Slide-Lok's Garage Blog

What You Need To Know About The ELD Mandate & How It Affects You

5/23/2018

ELD stands for “Electronic Logging Device,” which is a device put onto a trucks engine that understands when a driver is driving and when they are not. There is a new government mandate regarding ELDs, and it is important to know the impact this change can have on your business. These devices were made mandatory as of December 18, 2017. ELDs help maintain safety of drivers and the roadways, as they let drivers know how much time left they can drive and when they need to take a break. ELD’s help enforce a 14 hour driving shift and a 10 hour break.

Due to the ELD mandate drivers will consequently spend less time driving. The overall annual through-put of a truck will now likely decrease. While this decrease in capacity will be small, it can have many negative consequences such as: missed pickups, delayed shipments, less tolerance for dwelling time (loading and unloading shipments) and an increase in rates due to the limited availability of drivers and trucks.

As a business owner, it is important to be aware of these new mandates to safeguard and plan shipments accordingly. While shippers should be the ones preparing for the changes and striving to maintain the same service, there is more opportunity for service breakdowns as everyone is adjusting to the new mandate. One way to prepare for the mandate on the side of the business owner is to choose a shipping provider that has open lines of communications, and can provide complete transparency. This will help to plan shipments accordingly and understand how the new mandate is changing the way your product gets to the consumer, distributor, etc.

While this ELD mandate may be an obstacle right now, in time your business will learn how to plan shipments and ultimately be forced to become more efficient.

Keywords: ELD, Mandate, Trucking, Shipping, Truck, Drivers, Business

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