Marten or Shaffer?

Beware Shaffer/Crete used trucks. Since they have never had an APU, (Crete uses opti-idle) the DPF systems are likely to fail entirely very soon after the end of factory warranty. My one-box required full replacement at 499700 miles. Would have cost me 12k in another 300 miles.

If you do buy a Crete truck, make sure to buy it for 12k less than APU trucks being sold by other companies, or get it in writing that the entire DPF system has been replaced, and not just the filters.

Crete's not a bad company overall, but without APU's, their trucks' low temperature exhaust hours of operation are very high, and that seriously screws with DPF systems.

 

Shaffer is one of the better megas to work for. If you treat them with respect, you get respect back. I worked for them as a company driver 2 years, and as an o/o for the last year.

It's not all unicorns farting rainbows by any means, but I have never caught them in a lie, and every single driver I have met in a terminal who #####es loudly about them has been a driver I would fire within 5 minutes of meeting them.

Are there better companies to work for? Sure, I bet there are. They ARE a mega, but I don't have any problem saying they might well be the best mega to work for.

 

Marten won't always honor their minimum pay..but they do pay detention.
Still would choose Mattel over Crete/ Shaffer..

 

Marten won't always honor their minimum pay..but they do pay detention.
Still would choose Marten over Crete/ Shaffer..

 

Yes. 2013-2015.

A note on Shaffer: When I left Marten I went to work at Crete. I met many reefer Shaffer drivers who wanted to switch over to dry van at Crete but weren’t able to because the company made them quit and go completely through the rehire process. If someone wanted to transfer from Crete to Shaffer, however, they could do that immediately without the rehire nonsense.

The only reason I left Crete/Shaffer is that they moved all their trucks over to automatic transmissions and that may not be a big deal for you.

 

I have regularly run 3000+ mile weeks for Shaffer, both as a company driver, and o/o. I don't know how likely 3k mile weeks are on the dry van side, I only haul dry van when weird #### happens, or I need a load for home time.