Different spin on old question , Landstar or Mercer?

Ls has freight and agents that require 53 conestoga. If you have your heart set on a CS id go 53 to kinda break away from the pack a little. When I finally purchased my own trailer I went with a 53fl instead of a 48 for the same reason. Of course I do a lot of 48 flat stuff but, occasionally ill get calls about shippers needing a 53 flat. It paid off big time last year! Also some shippers don't want to load a CS because they don't know/aren't sure what it is. Whether you go with LS or mercer, both have positives and negatives......each company is not for everyone.

 

What is the minimum you should buy for a flatbed if you want to go with Mercer and are looking for a budget priced used trailer?

 

The reality is, both companies got the same customers, and the freight contracts are with in pennies of each other. The difference, in my opinion, is the people. The folks at our office in louisville are just that #### pleasant to deal with. We even refer to our safety director as uncle lennie. At what other company do the drivers have such a friendly relationship with the head safety guy?

The more tangible differences:
1. Landstar pays once a week. Mercer pays within an hour or two of delivery.
2. Landstar files ifta and charges it back, mercer pays ifta out of their cut.
3. At Landstar the agents make more if they broker a load out instead of putting it on a landstar truck. At mercer the agents can't broker loads out until every available mercer truck declines the load

 

Good info

 

Just get a trailer from mercer. Unless of course you find a super good deal on a trailer. A 48' 102 in good shape is the minimum trailer requirements. And a rear axle dump unless you like spending money on tires and suspension parts.

Or did you mean restraining equipment and tarps?

 

LS. There isn't much 53' flat conestoga freight I see at Mercer, and what stuff I do see there isn't a premium paid for it. You can look at just about every load that everyone here at Mercer sees, with the exception of a few "don't use broker truck" loads, you just need to know where to look for it.

 

Well, it IS in the Mercer section of the board.

 

Always seems like the LS vs. Mercer questions get posted in the Mercer section. Maybe the Mercer guys seem easier to approach?

 

Anyway. OP you should lean more heavily on conversations with several LS and Mercer guys. I wouldn't worry too much about the gruff nature of the LS qualifications people, even if they could benefit from a Dale Carnegie course, once you get done dealing with them you never talk to them again. The key is they day to day work you do and the environment you do it in, this is why I'd talk to lots of guys from both sides if I was you.