When it comes to transporting cargo or personal goods as a first-time mover it can become confusing and often lead to mistakes. Today we will be showing you some first-hand examples of things you shouldn’t do when shipping to know when you are doing it incorrectly and why for each one of the examples
Things You Should Avoid Doing While Using Tie Down Straps
Overloading the limitations of your vehicle – One of the most common and yet most dangerous things that you can do when securing cargo is overloading the limitations of your vehicle is able to secure safely in both weight and size. Every few months you will tend to see a very crazy cargo securement picture floating around online from a motorist following another motorist who has went way beyond the safe limits of cargo securement to cram as many household goods into the back of a small SUV or pickup truck.
Not only is this putting the other motorists on the road at risk, but it could be extremely dangerous to your own safety if a sudden brake is needed to slow down from a motorist cutting you off in traffic or debris in the roadways. The general rule of thumb is you should never exceed two boxes tall in height or 4 feet tall in most cargo securement in the back of a pickup truck as it can create loads that are top-heavy and are prone to tipping over and falling out or tipping over and could cause potential damage to your cargo or vehicle during transportation.
Insufficient Tie Down Straps for your Load Securement – Although using tie-down straps can be great it can also put you in a great deal of danger by using straps that are unable to secure the cargo you are securing. In more cases than not, we see motorists or even professional transporters transport cargo off of guessing that the straps are able to secure the load. This is one of the most dangerous practices that you can do while transporting cargo on the road as often the straps are not strong enough to keep the load secured.
Straps that are Overkill for your Load Securement – Having tie-down straps that are able to secure the cargo is an absolute must, but often we recognize customers who are struggling to pair up the straps they need that fit the load securement needs for their cargo.
An example of this would be 4-inch Tie Down Straps that are used for Flatbeds to secure the heaviest cargo being used to secure several boxes in the back of a pickup truck. Although these may secure the packages safely these are overkill and you could easily get away with an easier-to-use, much lighter in weight, and a much cheaper alternative tie-down strap.
Stacking Cargo to Make Fewer Trips – One of the number one things for professional truckers to make money relies on making fewer trips and staying on the road for longer periods of time to keep the money flowing and the customers happy. However, some motorists tend to take the saving space by stacking upwards to the extreme as seen in the example above. You should never exceed the limitations of your vehicle or tie-down straps by stacking the cargo too high.
Securing Vehicles through the Vehicles Windows – Unfortunately, this issue sounds like common sense but this issue has been increasingly happening. Typically this is done by scrap cars being transported to junkyards to be scrapped but caution should still be used when securing vehicles to be taken to become scrap metal or junkyards as trucks and cars were not designed to be transported through the middle of the windows.
How to Secure Cargo with Tie Down Straps Tips
As you have found out some of the wrong ways of securing cargo with tie-down straps let us give you some helpful tips from the experts on methods that should be used during your daily securement practices.
Securing from at LEAST Four Different Securement Points – One of the things that may be common sense is often ignored by many of the first-time and full-time shippers around the professional trucking, professional movers, and shipping industry in general. The reasoning behind using at least four tie-down straps to secure your load is simple you are creating less of a strain on each of the straps while creating a fail-safe if one of the straps were to break your cargo would still remain secure.
Also if you were to be going down the road and need to sudden brake or suddenly change lanes due to debris or other motorists your load’s weight shifting would allow the cargo to remain secure and prevent damage to your cargo or vehicle.
Using Corner Protectors to Prevent Friction or Damage from Over Tightening – Did you know that friction caused by straps rubbing against a sharp edge or surface during the transportation is one of the most commonly used methods to destroy tie-down straps? You can help prevent this by using edge guards, Cordura sleeves, or even sharp edges being protected by corner protectors to help avoid needing new straps over time.
Although these methods may help make your tie-down straps last longer they will still need to be replaced after a period of time in order to make sure the strength of your tie-downs does not weaken from sun damage or mold and mildew. Tie Down Straps are only as strong as the weakest link of the strap.
Purchasing Tie Down from a Reputable Company – Although the best tie-down straps may not always be the cheapest the price you pay for using the cheapest tie-down straps may be in the form of damage claims, lost customers, or even the safety of other motorists.
We often urge our customers to purchase straps based on the applications they are securing and the strength that allows wiggle room before breaking. We have found that often straps from Amazon are straps that without prior notice may often break on customers or not be the quality that the customers were expecting and have to purchase tie-down straps a second time.
If you haven’t purchased straps from a company beforehand you may want to purchase one strap to test the quality before purchasing a large amount of tie-down straps that may need to be returned at a later point in time.
If you have any questions about tie-down straps or if you need help selecting the perfect tie-down straps that fit your needs best our experts are standing by and willing to help answer any questions you may have. You can reach our experts by giving us a call at 800-483-2189 or by using our online contact form at the top of the website.