To Weigh or Not to Weigh...that is the question

They are there mainly to regulate safety like mechanical issues and driver compliance as well as equipment compliance. If ur a owner operator all costs of a fix ticket go to you if ur a comp driver and get a ticket about equipment it could go to you of ur grossly negligent otherwise ot goes to the company as long as u have the owner responsability form. Yes they are strategic for the most part. I think the west pacific states have waaay to many scales. The officers are there to pick you and your truck apart. Level 1 -2 - 3 inspections they have they go from driver only to truck and driver. Hoped I helped you.

 

As far as loading, for some shippers it's incumbent for them to maximize equipment usage by shipping as much product as they can in each truck. Not all trucks n trailers weigh the same.

as far as loading, it's probably easier with one product one size. however it could be a multitude of products. Factories ship to cold storages entire batches off the line and also recieve product lines from other factories in the system. and the cold storage mix an match the customers order. So take yougurt as an example, you may be carrying various flavores. The balance factor will be the sizes. Individual cups, larger tubs, kids "Gogurt" in the plastic tube etc etc,

Don't get me started on produce. You might pick up 5 or 6 different vegetables and or fruits at 1, 2, 3, and so on different packing houses.

 

Here. Always, always, always scale. Every load. You know why? Because, while its $10 (that gets reimbursed anyway), spending that $10 might save you hundreds of dollars. And takes the heat off of you because you made the right decision. 2 years ago, one of our guys loaded out of Jersey. Thought it was good, said 40,000 on the bills and the air gauge looked good. In Pennsylvania he went on a state scale and it read over 93,000 pounds. CYA. Remember those 3 letters. Cover your ###. That's your money that pays that fine. Not the company. It would suck real bad to work that week to pay a fine that could have been avoided by taking 5 minutes and $10 out of your day.

 

to know where the state scales are, buy a "trucker atlas". you should have one anyway,there is a lot of info in the front of it.

scales are also there to keep over loaded vehicles from over taxing the capacity of the roads and increasing the deterioration of them.

as joseph1135 said SCALE it. I scale a load over 25K-30K.

also need to keep your axle "bridge" correct, without being over on a set of tandems.

Cal is 40 FT,( distance from kingpin to center of rear axle of trailer) other states have non or a different number.

some are 41' or 43'. center of first axle or centered between the 2 axles.

also found in the front pages of the rand mcnalley truck atlas. under weight and size limits.

I also think you may be over thinking this job a tad.lol or have too much spare time.

 

There are places you might PU, that like to understate the weight as well.

 

Scale every load! Also, always scale at a CAT Scale. They guarantee their weights and will go to court for you on an overweight ticket and pay the fine.

 

It's hard to have a standard when you haul anything and everything. The feds have axle weights on federal highways (interstates) and states have their own axle weights on all the other roads. Though many are similar a driver has to know each state's laws. States have to follow federal law but they can be stricter if they chose, but not slacker. Axle weights have a lot to do with how a state's highways are built. Raw materials available, thickness, budget, salt state, etc.

Scale houses are strategically planned. Most are at state line port of entries, intrastate near major intersections and even highly traveled state highways. The Rand McNally Truckers Atlas has them all marked on the state maps. As a driver gains experience he learns where they are all at. New drivers, well everyone does their trip planning prior to leaving and know what is on their route. Many truck stops and shippers have scales where a driver can make sure he is not overweight and his axles are set right.

Then there are states where the DOT run around with portable scales. For example RI has a restricted bridge on I-95. The DOT sits on the other side and escorts violators behind a shopping center and puts them on portables. Then there are states that have pull offs that they randomly set up. This is all in an effort to keep truckers honest and the roads from being torn up prematurely.

Fines are usually by the pound over what's allowed. They can go in the thousands. That RI bridge is $3000 now I think?

But scalehouses do numerous jobs from inspecting trucks to make sure they are mechanically sound, they make sure drivers are following the Hours of Service and their logs are kept up and not falsifying. They also check compliance with licensing and registration.They could even do random drug test if they so chose. Many are on a tight budget so you don't see that much. The feds put prehire and random drug testing on the companies.

Bypass... Companies that chose so can get a Prepass transponder that they mount on the windshield. It has a green light to bypass and red light for pull in. DOT gives a company a percentage # of red lights based on the companies safety record. The more problems the company has the more red lights they get. Though a scalemaster can manually control the system. Inside the scalehouse they have a TV monitor that displays all the company info. Green letters they got a bypass, red expect them coming in and flashing red means they blew the coops. Some states have their own independent system but as time goes on they are slowly merging to Prepass. Some states don't use it period.

Other bypass methods are they have a second scale prior to the big scales. If you are under gross they will give you a bypass either by light or sign. That's why you see a second lane at coops for the bypass drivers. States like LA have a preweigh scale built in the interstate.

Prepass has merged with EZPass (toll transponder) and now the box can serve two purposes if one pays for that option.


Drivers and companies have hundreds if not thousands of rules and regulations to follow. There is a lot more to the job than an outsider knows.
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/fmcsr/fmcsrguide.aspx?section_type=A

 

Hey Global.

This is how we work it on my FM's board.

We scale any load that weighs 33K or more, Or any load that we feel needs to be scaled. Some loads the BOL may say the load weighs 32K but the weight right scale (the one in your truck if your a company driver) says your at 33K on your drives, Hmm something may be off so you go scale it and find the load is over 40k, so you adjust your trlr tandem correctly.

Company pays for all our scale tickets as long as you submit it with your trip. I normally do a draw when I fuel to get my 10 bucks back.

Also, I never ever go into a shipper more than 1/2 full on my fuel tanks, as alot of our loads will max out at 47k which with full fuel would put me over wt (80K). When I was driving light weights I would pick up loads that would weight 48K plus, so the same rule had to apply.

If you don't weigh and you get a over weight ticket then you have to pay it. One of my old students found out the hard way, cost him 200 bucks for being over 1600 lbs on his trlr tandems. He decided he wouldn't weigh as he only had around 41k on the load, so he guessed it. Bad move.

When I get a load I will normally will run a Macro 19 to get the information for the shipper. In that info is normally the closest CAT scale where I can weigh out. Some times the shipper has a scale we can weigh out also. BUT I don't trust shipper scales so I will always hit a CAT scale somewhere along the line. Classic example is I pick up a beer load in Chico CA, they have a scale so I scale it there, then I will ALWAYS scale it at the 1st scale in Nevada just to be sure as that is the nearest scale along my route when I head east.

If there is no scale identified in the Macro 19, then I find one. I have 2 different apps on my cell phone that will tell me the nearest scale along my route that helps with that.

As far as DOT scales go, all company trucks have the PrePass in them that will notify the driver if he can bypass the scale or not. BUT not all states use PrePass, and sometimes those that do use them don't turn them on. So you may still have to go into the scale. But when in doubt go into the scale, cause the 1st time you by pass a scale and you should have went in, you will get ticketed and you will have to pay the ticket.

As far as the right weight scale in out trucks goes, I always calibrate it at the time that I weigh, as hopefully I will keep the trlr for more than 1 load, but that said I will always scale the load just the same.

Hope all this makes sense and helps you out.