Certified Scales Hampton Roads | PPM Weight Tickets

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⚡ QUICK ANSWER
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Hampton Roads has four public certified scales.

Three are open 24 hours. All three are on the Southside.

The Peninsula has one. It closes at 3:30 PM and it's shut on weekends.

For a PPM move you need two certified weight tickets — one with the truck completely empty, one with it fully loaded. The order doesn't matter. What's in the truck between them does.

📞 757-330-0008

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📋 FAST FACTS

Certified scales in Hampton Roads
4

Open 24 hours
3 — Chesapeake, Suffolk, Virginia Beach

On the Peninsula
1 — Newport News, weekdays, closes 3:30 PM

Peninsula weekend options
None

Typical first weigh
About $10 to $30

Reweigh
Less — often just a few dollars

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🧠 THE ONE RULE
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Everything on this page comes back to a single idea.

One weigh captures a completely empty truck.

The other captures the complete load.

Nothing is added or removed between them.

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That's it.

Which weigh you do first is flexible.

What's inside the truck is not.

Learn the rule and you'll handle every situation this page describes — including the ones it doesn't.

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⏰ THE SEQUENCE — EITHER DIRECTION
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STANDARD ORDER

1 — Weigh empty
Truck on the scale with nothing in it.

2 — Load
Normal move day.

3 — Weigh full
Loaded truck back to the scale, before you deliver anything.

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🔄 REVERSED ORDER

1 — Weigh full
Loaded truck on the scale before you leave.

2 — Deliver
Unload everything.

3 — Weigh empty
Empty truck back on a scale — same one or a different certified scale.

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Net weight is the difference between the two numbers.

Which one you captured first doesn't change the math.

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🎯 WHEN REVERSING SAVES YOUR MOVE

Moving off the Peninsula
Weigh loaded on the way out, empty after you unload. No backtracking, no second water crossing.

The scale closed before you finished loading
The move isn't lost. Weigh loaded in the morning, empty after delivery.

Long-distance PPM
Loaded near origin, empty near destination. Certified scales exist in every state.

You missed the empty weigh
As long as the truck hasn't been unloaded, you still have a path.

💡 Confirm the reversed order with your base transportation office before you rely on it. One phone call.

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⚠️ THE PENINSULA PROBLEM
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Read this before you pick a move date.

Every 24-hour certified scale in Hampton Roads sits on the Southside.

Chesapeake. Suffolk. Virginia Beach.

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The Peninsula has one public certified scale.

Newport News. Weekdays only.

It closes for lunch. It shuts at 3:30 in the afternoon.

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🚛 WHAT THAT MEANS ON MOVE DAY

Moving out of Langley on a Saturday?

No Peninsula scale is open.

You cross the HRBT or the MMBT with an empty truck. Weigh. Come back. Load. Cross again for the full weight.

Two water crossings minimum — on the day you can least afford them.

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💡 TWO WAYS OUT

Weigh empty the day before
Nothing requires the empty weigh to happen the same morning you load. Knock it out Friday afternoon.

Or run it backward
Weigh loaded on your way out, empty after you unload at the destination.

If your move is leaving the Peninsula, the reversed order is usually the better answer.

📞 757-330-0008

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📍 PENINSULA
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CITY SCALE OF NEWPORT NEWS

Address
4808 Commerce Dr
Newport News, VA 23607

Phone
757-926-5611

Hours
Monday–Friday
7:00 AM – 12:00 PM
12:30 PM – 3:30 PM

Closed
Saturday and Sunday

Public rating
4.4

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📋 MARKETING VS. REALITY

The pitch
A city-run certified scale, open to the public.

What people actually report
Reviewers describe fast, friendly service. Several came in specifically for a moving weight and were handled without friction. First-timers repeatedly mention that whoever works the window walks them through the process instead of assuming they know it.

At least one reviewer used it for a personal vehicle weight, not a truck.

The warnings
It's hard to find. Reviewers describe an industrial pocket with the entrance and exit on different streets.

One customer arrived during posted hours and found an out-of-order sign on the scale. No answer on the phone. No updated voicemail.

⚠️ Call before you drive out. One scale, one machine, no backup on the Peninsula.

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🧠 OUR READ

The hours are the whole story.

That 12:00 to 12:30 lunch closure has caught people mid-move.

So has the 3:30 cutoff. If your load runs long, you're not getting a full weight here today.

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📍 SOUTHSIDE
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CAT SCALE — FRANK'S TRUCK STOP

Address
4717 W Military Hwy
Chesapeake, VA 23321

Phone
757-488-8337

Hours
24 hours, 7 days

Public rating
3.7 scale · 4.0 truck stop

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📋 MARKETING VS. REALITY

The pitch
Round-the-clock certified weighing at an independent truck stop.

What people actually report
PPM customers describe it as simple. Drive on, weigh, get the ticket. One reported paying around $14 for the first weigh and roughly $3 for the reweigh.

The truck stop draws steady praise for the restaurant and the staff inside.

The warnings
Multiple reviewers describe the scale window attendant as short and unfriendly — one customer reported the same treatment across three separate visits. Others describe helpful counter staff. It appears to depend on the shift.

The parking area draws complaints about angled layout and paid parking enforcement. That's the truck stop, not the scale. You're driving through it either way.

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🧠 OUR READ

Closest 24-hour option to Norfolk and Portsmouth.

The scale works. Walk in knowing exactly what you need so a rough interaction doesn't cost you a ticket.

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CAT SCALE — SUFFOLK

Address
2872 Pruden Blvd
Suffolk, VA 23434

Phone
757-539-0897

Hours
24 hours, 7 days

Public rating
5.0

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📋 MARKETING VS. REALITY

The pitch
24-hour automated certified scale.

What people actually report
Small review count, uniformly positive. One reviewer came in for a PPM weight and described the whole thing taking under five minutes — pull on, park inside the lines, press the service button, done.

Same review noted the operation seemed set up for military moves.

The warnings
Few reviews means limited corroboration.

And it's the longest drive from almost anywhere. Unless you're moving out of Suffolk, western Chesapeake, or Isle of Wight, this is a detour.

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🧠 OUR READ

Best-reviewed scale on this list.

Worst location for most people.

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BIG CHARLIE'S CERTIFIED SCALE

Address
5792 Northampton Blvd
Virginia Beach, VA 23455

Hours
24 hours, 7 days

Public rating
4.2 scale · 3.3 truck plaza

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📋 MARKETING VS. REALITY

The pitch
24-hour certified scale at a full-service truck plaza.

What people actually report
A military mover left a full walkthrough: go in the back entrance of the store first, tell the cashier you need a vehicle weight, pull onto the scale, step out, signal on the intercom, then head back inside for your slips.

Reported total was around $30 for both tickets. Cashier staff described as helpful.

The warnings
The plaza has a rough reputation — reviewers report paid parking that isn't clearly signed, facility conditions, and aggressive enforcement. One driver described a difficult time getting a trailer weight.

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🧠 OUR READ

Best 24-hour option for Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Little Creek.

The go-inside-first step is what people miss. You don't just drive on and expect a ticket to appear.

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❌ NOT PUBLIC SCALES
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These show up in searches. They will not weigh your truck.

Kippenbrock Scale Services — Norfolk

The Scale People — Newport News

Carlton Scale — Chesapeake

💡 These companies build, install, and repair scales. They aren't weigh stations.

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Also not an option:

The DOT scale houses on I-64 are enforcement checkpoints. They don't issue you a certified ticket. Different thing entirely.

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🚛 MULTIPLE TRIPS AND MULTIPLE VEHICLES
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This is the mistake that costs the most money, and almost nobody warns you about it.

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Most PPM moves aren't one truck making one trip.

They're a rental truck plus a personal vehicle pulling a trailer.

Or one truck making two runs because the first load didn't fit.

Or a pickup bed, three trips, across a weekend.

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⚠️ THE RULE

Every vehicle needs its own empty and full pair.

Every trip needs its own empty and full pair.

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Two trips in the same truck means four tickets, not two.

A truck plus a trailer-towing SUV means four tickets, not two.

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🎯 WHAT GOES WRONG

Someone runs two loads, weighs the first one properly, and assumes the second is covered.

They documented half their move.

The rest of it isn't missing from the claim because it was rejected. It's missing because there's no evidence it happened.

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💡 IF YOUR MOVE INVOLVES MORE THAN ONE VEHICLE OR MORE THAN ONE TRIP

Call your base transportation office before move day and confirm exactly how many ticket pairs your situation requires.

Five minutes on the phone. Potentially thousands of dollars.

📞 757-330-0008

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📦 PRO-GEAR
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Professional gear is handled differently from household goods.

Uniforms. Tools of the trade. Reference materials. Equipment required for your job.

There's a category for spouse professional gear as well.

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Pro-gear gets weighed and documented separately from the rest of your load.

It doesn't count against your household goods allowance the same way.

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⚠️ WHY THIS MATTERS ON MOVE DAY

If pro-gear is mixed into the truck with everything else and never documented separately, it just becomes part of your household weight.

Weight you were entitled to move separately gets counted against your allowance instead.

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💡 WHAT TO DO

Talk to your base transportation office before move day about how pro-gear should be weighed and documented for your specific situation.

The rules involve categories, allowances, and documentation requirements that vary. Your transportation office is the authority — not a forum, not a moving company, not this page.

What we can tell you is this: if nobody has mentioned pro-gear to you yet, bring it up before you load.

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⚖️ MATCH THE CONDITIONS
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Both weighs have to capture the same vehicle in the same configuration.

Change something between them and you've corrupted your own number.

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🚛 TOWING

If the trailer is attached at one weigh, it has to be attached at the other.

Same for a car on a tow dolly.

Hitched at one and unhitched at the other produces a number that means nothing.

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⛽ FUEL

Fuel weighs roughly six to seven pounds per gallon depending on type.

A 50-gallon tank holds around 300 pounds of fuel.

Weigh empty on a full tank, weigh loaded on a quarter tank, and you just gave back a couple hundred pounds of your own load.

💡 Fill up before the first weigh and fill up before the second. Same level, both times.

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👥 PASSENGERS

People in the cab weigh something too.

If three people rode along for the empty weigh and one person drove the full weigh, that's a swing.

Keep it consistent, or step out for both.

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🧠 THE PATTERN

None of this is complicated.

It's the same rule from the top of the page.

Change nothing between the two weighs except the load itself.

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🚙 WEIGHING A PERSONAL VEHICLE
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Not every PPM runs out of a box truck.

Plenty are done with a pickup, an SUV pulling a trailer, or a cargo van.

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Same rules apply.

Empty. Loaded. Certified ticket for each.

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Certified scales weigh personal vehicles routinely — one Newport News reviewer specifically mentioned coming in for a car weight ticket for a domestic move.

The 24-hour scales are built for tractor-trailers, so a pickup or an SUV is no trouble at all.

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⚠️ IF YOU'RE TOWING

The trailer configuration has to be identical at both weighs.

And if you're moving with both a truck and a towing vehicle, that's two separate ticket pairs. See the multiple vehicles section above.

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🛑 12 WAYS THIS GOES WRONG
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Every one of these has happened to somebody in Hampton Roads.

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1 — YOU FIND OUT AFTERWARD

The move went fine. Then finance asks for the tickets.

There's no way to weigh a truck you already unloaded.

Most expensive mistake on the list. Also the most common.

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2 — YOUR MOVER DOESN'T DO IT

Most local movers bill by the hour. Weight has nothing to do with their pricing, so it never entered their process.

Labor-only crews can't do it at all. No truck, no ticket.

Ask before you book: will you weigh empty and full at a certified scale and hand me the printed tickets?

Listen for whether they understand the question.

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3 — YOU LOADED A LITTLE FIRST

Two boxes. A lamp. The moving blankets.

Empty means empty. Anything in the truck at that weigh comes straight off your net weight.

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4 — YOU DROPPED SOMETHING BEFORE THE FULL WEIGH

You swung by storage. You left a couch at your buddy's place.

The order of your weighs is flexible.

What's in the truck between them isn't.

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5 — YOU ONLY WEIGHED ONE TRIP

Two loads, one set of tickets.

You documented half your move.

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6 — YOU FORGOT THE SECOND VEHICLE

The truck got weighed. The trailer-towing SUV behind it didn't.

Every vehicle needs its own pair.

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7 — YOU WENT TO A DOT WEIGH STATION

The scale houses on I-64 are enforcement checkpoints, not public scales.

They don't hand you a certified ticket.

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8 — YOU GOT A NUMBER, NOT A TICKET

Some scales show a reading on a display.

You need a printed certified ticket. Ask specifically.

A number you wrote down yourself is worth nothing.

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9 — THE SCALE WAS CLOSED

Peninsula, Saturday. Or 3:45 on a Tuesday. Or the machine was down and nobody answered the phone.

Call ahead. Every time.

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10 — THE TICKET DISAPPEARED

It was in the truck cab. It went in a box. It rode off in a jacket pocket.

Photograph both tickets the second they print.

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11 — NOBODY PLANNED FOR THE TUNNEL

The HRBT and the MMBT do not care about your move schedule.

If your scale is across the water, that's not a ten-minute errand.

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12 — THE SPOUSE GOT LEFT HOLDING IT

Service member already reported to the new duty station. Spouse running the move alone, with kids, on a deadline.

Nobody mentioned weight tickets.

If that's your situation, handle the first weigh early. It's the one piece you can knock out before everything else gets hard.

📞 757-330-0008

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📋 AFTER THE MOVE
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The tickets are only worth something if you file.

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⏰ THERE IS A DEADLINE

Your claim has a submission window after the move.

People miss it. They arrive at the new duty station, life takes over, and the paperwork sits.

💡 Call your transportation office the week you arrive. Not the month you arrive.

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🧾 KEEP THE SCALE RECEIPTS

Whether scale fees are reimbursable is a question for your transportation office.

What's certain is that a receipt you threw away can't be submitted.

Keep them with the tickets.

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📸 KEEP EVERYTHING ELSE TOO

Rental truck contract. Fuel receipts. Equipment rental. Packing material receipts.

Some of it may matter. None of it matters if it's gone.

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🗣️ PEOPLE ASK US
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Is there a CAT scale on the Peninsula?

➡️ No. The closest CAT scales are in Chesapeake and Suffolk, both Southside. The Peninsula's only public certified scale is City Scale of Newport News, open weekdays until 3:30 with a lunch closure. Moving out of Langley or Fort Eustis means planning a water crossing into your day, or running the weighs in reverse order.

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Can I get weighed on a Saturday?

➡️ Southside only. The three 24-hour scales — Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach — run around the clock, seven days a week. Nothing on the Peninsula is open weekends.

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Do I have to weigh empty first?

➡️ No. Standard order is empty, load, full — but you can reverse it. Weigh loaded, deliver, then weigh empty. Net weight is the same either way. This is the workaround when a Peninsula scale closes before you finish loading, or when you're moving out of the area and don't want to backtrack. Confirm the reversed order with your transportation office before counting on it.

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I made two trips. Do I need more tickets?

➡️ Yes. Every trip and every vehicle needs its own empty and full pair. Two trips in the same truck means four tickets. A truck plus a towing vehicle means four tickets. Documenting one trip documents one trip — the rest of your move has no evidence behind it. If your move involves more than one vehicle or more than one run, call your transportation office before move day and confirm what your situation requires.

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What about pro-gear?

➡️ Professional gear is weighed and documented separately from household goods, and there's a spouse category as well. If it's mixed into the load and never documented separately, it just counts as household weight. Talk to your transportation office about how pro-gear should be handled for your specific situation — before you load, not after.

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Does the fuel level matter?

➡️ Yes, and it's money. Fuel runs roughly six to seven pounds a gallon. A 50-gallon tank is around 300 pounds. If you weigh empty on a full tank and loaded on a quarter tank, you gave back a chunk of your own net weight. Fill up before both weighs.

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What if I'm towing a trailer?

➡️ The configuration has to match at both weighs. Hitched at one and unhitched at the other produces a number that means nothing. Same for a car on a tow dolly. And if the trailer is being pulled by a separate vehicle, that vehicle needs its own ticket pair.

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Do the moving blankets and dollies count?

➡️ Weigh completely empty. That's the version nobody can question later. If you have a situation where equipment has to stay on the truck — a rental that came with gear inside, for example — call your transportation office before you weigh, not after.

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What does it cost?

➡️ Customer reports put a first weigh somewhere between $10 and $30 depending on location, with reweighs costing considerably less. Prices change. Call ahead, and bring both a card and cash.

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Can I weigh a car or a pickup?

➡️ Yes. Certified scales weigh personal vehicles routinely. The 24-hour scales are built for tractor-trailers, so an SUV or pickup is no trouble. Same rules — empty, loaded, certified ticket for each.

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Will a 26-foot truck fit?

➡️ The three 24-hour scales handle tractor-trailers, so a box truck is no issue. City Scale of Newport News sits in a tight industrial area with the entrance and exit on separate streets — call ahead if you're running something large.

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What if I lose a ticket?

➡️ Call the scale first and ask whether they can reprint from their records. Then call your transportation office. Do both the same day. The photo you took at the scale is why this is survivable.

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What if I have no tickets at all?

➡️ Call your base transportation office immediately, before you file anything. They handle this situation regularly and they're the only ones who can tell you what your options are. Don't guess, and don't take the answer from a forum.

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What about a container move?

➡️ Containers can't be weighed the way a truck can. If your move is container-based, call your transportation office before the container arrives and ask how weight gets documented for your situation. That conversation has to happen early.

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Should I tell the scale it's a military move?

➡️ It helps. Several of these locations handle PPM weights regularly and the staff know exactly what you need. Say "I need a certified weight ticket for a military move" and the process usually gets shorter.

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Will you handle the weighing for us?

➡️ Yes. On any PPM job we route the truck to a certified scale before we load and again after, and hand you both printed tickets. Tell us it's a PPM when you call so the scale runs go into the schedule from the start.

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💡 EXPERT TIP

Photograph both tickets the moment they print.

Paper ends up in a truck cab, a jacket pocket, or a box that's already taped shut.

The photo is what survives the move.

📞 MISSION-READY — 757-330-0008

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HOW WE BUILT THIS LIST
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Compiled from public listings, published hours, and customer reports.

Last updated
July 2026

Reviewed quarterly.

Hit a scale that's closed, moved, priced differently, or won't issue a certified ticket? Tell us and we'll fix it.

📞 757-330-0008

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WHERE WE WORK
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Peninsula
Hampton · Newport News · Yorktown · Poquoson · Williamsburg · Gloucester

Southside
Norfolk · Virginia Beach · Chesapeake · Portsmouth · Suffolk

Installations
Langley · Joint Base Langley-Eustis · Fort Eustis · Naval Station Norfolk · Naval Weapons Station Yorktown · NAS Oceana · Little Creek

📦 Container loading and unloading — 757-330-0008

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Related
PPM weight tickets explained — /ppm-weight-tickets
Your weight allowance — /pcs-weight-limits
PPM reimbursement — /ppm-reimbursement

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CLOSING
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Four scales in all of Hampton Roads.

One on the Peninsula, closed by the time most moves finish.

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That's why this page exists.

Nobody tells you until you're standing there with a loaded truck at four o'clock on a Saturday.

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We put the scale runs on the schedule before the first box goes on the truck.

Not as a selling point.

Because that's what the job actually is.

📞 757-330-0008
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MVMP (Military Veterans Moving People) — veteran-owned, veteran-led, veterans and civilian professionals.

Gregory Sledge