MY EXPERIENCE AS A Mercer FLATBED DRIVER

How can your costs be so high? Mercer is first and foremost a flatbed company, most of the loads they have will go on a stepdeck also, you know this if you spent anytime at all on the contractor load board. It seems to me from prior posts of yours, that you must have been unwilling to haul general freight. If you were bouncing out of Chicago etc, because of no freight or poor paying freight then you were being to picky. Out of Chicago I don't typically see much for step deck only freight, but 90% of the freight out of there will go on a flat or step, most of which pays well over $2.00 per mile. Just like any other company that operates similarly to Mercer, you need to be a go getter, proactive for your own benefit, they are not going to hold your hand, the WILL give you the tools/freight to be succesfull. If you can't average $1.80 per mile in this current economy with Mercer then in my opinion you are to blame not Mercer.

 

I would say 90% of our freight will go on either a flat or step. Out of the remaining 10% of the freight I would say 8% is for flat only with the remaining 2% being for a step deck. Depending on where you live, for me would depend on which trailer to go with. Living where you do I would recommend a flat.

 

Amen brother

 

When I was leased on with Mercer I had a step and never had aproblem over ther because of it,if you have load levelers then you are fine probably 95% of the time but the only thing I would not haul where coils.
Mind you I have not been with them since 07 and the only reason I left was Lauren didn't have enough freight out here in ca anymore to get me out of the house.

 

Does anyone ever feel like at times some of these "truckers" with great numbers are just some un-employed company driver with no clue. It is so easy to spot the trolls that have no clue about how things work.

EDIT - For the record this is just an observation about the some of the "new" experts. We all know the ones that have been around with solid information.

 

I know about the military equipment. Mercer cut the hell out of the Stryker rates, we had, out of Anniston.

 

Which makes no sense to me, because every one of them I have seen out of there goes to the NW. I just can't see why we have guys even pulling them out of there for the rate thats on them. Not to mention the horrible area they are going.

 

I do think that is interesting. I feel like I have a good handle on what my competitors are doing. This would include most of the bigger open deck companies. I know where my rates are and that I am not the one getting the freight because my rates are too high. Then I see people posting about how they don't run for less than $3/mi. Granted, I can't cherry pick the high dollar spot rate freight because I have to keep 50 trucks rolling. I just have a hard time believing what some people post for rates.

 

Puzzles me, too!

 

2nd day at Mercer leasing on.

The experience is different for me I think. I went from a company where I was the big fish and now I'm the little fish as far time on the road. It is a breathe of fresh air to see so many people that have more than 10 years of experience in one place.
Anyway. I can only comment on the process I have experienced. No surprises on picking out a flatbed. They told me there expectations if I should return it and leave. Which is different than what I was expecting based on some negative experiences I have read at this site. So I'm satisfied with that. Of course the attitudes here and the treatment here is laid back,professional, and respectful.
Orientation is what to be expected.
The Mercer store has awesome deals. (I'm comparing to my old company store) They offer products with zero markup.
Everything is clean and the drivers treat the place with respect. No litter for example. I'm just trying to paint a picture here. Litter of course is not important to me.
Tractor and Trailer DOT inspection. Well .... The guy was strict on some things that really are questionable and didn't check obvious things like tire pressure. I like the fact that they have outside vendors on site at a good discount on repairs. All I needed was some reflective tape and to hook up my headache rack lights. Which I did myself so it cost nothing. They handed me the tape.
I had an issue with something I was told by a recruiter that turned out to be not the case. It was quickly fixed by him and Mercer and everybody is happy.

They asked me what I was looking to accomplish at Mercer and what I was looking for in a coordinator.
Tomorrow I will sit with the person that they think I will mesh with the best. Playfully saying I wasn't the only yank they had here. (I'm originally from the NYC area.)

All in all no bad things to say. Tomorrow or Friday should be my moment of truth in getting on the Board.
That's all nothing big going on yet.