Melton: Orientation and beyond...

No. Not fired. Been in the truck with him.

 

Sorry I haven't been able to keep up the posts for those who are interested in Bill's adventures at Melton. I have been in the truck with him for over 5 weeks and actually the only reason I have access to a computer today is because the KW is in the shop so we spent the night in a motel. YAY!! Shower and a big bed!!! I can tell you all that Melton is really no different than any other OTR company. He is averaging about 1400 miles a week. Sometimes less. Average paycheck in the 300.00 range nothing higher than that. We run a lot of south and southeast. Oh one thing I remember, someone was questioning him using 10 chains on a 39000 pound coil and I really didn't know that much about it but now I do know that Melton requires 10 chains and 2 straps on any coil over 30000 pounds. That I do agree with because their chains are not rated that high. I understand there are stronger chains but they don't offer them and we can't afford them right now. I also can tell you that I absolutely HATE when I am sitting in front of a coil loaded suicide. I know he does everything he can and that coil really isn't going anywhere but man, if it ever did, we are like a bug on the windshield. Melton LOVES to tarp. In over 5 weeks, he has had 2 loads that didn't need tarps. It is especially annoying for many reasons but one is that it takes so long, another is that many times the product is sitting out in the rain, snow whatever and they expect you to tarp it. Yet another is the fact that Melton gets paid well for him to tarp that load but he gets 15.00 to tarp and 15.00 to untarp. 30.00 for about 4 hours work with the straps and/or chains and sometimes all 3 tarps. I am sure people will argue with me and tell me that 7 bucks an hour for 4 hours work is great but no, it really isn't. One thing for sure is that 115 pound tarp isnt as heavy to him as it was in the beginning. I guess the plan is for him to stick it out here for a year at least and then maybe look into some heavy haul/specialized flatbedding companies, but I don't know what they require for experience so we will have to cross that bridge when we get there. In the meantime, looks like this is home for a while. I can't really recommend them to anyone at this point, sorry if it sounds negative but I tell the truth on this forum. Next time I get the joy of being near a computer I will update the "adventure". Thanks to all who are interested in the story.