scale placement

Why anyone would "dodge scales" and add all the extra miles and take all that responsibility when they are paid only around 90% of what they run in a straight line is a mystery to me. If the shipper cannot make the load legal, helping them to get around it is just not very smart,

 

Never loaded beans or corn in a farmers field have you??? Sure i can scale it when i go past a truck stop but wont do any good, there isnt a dock for me to back into to take a little off in the middle of the field and usually by the time im near a truck stop with a scale im alot closer to home so whats the point in taking it back. The farmer and i get paid by the ton, so we have to load as close to legal as possible, but your not always on level ground. So it might work in your ill have the shipper take some off world, but it doesn always work in mine!

 

I'm not sure why you say that, just cursory viewing has permits available for both divisible and non-divisible overweight permits at least for Oregon and Wisconsin, etc..., so I guess depending on where you're trying to operate, that would determine your course of action... but as far as the "being cheap" comment, that refers to not getting the permit (if possible) because of cost, as well as being lazy(not getting the permit..too much trouble), or by running one or more loads at illegal weights to cut down on the number of runs needed to legally run them...etc., or someone not paying to have two loads run (legal) versus talking someone into running overweight (illegal), paid extra or not. They're not paying the freight. That's what the cheap reference refers to.

I haven't found a load yet that wasn't possible to axle out. Usually all it involved was taking something off to make it work. When the shipper was unwilling to remove, I was unwilling to haul. It really is that simple. Yeah it sucks, you lose a load going home, etc... but the rules are quite clear.

Most people that bypass a scale, don't want to get stopped....for a reason. Whether that's not to be harassed or not, isn't for me to say, but common sense dictates if you have no reason to fear, there's nothing to fear. There may be a little apprehension of having to get inspected, but if the truck and the driver are solid, there's no reason to fear or be afraid of being harassed. It's part of the job.

 

Not everyone gets paid by the mile.. One day maybe some of you guys will realize not everyone drags a freight box from dock to dock...

 

Crash935, you as the driver are responsible for that load's weight. Not the farmer. He's not driving it or getting the ticket. You are. If you can't tell how much weight is on your truck by sight/weight measure of the material you're hauling, who's fault is it?

Most farming/cooperatives have a scale nearby. I'm sure no farmer drives his load to the city only then to find out how much his load gets him by the ton without having "some" idea of how much tonnage he put in. If you get paid by the ton, you're sure you don't how much "tonnage" you have on you? I don't buy it. Farm implements, dump trucks, etc. all have measures of weight. Just by experience alone you should know what your truck is likely to weigh...just by habit of noting that a 1547 bushel trailer will hold that much and what it looks like. Since you don't live in the world where you can have the shipper take it off, I suggest you try living in the world where a professional knows what it takes to keep from being overloaded. Others do it, so it's attainable.

 

I go around them every chance I get. the company pays for my scales. N/m not worth banging my head on a rock about. I will say I have been a driver for a long time. I was taught you do what needs to be done to get the job done. That holds true to anything. Not just driving

 

there are lots of reasons besides making sure you are running legal.

i don't like being harrased just for my permits. it's a nationwide database that every state has. they know my permits are good. just last week i was stropped for my ifta. and i've been across that scale 100 times this year.

some states don't sell permits for whatever reason. some states don't sell permits at the scale. have to be bought directly from the state when they are opened.

some companies don't want to pay for permits. and probably didn't price the load for permits or whatever reason.



last year, i had a ONE steel beam 15 feet over. that the broker never said a word about. and since no one wantred to pay the $25 for the permit to cross one scale. i had to spend the extra fuel for the scenic route.

scales on the west are hard to go around. as we're not as densly populated as the east. where there are towns literally everywhere. and everyone needs freight hauled in. on the west, you be driving through the mountains. very time consuming and way out of route. and usually closed in the winter

 

Few years ago I pulled into a scale about 35 miles from my house. Didn't know it at the time that my load shifted forward because of people not knowing how to load it. So got an over axle ticket, got it shifted and all that than went inside to pay the ticket. After I paid it he asked me why I'm coming this way when there are about 4 ways i could go that would take me around the scale to my house. Just said I was in a bit of a hurry at the time to get home since it was few minutes quicker not going around. He told me to just keep going around them for now on, haven't crossed that scale since during their business hours.

 

I guess if your time isn't worth anything, sitting behind a scale watching a guy inspect a 2 day old truck is right up your alley.

Wow, I guess we're in the presence of a total professional. Funny though since even most states allow weight exemptions for certain products because of how much they can vary in weight, and for products loaded without scales available.
http://www.truckline.com/AdvIssues/Advocacy%20Materials/State%20Weight%20Exemptions%20Table.pdf


We've hauled grain for years, the test weights can vary greatly and air scales don't work on uneven terrain. This is why states like mine allow 5%. Also grain isn't sold by the ton, it's sold by the bushel and a bushel of corn is 56# but in reality it can be as high as 65# or as low as 50# so while you think your loading one amount you could be completely loading more/less than you think.

Most of the steel mills I haul from DO NOT allow axle weights, gross weight only. So I'm asking you since apparently I don't live in the world where true professionals are. I've got a 2 coil load, one weighs 56,000 the other weighs 28,500. I've got a pretty good idea where to set each one on the trailer to be legal with my permit but I can't be certain since moving one a few inches the wrong direction changes everything. Throw 2 chains on each and pull out the door, finish chaining and scale out. I'm under my max gross weight but I'm not sure on axle weight. Now being the professional I ask you do you drive 5 miles off your permit route to a truckstop scale to see if it's legal, if not then what do you do? Do you continue on your permit route and cross the state scales and cross your fingers? Or do you simply bypass the state scales all together and have a nice day? Driving off the permit route is against the rules but so is being over axle................please school me on the proper technique.

 

Doesn't change anything that I said...