“AS THEY WORK


THROUGH THE MYTHS AND THE TRUCK STOP TALK, THEY START TO EMBRACE THE


IDEA OF EOBRS. THEY REALIZE THEY CAN


BE PRODUCTIVE AND EFFICIENT AND MAKE MONEY DOING IT.


IT’S SLOW, BUT WE’RE


GETTING THERE.” —GARY SALISBURY,


PRESIDENT, FIKES TRUCK LINE All agreed, however, that for all the


advantages of electronic logging devices, there still is one downside to fitting your fleet with them – not everybody is doing it, and those that aren’t have the financial edge until the mandate is fully implemented across the industry. Kidd said there will be another


“massive pushback” from certain sec- tors of the industry after the federal government rolled out the final rule. Although the Alliance has led the way in their adoption, there is still some uncertainty, especially among smaller carriers, about making that long-term investment, he said. “We have executives who say, ‘I’m


running legal and I’m committed to running legal, but I want to see my return on investment,’” said Kidd. Craig Harper agreed. “It’s hard


for a carrier that runs legally to com- pete. That carrier is looking at its cost and seeing what it can generate with that device and realizing it takes them two days to do the work someone else, without the device, can do in one day because they run illegally.” Knight agreed. “When all of our


drivers are having to compete against people who aren’t doing it the right way, that puts us in a position where we


ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 6 2013


aren’t able to be in the game. And that puts us in a position where we aren’t able to award our drivers in the right way.”


For Salisbury, whose fleet is much


smaller than those of his colleagues, the decision back in the spring to mandate electronic logging devices for his owner- operators had immediate consequences. “Basically about 38 percent of our


owner-operators left,” said Salisbury, drawing concerned reactions from the others. “And as an owner-operator com- pany, that left us with a lot less capacity to give our shippers than we commit- ted to the year before and that’s been a challenge.” And just as he’d heard discussed at


various times, those drivers went “right down the street to a carrier that’s not running ELDs.” The conversation turned much


more personal as Salisbury talked about the challenges he’s facing as a small carrier in converting his fleet to ELDs. Williams later remarked that the


close nature among the executives is characteristic of the way they have worked together in the Alliance. “We actually care about what we are try- ing to achieve for our companies and there is a camaraderie here. Plus we can


make decisions around a table,” he said. “We don’t have committees that meet twice a year. We see the problem and we tackle it.” Salisbury continued. “The custom-


Salisbury


ers are an issue in this,” he said. “They say they care, they say that they’re wor- ried about safety, but what we’ve seen is if you can’t do it, if you can’t get that load there in the morning, they have 10 other carriers behind you that will. “And it’s been a real struggle,”


Salisbury said, “much like a balancing act between staying true to your beliefs about safety and looking at the bottom line. I mean, virtually, it’s gotten down to, ‘How are you going to stay in busi- ness if you do things the right way?’” The conversation turned to the


urgency to see the congressional ELD mandate fully implemented through- out the industry. Kidd commented that many company owners, understanding that ELDs will soon be a reality, are banking on there being no delays that would slow the mandate from becoming reality. “Some have said, ‘okay, I’m halfway


through the tunnel now and there’s no way to back out,’” said Kidd.


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