Ever more powerful mobile devices are handling a broader range of applications, so that giving them greater control in scheduling transmissions as a function of application needs is becoming increasingly desirable. Several standards have, therefore, proposed mechanisms aimed at giving devices more autonomy in making transmission decisions on the wireless uplink. This paper explores the impact this can have on total throughput in CDMA systems, where this control has traditionally been centralized. The investigation relies on a simple distributed policy that helps provide insight into the impact of distributed decisions on overall system efficiency, and identify guidelines on how to best mitigate it.