Avoid getting un-intentionally shorted on the big scale

My advise is to confirm the weight with the yard while still on the scale before going into the yard, and when leaving before you pull off the scale, but in a polite and respectful manner. Treat others as how you want to be treated.

Not sure how all yards work, maybe some do verify before and after with the seller anyway, and this might not be valuable advise to all y'all that have been doing this a long time/full time cause you already know, but for part time newbies like me it will help, or at least I hope it will save someone else some frustration.

Today I got shorted 160 pounds of scrap on the scale. The yard didn't do it intentionally. I must have sat on the scale for 5 minutes because they were backed up, a good problem for them to have. The wind was blowing hard intermittently and I actually watched the scale numbers fluctuate quite a bit a few times while I was sitting there. My weight was 4520 99% of the time sitting there. I left the scale dumped all my metal and I got on the exit scale and weighed 3760. I looked at my ticket and it said I weighed in at 4360 not 4520....
:-l

Long story short I was told they can't adjust numbers after the fact because of fraud (the yard person being accused of it) but since they are some good folks there and I have a good relationship with them, they agreed to waive the 3$ fee on 3 future visits and they waived it this time. The $ amount I was shorted wasn't life altering or anything but enough that if I were at a retail store, I wouldn't just let it go cause it's not like it was 25 cents or something.

I was calm and polite etc.. but frustrated as hell inside at first especially after dealing with traffic and waiting in line for a half hour (not their fault either), I am glad I had some self-control and some genuine respect for the people that work there etc... cause it worked out in the end.

What is the 3 dollar fee? That would add up to a lot of money over a year time.

Our yard has certified scales
A lot of the moving company's and others also use them
Drive on >> Horn blows >> Drive off >> Off load material >> Drive back on >> Horn blows >> pull off scale and go into office to get paid

I can't imagine any winds short of hurricane affecting the scale that much
Scale right now for cars is 95 a ton or .0475 a pounds
So 160 pounds would be $7.60
No need to confirm the weight with the yard while still on the scale before going into the yard and then again when leaving before you pull off the scale
Waste of time , The CERTIFIED weights, in and out, are printed right on the weigh slip with the amount paid
There is no read out that can be seen from the cab of the truck, only place where the weight can be seen is at the machine that prints the ticket

If the wind did make you lite 160 pounds on the weigh in >> how do you know it didn't make you 160 pounds lite on the way out? Thereby giving you "true" weight
OR maybe at some point the wind has made you heavy on weigh in and lite on weigh out >> Isn't that were the song "extra money blowing in the wind" came from??

I have a outside display . So the customers can see their weights.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by missouri

I have a outside display . So the customers can see their weights.

---

And does the wind on a normal day affect the weight?

I have seen the wind affected it . But you wait for the weight to quit moving around to stamp the ticket. I have taken loads in a shredder and seen the wind blowing it around . As much as 400 pounds or more. Normally mine is only 20 to 80 pounds.

Normal day no. But when you pull on any scale . It will move around as you on driving on it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by missouri

Normal day no. But when you pull on any scale . It will move around as you on driving on it.

---

That I understand >> and as soon as it settles out , they punch the ticket , blow the horn and away I go
I have always figured if there is any discrepancy > 50/50 chance it is in the yards favor >> as well as there is a 50/50 chance it is in my favor

It all evens out in the end

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JohnC4X4

It all evens out in the end

---

You are wrong. Not always and didn't for me. Not a waste of 3 seconds to ask if what I see on the display matches what they have. It was near closing time and they were in a hurry and didn't do the normal wait 5 seconds before hitting the button. Just like it's not a waste of time to weigh your scrap on your own scale before you go to the yard.

Do what you want, but don't whine when there is a large discrepancy not in your favor, as for me, i'd rather tip yard workers rather than give the yard free scrap like I did today. If I want to give away free scrap it will be to a fellow scrapper.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by missouri

I have a outside display . So the customers can see their weights.

---

That's the only way I knew it was fluctuating ALOT. I have a dashcam in my car, I think I am putting one in the truck,... not just for this.

I don't have any reason to lie about 7$ Sorry that wasn't directed at you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by missouri

What is the 3 dollar fee? That would add up to a lot of money over a year time.

---

"Environmental fee" They do accept some things other yards don't.

Here's proof on a receipt of the fee in case anyone thinks I am lying about that as well. This was when scrap was 110/ton, it's now 90/ton.
https://www.scrapmetalforum.com/atta...tid=4073&stc=1

I have found that wind can alter the scale weight, that's the normal nonferrous scale too.
It would affect the larger vehicle scales even more.

One place had their nonferrous scales near the corner of the building & I could feel the wind alternating more from one side of the building, then the other, and watch the scales readout weight change by 2 kg.
They were leaving a low profile skip bin on it with a low slope underneath @ both ends and I could see how he wind as hitting it underneath & lifting it up a bit.. I don't go there anymore, it's a bit far away & once I figured out how they were short changing me I decided they don't want my scrap if they are not paying for it..

Oddly, I once set a sack of metal on the nonferrous scales & we watched it take a while to tare it up.
I joked "That my scales at home read One Kg heavier than theirs" and for comedy value only, lent over and blow downwards onto the sack of metal, and we both looked expectantly at the readout..
It then moved up by One Kg & sat there without moving.
We both laughed & I said "I didn't actually think it would do that"
& He chuckled, shook his head & shrugged & said "Well that's what the scales say, and I haven't written the weight down yet, so that's what it weighs.
I knew he had a story worthy of a laugh, to tell somebody afterwards too.

Environmental fee ouch. $3.00 is like giving them the 1st 55 pounds for free. At least your place rounds up to the whole dollar so you made up a few pounds there. What does the fee go towards and is this a city or state thing...

$3.00 Fee? What a joke

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hobo finds

Environmental fee ouch. $3.00 is like giving them the 1st 55 pounds for free. At least your place rounds up to the whole dollar so you made up a few pounds there. What does the fee go towards and is this a city or state thing...

---

State thing. They take circuitboards, batteries and I see people with refrigerators all the time etc... and they are pretty "relaxed" on their standards of what they take... so yeah I don't like the fee but, no one else is open when I need to sell during the week and I don't want mounds of scrap in my backyard.

It's also a food bank.

They only charge me the fee a little more than 1/2 the time anyway - it depends on who is at the scale, and they give free gas on occasion... but I won't use it again (free gas). Sometimes when it's really backed up they don't charge anyone the fee as a way to say sorry for the inconvenience...

:x

I just read up on the yard its an interesting place, halfway house, church services and a food bank. Looks like the owner is out to help others after he had recovered from his hard times.

Both yards I use you can see the weight while on the scale driving in.

I know most folks think you need hurricane winds (80+), but trust me when I tell you...40 mph can suck also. lol. I had to ride a bike one day in 30 to 40mph winds. My upper body was killing me for days after. Didn't have the luxury to go with the wind. Also a lot of folks live in places with buildings, or trees. Things that break wind. So..40mph ain't much to them. Live in the desert, plains, or like me currently on a sandbar. My sandbar has height restrictions. Nothing is over 2 or 3 stories. No tall office buildings, or apartment buildings, etc. So no wind breaks. 20 mph with nothing deflecting is fun times I tell you. Go camping in a tent in a windstorm. Talk about hair raising... Did that unintentionally when I was in Arizona on my little multi month camping jaunt til I came back east. Set up camp, went to go to bed around 10 that night, spent the next 3 or 4 hours trying to redistribute weight in my tent so I didn't go flying off into the night. Haha. Was like riding a bucking bronco.

Yea...wind is sneaky. An deceiving.

No it adds nothing to the thread but..eh, whatever, I'm about to have a hurricane come and visit. ;)

Sirscrapalot - Wind...it's very loud at times. Ask anyone who has experienced a tornado or hurricane.

OK let me rephrase my initial advise. Maybe not every-time confirm.

IF YOU SEE the weight fluctuating because of random wind gusts or maybe someone walked on and off the scale... whatever reason the weight isn't steady - SPEAK UP.

Normally it settles and stays there, I have never had this happen to this extent - 20 pounds here and there but never this.

If I had said something before I went in the yard, this would have never happened, she would have waited to weigh or maybe re-weighed and all would have been peachy.