Avoid Marten Transport LTD.

madbunny · Mar 19, 2009

dukeofearl said: ↑

FIRED : After 40 years of driving, with 14 years of that driving class 8 trucks for 4 different companies (all glowing references),
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4 different companies with glowing references.....hmmm I think you should have stayed with one of them then you wouldn't have this preventable accident against your DAC. Yeah I have you checked your DAC....I'm sure it's on their.

The problem lies is you damaged your tractor trailer and nothing else to the tune of $3000 to $4000 .... heck I would have fired you too.

bigblue19 · Mar 19, 2009

The problem lies is you damaged your tractor trailer and nothing else to the tune of $3000 to $4000 .... heck I would have fired you too.
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Why? I am sure that in the course of your driving for your average OTR carrier, they screw you out of at least half that in a year and would break even in the second year.

The problem with these trucking outfits is that they don't just fire you for having a minor accident. They try to keep you from getting a second chance with someone else.

MrMustard · Mar 19, 2009

bigblue19 said: ↑

Why? I am sure that in the course of your driving for your average OTR carrier, they screw you out of at least half that in a year and would break even in the second year.

The problem with these trucking outfits is that they don't just fire you for having a minor accident. They try to keep you from getting a second chance with someone else.
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Well I for one would like to thank you. I had their recruiter calling me last week. As far as your accident, the truth is now is not the time to have an accident, and I don't care who you are. They have plenty of bodies ready and waiting to take our seats these days. I've been at JB for the last ten years, and up until this year they pretty much kissed my butt to try and keep me here. Not so much now. They cut my pay, cut in half what they put in my 401k, and they pretty much treat us like a piece of garbage these days. I've been here ten years, and you can bet your rear if I get a preventable today I'll be hoofing it home on my dime tomorrow.

That said, I was looking for a job. What you told me about Marten pretty much rules them out, mainly the taking the truck home is an issue for me.

dannyboyb31 · Mar 21, 2009

I drove for Marten and quit over a personal conflict with a dispatcher. He was new to the job after 15 years of driving and I am one demanding and greedy SOB on the road. He was holding me back and I didn't have time for him to meet his learning curve. I was only there for six months and regret quiting. I made some jack with Randy Marten. Coast to Coast runs during produce season. California to INDY was mostly what I did.

The only real bad thing I can say honestly about the company is the 65 MPH trucks. If you operate as much as they do west of Miss river you should have 70 MPH trucks for saftey purposes. The other is truck wash policy. Telling drivers to do it or pay for it themselves and write it off on taxes is absurd if they don't own truck, I don't even know if you can legally do it if audited. The truck I was issued wasn't clean either and I had to clean it up to my standards before I could drive it.

skibum_63 · Mar 22, 2009

So why didn't you 'fire ' that dispatcher? That is one option we have have. I have done it a couple of times, because the miles were't there, or there was a personality conflict with the person from the mOndovi Knitting circle.

Yes it is legel to write off the non reimburshed expenes from the truck.
Anything you buy for the truck, and the company won't pay you back for you can claim on that year's taxes. Ask any CPA.
Als o in the summer they do have a program where you can get free truck washes, if the temp on your preplanm doesn'match the temp on the bol. Last year i was awared 8 of them, the year before 7.
Like others i hate driving a dirty truck. And i will buy it, turn it in with taxes.

I'd call recruiting again, and see what the chances are to come back with a differant dispatcher. Fleet 6 we are doing good.

dannyboyb31 said: ↑

I drove for Marten and quit over a personal conflict with a dispatcher. He was new to the job after 15 years of driving and I am one demanding and greedy SOB on the road. He was holding me back and I didn't have time for him to meet his learning curve. I was only there for six months and regret quiting. I made some jack with Randy Marten. Coast to Coast runs during produce season. California to INDY was mostly what I did.

The only real bad thing I can say honestly about the company is the 65 MPH trucks. If you operate as much as they do west of Miss river you should have 70 MPH trucks for saftey purposes. The other is truck wash policy. Telling drivers to do it or pay for it themselves and write it off on taxes is absurd if they don't own truck, I don't even know if you can legally do it if audited. The truck I was issued wasn't clean either and I had to clean it up to my standards before I could drive it.
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madbunny · Mar 23, 2009

I'll start a post and ask the question

kickingdeer · Mar 23, 2009

Scarecrow03 said: ↑

If you're gonna play grammar police, at least use proper English when doing so.
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Ok! Scarecrow
I wasn't playing grammar police, I was playing Spelling Police.
If I was playing the grammar police. It is nice sometimes to have the correct spelling of a word due to most people use phonics to spell something.
The other option is to download "ieSpell" and correct words prior to posting anything via this site or e-mail...the words that was correctly spelled was what came up because I know how to spell and they came up mis-spelled before I posted my reply. If I really wanted to do Grammar Police, I would use my word processor program first. LOL

sumwrnusa · Mar 24, 2009

Well Ive been doin it 27 yrs...been with them 3 weeks...Im impressed..No BS...No Drama..No panic type dispatching...But its only been 3 weeks..

dab64 · Mar 28, 2009

Gypsycowgirl said: ↑

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!
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you are the one who is hostile, go back to your cubicle ms.dispatcher! you are a co. brownoser like he said in his first paragraph

Lilbit · Mar 28, 2009

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