Paying 50% to drive my flatbed under my authority. Is it a good deal?

No advice as an O/O but good luck to you and your wife! Hope everything goes well with the surgery.

 

I just left the truck and will have to go back later on tonight to get my notebook to get my mileage. But as far as fees here at mercer you can't beat $20 per month bobtail under them. They pay cargo and obviously physical damage will vary but I wanna say it's $20 per $10,000 you insure the truck. Don't quote me on the exact numbers like I said all the info is in my notebook. I don't know how they're doing the Elogs but mine was free when I started last year. Prob ask a recruiter if they are charging new contractors. The trailer is a lease purchase deal but not your "Mega" lease purchase. It's a straight up deal on a flat or step where you make 60 payments on the trailer and you get the title. If you do like I did and get two used trailers then you only pay what's left like with my first truck I had 36 payments left and my current trailer only has 24 payments left. Their is a small ballon if you buy used which for the cheaper trailer I'll owe $3600 and the newer trailer it'll be $1200. If you get a new trailer then you won't pay a ballon because part of the payment goes towards the ballon. So basically $535 per month with a $100 going towards the ballon. Pretty good deal considering no interest vs when I was about to go to Great Dane and get one without tool boxes for a little more but 5% interest.

 

Want to clarify. We absolutely see the gross rate. It's on the settlement sheet, and also get an email of a screen shot of the computer from my coordinator when i get dispatched. That screen has all the customer info, for address and load pick up number to the rate they are charged broken down to linehaul fsc tarp and other accessorials. Even the estimated annual revenue for that customer is on their. Also at any time we can see the actual freight invoice if we want to. It's just when anyone gives you the rate over the phone or on our web board it states the total to the truck number.

@CruisingAlong if you haven't figured it out I'm also at mercer. We do have to pay for our plates and permits through mercer. It's 2150 i think when you first start. Thats for all of north america, including the Canadian provinces. Plus all instate operating authority permits and hazmat. My permit book is a 3 inch binder packed full. Gets cheaper from there on out cause of the several bonus type benefits they give us, longevity for example is worth a hundred bucks a year so next year mine will be 500 less than a guy that just started. We can get Bobtail ins through them for 20 bucks a month. The elog app i believe is 3 dollars a month. Physical damage ins is about 3 bucks per thousand insured. And the scanning app is 2.50 per month, unlimited use.

Yes we give up 25 percent of the pie, but the pie is bigger. For example, jet engines run all the time 5 to 10 loads per week from Florida to Connecticut. They pay us, after mercers cut north of 2.25 a mile. So that's what? Just over 3 bucks gross rate? You won't ever find that load on a public load board. A 30 million dollar engine isn't being put on any 1 truck carrier.

As far as a true over all average, we got our fair share of whiners that say they can't get good paying loads but i don't believe for a minute any of it. I have no problem averaging 2 bucks on all miles, as many miles as i want to run. The cry babies focus on some of our cheaper freight, and we sure got a lot of it, but nobody makes you run it. Except for a few black hole areas like miami and Denver, there is always better paying freight right around the corner. But it will take some time to figure out how to get it. We work on a first empty first offered basis, but you can commit well out in advance, so if you wait till you are empty to look for loads all that's left over is the scraps. But if you put in the effort to learn the nuances of different areas, and keep yourself booked a week or more in advance, you have no problem getting good loads.

There is an 800 page thread over in the mercer subforum where guys have hashed this all out. If you are interested in mercer. You really should read it.

 

What he said. I know I missed and misquoted some stuff. I just got home and of course I can't get one foot in the door without being shown how much I'm missed. But yea check out our thread and you'll get every questioned answered

 

60/40 split with the person covering the fuel getting the 60. Most drivers will jump at the 60 that pay attention to fuel economy.

 

50% of $4,000 a day sounds like a great deal