Scale master let me go?

Minnesota let me go at the Saginaw scale 1800 pounds over on my tandems when I was hauling gas once. I crossed that scale a few times a day. Lady made me sit there and stare at my weight for a few minutes and then gave me the green light.

She knew I was over and I knew I was over. Got lucky that day. A week later she got a coworker for being over on his drives by about 1k

 

One thing about this wonderful world we call trucking is this tendency for people to look for one size fits all solutions to problems. It is possible to get a green light being 2500 pounds over on Monday, then go back across that same scale on Friday and get nailed. If a scale master is getting close to close up time, or about to go home. The same scale master might let you pass that day. A scale master might have serious problems with your company and take it out on you, but let every other truck by with that same amount over. I lightly touched on this in another thread here a few days ago. A driver can have righteous anger about something then proceed to make every other driver in your company pay for that. A scale master might also not feel good that day. Just sitting and only stopping the seriously overweights. A scale master might not generally stop but because their boss is in the scale house will stop you. There are tons of reasons why you can get a green light one day pulled in the next.

Drivers also seem to have this mind set about HOS violations. They act like the sky will fall the moon collide with the Earth or 100 DOT cops will come out from behind trees. That is pure BS. I can tell you for a fact most if not all state scales are out of tolerance at some point. You can't have 60 to 80 thousand pounds pounding on a scale day in and day out and there not be some accuracy slippage. The better scale masters know this and let some overweights go. I remember the west bound I 20 Mississippi scale coming out of Alabama way back in the 90s most weight masters had their feet up on the desk, they only pulled a truck in if they needed to do an inspection, that scale was broke for a long time before Mississippi finally closed it down and rebuilt it into a supercoop

I tell drivers all the time, the closer you can get to those max weights the better you are. Your "luck" with being overweight is directly reversely proportional to how much you are over.

 

And sometimes you can get away by being the exception to the rule. If the scale master expects every truck driver to be hollering and carrying on and then you come in with all required paperwork being polite and calm they could just let you go out of shock. It never hurts to be courteous and show respect.

 

I've been on both sides. As I mentioned, the Saginaw scale let me go with an obvious overweight. Had I gotten a ticket it would have been on me for not figuring my weights right when I loaded each pocket.

At a previous company though there was one inspector in WI that hated my boss. He would sit down the street from our shop waiting for us. Apparently at some point in the past him and my boss had had words. I didn't stick around there for very long.

 

Do u have spread or closed tandem

 

In a way, your comment was the same as mine just worded differently. My point was there really are no hard and fast rules when it comes to DOT compliance and what happens with noncompliance. The thing is though when a DOT officer tells you to pull around back for being overweight, they go pull the printed weights to make part of the ticket. By the time you get inside the scale the officer gets your info (if they have not already got it) and tells you how much you are over and writes the ticket. You can ask most any cop DOT or otherwise this one question. When do you make up your mind to write a ticket? Most will say as soon as they see the offense. It goes back to that old saying a cop has the ticket half written by the time they get you stopped. Now don't get me wrong. Showing that officer some respect (even when your first impulse is to throttle him) and being courteous can never hurt. Now we are getting to the heart of how I always felt about how a driver should comport themselves when interreacting with cops. The operative word, in my opinion, is TACT. Being tactful does not mean you just smile like little miss Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm when Johnny Law is trying their best to screw you over. It means respecting the authority of that officer and acting properly. There is a youtube video that I have seen several times. I won't get too deep into the detail because I don't want to hijack the thread. Every time I see that video I think of how ignorant that tool was. Not only did he get detained for several hours, he also most likely got another same company driver in trouble that day.

I will never understand why most people it seems can't tell the difference between using tact and confusing unreasonable compliance with being discourteous or being rude. I have used this example many times with some of these HOS threads. A cop asks you to comment on a log entry this is information a cop has no legal right to know. All you are required to give said cop is the physical log. I can't tell you how many hours of training ALL cops get in gotcha questions and setting them up. This does not mean you act like a jerk in the process. NEVER get your freak on like this during a DOT stop. This is where tact comes into play. Most cops once they see you mean this will move on. Yes, there are some cops that will proceed to show you who is the boss and tear your truck apart. The thing is these same cops were never going to allow you to leave anyway. I drove for many years before I retired in 2012. I can't remember if it was Ohio or Indiana, however, I had a 14-hour violation because of a dunce on a dock and then not being able to find a place to park while in Mass. I noted the violation on my log and called safety that next morning. This DOT cop several days later while doing a 70-hour check finds my notations and asks me about that day's log. I just told her I was caught in a bad situation and was forced to bust my 14. Then she proceeded to try to get more detail. I finally just stopped her and said ma'am I busted my 14 while in Mass. I noted the violation and notified my company. I will be counseled by my company safety dept on my next log audit. If you feel I need a ticket for the HOS then write it, please. I honestly have nothing more to add. She gave me back my legals and I went on my way. I was tired angry and at the time close to stopping for the day and having dinner. I was tactful but stood my ground.

So how does this all apply to being overweight and not getting a ticket? It doesn't really. If you get an overweight ticket or not it depends on so many different factors there are no hard and fast rules. Drivers should ALWAYS be tactful even with docks and dock workers. Same with company officials. Always show respect and be courteous. Just don't allow ANYONE to walk all over you, and it is NOT being disrespectful to stop this.

 

Can u just slide tandems and even out weight

 

Most of the time "eyeballing" tandem settings will work. While you should never trust a shippers weight, that weight on the bills should be a guide. It's a shame you missed that exit. I have driven all the way to the TA in Baltimore after loading in Aberdeen because the scales were open at the toll plaza. Good thing I did because if I remember right they had me loaded around 92,000 gross and only showing about 28,000 shipping weight pounds on the bills. The girl at the shipping office had her eyes almost bug out when she saw my CAT ticket. The load got fixed. BY this time they had closed those scales and I went on and delivered after re-scaling north of the toll plaza.

 

Vindictiveness has no place in law enforcement, a vindictive cop is a dirty cop in my opinion. Abuse of power is right up there with corruption and needs to be called out, but yeah good luck proving it.

I was reading a news article regarding some city the other day, Baltimore maybe, that stated that something like 361 cops had been considered "Giglioed" (caught lying), thus are not credible and are unable to testify at trial. Yet, why are they still employed then? Likely, because no one wants the job anymore, can't blame 'em. Thankfully though, most cops are not like this.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pro L.E. Most have got a tough job to do and they have my respect & support. Just be impartial, keep it real, use common sense, and do it right...