MY EXPERIENCE AS A Mercer FLATBED DRIVER

I agree. There is no funny business here. Just to add. I picked up a load for Mercer and the shipper used that tape white out to cover the freight charge. I scratched it off to see and it was perfect to the penny. It was cheap freight too.

I hope nobody is getting tired of hearing me say "I love it here ". This week I will end it 2500 to the truck after fuel and tolls.
I snatched 3 loads
nc to ma 2.60 p/mile 18000lbs
150 mile d/h
ny to pa 2.15/mile 47000lbs
50 mile d/h
Pa to nc 1.65 p/mile 9980lbs
Then 80 miles home and Merry Christmas.

 

Do you have Prepass/EZpass for the tolls and weigh stations?

 

Just prepass for weigh stations... You would have to get IPass on your own..

 

I got I-pass through Mercer, it does get deducted as Mercer does not pay tolls

 

I got the best pass through mercer too. Good for all tolls east of I-35. They said they are working to get OK and KS added on soon.

I didn't know so I will share with the drivers like me that, BestPass will work on all weigh in motion across the country. North Carolina weigh in motion is like $3 a month additional which is cheaper than paying them direct. Last I checked NC charged $99 for each year. You pay prepass separately but you use the same unit OOIDA rate is 13.50 but is going up a little. Mercer gets the biggest discounts available. There are some really good toll discounts in the North East when you arrive off peak. 30%-40% off in some places.

 

question abaout mercer freight lanes.

 

Mercer freight lanes run all over, just some are good and some are very few loads and some are very cheap loads.
Personally I like Indiana, chicago, Wi., Ohio. short runs but I do run all over when I see a good load going that way.
Over all , right now, freight is slow and cheap but probably that way everywhere.
And latley Mercer has been taking on a lot of new drivers.

 

I decided to post an experience I had here at Mercer. I thought about not posting only because I felt it made me look like a db. I book a load going to the north east where typically nobody likes to go. Load stated 7000lbs. I get there and shipping prints up a 2nd BOL and now the load is 14.8k and twice as big and twice the tarp but all going to same place. I was bent because it was the principle of it to me. AFTER i was loaded I called the agent. I got no where they said basically the customer paid for the truck and it's their truck. I didn't like that answer at all. I hang-up and call my coordinator (because I didn't want to create a stink with contractor relations) and he tells me. "If you book a load for 40k and you load and it's only 20k, do you give the money back?" I said ok and hung-up the phone. It burned me because it was the principle of the whole thing. And suddenly I felt like I was in the twilight zone. How could everything at Mercer be so warped?
I called contractor relations. I said I don't want to make a complaint but here's the situation and all I want to know is do I have any rights???
With out hesitation he said if the load isn't what you agreed to then, you can refuse the load. That's all I wanted to hear frankly. Then I realized my coordinator never drove or owned a truck before and I my mistake with the agent was I loaded then called.
I was happy again!
btw that customer used their crane to drape my tarp over the freight for me so I didn't have to climb on anything and they jumped up and ran my straps for me. lol that's why I didn't want to post this. I look like the bad guy now.

It wasn't horrible or anything it was just the principle of the whole thing. After speaking to a couple veterans they said it happens rarely but if the customer is cool then they're cool. And that's pretty much the way I handled it too. Just trying to share as much as possible plus, I'm bored out of my skull right now.