mercer transportation

Why don't you just take your ball and go home?

 

Now Oscar you just stated a few pages back that if things don't pick up soon you are going to have to leave also. I bet you would still post on the Mercer thread also. In fact if you look through all of these pages of this Mercer thread you will see a pattern of Owner Operators leased to Mercer that have or are still complaining about Mercer kinda sucks right now. Way too many guys in here have jumped Bayou and wideload even though they have been honest and told the truth. If one is doing good then so be it and good for him but don't jump the ones that are unhappy as the Kool-aid isn't as good as they were told. Just sayin'

 

What's funny is they wouldn't let the other mercer trucks in the gate no TWIC card they were told $100 each to drive there trucks in the gate and between the 4 of them not one had any money, Mercer told them figure it out LOL!!!

That one guys truck number is 100 more than my truck was so that's 25 a week mercer is taking on, I can see them at the truck show begging for new drivers with there $2500 sign on bonus

Ya Oscar how did the week turn out for you? I did $1,775 on 436 miles and used about $400 in fuel and didn't even have to try!!!!

 

Yes, I did, but I also think that it is more my fault than anything, if you would have read my post directly after the one you are referencing then you would know that. That there is a night and day difference than bayou, who had a truck on here for what, all of one month? And admittingly (if I remember correctly) did nothing proactive on his part for his truck and driver, but just merely let his driver dispatch himself, and when he couldn't get home and back out in a timely fashion that suited him he quit. No surprise here, I told bayou not to put a truck on here, as he would not be happy, but he didn't listen. Now also if my memory serves me correctly, when I said this how many pages ago, bayou said his driver put the truck on here even against his wishes. For that I only have one question, why does he allow his drivers to dictate what those trucks do or to whom they are leased to?

Bottom line is this, Mercer is not a good fit for everyone, there is no one size fits all company, this is nothing new. Should I in the future choose to leave for whatever reason, I will more than likely still actively contribute to this thread. I will list my reasons for leaving and leave it at that. However, I will not take on an immature attitude and make post after post bashing this company or any other company that I may do business with in the future, I am a professional and conduct myself in such a manor on here as well as on the road.

 

The one thing they need to do is drop the sign on bonus, all that does is drag in people who are completely broke, couple this with a lease payment on a trailer and deductions for securement equipment and you have a reciepe for failure, not always, but that is often times the case. Mercer is trying to grow, but I am afraid they are trying to do so to quickly.

I was talking to Eric in contractor relations the other day, he told me that one of our agents that moves the highest volume of loads was tendered something like 25,000 loads last year alone, of those 25,000 loads they were only able to cover 44% of them for the customer, of that 44% only 19% were covered on Mercer trucks. Now we all know that this isn't the case for every agency, but it does apply to the majority. Now if we can increase our capacity in a sustainable manor we should in theory beable to command higher freight rates. I just don't think the manor in which they are going about it is the right one.

 

oscar, you just nailed it.

 

i book loads all the time a week or more out, its simple to do. most never figure out how. and you dont get knocked off the load , once you commit to it and are dispatched its your load, and it works both ways though, once you commit you cant back off if ya see a better one.

if your driver told you he couldnt book ahead he was bullcrapping. heck i unload tommorrow at us steel on saturday and have a load booked up near cleveland already for monday, so much for sitting at baytown for a week.

and no i am not a pet, i just get it done, with no whining or crying, moaning or groaning.

the reason many dont book ahead is they are afraid something better will come up, thats pays more , goes to a better place etc. when ya book ahead you have put the rest out of your mind and start looking for the next one. you cant limit yourself to much with where ya wont go, how much you'll haul and on and on.

if you accept a load for a certain rate to the truck that you can live with, you cant spend your time worrying about what the other guy is getting, or the other company is getting, or how much the broker is making. thats takes time away from looking for the next load.

to many worry about the other guy instead of himself.

heres the point many miss, i never said its easy. right now its taking a lot of effort to keep it going. thats when it takes more effort on my part, if i put the same effort in now as when freight is plentiful , i would be the same as some of the rest. some seem to want only the low-hanging fruit.

and i always look at things from " my glass is half-full" rather than " my glass is half-empty". it makes a world of difference.

which is the very reason why some find it so hard to believe that some of us make money here at mercer, they choose to believe the ones that dont make it here.

 

My opinion will not be popular but hey is it ever....

I cant for the life of me how guys are not making any money at all .... When I ran otr I worked closely with Mercer agents stayed loaded and busy. I think it has more to do with desire and the willingness to a. tarp loads and b. run more than 38,000...It is my belief that guys want to take the easy way out "I'm not doing, this or that" the only thing that I turn down is cheap freight .... And to be 100% honest cheap freight to me is less than $1.80 per mile to the truck fsc included, please understand that is a minimum...if you say i am screwing up the curve with my minimum remember I am not complaining, or selling my equipment, and I am making a profit.


I understand that fuel has gone up and rates have not .... Constantly complaining about that FACT on TTR is not going too change anything.


Guys amaze me holler broke...rates suck....fuel is high.... Yet they take a couple of week long fishing excursions in their bass boats, pulled with their dually while thier wife follows behind in the cadalliac esclade towing his and her four wheelers, followed by the just turned 16 y/o in the chevy silverado with the other two kids and their lime green and flippin orange off road buggys, but they have to cut the trip short so they can take the race car to the track on Friday nights with the family in the RV hauling the race fuel for the car....


I am not saying we cant have a life, hobbies, enjoy our families and do the things we like to do...the point I am trying to make is there is no reason to go broke in this business...if you are start with your overhead and expenses...too many guys buy a truck...buy a house they can't afford, tell their wife to quit, buy a car, buy her a car, buy the kid a car,buy the local hot pants wearing girl a car, then complain rates suck



I don't have it all figured out, and I am not living in the lap of luxury, but I can do what I want, when I want, an how I want, and really don't have to kill myself doing it....I believe this is the majority of o/o with Mercer, Landstar, own authority or whatever....


Instead of bashing others calling them pets this that and the other...listen and learn get a phone number call them, they might not pull you up, but I am sure they will throw you a rope....Stop worrying about the number of contractors that Mercer is putting on and find your corner of the world and make it happen


Two things in closing 1. If you think I am talking/refering to you I probably am ..... 2. If you don't like it please take the time and report it and ask the post along with the poster to be removed from TTR because a full BAN FROM THE SITE is the only way to cure myself of the addiction of reading this stuff on a daily basis...

 

ok wait one min, I grossed a shot load of money 2012 out of all that I only made about $12,000 a truck, not sure what world you live in but that's not worth all the BS I can profit that in just 3weeks of running

When I let the lady in the office go I started doing her job stopping me from doing mine! So with the little I was making off each truck wasn't worth me doing it full time. All my drivers made $52-$74,k last year one driver his truck alone made $260,k just one truck and the man run his ### off. That's the same driver that went to mercer.

Unless you have someone in front of a computer cherry picking the loads it's hard making it anywhere that's also the only reason skateboardman makes what he does. Me and that driver looked for his loads but the loads were cheap bottom line $1.48-$1.84 a mile don't work and only running 2,000 miles a week. He was there six weeks and drove 13,xxx miles. That's why he left ad your dead head miles in there all miles to the truck was running $1.51 just over my CPM leaving no profit for me the owner of the truck!