Truck Upgrade At Marten

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by mjd4277, Nov 19, 2020.

  1. BeHereNow97

    BeHereNow97 Heavy Load Member

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    When you say some drivers have been starting out at $0.65 CPM, that is what the average pay comes out to after the "Pay Boosters" right? That's what it says on Marten's website that that's what the average pay comes out to, $0.65 CPM and that includes all Pay Boosters like Immediate Dentention, Layover, Bonuses, etc. etc.

    Sounds like a good company! $0.65 CPM when you include all the extra Pay Boosters sounds like great pay!

    Would you mind if I asked you and other Marten drivers a few questions?

    1. How many miles do you have to run to get the $1,100 minimum paycheck each week?

    2. Are you still getting that minimum paycheck if you have to shut down in bad weather and it causes your miles to be low for the week? For example snow or maybe in Wyoming they don't open up the interstates for 2 days due to high winds?

    3. What regions do they run, all of them or some more than others?

    4. Where do you fuel can you fuel at Loves and do you have to fuel at their required fuel stop or can you fuel wherever you want?

    5. How's hometime policy?

    6. Do you need a Hazmat endorsement?

    7. Forced dispatch or can you choose your loads?

    8. Do they give you time on the loads or are you 24/7 having to wake up and go as soon as your 10 hour break is up?

    9. Do you ever get 34 resets or do they run you on recaps and if you want to take a 34 hour reset if you're staying out 1-2 months, will they let you?

    KaoMinerva put a payscale sheet in 2016, does anybody have an updated one? Marten Transport ***PAY SCALE***

    Would you guys say $75,000 gross is possible if you're not taking much hometime or only after a few years experience with the company?
     
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  3. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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  4. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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  5. racemaxx24

    racemaxx24 Heavy Load Member

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    As was already mentioned, nothing has “forced” companies to put APUs on trucks outside the fuel and emissions system maintenance cost savings they see from it. A company that genuinely cares about your well-being isn’t one that is going to penalize you and your income for idling the truck.

    I have driven 1 truck in my career that had an APU, and for what it’s worth I did use it when it worked correctly which wasn’t very often. However it was not a required thing and our trucks still idled (APUs were installed later and due to their unreliability). I can’t think of many things lower on my perspective company priority list than an APU. In fact if their fleet is fitted it makes me cautious of what BS polices and restrictions they have regarding their use and idling as needed.
     
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  6. 201

    201 Road Train Member

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    I didn't know you worked for Marten. I had several friends that worked out of Mondovi. Sold my old red Pete to someone from there. I remember, the old saying was, "Marten, how fast can you get in the sleeper", because,, they had a terrible crash in the 80's, a driver wasn't paying attention, a woman stopped for a left turn, he couldn't stop, and someone told him, the best place in a crash is in the sleeper, and rather than take evasive action, jumped in the sleeper, and killed the lady in the car,,,or so the story went.
     
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  7. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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    3600 miles so far on the new truck. So far,so good. Discovered something interesting one of my pretrips and I didn’t think of it until now.
    My truck has disc brakes on the steers-certainly a far cry from the typical drum brake setup on most trucks,let alone the Cascadia I used to drive. Don’t know if this is standard across the board for KW or just an option but it is certainly different. image.jpg
     

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  8. Bigdog69inSC

    Bigdog69inSC Bobtail Member

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    I've always wondered, do the KW sleeper tractors have as many check engine/abs/adaptive cruise faults as their day cabs?

    I work for UPS and prefer the T680's over the Cascadia's when given the choice, but if I drive 15 different T680 day cabs a month, maybe 2 have zero lights on and probably 3 or 4 will have every amber warning light on. The rest are guaranteed to have at least the engine warning light on. We don't even take them to the shop anymore because after being reset they come right back on.

    I was the first driver in 2 new tractors last week and by the time I finished my 600 mile turn, both had check engine and adaptive cruise faults.

    For me, the T680's have a better layout, better mirrors and don't wander as much since our 5th wheels are all the way back for pups. That's why I choose them when possible.
     
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  9. RogerThat72

    RogerThat72 Road Train Member

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    Is there an option for manual transmission or is the fleet going to all automatics?
     
  10. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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    All automatic unfortunately. We only have a handful of manual transmission trucks (mostly daycabs) and those are scheduled to be phased out when their warranty expires.
     
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  11. phox1515

    phox1515 Bobtail Member

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    #1
    As far as I have been told... no minimum... so technically 1 mile...

    #2
    They make it very clear that they support bad weather shutdown. they pay you for the downtime but that as well as every other xtra pay is not on top of your min pay, it goes towards it unless you exceed the $1100 min.

    #3
    I am classified as SW Regional, however I have not done any SW states except TX. I did do a nice bit of SE in my first week because I offered to stay out longer. Currently I'm booked on a load going to GA from Laredo, TX but it'll be split dropped somewhere because Del appt is past my home time. I'm home weekends and it's scheduled for 30th.

    #4
    you *can* fuel anywhere that accepts comdata however they only want you to fuel at Pilot J and you gotta use their in QC navigation to route to the fuel stop or it lowers your compliance rating. Not sure if that really means anything though, but it's kind of annoying to get a message the following week saying you were 75% complient because you didn't use the QC navigation to route to that fuel stop.
    If you choose to fuel elseware than Pilot J they only want you to get enough to get you to a pilot j or terminal.

    #5
    Home time... that's a ball of fun. OTR is standard 1 day for 7 days out from my understanding, but regional (like myself) is basically max of 48 hours at home or you forfeit your guarantee pay and only get what you actually earned. I usually out Mon - Fri, home saturday and sunday, however they have basicly until midnight sat to get me home (I didn't get home until 9:30pm this past sat because I had to wait on a trailer coming in from mexico)... I utilized every minute just about of that 48 hours though as a result and didn't leave the house until 9:30pm last night.

    #6
    hazmat isn't required, however they encourage it. I just got mine because apparently they pay $1000 bonus for getting it, higher cpm on hazmat loads and they pay for the cost of getting it. Just got the hazmat license in the mail on Saturday, so I'm now awaiting my bonus payout and cost reimbursement.

    #7
    It is forced. You can decline a load apparently but that's also going to forfeit your guaranteed pay again. seeing a pattern yet?

    #8
    For the most part I haven't had trouble with appt times. lot of drop n hook. If needed they'll reschedule appts or have you drop at a yard. Some loads have had appts in the middle of the night when my clock had run out where i had to park on the street then slow roll in during break... technially marten can't make me do it but well you know how that game goes.

    #9
    34 resets? what's that? haha jk... because of my home every weekend I never need a 34 reset during the work week. it's just not possible to run 70 hours in 5 days... ok i mean it is if you ran out your 14 all 5 days but that never happens. the one time i stayed out longer I ran on recaps. I didn't ask for a 34 reset so can't answer on how that would work.

    Big thing I can tell you.... That $1100 promise has a lot of rules in Marten's favor. no more than 48 hours at home is a big one, even if you stayed out for 2 weeks, still only allowed 48 hours. they withheld it from me last week because I left 3 hours late.
    gotta work (or be available to work) 5 of the 7 pay period days.
    no load refusal
    must stay productive. if you have a d&h due at 7pm but you can get it there by 10 am... gotta get it there earlier than later.
    few other rules I don't remember right now but they're all in the fancy little book they give you full of rules, policies, protocols, terminal locations, etc. this thing about 1/3 as thick as the fmcsa green bible book.

    I have been with Marten 2 months now. things started out ok but lately have been going downhill. last week was particularly bad and as a result i'm showing them why you don't mess with papa bear... it aint my fault truck is in the shop first day out after home time... i'm just taking care of their equipment. did pretrip last night, engine light was on and also a small air leak (not enough that i can hear but enough to lose air pressure overnight)....

    oh and if you wanna get paid for truck repair downtime, try to get it done away from terminals because you only get paid terminal downtime if it exceeds 24 hours. 3rd party shops you get paid after 1 hour.
     
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