I Can Never See Any Reason Under The Sun Why Trucks Should Ever Be Overweight.

So, whose responsibility is it to make sure axles are not overweight? The loader? The driver? Everybody?

When you roll onto the scale at a weigh station, whoever is driving is the one responsible. Most shippers have a scale on sight. I almost always confirm my weights long before I go through a weigh station.

Todd, I have places where they load me on a scale, piecemealing to get as close to 80k as possible. So 51k on my deck, without the option to slide my tandems , how do I use that scale to make sure I haven’t loaded too far forward and my drives aren’t overweight?

Oh, there is an answer, I’m not asking Todd rhetorically. Just wondering if he can figure it out.

Todd: I don't see any reason why many people are overweight, but they are. Same with trucks. That's why scaling is big business.

Todd, I have places where they load me on a scale, piecemealing to get as close to 80k as possible. So 51k on my deck, without the option to slide my tandems , how do I use that scale to make sure I haven’t loaded too far forward and my drives aren’t overweight?

Oh, there is an answer, I’m not asking Todd rhetorically. Just wondering if he can figure it out.

I was just expecting UNIFORM STANDARDS in the industry, that's all. That's where drivers, companies, truck manufacturers, shippers, receivers, government agencies, goods manufacturers, engineers and scientists all get together and form some sort of consortium. Everybody gets on the same page as how things should be logically and LOGISTICALLY be accomplished in the freight industry. This whole notion about "guessing" truck weight bugs me.

I'm a person who hates guesswork in any occupation I do. I like precise calculations and numbers. Some trucks, I read, carry scales on board.

I was I the army. We had portable scales for our military trucks and trailers in our units. These devices were placed under each and every wheel when weight was checked for equipment deployment. Vehicle weight and load distribution was critical for transporting military vehicles by rail or cargo plane. One does not fudge on weight or load balance with aircraft or people get killed. Railroad inspectors are fussy about how military equipment is loaded and secured on trains.

My ideas of SOP's and standards comes from military service.

Todd: I don't see any reason why many people are overweight, but they are. Same with trucks. That's why scaling is big business.

The digital age has made people lazy and thus obese. Thank geek technology for that.

Our trucks have Right Weigh gauges on the tractor and trailers so you can identify problems before you leave the shipper. Only problem is every time both my gauges were in the red and I notified the shipper they said go get a scale ticket and come back. Sometimes the nearest scale is an hour or more away. Every time dispatch has told me to just go get the scale ticket and bring it back so they will rework it.

At one shipper that had a scale on site it took forever to get them to rework because I was scaling at exactly 80,000 lbs. Only problem was that no matter where I put my fifth wheel or trailer tandems it wouldn't axle out. And I only had 1/4 tank of fuel at the time.

They kept telling me to go side my tandems and try again. I've already tried every hole! Driver you'll be fine once you burn some fuel off... Ummmm I've got no damn fuel to burn! Once I actually put fuel in the truck, I'll be over gross! They finally took off 2 pallets.

The thing to remember is they are trying to get as much freight moved for as cheap as possible so they'll pack as much in as they can. Once the freight leaves their yard it's no longer their problem. The driver is now responsible.

I picked up one meat load that the bills said I only had 39k in the trailer. I scaled at a bit over 80k. It takes over 46k in the trailer to max me out. I told the shipper this and they just shrugged their shoulders. They took off a tiny bit to get me just barely legal.

On another occasion I was "rescuing" a load from an overturned truck. Both the wrecked truck and our truck were old body style 2018 Cascadias and both were team trucks. Bills claimed only 41k lbs so we didn't expect any weight issues. After the freight got transloaded onto our trailer I noticed the right weigh gauges were both waaaay in the red. Dispatch asked me to verify at a cat scale nearby. The truck scaled at 89k gross! Dispatch couldn't believe that could be accurate so they sent me to another cat scale 30 miles away. Still 89k gross!

I don't know how that truck made it from Georgia to Idaho at that weight, but we did find a receipt for a trailer tire blowout repair 1 day prior to their wreck. And they were on a county highway that paralleled the interstate and just happened to avoid a scale house.... Makes ya wonder.

Our trucks have Right Weigh gauges on the tractor and trailers so you can identify problems before you leave the shipper. Only problem is every time both my gauges were in the red and I notified the shipper they said go get a scale ticket and come back. Sometimes the nearest scale is an hour or more away. Every time dispatch has told me to just go get the scale ticket and bring it back so they will rework it.

At one shipper that had a scale on site it took forever to get them to rework because I was scaling at exactly 80,000 lbs. Only problem was that no matter where I put my fifth wheel or trailer tandems it wouldn't axle out. And I only had 1/4 tank of fuel at the time.

They kept telling me to go side my tandems and try again. I've already tried every hole! Driver you'll be fine once you burn some fuel off... Ummmm I've got no damn fuel to burn! Once I actually put fuel in the truck, I'll be over gross! They finally took off 2 pallets.

The thing to remember is they are trying to get as much freight moved for as cheap as possible so they'll pack as much in as they can. Once the freight leaves their yard it's no longer their problem. The driver is now responsible.

I picked up one meat load that the bills said I only had 39k in the trailer. I scaled at a bit over 80k. It takes over 46k in the trailer to max me out. I told the shipper this and they just shrugged their shoulders. They took off a tiny bit to get me just barely legal.

On another occasion I was "rescuing" a load from an overturned truck. Both the wrecked truck and our truck were old body style 2018 Cascadias and both were team trucks. Bills claimed only 41k lbs so we didn't expect any weight issues. After the freight got transloaded onto our trailer I noticed the right weigh gauges were both waaaay in the red. Dispatch asked me to verify at a cat scale nearby. The truck scaled at 89k gross! Dispatch couldn't believe that could be accurate so they sent me to another cat scale 30 miles away. Still 89k gross!

I don't know how that truck made it from Georgia to Idaho at that weight, but we did find a receipt for a trailer tire blowout repair 1 day prior to their wreck. And they were on a county highway that paralleled the interstate and just happened to avoid a scale house.... Makes ya wonder.

PlanB, you are preparing me upstairs in my noggin to deal with stubborn knucklehead shippers and possibly dispatchers who see things their way. I would think one always has to always account for the weight of a fully-fuelled truck. Who the devil customarily drives around on 1/4 tank anyway? Whenever I gas my car up, it gets topped off, period. Fewer fills makes for more saved time and dollar bills.

My fear is all this doubling back from the chicken coops to deal with a couple hundred pounds in question will eat into my time and income-earning potential.

The driver should at least be compensated by the shipper for his time and money for any overloads that have to be reworked. I like to take preventive measures as much as possible. I like to get things right the first time. An ounce of prevention saves tons of money, miles, time and fuel. There, however, seems to be no proven iron-clad preventive measure for this common and troubling overweight issue even in this hi-tech 21st century. It makes trucking still seem so embarrassingly medieval. Having to run a truck back from the weigh station to the shipper to fix an overload also burns fuel and adds to air pollution and traffic congestion. It all seems so inefficient and wasteful to me. It is probably part of the reason my grocery bill seems so expensive. The price of milk and meat and all.

General Patton once said, "I don't like to pay for the same real estate twice." Advancing on the enemy one step forward only to take several steps backward because of a logistics snafu such as a gasoline shortage.

I would think even in trucking TIME is MONEY.

You are making a much bigger deal.out of this than it is. as you seem to do with everything.

It is not as common as you are making it out to be. In 3.5 years i have reworked exactly 3 loads. Thats it. Do i make sure each is legal, yes. But is it detaining me on a weekly basis and preventing income, no. and there are ways to get paid detention for any reworks.

dont get worried about such things now

Todd, do you have any idea how much effort we put in just to help you?

We love doing this, but you exhibit all the signs of someone who never seems to really get what we're saying. Have you any understanding why so many people fail at trucking? It has nothing to do with lack of knowledge about the details. All this preparation you're laboring under may not be what you really need.

I deliver to a lot of chicken farms and they have all had a scale on site. Even the family run farms have a scale.