What “baked in” means
When you save a weigh-in and link the loads that were on the scales, those loads become part of a measured record. From that point on, they no longer count as guesswork. loadmate treats them as known weight, confirmed on the day, rather than estimates it has to track for drift. One saved weigh-in at a time is your active baseline. That is the single record driving your live score and your drift tracking. Every other weigh-in you have saved stays in your history as a record you can read, but only the active baseline shapes the numbers loadmate shows you now. So “baked in” is simply this: the loads you ticked at the weigh-in are now the trusted starting point. As long as you leave them as they were on the scales, they add nothing to your drift. Change them, and loadmate starts noticing the difference.Changing what you carry: four cases
Once a load is baked in, four common changes behave in four different ways. The table below is the short version.| If you… | What happens |
|---|---|
| Remove a load that was on the scales | Its weight counts toward drift again, because you have moved away from the measured snapshot. |
| Edit a load’s weight without re-weighing it | The change counts toward drift. But if you re-weigh that item so it carries an actual reading, it records no drift even though the weight changed. |
| Add a new load that was not on the scales | Its full weight counts toward drift until you re-weigh, because it was never part of the measured record. |
| Move a load to a different spot at the same weight | No change to drift. Moving it only shifts your axle distribution and your compliance picture, not how far you sit from the snapshot. |
Re-weighing an item means recording an actual reading for it, not just typing a new estimate. A typed change is still your figure; a reading is measured. That is why one records drift and the other does not.
Editing only the loads on a record
Sometimes the rig did not change at all. You just ticked the wrong loads when you saved the weigh-in, or unticked something that really was on the scales. For that, you do not need to weigh again. You can edit only the loads linked to an existing record. Open the record from More -> Weigh-In, then use the option to edit its linked loads. Tick or untick items so the list matches what was genuinely on the scales that day. This corrects the record without pretending you weighed again, and it is the right tool when the measurement was fine but the bookkeeping was off. Reach for a fresh weigh-in instead when the rig genuinely changed: you added heavy gear, moved a lot of weight between the vehicle and the trailer, or filled or emptied a big tank. Editing the linked loads cannot capture new weight that was never on the scales. Only weighing again can. To manage the loads themselves, rather than which ones are linked to a record, see Review load changes. Editing a record’s linked loads is a Pro action and prompts you before it saves.Setting an older record as your baseline
You can keep many weigh-ins in your history, and you can choose which one is the active baseline. Most of the time the newest weigh-in is the one you want driving your numbers. Occasionally you may want to set an older record back as the baseline, for example if a recent weigh-in was recorded against the wrong configuration, or you want to compare against an earlier, known-good measurement. Open the record you want from More -> Weigh-In, then choose the option to set it as the active baseline. loadmate prompts you first, because this changes which measurements drive your score and compliance going forward. The record you pick becomes the trusted starting point, and your drift is measured against its loads from then on. This is a deliberate switch, not a routine one. If in doubt, the simplest and safest path is to weigh again and make the fresh record your baseline. Setting a baseline is a Pro action.When to weigh again
loadmate watches two things between weigh-ins: how long it has been since your last one, and how much you have changed what you carry since then. It does not nag. It surfaces a small number of gentle prompts on the Rig tab, and each one means something specific.- A prompt to record your first weigh-in. If you have never weighed, loadmate invites you to record one so it can work from a measured baseline instead of estimates.
- A suggestion to weigh again. Once it has been a good while since your last weigh-in and you have changed your load more than a little, loadmate suggests heading back to the scales. This is a soft nudge you can move past; it simply means a fresh reading would keep you honest.
- A firmer safety prompt. When you are sitting close to a limit and your load has changed, loadmate shows a more insistent prompt that you cannot simply dismiss. Being close to a limit and carrying differently from your last measurement is exactly when a fresh, faithful reading matters most.
A simple rule of thumb
There is no exact number that means “you have drifted too far”. loadmate deliberately works in plain signals rather than thresholds, because how much drift matters depends on two things: how close you were to your limits at your last weigh-in, and how your rig is packed. When in doubt, weigh again. A fresh weigh-in costs you a short trip to a weighbridge, truck scale, or mobile weigher, and it gives you back a clean, measured baseline with no drift to track. That is the safe move every time, and it resets the comparison so every future change is judged against real numbers again. To understand how a verified, measured baseline feeds your score, and why a fresh reading is worth so much more than a typed estimate, see What is the Rig Score.loadmate helps you work from the numbers you enter. Keep your source documents handy, and use a weighbridge, truck scale, or local authority when you need official evidence.