mercer transportation

You are in the wrong hood

 

I was saying that last night where I stayed. lol

I posted here cause there's a good shipper around there. been for years. Figured another Mercer may have done it a million times already.

 

Yea i think that's a good way and plus that's what my wife said and I didn't listen............ I guess she's not a director of transportation for nothing.

 

the wife nailed it flatbed 22, plus the 7 , 167 to i20, 49 ,98 i10 route is some 60 miles shorter than going 78 anyother way . the way ya wife said is the shortest way from arkadelphia to any point in florida from p cola all the way to j'ville.

things still going well for you?

 

just talked to a new guy , hes been here 3 months. says any problems he is having is because of baggage he brought with him. its being behind on finances before he made the switch. he says he is doing well but was behind before he switched so its take every thing he makes to pay current bills and catch up the back but he is able to whack at the arrears.

i wonder if that is the problem some guys have, they come here , are broke as hades, and expect a miracle. they are actually making money but so far behind from previous lease or problems , but the miracle they expected didnt happen.

then they blame mercer for not providing a miracle they need.

 

I think that is the problem that almost every carrier faces, there are alot of good truck drivers out here, but seems most of them cannot manage money and are always chasing that greener grass looking for a cure to their problems. Truth be told I don't think a large majority of owner operators would even be happy with 100% of the load, as their debt load is to great for anyone to have any type of relief.

 

So then are you guys saying that mercer still has the high dollar freight that they did when you first signed on with them? I personally have a truck that has grossed $14k+ for the last 2years during the nice months up until this last summer. Pulling a covered wagon and usually running two loads per day and every now and then running a load out west and back. Anyways Since summer there is just isn't any money in their freight anymore and alot of it has to do with they are undercutting their own throats. Now they are going over to E-logs in July and there is no way I am going to lose even more money so I am getting my authority and running the same freight but making the good money they used to pay. Certain months through the summer I can gross upto $17k per month and still get home a few nights a week. So for a guy to be used to making this kind of money to end up going to Mercer and grossing $5k-$8k would drive them nuts.

 

correct, oscarkw. to admit that though would mean having to admit they are part of the problem instead being entirely the companies fault.

see i can say that because i once was there, blamed everbody but myself. i have recovered.

its why i give the advice i do, what they are screwing up currently , i have already screwed up twice and have had to fix it.
i was not born with all this knowledge, it was gained by trial and error , with plenty of error, lol

 

When I look back in my notebook from when I started here in 2011 and the loads I was doing then compared to what I see on the board now is very close. There is alot more cheap freight on the board as well that I don't recall seeing almost two years ago.

 

thats what we are saying, the loads are the same as when i came here two years ago. in 2011 i did just shy of 200 k for the year on 105,000 mile load and empty. this past year i ended up at 184 k on 95,000. i last year took 9 periods of at least 7 days off with a couple of those being 10 days off at a time, that doesnt include when i just went thru for weekends or maybe 3 days. had some personal stuff with kids graduations and other stuff going on. hs, army, airborne school etc.


i avg basically 4 grand a week , and avg say 2,000 miles a week. i pick and choose my freight carefully, i dont take a load just to make miles.

frankly its not actually the doom and gloom some of us may portray. you have to understand our perspective, we are used to being able to cherry pick , and do exactly what we want. as i and others have said, things are a slower and some rates are down. thus required more work to keep things at the level i and others expect. we have complete freedom to run our ship here and honestly some of the new lease guys have never been in that situation and dont hang around long enough to learn how to operate in that environment.

its like they expect any load offered to have a reload on the other end. but as far as getting home several nights a week i dont know if this is the place, it would depend strictly where you live . if you lived in cetain parts of indiana , or kentucky you might could very well run short haul and do that, i often have weeks where i run only 300 to 500 miles loads all week for 1000 to 1500 a pop. end of week i do 5 grand and have hip hopped less than 2000 miles total loading and reloading every day.

some guys wont do that, they seem to want miles, i do more of a revenue goal and try to get it with the least number of miles possible, as i sit here this sunday with a week to go in the month i am at 15,000 on about 7,000 miles loaded an empty with a reload for monday already booked, i will probably back off a bit this week and end the month at around 18,000 on say 8500 to 8800 miles .

i got 2 grand in fixed expenses a month, about 6000 in fuel, 2,000 grand min in maintence acct, the rest is mine although i only take 800 a week as a paycheck and the rest goes to truck account. i am a happy man. i only have a 600 dollar house payment, no personal vehicle payments, no personal loan payments, only a electric bill, water bill and groceries every month. i do board my daughters equestrian horse for 250 a month , the other horse lives in the back yard.