Proper Process of Scaling Load

I just wanted to talk about the importance of scaling a load. Whenever you are at a shipper it is always good to scale your load to make sure your load is legal. Some drivers may think they can slide their tandems, and mistakenly believe that their weight is not that heavy. So they end up skipping the scaling process.

If you are not legal, you need to go back to the shipper to make sure that they have you at legal weight before you take off with that load. If you were to get pulled over while driving illegally you could be heavily penalized and fined. Always be sure you scale your load before even getting on the road.

We had a load picked up in Florida. The driver was not legal so he went back to get it reworked. After scaling again the driver drove off to deliver the load, but was still not at a legal weight. After driving a few hundred miles the driver got pulled into a scale. The driver was put out of service until he could get legal weight. This costed quite a bit of down time for the driver. In this particular situation it only cost the down time, but it could have been much worse. There could have been fines involved, there could have costs for having to send someone to rework the load. But this could have been avoided if the driver scaled to make sure they were legal weight.

It is the shipper’s responsibility to make sure you are legal weight before you leave. Make sure to remember to scale each time to stay safe and avoid unnecessary costs.