Is this normal in trucking

Lotsa shady sheet in truck driving. Some even drive in the left lane, steer tires with 3 plugs, cooler full of beer, on a 1099 even!!!!

 

Used to be a lot of cash under the table trucking. I'm sure it's still there, but it can't be as prevalent as it used to be. It wasn't just paying drivers, either; used to be quite a bit of freight hauled that way, too. Which usually involved product NOT on the BOL!

No Rube, I'm not pointing a finger your way!

 

Nothing is going to happen if the driver is pulled over, what does the DOT care if you are paid under the table. At least road side. In a safety audit it might be a different story.

 

In a safety audit they will dig into things like who was driving and are they registered properly as an employee. Roadside that's not likely to happen..

 

The proof of insurance card in the truck isn't going to list every insured driver

 

Roadside they do good to tell if the plate is valid. I ran the same plate several years, lady at IRP asked if it was readable at 50 ft and if it still had reflective paint. My answer was idk so I got a new plate WITH matching cab card. I repeat WITH matching cab card. Fast forward to months later and 3am in the great state of Illinois. I see the local gestapo ease out from his post in the median and get behind me now I know what’s coming so I signal to the ramp ahead and he does in fact initiate contact. Says it’s a level 3. First question is what are you hauling???…….idk what goes mooo officer was the response I wanted to give but I stick with cattle. Where did you load I tell him Joplin. Destination??? Wyalusing Pa officer. Him again what are you hauling like my trailer ain’t full of holes and I can change my answer from before. Then he takes my binder and after 30 minutes comes back and says something silly like was this vehicle previously registered to you under a different name no is my answer. Well by vin it comes back differently. Now this ain’t clicked with me yet. I tell him you have the cab card you can match to vin to license plate whats problem?? I got live animals here and were rock in on an hour of this pity pat and I got elsewhere to be on a schedule. He keeps on with the Dumass questions when I finally say is it coming back to K8016.5? Ya that’s the previous plate that was in bad shape and replaced or updated. You can see that by looking behind this years cab card at last years. Still not satisfied so an hour and 45 in he takes me in town to put me on elevator scale and it’s just what I said it be 87500. Writes me on invalid registration and charges me all way back to 0lbs. Tells me I better get it fixed before moving or the attorney general be involved. I pull out right behind him nothing invalid about my registration and I go on to wyalusing. Get started on getting out of said 4K plus ticket and the people in office can plainly see that tag was updated and cab card was 100 percent correct. My point here is this is for the most part the caliber of DOT you’ll deal with. They are either just looking to make the day or just hoping your that big bust that gets their promotion. He was so trained on his roadside procedure he couldn’t see these big ### Holsteins no could he hear them and he asked twice to make sure I didn’t change my answer to pigs.

They are not there to help nor are they your pals or support crew. They cannot eat you or take your birthday away.

 

When I hauled dirt there was a lot of make believe companies with fake paper tags and no insurance. I mean a lot, like 1 in 5. If there was a dot cop outside a job site or a quarry there would be a cluster of 10-20 trucks refusing to move and wait out the cop.

 

wonder what his reaction would have been if you said chickens.