CRST MALONE - Adventure Continues

I left Malone sometime back took a local job in the oil field. I will stick by my original post that if someone lives in the regions previously mentioned you could do okay with Malone. There wasn't enough good paying freight on my side of Texas to justify staying. DH to Laredo, Houston or Dallas to find loads just wasn't worth the cost.

I leased a truck from them and was very happy with the truck and maintenance plan, being that they took care of every problem I had even though it was at a cost of .15$ pm. Had I lived somewhere else (east of the Texas line) I would still be there in all likelihood. Although, I still loathe a 10 speed transmission.

I had access to their loadboard for 6 months after I left and never saw the loads to TX pickup in volume or rates. I know some other posters mentioned developing rapport with agents to land better loads, I found this to be hit or miss some agents would definitely work with you others where more hit or miss. I believe the agents without trucks were easier to work with while those that had trucks you (not their trucks) are a stop gap measure to move a load and would promise anything in the world to get you to take a load.

Reloads backhauls or what whatever you want to call them from the agent you were hauling for were almost nonexistent. So if you didn't have a load setup after delivery you better be looking for one the whole time you were on your way. I tried not to take a load without having a load setup near my destination.

If/when I do another lease or buy a truck I would signup for Kevin Rutherford's profit gauges from the beginning. I have done my own taxes for years and for trucking his system has got to be the easiest to setup and use best 20$ a month I ever spent, wish I would have started with that system in the beginning.

If you decide to go with them here are some key points,

1) Don't go to Colorado for a vacation before going to orientation and expect to pass the drug test, this is exactly what someone in my class did.
2) When you get your truck go through EVERY piece of equipment and the truck and write it up so you can have it repaired/replaced at some point, if you don't you will PAY for some items.
3) Try and preplan for a couple of days, once you start working with the same agents they may tell you what they have coming up which will help you land some better paying loads.
4) You should be able to get access to TruckStop through your DM, also I would push to get the info to access CHRobbinson, I started this but you need the address that Malone used to access CH loadboard (I never followed up on this) Go over the approved brokers list and setup your web browser with a favorites folder and add all the brokers who have public load boards. This will really speed up your load finding ability and reduce some stress when deciding to take a load or not. I often found short loads that would help pay what would have otherwise been straight DH miles.
5) Your paying rent on the trailer so every time you stop for the night do a freakin post trip and get whatever is wrong with that trailer repaired. And for crying out loud split scale that trailer every now and than to make sure your air bags are leveling properly. I didn't even know to do this as I only hauled tankers before and Missouri DOT popped me for a 150$.
6) Scale your empty rig and know that weight better than you know rosey palm and her five freinds, could be the difference in getting a great paying load.
7) Get locks so you can lock your equipment on the headboard, I was robbed of all my ratchet binders fortunately I had the insurance to replace that stuff.
8) The cost of new or used equipment is minimal so get NEW! If you can afford to buy quality tarps do so before, Malone's tarps are cheap crap.
9) Get to your destination early or call them on your way, most of the time you can get unloaded early or they have a place to park while you wait. Most have a place to hangout after you get unloaded. IF your going to be late call and let them know. I called a place in Chicago I had a 7am load time but I knew I wouldn't be there till noon, and I called them at 5am to let them know. When I got there I waited maybe 30 minutes and they got me in to load. While I was loading the guy on the dock asked if so and so was still out there, which he was. I was told he had been there for hours and this driver felt like he didn't need to call and just showed up so they left him out there to blow in the wind. I was in and out in an hour pays to call ahead. Learn to use the 8/2 split this saved me so much time and often I was first in line to get loaded/unloaded. A great example I had 3 or 4 hours left on my clock at around 4 in the afternoon and I was on the west side of Fort Worth heading east, it will take every bit of that time to get through Fort Worth/Dallas. So I crashed at the Loves till midnight and sailed through there with no traffic it was fantastic.

I'm sure I'm missing some other info but that's all for now, feel free to ask any other questions you may have.