Overweight And Punished
Topic 29983 | Page 1
...my dispatch didn't like my concern and said he could just have me turn in my truck...i am so saddened to be treated like this..i am a great employee...
If a dispatcher is forcing me to run, or to turn in my truck and quit...my next call would be to the safety department. But, that's just me.
Make sure you document all conversations you have with anyone about this. Based on what you're saying, it sounds like your dispatcher may need to have a "Come to Jesus" meeting with Safety...unless the whole company could care less.
Dispatcher:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
If a dispatcher is forcing me to run, or to turn in my truck and quit...my next call would be to the safety department. But, that's just me.
Oops. I missed the word "overweight" after "forcing me to run." 
Dispatcher:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Thank you...my dispatch told me yesterday i wouldn't get in trouble...now he is turning it on me saying because of my attitude..i have to sit..and wait for them to send someone to get the load....no layover pay...i have done nothing wrong...
...my dispatch didn't like my concern and said he could just have me turn in my truck...i am so saddened to be treated like this..i am a great employee...
If a dispatcher is forcing me to run, or to turn in my truck and quit...my next call would be to the safety department. But, that's just me.
Make sure you document all conversations you have with anyone about this. Based on what you're saying, it sounds like your dispatcher may need to have a "Come to Jesus" meeting with Safety...unless the whole company could care less.
Dispatcher:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Thank you...my dispatch told me yesterday i wouldn't get in trouble...now he is turning it on me saying because of my attitude..i have to sit..and wait for them to send someone to get the load....no layover pay...i have done nothing wrong...
You will never win an argument with your dispatcher , and it's not worth the effort. Just document the incident and address it with them at a later time, when things calm down. When you do address it, make sure you include how you were made to feel by the actions of the dispatcher.
Who knows, maybe the driver sent to pick it up will refuse it because it's overweight.
Not only are you risking a ticket if you pull the load, if you get into an accident while overweight, and they can prove you knew about it, you are in a world of problems.
Dispatcher:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Sliding the fifth wheel forward one notch and sliding the tandems forward one hole would put you real close. Then burning off 8 gallons or so of fuel would get you legal.
How far away is the weigh station?
Being that close, I'd run it after shifting some weight as described above. But that's me, and no one would force me to. No one should force you to run illegal either.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Sliding the fifth wheel forward one notch and sliding the tandems forward one hole would put you real close. Then burning off 8 gallons or so of fuel would get you legal.
How far away is the weigh station?
Being that close, I'd run it after shifting some weight as described above. But that's me, and no one would force me to. No one should force you to run illegal either.
Good advice from Turtle. In the future, When you see weight on the BOL and its a heavy load, go to nearest CAT scale and weigh it. If you cannot get the axle weights legal or you are over gross, call your dispatch asap and inform them. A good company does not want to run illegal period. It puts too much liability on them. Most times they will tell you to return to shipper and if the shipper cannot fix it, unload it and find another load for you.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
SAP:
Substance Abuse Professional
The Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) is a person who evaluates employees who have violated a DOT drug and alcohol program regulation and makes recommendations concerning education, treatment, follow-up testing, and aftercare.
CAT Scale:
A network of over 1,500 certified truck scales across the U.S. and Canada found primarily at truck stops. CAT scales are by far the most trustworthy scales out there.
In fact, CAT Scale offers an unconditional Guarantee:
“If you get an overweight fine from the state after our scale showed your legal, we will immediately check our scale. If our scale is wrong, we will reimburse you for the fine. If our scale is correct, a representative of CAT Scale Company will appear in court with the driver as a witness”
Move the fifth wheel, run up the RPMs while you sit on a 10 hour break, then roll after dark is what I would do IF I WERE TO RUN IT.
If I were firm on staying there, I would be calling the dispatch supervisor or the operations boss. The word "Coercion" carries more weight these days.
If you did everything correct, this is coercion. Is this on the phone or on the ELD messaging?
One, I would make sure all the communication is through your Qualcomm or other device, in writing, no phone calls. Two, I will not run overweight or legal weight with tandems illegal.
If you can slide fifth wheel and tandems and burn fuel to get legal, then do so. Not all trucks have sliding fifth wheels.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Qualcomm:
Omnitracs (a.k.a. Qualcomm) is a satellite-based messaging system with built-in GPS capabilities built by Qualcomm. It has a small computer screen and keyboard and is tied into the truck’s computer. It allows trucking companies to track where the driver is at, monitor the truck, and send and receive messages with the driver – similar to email.
To add to the great advice given, do you by chance have an APU that would allow you to have an 400 pounds over?
As turtle pointed out you could slide your 5th wheel, assuming it isn't all the way forward already and the company doesn't have it in a fixed position. If you have done everything possible to be legal and you can't be thats your right to refuse to run it. Hopefully you documented what was said. Who do you drive for if you don't mind me asking?
APU:
Auxiliary Power Unit
On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.
Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.
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I am overweight..the catscale is: 11460 34840 33800 80100..i have less than 1/2 tank of fuel and more than 700 miles to go...the shipper cannot take off only unload completely...my dispatch is mad at me because i won't roll...they won't cover the overload ticket...there is an open scale house either side of me...now i am being punished..and told that i will have to wait for them to send another driver to take my load...i don't want to drive illegal..never had this issue before...not sure what to do...my dispatch didn't like my concern and said he could just have me turn in my truck...i am so saddened to be treated like this..i am a great employee...
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.