With continued headlines from within the industry about the looming ELD mandate and its contents, I am left to think it is pretty much inevitable that we will all have to have some sort of electronic logging device to operate soon enough. Having been bounced back and forth over the years from paper logs to ELD’s of various brands, I can honestly say that there is going to be a lot to consider leading up to this inevitable switch. At this point, I still have a lot of questions to consider before switching back over to and ELD from the paper logs I have been using over the past seven months since attaining my own independent operating authority. The mandate will help eliminate a lot of these questions once it is mandatory for everyone, but other questions may still exist even after a mandate levels the playing field.
When I was contracted to larger carriers the choice was easy, since it was pretty much made for me. Since all the of trucks were required to be outfitted with an ELD in the fleets I ran for, the transition seemed easier because it safely evened out the number of drivers willing to break the HOS rules to make an extra buck at the end of the day. Before these fleets switched over, it would not be uncommon for a driver to lie to their dispatcher and say they had a few extra hours to get an extra haul in at the end of the day. This type of action posed a couple problems in that it caused the out-of-hours driver to operate in a potentially unsafe and illegal manner, but likewise reduced the volume of freight for another legally operating driver by one load they could have hauled instead.
Now that I am a single truck independent, making the decision whether or not to get an ELD is based on several more complicated key factors. My mind tends to go into a tailspin of sorts when I begin thinking about this topic. Usually it begins with wondering which system will be completely compliant through the transition. Sure, there are plenty of apps, programs, and stand-alone units to choose from, but which 
one will be compliant when the final rule is published? I would hate to spend all the money on something thinking I would be compliant through the transition, only to find that my money was wasted in the end of it all. Then there is the initial upfront cost once the choice is made, which can be pretty hefty depending on which brand you choose. Then after tackling the decision on which brand to buy, there is usually a monthly subscription fee in order to keep the 
system running and updated properly. With my own satisfactory use of several ELD systems in the recent past easing some of my decision “pain”, one final question arises in my choice whether to switch over to an ELD early or wait until I am made to do so…If I invest and adopt this technology on my own early prior to the mandate, will it continue to give the driver in the dock parked next to me the incentive and advantage of running illegally on their paper logs?
As important as the cost and function questions are in my ELD decision, the final question regarding the unfair advantage to those not voluntarily adopting ELD technology early remains my number one concern. I happen to love the functionality and efficiency that an ELD provides as a business tool. For those like me who run within the HOS to begin with on paper, an ELD offers nothing more than an easier way log the hours that are worked throughout the day anyway. My positive experience operating an ELD should not be misconstrued as either an approval or disapproval of the current HOS rules however. Instead, when a final HOS rule is imposed that benefits the drivers health and maximizes efficiency (not so “one-size-fits-all”), I see the ELD as a tool to benefit every driver in the ease of tracking those hours as long as every driver is equipped with one. The actual ELD mandate has the potential, if drawn up correctly, to eventually lead to a more level playing field in the open market of freight hauling. There is no doubt in my mind that there would still be those that would work around the mandate, or figure some way to cheat the system, but it would drastically eliminate a large number of those drivers out there that feel the need to run until their pen runs out of ink in lines 3 and 4 of those red log pages! As for me, I think its time to start researching the purchase of my new ELD.