Overweight Triggers Level III

I've been unhappy with my load positioning lately. Never been overweight but too light on the drives for my liking which makes me tail heavy. Crappy handling makes me grumpy.

So...I've been cheating my loads forward. Bit me today rolling through WA scale.

When I loaded the day prior, I was contemplating scaling the load at nearest CAT (shipper had no scale). I made the command decision to run it (talked myself into this) because...
1) nearest scale is Jubitz / Portland / rush hour
2) shipper is done for the day and wouldn't get reworked until next day

It felt I was it cutting really close this time on my drives. My dash gauge was right on my max psi and figured I could burn the fuel if I was over. Then I'd just run half tanks and be fine (arrived at shipper with full tanks).

Hit WA port of entry and nailed for heavy drives 34,560. Steers were fine and spread was under 38k. Officer admits to being "bored" lol. Requests all paperwork and proceeds with level III (cherry popped!)

No ticket issued. Just a document with all my info, Level III, and violation. "state/local laws-excessive weight". Before he sent me on way he asked how much fuel I had on and said "Make sure you fuel AFTER crossing scales". He was saying this more as advice and not reprimanding me. I certainly wasn't offering any excuses other than I failed to load my trailer properly.

My first inspection turned out to be pretty painless. Although, if I had done my job properly I may still be inspection free. Now we'll see what my company has to say about it.

It's my understanding that CSA points are not awarded for this, and the officer said as much.

 

Yeah, going the other direction this morning. Green lighted through first Montana scale. Few more to go.

Fixed fifth wheel so did some rearranging and plan on running on fumes I guess.

 

I know my center as well. Loader barely spoke English and lumber bundles were different sizes. So we started loading from the front and hoped for the best. I'm guessing another foot to rear and I'd be good?

 

Now I'm wondering if this will give the state a reason to pull myself/company in more often. Do you think they'll have this in their "system" that triggers as I roll by next time.

As I approached scale, signs said follow in cab signal. I have Prepass but was not red lighted. LED signs just lit up to pull in. They apparently had it turned off I guess.