Paper logbooks: when you may use one and how to fill in the grid

Most drivers must use an ELD, but a paper log is still legal in a few cases: a driver who needs a log on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period, a vehicle made before model year 2000, certain driveaway-towaway operations, and any driver whose ELD has malfunctioned, until it is fixed. The paper log must follow 49 CFR 395.8: a 24-hour graph grid, eleven required entries, a location for every change of duty status, and totals that add up to 24 hours.

When a paper log is allowed

395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A) lets a carrier have a driver record duty status manually, rather than with an ELD, if the driver is operating a CMV:

1. in a manner requiring a record of duty status on not more than 8 days within any 30-day period;
2. in a driveaway-towaway operation in which the vehicle being driven is part of the shipment;
3. in a driveaway-towaway operation in which the vehicle being transported is a motor home or recreation vehicle trailer; or
4. that was manufactured before model year 2000, as shown by the VIN on the vehicle’s registration.

Two more situations put a driver on paper temporarily:

• ELD malfunction. Under 395.34(a) the driver notes the malfunction and gives the carrier written notice within 24 hours, reconstructs the current 24 hours and the previous 7 consecutive days on graph-grid paper logs that comply with 395.8 (unless the records are already in hand or retrievable from the ELD), and keeps paper logs until the ELD is fixed. The carrier has 8 days to correct the malfunction (395.34(d)(1)). That is why 395.22(h)(3) requires blank graph-grids for at least 8 days in every ELD-equipped truck.
• Short-haul days that run long. A driver normally exempt under the short-haul exception needs a record for any day the conditions are not met, and if that happens on no more than 8 days in 30, it can be on paper.

Owner-operators have no separate paper-log right; the same four exceptions apply to them as to any carrier. Everyone else uses an ELD; see the ELD rule.

Counting the 8 days in 30

The count is of days on which a record of duty status is required, in any rolling 30-day period. Days exempt under a short-haul or agricultural exception do not count, because no record is required on them. On the ninth day in 30 that needs a log, the paper option is gone and an ELD is required. There is no exception for a driver who "only" goes over now and then; the limit is the count.

The rules for the form

395.8(a)(1)(ii)(B): the record "must be recorded in duplicate for each 24-hour period," on the specified grid, which "may be combined with any company form." So a log book of carbon-copy pages, or a company form with the grid printed on it, both work.

The four duty statuses

395.8(b): "Off duty" or "OFF"; "Sleeper berth" or "SB" (only if a sleeper berth is used); "Driving" or "D"; "On-duty not driving" or "ON."

The eleven entries besides the grid

395.8(d) requires:

1. date;
2. total miles driving today;
3. truck or tractor and trailer number;
4. name of carrier;
5. driver’s signature and certification;
6. 24-hour period starting time (for example midnight, 9:00 a.m., noon);
7. main office address;
8. remarks;
9. name of co-driver;
10. total hours (at the far right edge of the grid);
11. shipping document number(s), or name of shipper and commodity.

How each entry is made

395.8(f) sets the details:

• Current. Records must be kept current "to the time shown for the last change of duty status" ((f)(1)).
• By the driver. All duty-status entries must be legible and made by the driver ((f)(2)).
• Vehicle numbers. The carrier’s unit number, or the license number and state, of each vehicle driven that day, and for a combination, of each unit in it ((f)(5)).
• More than one carrier. Each carrier’s name, with start and finish times worked for each ((f)(6)); see also 395.8(j).
• Signature. The driver signs with a legal name or name of record, certifying all entries are true and correct ((f)(7)).
• Time base. Use the time standard of the driver’s home terminal, for a 24-hour period starting at the time the carrier sets for that terminal ((f)(8)). A driver based in Chicago who crosses into Eastern time still logs in Central.
• Days off. Two or more consecutive 24-hour periods off duty may be recorded on one record ((f)(10)).
• Totals. The hours in each status are entered to the right of the grid "the total of such entries shall equal 24 hours" ((f)(11)).

Drawing the grid

395.8(g) and (h): the grid can be used horizontally or vertically. The 24-hour period’s start time must be identified, one-hour increments must be preprinted and labeled, and the words "Midnight" and "Noon" must appear by the right increments ((f)(8)(iii)). For each status, "a continuous line shall be drawn between the appropriate time markers" on the line for that status. Where the driver changes status, the line drops or rises to the new row, so the drawing is one unbroken line across the day.

Locations

395.8(c) and (h)(5): for every change of duty status, record the city, town or village with the state abbreviation. If the change happens elsewhere, record one of: the highway number and nearest milepost followed by the nearest town and state; the highway number and service plaza name followed by the nearest town and state; or the numbers of the two nearest intersecting roads followed by the nearest town and state. In practice the location is written in the remarks section under the grid, at the time of the change.

Worked example: one day on paper

Example, a day we made up to show the method. A driver whose carrier sets a midnight start, home terminal in Columbus, Ohio, logs this day:

Totals to the right of the grid: off duty 14.50, sleeper berth 0, driving 6.75, on-duty not driving 2.75. They add to 24.00, as (f)(11) requires. Checked against the limits: 6.75 hours driving is under 11; the window from 06:00 closes at 20:00 and the driver finished at 16:00; the 30-minute lunch came before 8 hours of driving, so the break rule in 395.3(a)(3)(ii) is met. The entries above the grid still need the date, total miles, unit numbers, carrier name, main office address, shipping document number, and the signature.

The regulation itself includes a specimen grid, a midnight-to-midnight trip from Richmond, Virginia to Newark, New Jersey, at the end of 395.8, which is worth studying because it shows an accident stop, a lunch, a delivery and a sleeper break on one sheet.

Switching to paper after an ELD malfunction

The malfunction case is where most drivers meet a paper log for the first time, usually at the roadside. The order of steps under 395.34:

1. Note it and tell the carrier in writing within 24 hours (395.34(a)(1)). The rule says written notice, so a phone call on its own does not meet it.
2. Reconstruct the current day and the previous 7 consecutive days on graph-grid paper logs, unless you already have those records or they can be retrieved from the ELD (395.34(a)(2)). The blank grids required in the cab by 395.22(h)(3) are for this.
3. Keep logging on paper until the ELD is serviced and back in compliance (395.34(a)(3)).
4. At an inspection, hand the officer the paper records for those periods (395.34(b)).

The carrier’s side is 395.34(d): correct the malfunction within 8 days of discovery or the driver’s notice, whichever is first, or ask the FMCSA Division Administrator for the state of its principal place of business for more time within 5 days of the driver’s notice. A data diagnostic event, as opposed to a malfunction, does not by itself put the driver on paper: 395.34(c) tells the driver to follow the carrier’s and the ELD provider’s instructions to resolve it.

Submitting and keeping the log

• To the carrier: within 13 days of the 24-hour period it covers (395.8(a)(2)(ii)).
• In the truck: the driver keeps a copy of each record for the previous 7 consecutive days and has it available for inspection while on duty (395.8(k)(2)).
• At the carrier: records of duty status and supporting documents are kept for at least 6 months from receipt (395.8(k)(1)).
• Supporting documents: bills of lading, dispatch records, expense receipts, fleet messages and payroll records are submitted within 13 days and kept by the carrier under 395.11, and must not be altered or destroyed.

The recap

Drivers call the running total of on-duty hours for the last 7 or 8 days the "recap." Section 395.8 does not require a recap form, but the 60-hour/7-day or 70-hour/8-day limit in 395.3(b) still has to be tracked, and the 7 or 8 days are the 24-hour periods set by the carrier for the home terminal (395.8(f)(8)(ii)). Adding each day’s driving plus on-duty not driving to a running total, and dropping the oldest day, is the simplest way to know how many hours are available tomorrow. The HOS calculator does the same arithmetic.

What an officer checks

• Current to the last change. 395.13(b)(2) makes it an out-of-service condition not to have a record current for the day of the inspection and the prior seven days. 395.13(b)(3): if only today and yesterday are missing and the previous 6 days are complete, the driver gets a chance to bring it up to date.
• False entries. 395.8(e)(1) forbids a false report in connection with duty status. Fuel receipts, tolls and bills of lading are compared with the times and places on the log.
• Completeness. Missing locations, missing totals, no signature, or totals that do not add to 24.
• Eligibility. Whether the driver is entitled to paper at all: the model year on the registration, or the count of log days in the last 30.

Common mistakes

• Logging ahead. The rule is current to the last change, not to the planned end of the day.
• Local time instead of home terminal time. The whole log uses the home terminal’s time standard.
• Forgetting the 9th day. Paper is allowed only up to 8 log days in any 30.
• Engine age instead of VIN. The pre-2000 exception follows the model year in the VIN on the registration.
• Missing the malfunction steps. Written notice within 24 hours and 7 days reconstructed, not just today.
• Gaps in the line. The grid must show every hour of the 24 in exactly one status.

For the limits a log has to show compliance with, see hours of service rules and split sleeper berth.