Questions about Miller Transport, are tanker related ask!

do they hired newbies ?

 

KTY are you still monitoring this thread?

Looks like biz is picking up a little. Do you know if they are looking for O/O'S out of Savannah, GA?

I was looking at the pie chart that they have on the website, and was wondering if its really possible for a guy to make 190K per year to the truck on 100-110K Miles per year. I took all of the examples of the pie chart and averaged them out to 155K so i guess if you take all of the best and worst owner operators and put them in a bag and shook them out that would be the average. Pretty darn strong I think, if based on 100K per year.

i would like to ask you some more questions if you don't mind if I PM you.

 

Savannah, GA would not be a good terminal to lease on with.
All they really have out of there these days is Kemira and you would have to spend long periods of time on the road following the freight to make any money as I did when I was leased on out of Orangeburg, SC for 3.5 years. It was a struggle to make $150,000.00 a year with all of the sitting between loads. Kajun and a few others who have been with the company a long time are on dedicated runs and do much better but that is definitely not the norm.There is a reason that they have so many lease purchase trucks. On top of that they run EOBR's, have a strict company speed limit and their computer picks your next load for you.
Miller is not the company it used to be.

 

Thanks for the info Allan. From a business standpoint I dont think an OO can make out very well unless they are averaging around $2.00 per loaded mile to the truck. I have loaded at Kemira, both titanium dioxide/paint pigment if I remember correctly, and H2SO4. I used to think that you got sent to Kemira for punishment. I hauled a lot of Sulphuric Acid out of that place. Titanium dioxide was really some slow stuff to load. seems like my best time in and out of Kemira was like 3 hours. Those people that work there really are in slow motion.

 

Central Dispatch at Miller tells you to expect 33% deadhead and at that rate $2.00 per loaded mile isn't even enough.
I scratched and clawed and fought with them to keep mine around 20% but gave up when they came out with the forced dispatch.
Their explanation for forced dispatch was to try and get all of the trucks averaging over 10000 miles per month.
I struggled to keep my average over 8000 while there.

 

Cheap rates = forced dispatch, INMHO. Sounds like JB Hunt has gotten into the Tank Truck biz.

How does forced dispatch factor in with being an independent contractor? I understand a guy wanting to be picky and not take a poor paying load. But if they all payed a good or appropriate amount then why would a guy need to be forced to take it? I think that someone in sales might be to blame for these problems.

i wonder if the company were to take all of the freight that they move, average it out and disperse it to the trucks as an average rate per mile would be more beneficial? Of course demurge would have to be applied on a case by case basis.
Its possible that this approach would dilute the sweetheart deals and allow uniformity through out the company. Salesmen could make their deals but would have to consider the overall effect they would have on the big picture.

I'm just thinking out loud here, by the way...

 

So, are Miller not any good anymore? Is that the view?