Charlotte Pipe

Thought I'd tell my fellow flatbedders a funny story for you. The company I work for hauls a few Charlotte Pipe loads here and there. Me personally, have never done one. Well anyway as it would seem, a friend and I met up in Knoxville, TN the other day. He had a Charlotte Pipe load due in a small town right over the FL border off I75S due 9am the following morning. My load was due in Pensacola the next day open receiving all day. We both left out the TS that morning around 7AM heading south. Now this was right after that tragic death in Ringgold, GA at the scale house where the coil killed the driver (RIP driver), so we both know my friend would run into EVERY scale house.

So anyway he calls me later on says he was sitting at that very Ringgold scale waiting to be inspected. He was told that every flatbed driver with a suicide coil was getting inspected at every station. He waited there an hour before being cleared. In this time he had spoken to his fleet manager and informed them of the possible delays. Our entire fleet even got a message warning us about this. Skipping ahead, he hit all 3 scales on I75 and was delayed a total of 8 flipping hours. yes, 8 hours waiting to be inspected at these scales.

Anyway he had told his dispatcher, hey I can't make the dropoff appt. It'll be later the next day. Needless to say this is what happened, he received a service failure for being late, got a .25 a mile reduction in pay for the run and a $100 penalty. Not because our company wanted to, but because charlotte pipe loads CANNOT be late for any reason, and they instill stiff penalties on us for being late, no matter what! And my company refuses to stand up to them and challenge these stupid penalties.

Thats why our O/O's will never under any circumstance take one of their loads. Wanted to tell you guys this because if you are offered a Charlotte Pipe load, ask about it first!