Avoid Marten Transport LTD.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. As for not being smart you would think these companies would want to keep drivers instead of havin 130% turn over rates...sure its cheaper to have a student pulling loads paying them crap..but most of the time its students having accidents and backing into things costing them money. Goodluck with your next company

 

OK, I already did this once and I lost it all, so now I'm really PO'd....lol

I saw a few posts asking about Marten. All I can say is avoid at all costs. Now if u are a brown noser, u should get along fine w/ this company. If u have morals and respect for yourself u won't. They are all about them and there money.

Let me begin by saying that I have a good dose of morals and a great deal of self respect. I drive for Marten Transport.

They say they have an open door policy, but go to ask a question or call them on an error and u are red flagged from the beginning and they will make your life a living hell.

I have a sneaking suspicion that diplomacy is not in your vocabulary. Allow me to assist. Diplomacy : skill in handling affairs without arousing hostility. Per Merriam Webster. Getting retarded on the phone with your dispatcher is not exactly how to get off on the right foot.

You will spend most of your day sending Macro's or answering ?? like where are you, when they already have a tracking system on the truck.

The only reason this would happen is if the timeliness of the load were in question. Should rarely, and I emphasize RARELY be a problem.

You are not guaranteed the miles they advertise nor time off and if u do get time off the truck has to be taken to the terminal.

I have not, in the year + that I have been here, really ever had issue with getting the advertised miles. I may not get ALL the miles I want, but then, I'm greedy. I can get 2500 -3000 without whining at all. If I whine a little, I can get more.

I was averaging $188 a wk, that's it. Also be careful w/ your pay as they like to charge u for fuel as well as tolls and lumpers and not reimburse .

You're kidding, right?? If you're getting $188 a week, you're either really lazy or......hmmm....yeah, you gotta be really lazy. If that's the case, you were costing the company far more than what you were making them. As far as getting reimbursed for tolls and lumpers, it doesn't take a genius to do the paperwork correctly. It's really not hard. How on earth do you get charged for fuel???? I can't figure that one out at all. I've never even heard of that.

But be very cautious about ?? these errors, not only will they have no answer for you they are very notorious for hanging up on you. There is no communication whatsoever w/ this company.

There's where that diplomacy comes in handy. Pronounced dih plo ma see. Try it sometime.

They are very notorious for repowering loads which to us truckers means not only are u losing miles, but ur losing $$$$.

The only loads I've repowered (and I've repowered quite a few) come from drivers who have grossly mismanaged their time. Oh, and there was that one that I had to pick up out of the tow yard just south of Chowchilla that one time......small world, huh?

They are big on the qualcomm, it beeps all day and night, however they don't want u responding while u are driving, yet if u don't they have a fit. I spent most of my time pulling over to respond to the many messages they like to send.

Most of your time? Really? Is that why you were making $188 a week???

U have numerous dispatchers or as they call them fleet mgrs who are extremely rude unless u like to kiss butt, yes sir, no sir etc. Oh and pray to the Lord u don't have a family emergency! This was my case. I had a very ill family member and was called home immediately, I had a load, I explained my situation to the night fleet mgr, I was told to take care of business, I offered to get the load to it's destination, however needed to get back ASAP!

That load was headed to Santa Fe Springs, right?? I sure wish you'd have left the bills in the truck when ya cleaned it out. Would have saved me some trouble.

they would not let me bobtail home and told me they would get me a ride either w/ another driver or by bus, but couldn't tell me how soon. I advised them they would have to send a driver to pick up the truck and to give me time to get some things out that I did not want sitting down in Ontario, they advised me they would call me letting me know when a driver would be arriving, they did not, instead they called to have the truck and trailer towed w/ all my belongings.

Ok, there's two sides to every story, but by virtue of your post, your credibility is SHOT. Marten will bend over backwards to see to it that their good drivers are taken care of. It's not like Marten to tell a driver, "Don't bother coming back". You are really going to have to be a perpetual thorn in one's side. I highly doubt that Marten was unsympathetic to your situation, but probably more likely that they had had enough of you perhaps.

They refused to tell me where the truck was. I did find out and due to having only one vehicle it delayed my ill family getting to emergency which almost cost them there life.

Help me understand here - so you were driving around in the family car looking for your truck that you abandoned that then got towed so you could get your stuff out while your family member lay at home dying which was the whole reason you went home?? Really? Or did you state a grand embellishment of the truth??

They then a couple weeks later had an affiliate company call me advising me they were confirming that I quit, which I had not, a couple days later when I was to be getting paid, I had no money, Marten Terminated me with no warning, verbally or written, not only did they terminate me they charged me $700 for retrieving the truck, and other charges which included, the orientation fee, the hotel cost, and a fee for traveling to the orientation which I had used my own vehicle to get there.

Ok, it's only fair that you get charged for the tow bill when you abandon a truck. That's a pretty big no-no in this line of work. Ya might watch for that to show up on your DAC too...just a little heads up. I know you were told in orientation, and they might have made you sign a paper too, that said if you quit or are terminated within 6 months of beginning employment for Marten, you WILL be charged for orientation pay, lodging, and travel expenses. True, you may have used your own vehicle to get there, but if you look into it, you got paid mileage for your trip. Can't cry foul on that one.

This takes me bck to my last day of orientation. They had a load for me and then didn't have a load, I was stuck in Ontario for 2 days w/ nothing, and slept in the truck w/ nothing until they got it together, no apologies for there error.
Marten Transport ran me even when I had no hours left, even after advising them so, and they would deny ever being told so,

Were you keeping your dispatcher advised of your available hours?? Marten is smarter than to force you to run over your 70. How do you run out of hours anyway, making $188 a week? I make that in a day.

they had addt'l stops that had no paper work and new nothing about, yet I would find out from other customers that the product wasn't there's that I had left over.

Strange situation, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that Marten wasn't aware of that and that it was an error on the part of the shipper. Does your bloodlust for Marten make you want to blame it on them maybe?

This company is all about themselves and the fleet mgrs care nothing about u or ur family, all they care about is getting to the bar after work and send emails to each other all day.

Huh??

When u walk into a company and they have bullett proof glass surrounding the dispatchers, you know there's a serious problem.

Ok, let me set the record straight here. The only terminal that you have anyone behind glass is the Ontario, CA terminal. Sorry dude, but it's not bulletproof. Also, there are NO DISPATCHERS in Ontario. There are a couple of dispatchers in Indy, but the rest are in Mondovi, WI. You are free to walk right up to any and all of them at any time. As a matter of fact, you have to practically walk right past Randy Marten's OPEN DOOR en route to dispatch. How's that for an open door policy??? How many lies have I caught you in now, o moral one??

Apparently they have had some angry drivers too often. Oh and watch ur log book, if it does not match to the very second of fuel stops, cut off times, or anytime u stopped u will be in violation, u will be written up, u will be called in to Wisconsin Terminal and u will get a serious butt chewin.

Seriously, is it that hard to run a logbook?

(It's all by there computer and tracking system) and they like to play games by asking ur location when they have already hit that mighty button that show's them ur little truck. We all know the log is a liar's guide, Marten says it's only a lie if u make it a lie, yet they want everything on time, and most of the time they don't give u enough time.

Sorry, never had that problem.

The end result with this company is Do As I Say Not As I Do!!! They like to point fingers, but never own up to there mistakes, dead silence is what u will hear. I talked to Mr. Randy Marten myself regarding the treatment I received during my family emergency and all he could say is "What do You Want Me To Do About It", and ask about my violations and then he hung up on me as they all do. I also received a hand written letter from him, stating that I was stupid or in his words "not very smart at all"!

That's freakin' hilarious.

If you want to stay sane, have money in your pocket, and have a life I strongly suggest you stay away from Marten Transport. You are just asking for trouble if you don't!
Hope this helps. There is probably more reasons I could give, so if ya have any ?? shoot me an email.
Thanks,
cwby4u.

Dear readers: If you have morals, respect yourself and your company, want money in your pocket, get home when promised, and run the miles you want, there's nothing wrong with Marten Transport. The truth is, I wouldn't want this fella working for me, nor for the company I represent. Folks this is the problem with our industry. It isn't a driver shortage, it isn't a lack of good companies to work for, it's a vicious circle of devil-may-care drivers with poor work ethics pulling the good companies down. I hear it all the time about how things aren't like they used to be. Companies aren't like they used to be. Drivers aren't like they used to be. I am a believer that a company only has a responsibility to treat a driver as well as that driver treats his company. Marten has solidified that for me. I did a lot of research and deliberation before I made my decision to come to Marten Transport. I have not regretted that decision for one minute. If a company could weed out all the yahoos like mr.cowboy here, you'd have a waiting list of drivers to hire. A company can only do as well as it's staff will allow, and when you have 1500 people undermining the efforts of a 2750 person workforce, you've got a tough battle to fight. Marten is MY company, and I will not sit back and allow anyone to tell lies. You want to know something about Marten, I'll shoot ya straight.

Happy Trails!

 

This post is being made solely for the purpose of speaking for Gypsycowgirl's reputation. I know her personally VERY well. In fact, I'm on the phone with her right now. I called her when I read this post so that she could come on here and speak on behalf of what has been a very good company for her. Likewise, I was on the phone with her when she had to pick up a load from a tow yard in CA.

I would hope that those of you who have seen my posts would know that I would NOT stick my reputation on the line for just anyone. Gypsy is absolutely one of THE most straight forward and honest people I know. She is also one of the hardest working drivers I've ever known. She and I teamed together a couple years ago, and she would drive circles around me even though she was just a rookie then. I would stake my CDL and my current job with my current employer on her words about Marten. In fact, I have thought of going to work for Marten many times because of the success she's having with them. I just don't want to be OTR anymore or I would be in a blue bird truck right now.

That being said, I'm willing to stake my reputation on this forum as her words being nothing less than the gospel truth.

 

Gypsycowgirl, You pretty much said everything I was thinking while reading his post. You rock.

He clearly has difficulty expressing his questions and concerns in a clear, diplomatic manner, and from the sound of things, it didn't take long to earn a reputation with the company for having time management and attitude problems.

Don't get me wrong, guys, I hate hearing about any situation in which drivers are mistreated by their companies, but I really have to read between the lines on this one and my opinion is he wasn't doing anything to help his own situation either.

I've talked with other Marten drivers who seem to love working there, and from what I've heard, Randy Marten is a pretty fair guy.

No offense, man, but if the owner of the company sends you a handwritten letter saying you (and I'll bet he was referring to your actions, not you personally) are "not very smart," then there's a good chance it is very well deserved.

 

lets see, you say they made you run with no hours and then they would monitor your logs and write you up and chew you out for cheatin. I think Martin is probably better off without an employee like you. I have seen too many like you who expect the world but give nothing for it.

 

I know a guy with them 5 yrs, he has found his home.
Then ive ran into another driver with them, really dont know him all to well but he is a neighbor been with them 15 yrs.

 

A couple months ago, I was driving home and ran across a Marten truck making a U-turn, right in the middle of a busy arterial street.

When he got turned around, the driver had the nerve to flip off the row of 10 or 12 cars that had stopped to let him turn around.

I was not impressed, to say the least.

 

Yeah Huskermedic, there's a few of those in every company. That's my point exactly. I don't want those people representing my company. Maybe he was having a bad day. Whatever. Doesn't excuse his actions. We can only hope he left and maybe went to JB Hunt or somethin'! lol

 

Yeah Gypsycowgirl,

If I ever go otr againe marten is one of the 1st companys i would try to get in to. Its people like him that give good companies a bad name.

Stay safe and godbless