at marten orentation

Thank you so much for posting. If you would, when you get rolling, could you please list your total number of miles per week and the times you delivered/pick up'd at?

What i'm trying to establish are if the work schedules are steady---do you deliver and pickup within acceptable boundaries or are they "all over the clock?" In other words, am i going to be sleeping and working at the same general times per day, or will it be unpredictable?

 

Here at Marten appt times are all around the clock. In the last week my appts were
Del 2300 in Urbana,Il on Monday
Del 0300 in omaha,Ne on Wednesday
PU 0900 in Oakland,Ia on Wednesday
Del 0100 in Cranberry Township,Pa on Friday
Pu at 0900 in Natrium,Wv on Friday
PU at 1300 in Parkersburg,Wv on Friday
Del 1000 in Fontana,Ca on Wednesday well tomorrow

 

Ive got to hand it to you refer drivers, 1am 3am, I guess I'm spoiled by the daytime hours or drop and hooks we dry vans do. I might get a 1am two or three times a year MAX.... Drive Safe

 

That's about it for reefers, it doesn't matter what reefer co. you work for.

Grocery warehouses and shippers are 24/7/365


There are some weeks, i just can't get off the night shift. Then there are weeks, with 'normal' working hours.

 

Thanks again for posting.

Well, at least you seem to be getting good miles---especially considering the "supposed" bad economy. The food business does not seem to be slowing down?

If we go by monday to monday, it looks like you got at least 2750 miles?

i was trying to analyize your del/p'up times and i thought maybe if, theoritically i/we were on the 1am to 9am sleep pattern, then there would have only been one instant where we had to stay up later than the regular bed time---the 3am omaha. This is the only time that week, and to me one time per week is acceptable.

But then, i realized this probably wouldn't work either as it takes time to unload---possible 45mins or longer.

So, i guess this is pretty normal for marten and other refer companies?

Are the appt times pretty much concrete? Or can you, the driver, request changes?

If not, this is unfortunate because i'm planning on returning to OTR pretty soon and Marten, along with shaffer, were at the top of my list. Mainly because, from what i hear, Marten is a good company. But also due to the fact that the refer companies don't seem to be slowing down at all during a) the "slow" period of Jan to march ish and b) during the bad economy.

 

Here at Marten, if your running late you send a late Mac with a good reason why your late. IE: WEATHER / BAD ROAD CONDTIONS .

We are no way suppose to call the customer if we want to change the appoinment. For most part they are set in stone. Our Ops Managers get pissy that we called the customer.
Sometimes, however your dispatcher might be able to pull strings with cust serv. and get a change, say earlier appoinment.


You are correct, reefers are doing pretty good, because no one is volutarlry(sp) going to stop buying food.

3rd quarter of 2008 we showed a profit.

 

i may have no choice but to go with a refer company if things are really bad for dryvan. The crete guy who posts his diary seems to be doing ok though.

One paper, it looks doable. But i've lived the ragged lifestyle of irregular sleep patterns and it just doesn't work for me----yet i may have no choice now.

i've done refer work in the past. Produce, which can involve alot of night driving. But at least it's consistent--same time at night. And food distribution, which while requiring a lot of hand unloading also tends to be consistent as far as when you work and sleep.

 

yep it takes special people to put up with the reefer, #### noisy thing, and the early am apts, then bust ### to make a pickup for the next morning and most grocerys arent very easy to work with,,,hope you find something to your liking,,,, also your right marten will probably put a hit on your dac report some companys live by that report others not so much ,good luck