Full tank or not? Shipper...

Much of it is timing. You can almost guarantee long lines if you try to fuel in the evening.

 

Or dawn....

 

You think they weighed everyone coming in just for kicks ? The driver who brought in the trailer yesterday you are picking up today , that load was based on the weight he tipped the scale at. As was the load picked up the load tomorrow is going to be based on the weight when you came in at. Since they weighed the bobtail and the truck and trailer , they know that trailer was 250 lbs heavier then normal. It was the driver coming in near empty that caused you to be over. And trust me if you are too lite you are going to take that preloaded trailer back to the dock . Have been there . Got to the consigned and they are fussing, we did not order this , this, or none of that! But you are not leaving till they have you near max! But if messing over the next guy makes you feel better...

 

if you have 150 gallon duel tanks (which is unlikely) and average 7mpg you could make it 525 with a 1/4 tank assuming that you are able to use every single gallon in the tanks which you can't. So lets be optimistic and say you only have 10% you can't use. Your actual range is 472.5. Now i don't know about you, but in 8-10 hours i make it 500-600 miles.

Think then talk, not the other way around.

 

Can you be more specific? It seems safe to assume the shipper, receiver, and the carrier would disagree.

1) It isn't "harder than necessary". How hard is it to stop for fuel?

You get to haul the load, and you don't have to waste time fiddling with it, and, if after fiddling with it, you don't learn you can't haul it because you're too heavy, and you're too heavy because you are toting too much fuel to make weight. "Professional" truck driver doesn't include asking "What's in it for me?" and/or "How can I make my job easier?"

 

Every Bud load I've hauled is a drop and hook. Never had an inbound weigh, only been told where to drop the empty in the drop yard. In that case it doesn't matter how much fuel you have coming in for a drop and hook.

I love your concept of thinking before talking. So basically you've proved that you would need to fill up once a day. Not sure what point you're driving at. Is fueling up once a day an onerous task?

 

maybe I am missin something here? But what is all the fuss about? There are many many loads that you cannot scale with full tanks--it is just part of the job--many companies tell shippers how much they can haul--some figure it w/full tanks others not..
BUT where is it written your tanks have to be full to load--while Ill admit--it can be a pita to only be able to run1/4 tanks---lots of us do it all the time(with the VERY cold winter months being the exception)
The point here(as in everything in this biz)is MONEY--is the load worth what you have to do to haul it--and if you are driving and being paid by someone else---SORRY you have no dog in this hunt--if the owner of the vehicle feels the load is worth moving and requires extra care(whatever that may be--fuel etc)than you haul it that way--its called your job
So what am I missing?

 

When I worked for Stevens, our Florida bound dispatches came with a notation to have no more than 75 gallons of fuel (roughly between 1/2 and 1/4 on the gage) because we always reloaded at Tropicana in Bradenton, FL and our contract called for a minimum load of 46,000 lbs. It was not uncommon to load (it was drop and hook), head up to Wildwood and scale out to find you were slightly over 80,000 lbs. We usually took our break there and idled off the extra weight lol.

 

only time and experience with various shippers answers your question
you want enough fuel to be legal
not so much you waste time scaling going back to the shipper reworking the load etc

beer co load you heavy you better be full of fuel or you will stop every 250 miles for 50 gal
some paper companies load so heavy load instructions say no more then 1/2 tank of fuel

after time you will know where the scalehouses are and how it works best for you

 

Question - If you were let's say 200lbs over and burning it off idling at 1 gallon per hour. If fuel weighs 7.2lbs per gallon, that would mean you have to idle 27 hours to burn fuel to get to weight. Idling off the weight just doesn't seem to make sense. Were you joking or am I not understanding something?