Question on Commercial Activity

Posted on February 22, 2013 
Filed Under GENERAL

I was emailed this question, which I thought I would share with everyone:

“I have a question about the occasional personal property transportation log-exemption [390.3(f)(3)]. My wife and I live in NC, but have some land 640-miles away in TN. A few times a year, I drive out there with my 11k pickup & 10k trailer hauling my tractor and other land-tending equipment to maintain the property. All equipment is personal property. Sometimes, I cut trees, the logs from which are sold to mills in TN within 50mi of the the land. Does this fall within 49CFR Section 390.3(f)(3) Personal Property Transportation rule?”

JP from North Carolina

The section the questioner is referring to, states that the DOT safety rules do not apply if personal property is being transported, and that activity is not in commerce. For example, my friend and I rented a truck to go pick up some pieces of antique furniture he had purchased in New Jersey. While this is an interstate movement (I live in Pennsylvania), and the truck we rented was over 10,001 lbs. GVWR, we were not subject to the safety regulations, as he placed the furniture in his house.

However, had he been refurbishing the furniture to sell, I believe the DOT would have termed that commercial activity, and would have tried to apply the DOT rules to us.

In this case, if you were just using your tractor, chain-saw, and other equipment to chop down trees for your own firewood, or because the wife was simply tired of the ugly dead trees blocking her view, then the safety rules do not apply, as there is no commerce. However, if you are chopping them down to sell….. DOT will probably say that is commerce, and the DOT rules will apply. I will let the questioner figure out what answer he wants to give if he is stopped by DOT.

Comments

Leave a Reply