I'm not used to having scale houses. we don't have those in Texas.
I understand why they have scales, but i have not figured out the agriculture inspections. (On I-95 and hwy 1). 99 percent of the time, they wave me through. Most of the time, they guy never looks up, just waves lol. I did have one guy ask me what I was hauling. I said, groceries. He asked what kind. I thought...uh... The kind you eat? He said, ok.

And how do they decide who runs across the scale and who they let keep going. Sometimes I get the arrow to drive on by (the road by the scale) and sometimes I get the arrow to pull on the scale. Do they just randomly pick trucks?

Good thing when he asked what kind of groceries, you didn't say Mexican.

😳
Haha

Some say they let a clean truck go, and the dirty ones with a bent rim, weigh in.
I think they let drivers who glare back at them go, and drivers who look nervous weigh in. Sometimes I think it's also maybe the trash you may be saying on the CB at them, as you are coming up the ramp.
At least that is my guess. But I also usually see a SWIFT truck parked in back, that looks like it's been there awhile.

How do they decide? No science behind it! I've had both a clean and dirty truck pulled in. Sometimes they pull every 5th truck in for a closer check. Sometimes they get a memo to check a certain company closer. Other days, nobody gets a bypass. If you roll across too fast, you might get the arrow telling you to come on in for a closer look. If your too close to the truck in front or the little Fokker behind you is too close, you might get the bad arrow! Confusing yet? I know in TN they have FLIR cameras setup just before you roll across the pre scale that is aimed right at your wheels, if 1 wheel isn't showing up brightly, they get pulled around back to the barn for an inspection.

I just laugh and wave when I cross them! When my dad worked at Southland they pretty much had their own office at the chicken coup up at Dumfries, VA. The drivers would pull straight around back without waiting, park and go in with all their paperwork. If a pot of coffee wasn't brewing, they would brew a fresh pot while waiting for DOT to write up the ticket.

Very instructive answers!!

Some companies have Pre-Pass to avoid the scale houses, but, even those aren't perfect. Sometimes one will stop working and you have to pull in, or the company did not get the BOL info loaded up in time to DOT so you get pulled in. Some days the Dumfries house will close the scale house portion, but every truck has to come thru via the bypass, even Pre-Pass trucks as they will get the bad arrow on their on board gadget. Guess what, they are having an inspection party out back of the Truck Rest Area right next door! As you come around the scale house and start to wind it up, DOT chaser's are sitting there pulling trucks around back.