Mercer

I don't have all the details yet but I got my financing for trailers approved quickly. The oldest you'd get right now is a 2007, but you will have your pick of 07-09 from whatever is availble when you show up for orientation. Purchasing all your chains, binders, straps and tarps will set you back a bit also.

 

i think you can buy the "add ons" on your own will be cheaper than Mercer......but you better check and have it with you at orientation or the trck don't get loaded w/o all the dressing.....

 

Yes, they said whatever I get from them I will need 50% down IF I am getting a trailer from them. If you bring your own trailer you need 100%. Many of the items on the required equipment list can be purchased less expensively. The tarps seem to be at a better price than I can find though, and at least I would have the type of tarps they want since they would provide them. Still if I am going to shoot for Dec 3 there isn't a lot of time to get everything with the holiday weekend coming up. I may need to push it back to Dec 10. Then it would be orientation - a couple loads - and home for Christmas. Then hit it hard come Jan and make up for lost time. At least I'll already be in the system by then and direct deposit should be active (usually taking from one to three weeks depending on the company).

I'm meeting with a driver within the hour so see if he will commit to coming on board there also. If so I have more work to get done before I can go. And will need even more money to buy more "stuff"

 

I purchased a few things from Truck-Pro and some other places and found out later I could have got them cheaper from mercer. Check to see what they would charge you before you go out and buy else where. Be sure to get the pad they offer to protect your tarps. I've learned from experiance your going to need it.

 

That felt they have is not very good. You would be better off getting canvas tarps somewhere for pad tarps. Also I do not like their 4X4's. They are more like 3 X 2.75 and and break easy as they are not level. I also do not like their metal edge protectors. If you are going to haul lumber their 8 foot drops are not 8 foot. Also thier tarps are short. I always had 2 steel tarps that would cover a whole trailer and 2 lumber tarps that would cover, but with them I had to have 3 lumber and 3 steel tarps to cover a trailer. Their tarps are designed to be a 4 foot or a 8 foot drop depending on how you turn them. Some loads that are uneven you need 4 tarps to cover a load.

 

Thanks for the advice. Since I've started I've hauled more machinery that had to be tarped then any thing else and its pretty hard on my tarps. All I have is 21+25 lumber tarps. I have a wish list sent in to Santa for new smaller lighter weight tarps.

 

I do have the price list from Mercer so I am comparing prices directly. Most items I can get for less, especially with the ability to negotiate discounts with a local supplier in town.

NoTarps ... so what size tarps would work best? I see tarps available in different materials and weights (i.e. thicknesses). How well will a lighter weight tarp hold up? 18oz seems to be standard, 14oz somewhat lighter, and 10oz the "lightweight" material. Two 24x26 with eight foot flap would cover a 48' load. Would that meet the requirements or does Mercer require three tarps anyway?

 

Most places have at least 25 foot tarps. You want a good 2-3 foot of tarp to overlap so you don't get a air pocket and rip the back tarp off. The problem with the lumber tarps is when I went there they did not have the flaps. So in order to get your 8 foot drop you lost 8 foot of tarp. A buddy of mine went there before I did and his did have flaps, but the lumbers were not 8 foot drops.

I do not care much for their tarps. There is some new light weight tarps out, but I do not know how durable they are. As far as I know mercer just requires enough tarps to cover a trailer. Most places have 4 foot drops for steel and 8 for lumber. Mercer has that odd ball tarp that is meant to turn either way. If you make it into a 8 foot drop without the flap it is short. That is where you will need about 4 or 5 of them to cover depending on the load.

Here is a couple pics to show the tarps.


On the above pic I have 5 tarps on this load turned longways to make a 8 foot drop.



On the above pic I have 1 tarp used as a smoke tarp with a 4 foot drop. This pic shows how short the tarps are because this is the long view of it.

 

Thanks, that's a great help. From how I see tarps advertised they all consider lumber tarps to have the 8x8 flap, and 'machinery' tarps are rectangular with no flaps. I think special coil tarps wouldn't be justified unless you did a lot of coils, otherwise just use whatever works.

So then two 24x26 tarps with flaps should cover the entire trailer. On a 48 this would give five feet of overlap. I can see breaking this up into three tarps to make them more manageable and for the weight.

 

nice tarp job there notarps.