anybody have any experience with hauling christmas trees?? I live in S.W. Va & am very close to alot of tree farms, I've gotten a couple of #'s and will be calling in the next couple of days, but I was wondering what kind of D.O.T. messes I could get into?? I have a 25' flatbed gooseneck trailer that I would be using. A friend of mine pulled a few loads 3 or 4 years ago and never ran into any trouble, but if anybody was going to it would surely be me. just wondered if anyone had any experience in doing this??? thanks, Dusty

 

Check with VDOT or the State Police. They will be glad to answer your guestion even if you don't give your name. If memory serves me well today I would say that if you are less than 26,000 pounds and not leaving the state or less than 10,000 and delivering out of state a Commercial Drivers Licinse is not required.

 

You would be for-hire. See:

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/about/other/faq/faqs.asp

 

If you could show a bill of sale where you actually purchased the trees, just a receipt, if the tree farmer would be willing to give you one, you could haul them all day long with no added permits, it would be just like hauling hay, it would be classified as farming materials, and they wouldnt be able to prove its not your property. That said, to do it legally you would have to apply for your own dot authority, get commercial ins, get apportioned tags on your truck and re-liscense your truck for the GCVW, and thats just the beginning, an awful lot just for some christmas trees. You could talk to the local farmers and ask how they do their shipping, they may be able to hook you up with a broker or a company you could lease to, if it were me i believe i would just hook to it and go down the road and not worry about it, just try to avoid the scales in Bland,Va and the NC scales on 77, they tend to pick on little trucks like ours

 

By the time you could get your authority there won't be any market for the trees till next year. Even hauling the trees that you have a receipt for is not going to get you a free ride unless you intend to decorate all of them for your personal use. In other words, a dot man is going to come to one of two conclusions, either you're hauling them for profit or to sell, either way he's going to ask questions.

Hyspeed

 

I kinda figured as much, I hauled mining equipment for about a year w/ out going through all the commercial stuff, alot of it I just hauled in the bed of my 01' dually, but on occasion I used my flatbed, I never ran into any problems, I just by passed the scales, blew by the Bland scales many many times, I guess they were just too busy to bother??? oh well, on to another idea, thanks, Dusty

 

If your hauling your own farm materials and selling them you dont need all the dot junk, a little break farmers get

 

I have hauled Xmas trees for 4 years under a contract with a Xmas tree farm
It is commerical and you'll need to do all the DOT stuff and a CDL.....its not worth the cost if you get busted doing bootleg hauling
The other point is the pay is not that great unless you can get a back haul to cover your return cost

 

That's true but I doubt that he has farm tags or can prove that he is a farmer and if he did most states have a limiting distance for the use of these tags anyway.

He just needs to go through the whole process and be ready for next year. Keep in mind that the drivers that have put the money and time into doing this legally will blow the whistle on someone taking their loads without the authority to do so.
Also, the smart shippers will not give a load to someone without the authority and insurance to legally transport. If litigation results from an accident then the shipper could be held partially liable.

Hyspeed

 

You guys worry too much, just go straight forward till somebody tells ya to stop. I'd be willing to bet you could haul all the xmas tree's you want and they would not so much as sneeze at you. At least in Missouri you could. I have been doing stuff way worse than that for years and have run thousands of miles and never been givin one ounce of trouble. Look at the rig in my gallery, we have run that about 80,000 miles in the last three years with nothing more than an 18,000 lb regular truck license plate. I haul hay on that same trailer and gross almost 40k and they don't say anything.

 

That reminds me of the famous line,,,,
"Do ya feel lucky? ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Did I fire 5 shots or 6 ?"

Hey Luke,,,,,,
Is that the Missouri DOT knocking on your door?

 

nope, no knockin here!

 

Ask any trucker about the routes that might not take you towards the scale house. They all know of them.

 

there are absolutely no limitations on hauling your own stuff and no special liscense you need on your truck...as long as your not causing safety concerns to other motorists, ie over gvwr or unsecured loads

 

Hi, Mr. DOT here.
LOL
Thanks for posting so I can read whats happening.

Just kidding but I bet theres a lot of other eyes reading.

Heres one I learned...in order to tow a trailer...any trailer over 10,000 pounds in my province...whether it be for fun or profit I have to have a class 1 drivers. Class one is like the CDL. I would have never known had I not seen the brochure at the DOT booth across from me at the show I was at last week.
Even the insurance companies I deal with did not know and the other thing it said...Agricultural included.
Just another way to put a hook into us.

Scotty