the end with melton

that sucks to hear man. I left in late January because of the same thing. Sitting 4-5 days a week at a truckstop. I've since been looking for a job but everywhere i see is the same deal. Im gonna end up going back to Melton just to feed myself. I've been outta work 6 months now and pretty much burned through my savings.

I was hoping that this summer it turns around but apparently it hasn't and i don't think it will. Im kinda scared to go back to Melton because of how bad they have been doing with loads i gotta wonder how much money they got and how long till they go bankrupt. They got all those new trucks and trailers now but no freight to pay for them. When i was there bob peterson was all, "we have the money to weather the storm", but i dunno that was 6 mos ago when everyone thought this would be over by now.

Now Melton has all this new crap you gotta get to get hired, TWIC card, hazmat, Passport, and they wont pay for any of it. Thats probly gonna be the straw there. Thats stuff adds up and if they won't pay for any of it than i won't be able to go back. As far as im concerned id rather not do hazmat loads, Ports suck because u spend so many hours getting in out and loaded its just ridiculous, and as far as going to canada, i guess that'd be fine except all the border crap now, last time i went to canada i spent 2 hours getting in and 3 hours on our side coming back. They go over your paperwork like hawks, and frigin tear your truck apart and let you put all the stuff back which is messed up.

Anyways sorry to hear your now out of a job. I wish you the best of luck getting another one.

Peace

 

that is a joke, i run into canada all the time and the line is long sometimes but never had my truck tore apart and if you have the RIGHT paperwork most of the time it is a breeze

 

well im sure it probly depends on where you cross, maybe i just get the jerks all the time i dunno.

 

Santana asked why you were quitting? thats pretty funny because everyone is quitting for the same reason. And yeah when i dropped my truck there i didnt have a place to put my trailer because the yard was so #### full so i just dropped it along the side where u come in and parked my truck in the 1 hole that was available, cleaned my truck out, and drove a rental car home.

 

If you guys are wanting to stay in flatbed I would recommend checking out Boyd Bros. Yea, I know freight is slow everywhere but these guys seem to be staying busier than most in the flatbed industry. They have a terminal there in Birmingham, have decent equipment, and ok people to work for.

It's just a thought since your on that side of the states. They have a lot of flatbed freight there in the southeast. I worked for them until I moved out to Texas and decided to find something local. My only issue with them was that I seemed to have a different fleet manager every month but even with that I was still making plenty of miles.

Good luck to you both. I was out of work for about a month after we moved out here to Texas - partly because I was holding out for a specific company & I was considering going to work for Melton since they have a terminal here in Mesquite. I'm glad I didn't now.

Anyway, that was the roughest month I ever had to get past. I've gone into foodservice delivery now so we are staying busy and really even more so now that summer is here. If your tired of flatbedding and wanting a change I would recommend looking into it. The work is pretty physical but the pay is good. We make $19.00 an hour and overtime after 8 hours plus if you run team out to like El Paso they pay .53 cpm plus hourly for all your unload time which makes it like a $400 trip (paid to each driver - it's not split). Anyway, good luck be sure to let us know how things are going.

 

SnoFox, if you'd consider reeefer, pm me i might have a lead for you.

 

well i am interested but i can't PM you. Apparently you have to have 50 posts before you can PM people.

 

I used to run to canada and never had a problem on the canadian side, but the u.s. custom agents are f#cktards, My truck was tore apart because two agents got into a pissing contest. I case you're wondering, I lost the contest and didn't even play! Given the choice I'll never go back!