Feeling ripped off.....fill dirt

[ovrszd]

This isn't about dirt. It's about getting ripped off. The discussion will go on for days yet as many more need to tell us their story!

Yep. And the funniest part is the OP didn't get ripped off.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Here's one (as if more are needed).
I grew up in a small farm, two houses, Grandparents main house and ours. Granddad bought land from a fellow who had 2500 acres, handed down to him, generations going back to original King II land grant. That fellows parents had slaves who's descendants lived on part of that land.
Granddad was a Physician, everyone thought he was wealthy and so took advantage of him. (I was with Granddad when he died at home...heart attack at 87, he was still working in then in 1985, charging $5/ office visit!).
Granddad talked the main landowner to give the slave descends land ownership...just 1/2 acre lots where their houses were...which he begrudgingly did. One delivered stone. Granddad would get stone from him which they would spend hours putting down, hand raking, then he would get a high bill.
Dad finally said since the quarry was just 2 miles away they'll deliver it, set the gate for, say, 2"...drive along spreading it. It was a better job costing way less than half!
Point is, people will take advantage sometimes, especially if they think you have money. I've heard that from lots of contractors.
Bottom line is find someone trustworthy, tough to do sometimes but that's paramount!!!!! TRUST

 

[Texasmark]

That looks like a 14 yard box to me. Shape of the contents depends on the size of the loader bucket. Looks like 2 scoops of a 5 yard bucket, usually loaded at 110-120% per bucket and for a 14 yard bobtail, 2 passes. I see patted down marks. I wouldn't ***** about it. As others stated, loose is what you carry and the larger box makes for carrying 10 yards that's "fluffed" up so that when you do what you see in the picture the contents will slide out.

Ever see a picture of an end dump that the contents didn't slide out as they were supposed to? If you haven't, a few more degrees and that truck could be sitting on it's tail gate.

This is a lengthy article (attachment below) but down in the center of it it gets into bucket loading and size. The 3-4 buckets mentioned depend on what's being loaded. Like down here, an 80,000# combination (truck-tractor) would take 4 buckets.

As stated, it's a crap shoot for the loader to get it right considering the different aggregates and densities (like a sand pile that has vs has not been rained on) as in the long run the truck is subject to State DOT weight limits and overfilling is costly. Sometimes, if a lot of tickets are overfilled, meaning the the State Trooper writes a lot of tickets from a particular yard, he/she will visit the loading site and in some cases may "cite" the loader.

Some tips on the loading side of the story: Wheel Loader Size: A Balance Between Production and Versatility

 

[LD1]

A good point brought up by the previous poster.

There is always a margin of error.

When I call for a load of gravel ...sometimes it's 20 ton, sometimes 25 ton....or anything in-between.

That's because there isn't an accurate way to load a truck exact Everytime. The only thing exact is the scales pulling out of the yard. At which point, no trucker goes back an askes for an extra 1000 pounds or so. They just go with it because time is money.

Heck, I have taken my pickup in before and asked for 4000# of sand or gravel before. Sometimes I come out with 3000# sometimes it's 5000#.

Only paying $7/yd for dirt...maybe they should have charged you $185 per load and not $200??? But again, nothing is exact. $200 is just a nice even number for a truck load of dirt.

If someone calls me and wants 4 acres mowed and I tell them $200....if it's 4.25 acres I'm not gonna charge more. Just as if it's only 3.75...i ain't gonna charge less.

 

[4570Man]

I pay $100 a tri axel load for clean fill dirt and $200 for a tri axel load of good topsoil. 200 a load for fill seems really steep. Sand is fairly expensive at $20 a yard I can drive farther and get it cheaper but it’s not usually worth it. I can buy gravel for $9 a ton plus delivery. People sell fill for $10 a load but delivery cost a lot more.