Avoid Marten Transport LTD.

Ya gotta love it!

 

You're kidding me, right? .28 cpm is awfully low for Marten. Hubby has been driving a lot longer than that so I don't know. I'd look elsewhere if that is your starting pay with them.

Hubby was sent to orientation on a greyhound. But then we only live a few hours away from home terminal.

Good luck! I'd suggest Crete. But their freight is kind of slow from what I've been hearing. Also, it is a toss up with APU's. Which is why we left Crete and went with Marten.

 

Was told it would be .28CPM only because I have 10 months varifiable experiance. After 3 months it will go up to .33 1/2 cpm then raise from there. Leave out on the grey dog 3am Monday morning bound for the ATL.

 

Well talked with the recruter again today and made up my mind so I'll be on my way and hope like hell it is what everyone say's it's cut out to be.

 

Ive been driving for 27 yrs...Sitting in the seat of a Marten truck ,right now..typing this message..Been here since 3/12
Ive run everything from flatbeds too bulk tankers...I am thouroughly enjoying Marten so far..

Granted: Im divorced for a fews yrs now..So not worried about hometime. Ive got friends and family all over..So I can stay out awhile..

Started at .39 per mile.. And I can honestly say in 6 weeks Ive come a long way in catching up some bills I got behind on..

Marten has their little quircks...but so does every company your gonna work for..

Like truck security..It has to be in sight of your house..or in a secure fenced location..during your home time..I guess they dont like it when trucks get stolen... Ive worked for some companies that looked forward to it..Insurance ya-know

Yeah you have to pay attention to that qualcomm..But thats their method of communication and even billing..

Just pay attention in your orientation..And if you havnt run a qualcomm before..They'll know right away...Takes about 4-6 weeks to get comfortable with it..

Theyll tell you that they dont want their drivers in the trailer unloading freight..

In 6 weeks I havnt touched anything...The money for lumpers has been right there..everytime.

Its not a bowl of cherries....But it aint bad..

 

Thank you for the insight there Sum. Yea, I'm here and made it through my first day and so far haven't had a single problem answering any questions. the truck I drove for the test was pretty raddy with over 500k miles and only 8 gears which caught me off gaurd but didn't have any trouble. I'm sure I'll get something in much better condition. I like it so far and the benifit option's are really good. I like it so far just from the knowledge of training tell's me a lot. Wasn't pleased with the physical. Never had a doctor tell me to drop my pants and cough lol and felt a bit violated by it but not a biggie. Over and done with. I think I'm gonna like it here and hope that they are what everyone say's they are but we'll see once I hit the road in a couple day's.

 

Be thankful that the physical included the prostate check, any good physical should include this check, and if it does'nt the doctor is not doing his job, Good luck with marten, I drove for them twice in the last 15 yrs, and would go back in a heartbeat if I wanted to do the road again. Just do your job, treat dock workers like you want to be treated, use your head, and you'll be fine. MOTOR SAFE.

 

You can take a Marten truck home, but only if you can park it in within view from the front of your house and on your property. You might get approval to park off your property, it's a big maybe, but it must be in view of your house and YOU HAVE TO KEEP THE TRAILER HOOKED TO THE TRACTOR always. You can't drop the trailer one place and take the bobtail home. If you cannot accomplish the above, then it's a tug of war with the office to get approved to park anywhere else. Parking at a truck stop is prohibited in writing, though I did meet a Marten driver who said he has been with Marten a decade or so and he just parks it at a truck stop and ignores the Marten objections. In my case, I found an outdoor storage that caters to trucks; the owner lives on site and has a view of the trucks out his front window, and he has a sign up saying "Video Surveillance". I never did get approval to park here, but I might have if I had kept battling Marten over this, but I got tired of the back and forth arguing and questioning and decided it wasn't worth it and parked at a Marten terminal 150 miles from home and used my 4 wheeler to get home. A buddy of mine also had the same experience with Marten. Apparently Marten was more lax in the past, but has tightened up on security now. So the old timers with Marten will likely answer all questions very differently than the newer drivers, at least that's my experience. There has been a lot of changes lately, and seems to keep on keeping on.

Regarding log books, Marten outsources log auditing, and I found the auditors easy to please. Just be sure sure that your log book doesn't exceed each states truck speed limit, and be sure to log your fuel times accurately, as well as time-stamped receipts, and all is good. Recently Marten started sending fuel times via QualComm every day, so that helps. I always logged a 15 minute post trip inspection (there are a few states that require both pretrip and post trip inspections, Wyoming is one such state) You must be neat on your logs so the auditor can scan them. You must use the Marten log books, which have 2 days per page, or you can use Driver's Daily Log software on your computer; be sure to download the Marten print module from DDL as printing in the classic format or any other format besides Marten is unacceptable; I found this out the hard way.

 

IIRC, all of Marten's trucks are 9-speeds. I know that's what was in Gypsycowgirl's 387.

 

Been driving for Marten 4.5 years now.
I bobtail home 99% of the time after either dropping the mty at a customer, or in an approved secured drop lot(as per my dispatcher) 45 miles from the house. Nearst drop yard to me is 200 miles.
Truck is parked on my rv pad at the house. Cloeset Term to me is Ontario,Ca 400 miles away. And i refused to park my pickup there and drive home. Anyways we get msgs over qc saying if you own sunch n such car/ pickup, call the Ontario Term Manager, ASAP.