Why Aren't Shippers...

Why aren't shippers at least somewhat responsible for the weight of the trailer? Having the shipper put the weight as 30,000 and then scaling myself and finding out I'm close to 80k is really getting old.

Had a load yesterday that the bills said 42k and i weighed myself and was at 79960.

If we can only shift weight by 250pound increments then the trailers should not be loaded past 79750 and that's if your steers have 12000 on them exactly.

I took the load. Maybe shouldn't have. Not sure what i should have done. Go back and tell them to take stuff off the trailer? Thankfully this isn't one of our dedicated shippers. Just an otr trip to get me back after taking home time.

Shippers only document the weight of the cargo, not the total weight. Only a scale can record an accurate total; tractor, trailer and cargo.

At Swift, if we are overweight, we are to return to the shipper for a re work of the load. Sometimes that requires them to remove product. Gladhand learned an expensive lesson recently. A $1300.00 ticket in Illinois for a bridge law violation. He wasn't OVERWEIGHT but his kingpin to tandem spacing was in violation. I scale anything that I believe may be questionable. An extra 30-60 minutes of my time beats a FINE like he got.

Agree with Tractor. The lading weight on the bill could an estimate or flat out wrong. No one here really knows why there is such ambiguity in how cargo weight is represented on a bill. Ultimately you are responsible. If you can't scale out legally you have two choices; run with it and risk a ticket or take it back to the shipper and have them rework the load. Have the scale ticket handy.

Isaac...some drivers will weigh their truck with an empty van to tell them their empty weight. Then your able to add the weight from the shippers document. What I used to do is if it adds up close to 80k...I would scale...if it adds up to somewhere 79k and lower...I knew I'd be safe. I also shipped from a relatively constant shipper. Each load was roughly loaded in the same manner...so I bacame accustomed to where the tandems were set. But...knowing what your truck weighs empty will help you in the future. As others have said...when in doubt...scale it.

Also keep in mind - that shippers will try to stuff EVERY LAST POUND OF PRODUCT in your box they can. Goes especially for large DC type orders - where you're not the only truckload of that product going to that recipient. The water companies are FAMOUS for trying to stuff an extra pallet of 16 oz bottled water in your box.

I see this a lot down on the port where I've done work as a longshoreman. The union gets a cut of TONNAGE on containers. The BOL for any given container is almost always off, as the shipper tries to beat the shipping company out of $$ on the shipping cost. Gross is supposed to be chalked on the side of the container - at the shipping port, they do it by the declared weight on the BOL (which is how it goes on the shippers computer). The container cranes have scales built-in - so the operator compares the declared weight, to the ACTUAL WEIGHT - and the longshoreman invoice for the ACTUAL TONNAGE MOVED, not the declared. But the INTERMODAL DRIVER that moves that box off the port - may end up getting jammed up for a container that weighs 1,000's of lbs more than declared weight, when he rolls across a scale with it.

Rick

Tim suggests:

Isaac...some drivers will weigh their truck with an empty van to tell them their empty weight. Then your able to add the weight from the shippers document. What I used to do is if it adds up close to 80k...I would scale...if it adds up to somewhere 79k and lower...I knew I'd be safe. I also shipped from a relatively constant shipper. Each load was roughly loaded in the same manner...so I bacame accustomed to where the tandems were set. But...knowing what your truck weighs empty will help you in the future. As others have said...when in doubt...scale it.

Tim this only works if the BOL weight is accurate. At times it's not. Weighing an empty truck and dry van can provide a "nominal" weight to be used as a guide. Remember reefer trailers are always heavier than a dry van. Weighing an empty each time IMO is not necessary and uses up valuable time (can't really determine if that's what you are suggesting).

I think a fair rule of thumb to consider is weigh any load in excess of 30,000lbs, if for no other reason than balance.

I think a fair rule of thumb to consider is weigh any load in excess of 30,000lbs, if for no other reason than balance.

Agreed!

I keep this scale ticket with me. The 45,415 is the BOL listed weight for the cargo. My truck was 80 pounds short of breaking the law, with half a tank of fuel. (If I had a full tank, it would be over the legal limit.)

I keep this so if some shipper has a load close to 45,000, we talk first, before I pull out from the dock. As the others have said, many shippers want to get as much on your truck as possible. No they won't be scamming you to get you overloaded, so if you can get the load adjusted before you start, do it.

The bottom line for a DOT officer is, who's in the driver seat? And that would be you. That whole truck, on the road, is your responsibility. No explanation needed.

Our policy is to scale every load. If im very light, I dont though. Overweight fines are no joke and i dont want to work for free for a week.

The problem with shippers is, likr Errol said, theyll try to squeeze every bit of what they "think" they can get away with to try to save on freight costs. Another problem is those who have scales.. They often arent accurate.

I do not hesitate to make a shipper offload product or rework the load if they loaded it to heavy to the back. Ill always try to make it legal first though. Depending on the product (never do this with glass or anything bottled in glass lol) is a few really forward hard brakes to help slide the stuff forward a bit. If youve done absolutely everything you can that sometimes works.. Same for too much towards the front..

Our safety dept has us figured out on that so they never say anything about those hard brakes during scaling anymore. If you have any easily damaged product or tall paper rolls--DONT DO THAT!