Question about sealed loads

Yup. Flatbeds and reefers have to do it as well. If you're pulling a reefer and something happens to the unit; you create liability issues for yourself if you don't log periodic reefer checks.

 

HAZMAT loads still require tire checks every 250 mi.

 

Not since 2002.


http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regu...rulemakings/revisions-to-tire-check-final.htm

 

What happens i you were suppose to have a seal on when arriving at delivery but there is no seal because I did a partial load?

 

Depends on the receiver and the freight. Some will really frown on that. Others could care less.

But probably should have put your own seal on and noted on the appropriate bills.

 

I'm going to agree with @STexan but add more. In most situations if there is a missing seal the receiver will unload you. Some won't, they will send you packing. However once you leave a dock without a seal with that seal number noted on the bills YOU and your company have just become responsible for most anything that is missing. NEVER leave a shipper without a seal. IF they don't provide one then use your own and have them note it on that bill. Remember when it comes to seals it is about load security. When it comes to load security think Cover your butt. In the case of a multi delivery you should get enough seals to reseal. If not use your own. Just saying, the driver that has a lais·sez faire attitude about load security is a driver that sooner or later will live to regret it!

 

When a shipper hands you a seal, and does not seal the trailer themselves or check the at the guard shack. Then you don’t have to seal the trailer until about a mile before you pull into your consignee.

Put your pad lock on & ride. If you by chance find your pad lock broken off, break the seal and throw it on the ground before you take any pictures.

***if they’re gonna break a pad lock, they would of busted a plastic seal.

 

If a customer demands a sealed load, it's going to be already present at drop yard. Check seal against papers and satellite. They should match perfect and show untampered wtih.

It is the seals that even John the Revelation will not witness broken unless it is one of the Law Enforcement that breaks it. Badge number so and so's name location broken location resealed by yourself. and so on.

If you showed up at a customer who ask for sealed load and you aint got one on there... there is a very good chance the entire trailer is rejected on sight. One of two things will happen. A investigation as to why it's busted with a panel of questioning designed to extract facts. Second you will be told whta to do with that load. Back to shipper is one possibility, landfill is another. A third and less appealing is wholesaling. 4th you just became a traveling salesman drifting across the USA until your trailer is truly empty. Anything is possible.

 

Seals are not put on loads for hard physical security purposes. Seals are for accountability later if things turn up missing. As a driver you should always insure your loads are sealed and that seal number a part of not only your bills but the copies you leave with the shipper. However you touched on one of the reasons shippers have moved to the large seals. I have seen people walking behind parked trucks and take a pocket knife to a seal and open the doors. High dollar high value loads can fool you. Some people think that electronics etc is the most expensive? Honestly I have hauled cosmetics. Those loads are light, but gosh are they high dollar. Seal them, or your company will be eating loss. I have seen it happen more then once!

 

Basically, sealing a trailer is covering your arse, and that of your employer. It's a cheap and effective way to keep the client from pointing the finger at you if something is missing. Say you pick up a load of iunno a thousand boxes of Tyson products at the warehouse and you're on your way to a Walmart DC. Okay so when you get there, you give Walmart paper work saying they purchased, paid for, and have received a thousand boxes of Tyson product. Well when they pull it off your trailer and inventory it, if they're short 250 boxes, they're going to call Tyson. They're going to swear up and down that they loaded a thousand boxes.

Always remember the warehouse takes the blame for nothing unless you can prove it.

So then Walmart is going to call your company and tell them that there was supposed to be a thousand boxes of product on your trailer. The shipper signed off on loading a thousand boxes. When it got to the DC, they were short 250 boxes and it is your company's fault.

But if you sealed that load – and someone correct me if I'm wrong here – and I believe Walmart requires all loads coming in and out of their DC to be sealed, you're covered. They're going to look at the paper work and the seal they broke when they got it, and figure out you didn't replace the seal. Then it's the shippers fault, not yours.

There's only a few instances where you would need to break a sealed trailer. Highway patrol/dot making you open it for instance is a legitimate reason. I wanted to make sure my chicken didn't shift probably isn't, especially if the load is short.