Snow-removal company blacklisted
Another snow removal company has been put on the black list for fraud. The accounts say that the company claimed it had added boards to its dump trucks to hold more snow, but it hadn’t. Now the firm can’t bid for city contracts for five years.
I thought I’d read that collected snow was paid for by weight, but this story, also the related one (recounted in the CBC story) about another outfit charging fraudulently for full trucks that were only half full, suggests not. If the snow loads were being weighed, these simple tricks would have fooled no one.
Bert 09:24 on 2019-10-24 Permalink
I regularly pass by a dump station and there is no weigh bridge. The volume based calculation seems quick and relatively precise, evening out in the end. Thrown snow has a known density and the trucks have a known capacity. Calculate from there. You will note on the trucks, usually on the box there is a number like 12-3, which I think Identify the zone and the truck.
I think it would be impractical to weigh every load. Scales would need to be installed. They are mostly mechanical and winter operation will take a toll. An operator will surely need to be hired. When it goes out of operation they would have to fall back to a manual accounting.
If we can install cameras on highways and bridges, a similar setup at depot entries should be simple to setup.