Why don't the MFG's weigh them?

Shippers must have a weight on the bills of lading when they ship an item.

However, many times I think they use theoretical weights.
That's what I ran into many times during the past 40 odd years of over the road trucking flat bed and stepdeck freight. They fail to add the weight of any dunnage for instance. That's why I usually carried a few sticks of my own when loading steel bars and channels and/or coils which were sometimes on skids/pallets.

Many times I would be upwards of 2,000 lbs over the stated weight of the product as listed on the BOL, in which case I would request that it be changed or some mat'l taken off the truck.

When you are looking at an empty weight (tare) of 31,500 lbs and a shipment weight of 48,000 lbs, often times it would be one huge single coil of steel, there is not much wiggle room to be had, especially if you are low on fuel. Ask me how I know this!!

Obviously, 2 or 3 campers on a flatbed/stepdeck trailer should not be a weight problem, but still, the weights, be they actual or estimated, must be on the BOL's

Dave S.

My 15,000lb flatbed was check by Highway Patrol with those pad scales.
But I can only agree about conclusion why TC manufacturers don't want to know how much those things weight leaving the factory.
When I was buying my Fleetwood, I check the net to find rated weight 3800lb,.
The first stop at scales with fully winterized camper did show 4200lb.

mkirsch wrote:
That scale set is a toy for weekend warrior race car drivers. Now go price a real, certified, calibrated, industrial platform scale that will hold up to use in a production environment. Much more expensive.

And.... According to the very first line on the webpage, it wouldn't come close to being able to handle just my TC---

"Comes with 12" x 12" x 2¾" 1100 lb. capacity powder coated pads pads for lighter weight cars."

My TC alone is WAAYYYYYY over 4,400lbs....

I'm not sure if it's true, but supposedly, Host used to carry a scale to RV shows to show how accurate their weights were. At the end of the day, I suppose it doesn't matter what they say it is though. It matters what you weigh after you have all of your stuff and your trailer hooked up if you have one.

Pastime does, or at least did, weigh each unit as it comes off the floor. Mine was only 5 pounds off and it was 15 years old when I got it. Must have been that wall clock someone added ;-)

You mean like this:

That scale set is a toy for weekend warrior race car drivers. Now go price a real, certified, calibrated, industrial platform scale that will hold up to use in a production environment. Much more expensive.

Cost is more of a factor than you give it credit for. Having plausible deniability is a happy bonus for the liability attorneys.

We just haven't had someone with deep enough pockets take the industry on, and we probably never will. The rare person that is hurt by these practices blames themselves, doesn't live to tell about it, or doesn't have the resources to go after the industry in a way that will cause them to change how they do business.

They lie, mine says 1680 on the camper sticker,1780 on the title and 2280 on the scale. Empty

SugarHillCTD wrote:

zcookiemonstar wrote:
.....I can only think they just don't want anyone to know how heavy they really are.

IMHO, you hit the nail on the head.

I agree.

But, if they built a camper 1000 lbs lighter than similar units, I'm sure they would advertise that fact.

zcookiemonstar wrote:
.....I can only think they just don't want anyone to know how heavy they really are.

IMHO, you hit the nail on the head.