SAIA | Why do we do this?

Dracula

TB Veteran
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There are some in the company that think that I am a troublemaker, usually after I refuse to pull an illegal load. Their job would be so much easier, if I would just hook up and pull what is easily identifiable as an overweight problem, usually involving a 53 or a 48 with a single axle tractor. It doesn't help when there are any number of other drivers who will hook and pull with no questions asked.
There is no answer to this problem only the sad realization that one of these days it's going to blow up in someone's face.
 
It's your license. IMO, if you knowingly pull an illegal load, it's no different from knowingly using unsafe equipment (flat tire, no current DOT...you get the idea). To think that any dispatcher or dock supervisor would try to send anyone out illegally is deplorable, and he/she needs to be dealt with by management.
 
Bigbuck, It's not a rampant problem. The biggest percentage of the time my loads are fine but occasionally there is a big shot of freight or some other circumstance that creates an overload situation. This is a prime example that management needs to send down the line a note saying don't even if it means leaving freight on the dock. What's the odds that's going to happen?
 
I have the same problem in HST sometimes they try to give me # 40,000 plus van. I'm on pup run so I drive single axle, I hookup and go scale the trailer and go inside and let dispatch know I need a Tandem. I get the old saying " We don't have one to spare " my response it what dock do you what to put it in so some freight can be taken off? Somehow a HST driver with a tandem ends up pulling it and they give me pups but we go through the same process every time?
 
You handled it exactly right. They will cave if you hold your ground and maybe throw a suggestion out that the Safety Department can be the referee. I hate to do it that way but you can bet that 40000lb load is going to be about 6 or 7000lbs over on the drive axle of that single axle tractor. Good work.
 
CGO is a shining example of this crap. Can't count the number of times my meet guy has been late because he had to get his trailers reworked. He is one of the ones that will tell dispatch to shove it if they try to get him to pull it illegally. Then all of a sudden when he takes vacation I get an overweight load. The fill in guy said dispatch told him there was no time to rework it and just take it (was a new rookie that didnt know any better). They didn't think it was so funny when I called and told them I wasn't pulling it. Luckily the meet is very close to a terminal so guess who got paid delay pay while his trailer got reworked? Maybe if Chicago would quit trying to stuff 26,000 lbs on a pup, we wouldn't have this problem all the time.

This company is always preaching SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY, but it is becoming apparent to me that it's nothing more than a dog and pony show to impress the shareholders.
 
That's a great point Piston. I've got one for you to chew on...

Let's say dispatch sends out a driver, maybe the rookie you refer to, and he/she gets stopped, ticketed, and shut down at a scale for being overweight. Naturally, the defense is that dispatch gave the order, and the dock supervisor approved it.

Does the driver get delay pay? "What if" the scale is 300 miles from the nearest terminal? Who pays the ticket? I realize the driver is ultimately responsible, but if they were instructed to do so by dispatch...???

Could save themselves a lot of grief, and CSA points, by only sending legal loads.
 
CGO is a shining example of this crap. Can't count the number of times my meet guy has been late because he had to get his trailers reworked. He is one of the ones that will tell dispatch to shove it if they try to get him to pull it illegally. Then all of a sudden when he takes vacation I get an overweight load. The fill in guy said dispatch told him there was no time to rework it and just take it (was a new rookie that didnt know any better). They didn't think it was so funny when I called and told them I wasn't pulling it. Luckily the meet is very close to a terminal so guess who got paid delay pay while his trailer got reworked? Maybe if Chicago would quit trying to stuff 26,000 lbs on a pup, we wouldn't have this problem all the time.

This company is always preaching SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY, but it is becoming apparent to me that it's nothing more than a dog and pony show to impress the shareholders.

What you should do is let the individual who brought the trailers to you take them on, let them worry about being overweight.
That's what my meet man ( 20 + years with Saia ) did when I was on vacation.... they brought him # 42000 van with single axle and expected him to take it...
 
Don't overlook the fact that a 3 axle is heavier & while you can put 34k on the drives the additional weight of the tractor means that you can take a legal load off a single screw & be over gross with a twin... That said I strongly agree that there be at least one 3 axle at every terminal.

I know that we do have a bunch of them but they are mainly used throughout the rocky mountain states - I would be willing to guess that as those tractors age & start being replaced that they will be distributed throughout the system
 
That's a great point Piston. I've got one for you to chew on...

Let's say dispatch sends out a driver, maybe the rookie you refer to, and he/she gets stopped, ticketed, and shut down at a scale for being overweight. Naturally, the defense is that dispatch gave the order, and the dock supervisor approved it.

Does the driver get delay pay? "What if" the scale is 300 miles from the nearest terminal? Who pays the ticket? I realize the driver is ultimately responsible, but if they were instructed to do so by dispatch...???

Could save themselves a lot of grief, and CSA points, by only sending legal loads.
Dispatch will probably say I wasn't told it was over axle, and who do you think will be believed? The driver or dispatcher.
 
Calls to dispatch used to be recorded. If you, the driver, are told to pull an overweight load, record the conversation on your phone and have a witness to the conversation. Get the dispatchers name. That way you have an argument when crap hits the fan
 
Calls to dispatch used to be recorded. If you, the driver, are told to pull an overweight load, record the conversation on your phone and have a witness to the conversation. Get the dispatchers name. That way you have an argument when crap hits the fan
Why not just scale it. Don't call anyone, go into dispatch with the weights and tell them it's illegal. Non issue.
 
Why not just scale it. Don't call anyone, go into dispatch with the weights and tell them it's illegal. Non issue.
Ump is right, I've never had a dock or dispatcher question what the scale numbers are and I've never had a problem getting weight taken off. However, what if you're picking up a load at a barn that doesn't have a scale? How do you verify the weights?




WTF are you smoking?
I don't understand the reply? Are you saying that that's common knowledge or are you saying that that can't happen?
Bastardly is right. You can be overaxle on a single drive axle but under gross. Then, if you switch to a tandem, your drive axle problem goes away but the additional 2,000 to 3,000 lb weight difference, between a single and a tandem tractor, can increase your gross weight to an over gross situation. Been there and done that.
 
Ump is right, I've never had a dock or dispatcher question what the scale numbers are and I've never had a problem getting weight taken off. However, what if you're picking up a load at a barn that doesn't have a scale? How do you verify the weights?





I don't understand the reply? Are you saying that that's common knowledge or are you saying that that can't happen?
Bastardly is right. You can be overaxle on a single drive axle but under gross. Then, if you switch to a tandem, your drive axle problem goes away but the additional 2,000 to 3,000 lb weight difference, between a single and a tandem tractor, can increase your gross weight to an over gross situation. Been there and done that.
So you are saying that a tandem weighs 1400 lbs more than a single axle?
if you are running a van you get 34,20,14 = 68 with a tandem 34,34,14=80,how can it be over gross?
Now if you are talking about a set you are correct, a tandem can be a disadvantage
 
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Yes, and probably more. A tandem is basically an elongated version of a single. The weight of the extra axle and drive shaft, 4 additional tires and wheels plus wheel components, and additional frame is the difference. My numbers may be a little heavy but the logic sounds reasonable to a dispatcher, so I go with them. If you scale your load and the gross is 78,000 or so, changing from a single to a tandem will probably overgross the load. It is possible that solving one problem leads to the other.
 
I drive a single, on a pup run. Normally, you can run a pup set with up to 43,000 as long as the lead trailer doesn't exceed 23,00 or so. Anything above that and you are getting into overload territory. Pulling a van, with a single, you start getting into overload territory with anything over 34 or 35,000 lbs. I've got a local dispatcher, who swears up and down that you can pull a van with 40,000 and be legal, we've been down that road so many times, we've worn it out.
 
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