1. Since Dec. 18, 2017, the start of the Phase II Compliance Phase of ELD standards, compliance to the new ELD standards has come faster for bigger fleet companies. The bigger fleets generally have complied and have been less disgruntled, compared to the smaller fleets. Pre-mandate, the smaller fleets, in particular, were wary of the decrease in miles per day and thereby the reduction in their profit margins.
2. Beginning April 1, 2018, inspectors will place commercial motor vehicle drivers out of service if their vehicle is not equipped with the required device.
3. Some fleets have had problems because they didn’t get ahead of the ELD planning and purchase equipment not compatible with the systems they are running.
4. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted a 90-day waiver (90 days from the Dec. 18 launch of Phase II) from the Federal hours-of-service regulations pertaining to ELDs for the transportation of agricultural commodities. By mid-March, ag haulers would have to install ELDs as well.
5. The Full Compliance Phase or Phase 3 will launch on Dec. 16, 2019 when all drivers and carriers are subject to the full FMCSA rule must use self-certified ELDs that are registered with FMCSA.
6. Putting it in perspective, the ELD mandate is perhaps the biggest change seen by the trucking industry in over 50 years.
7. The ELD rule allows limited exceptions to the ELD mandate, including:

• Drivers who operate under the short-haul exceptions may continue using timecards; they are not required to keep RODS and will not be required to use ELDs.
• Drivers who use paper RODS for not more than 8 days out of every 30-day period.
• Drivers who conduct drive-away-tow-away operations, in which the vehicle being driven is the commodity being delivered.

Sources:

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds/limited-90-day-waiver-transportation-agricultural-commodities

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/compliance-rate-post-eld-mandate

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds/implementation-timeline

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/faq/who-must-comply-electronic-logging-device-eld-rule