved full ELD implementation, with the remaining 19% currently working towards implementation.
- However, small fleets of less than 250 trucks have been much slower to integrate ELDs, with only 33% having fully integrated ELD devices into their fleet.
- Another 29% have begun the implementation process, while the remaining 38% stated that they have no immediate plans to begin implementation.
The laws of supply and demand are real:
All carriers subject to the ELD Mandate are required to have either an ELD or an AOBRD-compliant solution installed and functioning as of December 18, 2017. That’s a lot of trucks rushing to meeting the deadline a very short time from a fairly defined set of vendors. It will take significant time and due diligence to select, order, install, and train drivers, dispatch and back-office operations.
Bumps in the road are a given:
Considering commonplace distractions during and major transition process, it’s very clear—time is of the essence. Even the most optimistic of plans need to contemplate selecting, and piloting options around holidays and installation across distances.
“We moved forward early so we’d have time” to implement the system’s range of capabilities, which include engine diagnostics and trip reports, said Josh Lacy, director of operations at the Gering, Nebraska¬-based fleet in Transport Topics.
