CRST Malone (Flatbed Division) SUCKS!

you doing short haul stuff and you live in the best area for flatbed freight so 2 dollars a mile should be very easy to get.for somebody that lives outside of Malone freight lanes(Midwest to southeast)it will be very hard to average that if you wanna be home weekly.4 dollars fee for fuel money and 2700 dollars for plates and permits and 185 dollars trailer weekly rent.what a ripoff.malone is one of the companies that takes advantage of drivers dream to become an o/o by offering a piece of junk truck that wont be worth nothing if you ever own it.im glad I own my truck and trailer cause after a 3 week with Malone I realized how good I had it with mercer.

 

2 dollars average to the truck probably running no more than 1500 miles a week ,if you take in consideration your fixed expenses(truck payement,trailer rent,insurance)and your variable expenses(fuel,maintenace) you only gonna have a company driver paycheck with o/o headache and you gonna owe the tax man at the end of the year.

 

I agree that if you're outside their golden rectangle you'll have a tough time. I'm guessing the 2.00/mile figure that recruiters quote is the average for all freight. a lot of loads out of western and northeast states barely pay for fuel. I don't go west of Iowa or east of Ohio. My plates for this year are 1725.00. I don't think 4.00 for fuel advance is a big deal but you can always get ahead a week on cash and not take it. I just find it easier to manage my cashflow and keep track of fuel costs by taking it. I agree 185.00 trailer rent is tough and I'm hoping to buy my own this year but that was the deal when I signed on so I really can't ##### about it.

 

The plates are 1725 but we are paying 1000 dollars for permits that malone should pay.they wonder why csa score is so high and they ignoring the real reason,the first thing an o/o will neglect when money is tight is maintenance then he start cutting corners to make ends meet.you have to compare malone to their competition.at mercer you get 50% advance for free,get paid the same day you deliver the load.trailer is 150 dollars a week rent to own,you dont pay fuel tax no matter where you fuel they pay for permits and your plates are free the next year if you drive 80kloaded miles.add all of that together and you have plenty of money to keep your rig in top shape and you will run legal and make plenty of money.i worked there for 6 months and every time I call somebody in the other end is ready and willing to help me with any issue.malone is by far the worst company I worked for but that my experience with them.im not crying cause Im not making money im just saying that I could keep more of it and stress a lot less.by the way 25 cents a page for transflow compared to 12cents that mercer charges is another way for malone to make money off their drivers

 

I tell two things that happened to me in my three weeks with malone.last week I delivered a load near toledo oh looked in landstsar loadboard and found a load paying 1440 on 230 miles my terminal manager told me I cant book it cause malone have enough freight in that area so I ended up with a load paying the same for over 500 miles.two days after that in gary in I had to wait 2 hrs at the truck stop waiting for fuel money cause my fm went home around noon and nobody else was able to find the load on the system.i just bought a trailer in december and spent all my money on it thats why im taking this crap but as soon as I build up some funds im going elswhere.

 

Why don't you call agents directly? I believe Malone now has their own loadboard you can access. That wasn't available back when I was leased to them, but I was very proactive in calling agents to see if they had freight. I did well with them by being proactive in finding my own loads. I also had a good dispatcher, but I found many of my own loads. I never totally relied on my dispatcher.

 

I have no problem finding loads,my problem is that I can broker loads paying 200 dollars more on average than malone crap but they dont let me book'em.i think my dispatcher has ADD.everything with him is a struggle.i have been trying to get a different dispatcher but I couldnt get hold of nobody in management.they owe 165 dollars since december 27 that im still waiting to collect.again im not complaining about income im just saying things can be a lot smother.

 

Do you work out of Trussville or Rockport?

 

I got to say, I put in my application for Malone, over two weeks ago, and have heard nothing. I am okay with that, just wonder why?

 

They are usually pretty good about getting back with people, or were when I was with them. It may have something to do with the holidays. As long as your references get back with them, then things usually move along rather well. If you want to go with them, you may want to call them. They have a lot of people applying. It is up to you to get with them and see why it is taking so long. I think it only took a day or so for my application to be processed. But, I have not had a lot of driving jobs so it was easy to check my background. The more jobs you have held, the longer it takes to check references.