My Mercer Experience 8-31-15

Haven't had too much to report. I left NY Monday heading for houston. It took an act of Congress to get loaded because they were trying to give me 8.5ft crates and they told me 6ft tarp. Took fr 9am till 5pm to get them to figure out what to do which was take the tall crates off and put them on someone with taller tarps. I delivered to Houston Wednesday (a day early) because the project manager told me they could unload me because I didn't need a crane to unload me. I went on down to get unloaded and the agent called and chewed me out and was talking to me like I was a little kid. I told him I wanted to speak to his boss. He hung up on me when I asked. So I called him back and told him to send me to his boss. He started making excuses that his boss was in a meeting and wouldn't give me his name. Finally got his name and told him to have a nice day. I started home after I unloaded and got to Lafayette LA before I ran out of time. Got up Thursday and went home.

I'm picking up Tuesday on bham going to VA near bristol. That delivers Wednesday then I pick up Wednesday in Knoxville going to Atlanta. That delivers Thursday then I'll jump 80 miles to the house for the night then go grab something Friday morning in bham.

 

Here is the full story. I didn't want to type everything out on my phone earlier. It would have taken forever. So here it goes.

Monday I got to the shipper at 8am. They loaded me by 9. I started looking at 5 of the crates and they seemed tall but I thought I was just going crazy. I rolled the tarps out and they only went halfway down the sides of the tall crates. I also had some 3ft and 4ft crates on there and those were fine. I pulled the tape measure out and the tall crates measured 8ft 4inches. My stuff said 6ft tarp. I only have 6ft tarps. I tried turning my tarps sideways and it still wouldn't work. They were 8ft 4in tall and 8ft wide. I called the agent and told him the size and that I can't tarp it. He said "Can you go buy some tarps"? I said "I'm not going to spend $900 on tarps to cover this load when it's only paying me $1.50 a mile in the first place. I was told 6 foot tarp and now they're over 8ft". There were 11 trucks loading out of there and we were all going to the same place. Another mercer driver loaded after me and didn't have anything over 3ft on his and his stuff said 6ft as well. The agent told me to roll the tarps out on it and take a picture and send it to him and that he would send it to the customer. Keep in mind that these crates are made of particle board and it was supposed to rain that night and the next day. That stuff doesn't stay together if it gets wet.

The agent calls me back and says "The customer says its fine to just cover part of it with the tarps as long as the people up there say it's ok". I went in and talked to the guys in there and no one wanted to make a call because it wasn't their product. This put everything on me. I called the agent back and told him that no one wanted to make a decision and I said that I will make the decision that I'm not going to haul it like that. I said there are only 2 options. Either they can find another one of these guys that have 8ft tarps and they can put the tall stuff on them or they can just take everything off and I'll find another load. The agent said "at this point, it would probably be easier just to cancel and we'll give you TONU pay". I said that is fine, no big deal. I unstrapped everything and rolled my tarps up and put everything away. I got on the board and found a load taking me straight to the house. I booked it and walked inside and told the shipping guy that they cancelled me on the load because I can't tarp it so I just needed someone to unload it and I'll be on my way. I was very nice and polite. This 20 year old kid looks at me and says, "we're not taking that s*** off of your truck". By this time, It was 3pm. My patience has worn out and I'm tired of being nice. So, I politely looked at him and said, "Either you can take it off, or I can take it off. You won't like the way I take it off". He went and got his boss. His boss got his boss. They then told me, "I don't know why we should spend the resources to take this stuff off". I looked at him and said, "Sir, you're not the only one losing money. I've sat here all day for them to figure this out. That's money lost. Now I can't haul this load. That's money lost. It's too late for me to load anywhere today. That's money lost. My time is just as important as your's and anyone else's around here". They told me to back in and they'll unload.

15 minutes later, no one has come over to me. I walk in the office and the shipping clerk, his boss, and his boss' boss are standing there talking to a lady on speaker phone. I don't know who this lady is but when I walked in, she asked if I was there and I said yes ma'am. She then says they're going to take the tall stuff off of me and send me with shorter stuff. It's now 5pm. I told them to do this at 10am. I looked at them and said. "ya'll have 15 minutes. I've been dealing with this all day and I've already booked another load. Technically I'm off this load". They jumped on it and got everything done. I had to strap again and get the tarps back out and blah blah blah.

Lets fast forward now.

I got to Elizabethtown, KY about 5am Tuesday. At 7am, the agent calls and asks when I'm going to be in Houston. I'm half asleep so I do some quick math and I say 10am Thursday. He says they're having to get a crane to unload us. I told him that the heaviest crate I have is 500 pounds and its 3ft by 3ft. He didn't really say much. I get to Texarkana late tuesday night. When I got up Wednesday morning, I called the agent and told him I could be down there before they close if they could get me unloaded today. He said he would call and ask. He called me back and said, "It'll be tomorrow. The crane can't be there until then". I said, "I told you I don't need a crane. I just need a forklift. The OS stuff will need the crane. The rest of us don't need cranes". Then I asked if there was somewhere there that I could park. He said, "I don't know. Call them". Note: He never told me not to deliver. He just said that the crane wouldn't be there until Thursday.

I call the number for the customer. I asked him if there was somewhere I could park because I was told I couldn't be unloaded today. He said, "Ya the crane wont be here until tomorrow. He had another job to do. What do you have"? I told him what I had. He said, "I've got a forklift. If that's all you have then I'll get you unloaded today so it wont be as crowded tomorrow". I said I really appreciate it and went on down. Once I got there, I met the project manager. Very nice guy. He helped me take the tarps and straps off and my bungies.

About 5 minutes after I made my on-site call, I get a call from the agent. Here is how that conversation went

Me- Hello?
Agent- WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR CONVERSATION EARLIER?!?!
M- excuse me?
A- I told you not to unload today. You decided to go unload anyways. What didn't you understand about don't unload today?
M- You didn't tell me not to unload. You told me the crane wouldn't be here until Thursday. I don't need a crane and when I called, the guy told me to come on.
A- I dont care what he told you. I told you not to.
M- No you didn't, sir.
A- You're not going to tell me what I did and didn't say
M- I'm sorry but you don't tell me what to do. You ask. You don't pay for this truck.
A- Well if we get charged then I'm charging you.
M- You know, I don't appreciate the way you're talking to me. I've been respectful to you and apparently we had a miscommunication.
A- Ya a big one because you didn't listen.
M- Just send me to your boss. I'm not a kid. You will not talk to me like I'm a kid. Let me talk to your boss
A- You have a nice day. (click)

The project manager heard all of this through my bluetooth. That's how loud this agent was yelling. He asked if it was one of his guys or one of my guys. I said it was one of mine. He said hold on a minute. He called someone (not sure who) but all I caught was "You tell him to lay off of his ##* or he will deal with me. I told him to come. If he has a problem, tell him to call me but he better fix his attitude before he does".

I call the agent back. This time, I wasn't as nice. This conversation went like this:

A- Mercer
M- When I tell you that I want to speak to your boss, you don't hang up on me.
A- I have nothing further to discuss with you
M- No you don't but your boss does. I want to speak with him
A- You can't. He is in a meeting.
M- He won't be in a meeting forever. I want his name.
A- I don't have to speak to you.
M- Your boss' name. Now.
A- (gives me his boss' name)
M- Can I reach him on this same number that I called you on?
A- I don't have his number
M- That's fine if you don't want to tell me. I can figure it out. What's your last name.
A- (gives me his last name) Whats your last name?
M- (I give him my last name) Have a good day, sir. (click)

I called my coordinator and talked to him about it and apparently the project manager had called him and told him about it. He said that agent shouldn't have spoken to me that way. I told him that he never said "Don't unload". Had he told me not to then I wouldn't have. If he would have called and said I think we had a misunderstanding then I would have left and waited until the next day. Don't call me and talk to me like I'm a kid. I'm 26 so I'm probably a kid to most of yall but I give everyone the most respect that I can give even when they don't give it to me. I have a limit just like everyone else. He could have been nice but he chose a different way.

The project manager down there apologized and he said if anyone tried to do anything to me because of this to give him a call. Super nice guy.

I left and got to Lafayette, LA and ran out of time. Got up Thursday and got to the house for a much needed mental break after the 2 weeks that I had. It seemed like Murphy's law kicked in every single day. If it could go wrong then it did.

This was an isolated incident. Just earlier in the day, I spoke to another lady agent at that same agency for about 30 minutes while she got some info for me. We talked about anything and everything. She was talking to me like she has known me all of my life. This is the first time I've run into an agent like this. If I haul another load for that agency and I call and get that guy, I will ask for a different agent. If they won't give me another one, I'll tell them that I'm not hauling it if I have to deal with that guy.