Smaggs goes to Marten. My Experience with Marten Transport.

jumpin in to ask a question, but i just got terminated from marten little while ago. im young, drove for bout a year and 1st time in colorado with beer and smoked my brakes. yes i wasnt going 35 but when i realized i really needed to slow down it was really hard to do so, and once i seen smoke i pulled over asap. wanted to be truthfull i called it in to see what i need to do. blah blah few days later i was let go. for real for real i know i was in the wrong, im so disappointed with myself for not going 35 at the start, and understand what happened. but i ask u guys, do u think this is a little messed up to be fired over? i mean doesnt most driver smoke their brakes sometime in their early careers? just looking for what others have to say on this, nothing hateful towards marten, other then the good pay but short trips and hitting the shop alot in my few months of employment. thx

 

no its not messed up, do you know what happends when you smoke your brakes? you can run out of brake and have no way to stop, you can start a brake fire and burn your truck/trailer to the ground, and you WILL at the very least ware the brakes out alot. You showed them you dont know how to read and follow instructions, big mountain grades and heavy trucks arent anything to mess with. They put those signs and lights there for a reason. You could have killed someone or yourself.




American Trucker

 

Does Marten even ask for your DD214?

 

oh i learned, the hard way...

 

Kloy, you must have been on I 70 west of Denver,,, There is a 7% percent grade at one point where a truck can easily get away from you if not careful....and several other places of 5 and 6% downgrade...I've smoked my brakes before, but not too bad...and not in Colorado,,, but I've been very careful since then...Early on I had a trainer that almost crystalized the brakes before he could stop...One thing though,, we never told anyone in the office..But I guarantee,,,I don't care how many people pass me,, or if I look like some old granny going down a mtn, I always gear down and slow way down before starting down it.....

 

Sweet Jesus! Smoked the brakes? Not only should you have been terminated, you should have been put in prison!!

I, and millions of others, ran those routes before most trucks even had jake brakes, and most of us smoked the brakes a time or two. We learned. We learned driving the trucks, and we learned from other drivers on the CB.

No, you should NOT have been terminated. This is what happens when you get a bunch of pencil-necked geeks, who have never even sat in a truck, dictating policy. Marten is not alone in this, of course, the industry is infested with people who have no idea what it is really like to drive a truck.

Is smoking the brakes good? Of course not, but it will happen for some new drivers. When they start to smoke, pull to the side, and let them cool off, learn your lesson, and you will be a better driver for it!

It just drives me crazy to hear all of the "hall monitor" types with their "holier than thou" giving advice.

Cowboy up, fer chrissakes!

 

We had jake 20 years ago !!!

1991 shaker with a cat had great jakes.....

 

Yes it's supposed to be strictly intermodal.What has me hesitating is..it's a salaried position.($840 for 5 days or $1008 for 6) I went to Swift once for a dedicated position only to see it disappear after orientation. So..yeah still a little hesitant.

 

well thx 4 the replys. yes i was on 70 headed west. it was the hill after coming out of the tunnel. overall i wish i followed the posted speed limit sign, i been on other down grades 5-6% not as heavy but not too far away. but i never felt i was going to heat up the brakes even thought im in 7-6 gear(8 speed) and indeed touching the brakes alot. ive made it out ok. and doin this over a handfull of times and never comin down to what happen in co, ive never learned what i needed so i could drive safely. intill that day and haveing the repair guy that came out to inspect, i never really understood what j-brakes are for. yes help slow you down, but i was never shown or explained(in school or the 8months ive driven teams before marten)all the times i hit down grades in gears i shouldnt have been in i had the jakes on and every 5-10 sec i would tap the brakes till i was out of the hill, and if i was ever in 7 or 6 or 5th gear i would just have to do the same. so me knowin that touchin the brakes alot i could heat them up so i felt i need to get out of the grade asap without hitting danger speeds.( another thing is everytime the rpms hit 15+ i would up shift, due to what i thought i was suppose to do and the sound of the engine) but repair guy said i could stay 15-20 before touching the brakes...........n e ways doing what he said after the fact and going thru vail co, another down grade i follow the 35 speed limit and letting the jakes do their job and me not touchin the brakes intill 18-2000 rpms, i found myself enjoyin the ride safely down and relaxin my foot as it wasnt resting on the brake peddle on standby to brake..but again with me following the posted signs of other down grades the issue i was having was i thought 15+ rpms were too high(with the threat of termination from marten in the back of my head if rpms touch 24rpms and or touching 75mph) and not experiencing the power and the job of the jakes. but threw it all and after a lost of a job that i seemed to enjoy, ive learnt a lesson the hard way( or the 2012 way) just sharing my story with all, for the other newbies or future trainers. even thought ive asked alot of questions, what i dont know i cant ask. i just wish other then all the research i could of done myself (which i guess i didnt do enough), i wish i was tought more rather then throwin the keys to learn on my own. and i know the older guys had to, but with the higher variety of different types of people gettin into this job type and the fact were in the dumbie 2000s, school shouldnt be a month.........ooooorrrr i should of just had a trainer? thx!