FedEx Ground Linehaul with JohnBoy

Late to the party as usual but to echo what everyone else said, that’s what I was always told too is about a ton difference is ok, anymore than that it gets kinda sketchy. What I don’t know is aside from company policy and just general “doubles policy”, is if you happen to get pulled over and give the DOT man your bills, or cross a scale even, if the heavier trailer is the tail is that a ticketable offense? I’ve heard some states have a guideline where the rear trailer can’t be more than like 20% heavier than the lead but i didn’t know if that’s gospel, or truck driver folklore.

 

Well in full transparency this was years ago and heard in the drivers lounge so I wouldn’t put a lot of stock behind it.

And this answered a question I’ve had for so long I forgot to tee it up for you. When I did LTL it was nothing for us to have 30+ bills per trailer by the time they were done stacking, decking, and cramming stuff in. I’ve often wondered how that was in your sector with god knows how many 100’s of boxes per pup.

 

If you harken back to the paper log days the "load section" was just shipper/commodity/load or BOL number. Back then, I was taught that the important thing was the load/BOL number because with that all the underlying details could be discovered. The commodity blank was just to give DOT an idea of what was in the trailer without having to read the BOL, and we were taught to be as vague as possible to avoid being caught in a pedantic trap - particularly when the BOL lists PO and item number without descriptions. If the driver writes down 'paper towels' when there are two skids of toliet paper - FORM AND MANNER VIOLATION, UP AGAINST THE WALL! FAK covers all contingencies. I have never had a DOT officer concerned with what was in the blanks - provided they were filled in.

What I'm finding interesting is Fedex's "minimum required placards" policy. I was under the impression that if the trailer has more than 1,000 pounds of hazmat then it has to be placarded with all the underlying classes. If Fedex can get away with just 'dangerous' placards, then they do so.

 

When I did seasonal UPS when I first started driving, they based trailer position by volume, not weight. If we took a set to Goodland, KS though, we weighed and left the scale tickets with the trailer because Denver would come over and take triples back and they hooked up based on weight, same as a triples turnpike run from KC to Wichita. Even twin 53's on the turnpike were hooked per volume and driver's often complained because the weights were "backwards" a lot of times. If the road is clear and the wind isn't blowing 25mph+, I never had an issue personally.

 

@High Stepper can probably tell us for sure, because I've been out of the LTL game for almost 5 years now. But, DANGEROUS can be used when there a two different classifications not above a certain weight iirc. And it's not for all classifications, but only certain ones.