DOT paper log books...how long to keep?

Little green Bible will tell you 6 months if you look it up.

 

We kept ours 8 years because that year the two of us claimed perdiem at a rate of 306 total service days that year (Defined at 120 plus miles away from home) and payable at 45 dollars a day per driver.

You can bet there is no complaint with keeping a stack of company logs yea high. They don't fill the safe at all. (Amsec brand, resists fire for two hours at 3000F and resists drilling at 1.5 hours and has a gasket on the floor bolt for the flooding problem unknown if the door will resist the same. Either way, they were wrapped in gallon size freezer bags twice each log book and then wrapped again in a contractor trash bag further sealed with a food heating sealing appliance)

Just about all of it came out of Line Kiln Maryland. I think we had a estlaco or something mill there that either made Cement from stone in rolling mills or train delivered from places that did.

I still have logs from my first three months ever in trucking at 21, primarily amounts of Cement delivered to the I-270 construction project which adds up to approximately a million pounds a week defined about 30 weeks total. That's quite a lot of I-270 median Barriers and under pavement. Theoratically you can still see my work delivered to the people who built it towards rockville and DC.

 

For FMCSA compliance, 6 months. If you claimed the per diem tax deduction and are using your log book to support that, then at least 7 years as a tax record.

 

This is the correct answer if you are the carrier. If a driver no more than 8 days unless using for tax purpose should keep for 7 years, if kept for memories than maybe 50 years? lol

 

395.8
(k)(1) Retention of driver's record of duty status and supporting documents. (1) A motor carrier shall retain records of duty status and supporting documents required under this part for each of its drivers for a period of not less than 6 months from the date of receipt.

eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations

Guidance below
Regulations Section

Question 10: What regulation, interpretation, and/or administrative ruling requires a motor carrier to retain supporting documents and what are those documents?

Guidance:

Section 395.8(k)(1) requires motor carriers to retain all supporting documents at their principal places of business for a period of 6 months from date of receipt.

Supporting documents are the records of the motor carrier which are maintained in the ordinary course of business and used by the motor carrier to verify the information recorded on the driver’s record of duty status. Examples are: bills of lading, carrier pros, freight bills, dispatch records, electronic mobile communication/tracking records, gate record receipts, weight/scale tickets, fuel receipts, fuel billing statements, toll receipts, toll billing statements, port of entry receipts, cash advance receipts, delivery receipts, lumper receipts, interchange and inspection reports, lessor settlement sheets, over/short and damage reports, agricultural inspection reports, driver and vehicle examination reports, crash reports, telephone billing statements, credit card receipts, border crossing reports, custom declarations, traffic citations, and overweight/oversize permits and traffic citations. Supporting documents may include other documents which the motor carrier maintains and can be used to verify information on the driver’s records of duty status. If these records are maintained at locations other than the principal place of business but are not used by the motor carrier for verification purposes, they must be forwarded to the principal place of business upon a request by an authorized representative of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or State official within 2 business days.

Guidance for electronic storage of scanned copies of records, including log books.
Question 29: Are drivers who electronically scan a copy of their original record of duty status (RODS) for subsequent submission to the motor carrier required to prepare the RODS in duplicate?

Guidance:

No. Although 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1) states, "Every driver who operates a commercial motor vehicle [in interstate commerce] shall record his/her duty status, in duplicate, for each 24-hour period," the intent of the requirement may be fulfilled through the electronic submission of a scanned image of the original handwritten RODS to the regular employing motor carrier within 13 days following the completion of the form, while the driver retains the original records for the current day and the previous 7 consecutive days. Because existing regulations concerning the preservation of records (49 CFR 390.31) allow motor carriers to store electronically a scanned image of the original handwritten RODS submitted by drivers and essentially dispose of the original paper document, there is no adverse impact on the enforcement of the HOS regulations, and subsequently no compromise on the application of the safety requirement by allowing the driver to submit a scanned image of the original signed RODS to the regular employing motor carrier within 13 days of the completion of the record. Motor carriers must maintain the scanned image of the signed RODS and all supporting documents for each driver for a period of six months from the date of receipt (49 CFR 395.8(k)).

 

Also note, as Expeditor stated above, if you are only a driver and not a motor carrier, you only need to retain log books long enough to satisfy the current day plus 8 previous day rule, unless you claim per diem, which you said you do not.

 

That is where the cement manifest logs come in with a few logbooks in my old home basement.

#### I forgot about that suited loudmouth demanding me to move at Rockville Fuel and Feed. lol.

Some memories are best kept where they are, out of the way.