Spoke with rep at JJ Keller about E-Logs

I spoke with Mike at JJ Keller about the mandate for all carriers to have E-Logs by December 2017. I asked him about the OOIDA's fight in court and was told they got word that the decision is being upheld (it appears) for the FMCSA and now OOIDA is gonna focus on speed limiters and that of course for hot shot drivers isn't going to be a huge issue.
Back to the E-Logs the pricing is fairly reasonable and of course the sales pitch was " I can lock in your rate now until December of this year after that it will go up" basically because when the date for mandatory requirement gets closer the demand increases. I personally don't think it's a big deal and for OOIDA to fight on the grounds of our 4th ammendment rights may be reasonable to argue. IMO I think it could save time and money on paper logs, trip cost reports, BOL's and other documents we all have to buy every year.
He explained you can use your smartphone tablet or their compliance tablet along with the ELD that plugs into your trucks ECM. I am opting for the compliance tablet because I use my iPad for a lot of personal stuff and don't want to mix up all kinds of info on it. Plus I don't have to worry about forgetting to bring my tablet when I leave home. Whats everyone else's thoughts on this.

Here is the price quotes I received as of today
ELD module $249.00 one time fee no leased
Compliance Tablet $264.00 one time fee no leased
Monthly fee for tech support updates and manit. $ 649 annually if company has less than 3 power units or $35.00 per month on each unit

 

I do hope your

right because it will be costly. I read in a copy of Land Line magazine and The Trucker that it could be a long drawn out court battle. Since I am a member of OOIDA they have sent me e-mails about call to actions for both the E-Logs and Speed Limiters I would say six e-mails in the last 3 days. Personally I don't think congress or the FMCSA will hold merit to any of us drivers and truckers opinions. Would you say that is pretty accurate?

 

I tend to agree with fargonaz as to the inital set-up for the equipment isn't so much the issue as the continued monthly fees. Personally I don't mind the E-Log it will save me time at the end of the day when I have other paperwork to do and it will prevent any mistakes. By no means am I made of money that I can throw away hundreds of dollars for all this, but I am a person who err's on the side of caution when it comes to compliance. I have read some horror stories about DOT and audits where drivers paid huge fines and even put OOS. That to me is more like throwing huge amounts of money out the window. Bottom line I worked to hard have a lot of money invested and in the near future investing more to lose all this because of a mandate that I can't do a thing about. I'm not good at much but I am darn good at what I do in this business and unlike many people I don't have anything to fall back on. I'm sure i will get a ton of flack for this but TBH this is my business just like everyone on here has their own business practice. What I do appreciate is everyone's input and thoughts because I have learned a great deal from others. More so on this board then the Auto Hauler Board where everyone thinks they are the gods of trucking. So thank you to everyone for the opinions advice and thoughts

 

As per my convo with JJ Keller the same system that you explained is how they offered it to me. The actual ELD is inserted into the trucks ECM via a Y connector and all the data is available via bluetooth. I have my iPad and it could essentially fucntion as the tablet however my only concern is the amount of info already on the tablet and whether or not I can always remember to bring it with me. Sometimes I can be running late and forget things I feel it would be easier for me to have a dedicated tablet that stays with the truck all the time and I can upload whatever I need to at the request of DOT. I also have a wireless bluetooth printer in my truck that allows me to print off any bluetooth and wiFi capapble device. That has come in handy when I need to print a new order or BOL off while on the road. I know JJ Keller may not be the choice for a lot of people but I do a lot of ordering from them and have a decent line of credit for invoicing all my purchases. I also talked to Foley Carrier Services since they are my DQ and Drug Consortium reps and their ELD's are much much higher than most others