Good Night From II

Thanks, Moose, don't need luck, just careful planning. And a bit of luck. HA!
Frank

 

IGH, tired and aching. zzzz

 

Well may your future be most fortuitous then Frank.

 

Perris, CA.

My 14 ends at 1838 this evening and they kept sending the same pplan to pick up an Amazon load at 1837.
They finally got the hint after turning it down twice and calling my DM.

The next pplan came in just as I was delivering my load to Ross here in Perris.
Not any better for me.
I only had 1 hour left on my 11 and this load was 22 miles away in Moreno Valley, during rush hour - so I was not about to try and pick it up today.
Then 577 loaded miles going to Red Bluff, CA, delivering tomorrow. A heavy load, too.
Add to that I am bobtail because Ross didn't have any mt's.

Even if I could bt to pick it up I doubt I could deliver it tomorrow. Just too many miles for CA and the traffic I would have to go through.

 

And I was just sent that last pplan again - twice, along with a message from a DM.
He said he would send me in bobtail if I would commit to the load.
This was a DM out of JV.
Before I could even reply the pplan was removed by - get this - an ECT planner in Richmond, VA.

 

Frank,

I'm glad to hear it and wonder what took you so long!

There's a lot to be said for running under someone else's authority (like Mercer) and paying them to deal with the Feds (do you REALLY want to run you own drug screening program?).

I'm curious, did you consider Landstar (along with Mercer)? I ask because before I bailed (from the Swift Titanic) I was considering both (Mercer & Landstar).

Re Mercer: Are you thinking dry van or gonna try flatbed?

Steve

 

Don't abandon luck/Karma so quickly. ESPECIALLY Karma.

Steve

 

West Valley terminal. 34.

Got freightshaker frame rails under the wrapping paper.


FYI, I'm easier to spot now. Black red and purple hair. Well the black kinda ended up dark navy blue (#never use loreal hair dye.)

Anyway.....

Planners start actually reading the plan before sending it moose?

 

I've looked long and hard at both and a few others. What has me leaning toward Mercer was almost 100% of the dozens of their drivers who are enthusiastic about the company. I rarely got that from the Landstar drivers. There are significant other factors that put Mercer way ahead.

I'm definitely staying van even though flatbed pays more. My knees are way too gimpy after a lifetime of carpenter work to do flatbed. The current fleet average van rate is lower than the flatbed rate but I'm at $1.138/$1.11 now compared to a potential $1.40 average. And Mercer pays all the fuel tax which is huge. I will also have access to their entire load board instead of the whims of a Swift passive aggressive planner. The only thing I have to look forward to here is a two cent raise to the top of the seniority scale in December.

I decided to stay with Swift and wait and see when I did the buyout on my truck. I was determined to see that through and have clear title and then make the decision. The only thing that's changed has been the frustration level. I just don't want to live like that.

Frank

 

OK, what you said (about Mercer) makes perfect sense. There is something about the way Landstar does business that I don't 100% understand.

Understand completely about not going flatbed. I started Swift running flatbed but my arthritic shoulder ended that experiment after about 4 months. My left knee really like the fact I've been driving an AMT for the past year.

Before I walked away from Swift I had seriously considering sticking around long enough to buy my Freightliner. Prior to blowing out my right knee I had been trying to get information from IEL (concerning end of lease options/buy out) with no success. My lease was up Jan 26, 2016 and at the point my knee let go on Jan 5, 2016 I had had NO contact from IEL concerning my intentions. When I turned in the keys on Jan 13 (took that long to get the medical paperwork in line) they actually tried to figure a way to keep me in the truck. When it FINALLY dawned on them that I had 2 weeks left on the lease and paperwork saying I couldn't drive a CMV for the next 8 weeks they gave up. I never got a full accounting from IEL concerning the truck PLUS they erased all maintaince account records for the last 6 months of my lease. At the time I was just happy to be done with Swift/IEL.

Frank, I wish you good fortune in your future endevors.

Steve