Marten Driver (currently)

Since what you are asking here is based on ADVERTISEMENT we could not allow this unless it's PAID for.

Thanks

 

I doubt that companies are paying for their respective sections in "Trucking Company DAC Reports." The only difference that I can see between TCDACR and my loads offered/sought idea (with regard to advertising) is that the latter is more discriminatory because it would only make sense for large companies. I find it hard to imagine you'd lose advertising dollars from small-to-medium sized companies miffed about not being big enough to appear in the loads offered/sought section. And it's not like you'd turn them down -- it just wouldn't be useful for them to participate.

Thanks just the same for letting me know why something like this hasn't appeared yet.

 

I've been with Marten for over 12 yrs both as o/o, & company driver/Trainer. I have always done my pre-trip insp. before I start driving for the day and log 15 min. and do a post trip at the end of my day and just flag it. No one from Saftey has ever said anything about the way I log my Inspections!!!!

 

Re: swapping loads with other drivers??

Back in the good old days that's exactly what us old Marten drivers used to do when we would meet say at "Little America" we would tell each other what loads we had and swap loads and then tell our FM's what we did!!! The company was smaller then and it worked but now days that would go over like a lead baloon!!!! That's what happens when a company grows - it's called growing pains!!!!!!!!!!

 

If a bunch of guys did a major shuffle no, that woudn't go over now, but a couple guys can probably still do it without dispatch raising a fuss when they send in the request. Last time I tried it was a few years ago and it went through fine.

The size of Marten has its drawbacks but I'll tell you what really gets my goat: it's this per diem scam they pulled on drivers earlier this year. I don't know if it's this new 70-year-old banker dude from Smithway they brought onto the board in December who's behind the scam, but that's my best guess. They make it out to sound like it's this great thing for drivers when in fact all they're really doing is cutting driver pay by 2c/mile. For those who happen to listen to Bob Brinker weekends, it's a classic "shark attack" if you ask me...coming from the very company I work for!

Here's a little analysis: At 3000 miles/week you'd be giving away $60 you'll never see again. This, just so you can reduce the federal income tax withheld on 11c/mile of your income?!? Let's see, for those 3000 miles that's $330 of income. Let's say 20% of that is withheld to the IRS---if anything a high estimate. That would be $66.

So you're paying Marten $60 in order to have them supply you with $66 that you'd be getting later anyway, by applying the $52/day standard meal deduction at tax time. You're either looking at $60 now plus $66 later, for a total of $126, or $66 now plus nothing later, for a total of $66.

Unless you're aware of some way to convert that extra $6 you're getting into more than $66 in a matter of months, you'd be a fool to give away your $60 to Marten for this nonsense.

If anyone can correct me on this, please do. I happened to look at the company newsletter today and it almost made my blood boil...the cover story was this big propaganda piece touting the major "benefits" of the new per diem plan to drivers. If they hadn't made that plan, or rather, scam, optional, well, I'd probably still be with the company because I have $4500 in vacation pay accruing next month, but I'd be gone the day that got paid! I'm already starting to look at other companies as it is.

 

Things are steadily rolling down hill now there is talk of pay stubs being as "on line only" and of coarse this means you will only ever be able to look at the last 5 pay stubs, since that is all the web site will offer you to look at. They say that you will get a stub at the end of the year, but somehow I think they are talking about a w-2.

As of last month I have been with Marten 3 years. Since Don Hindson left things have been rolling steadily down hill. The per-diem issue has me up in arms but until they mandate it I will not fuss about it past the point of calling the program a scam. At the point they mandate the program I will call the company what I call the program.

The Marten per-diem program is a 13 cent per mile cut in pay with an 11 cent reimbursement. I have opted out of this program since all it really does is reduce your tax liability while taking a cut in pay (I could do that by standing in the breadline). The guys this benefits the most are the ones paying child support...

...and Marten calls it's self a family company?
Last I heard Randy is no longer more than the owner, and has nothing to do with the running of the company.

 

Sure enough I just found out a few days ago that Don H is gone. I didn't know that when I wrote my last post. Doug now got the job, according to the driver who told me. That management switch alone might go a long way in explaining the per diem scam.

One of the things that bugged me the most was I figured the scam had to go across Randy's desk, and I always thought he seemed pretty cool. If he's not actively managing the company now, then maybe it didn't.

If they mandate it---they probably won't, but if they do---I'm definitely out the door. As things stand, I'll look real hard at what's out there, to see if I'm eligible for any better jobs, either a better-paying one, or a real cushy, decent-paying one. I've almost never bothered to look at other jobs during my 8 1/2 yrs. with Marten, but I'm looking now.

The electronic-only settlement sheets don't bug me because I prefer electronic statements in general over paper ones. To keep a record all you have to do is save the web page to your hard disk (File > Save Page or something like that) and then back things up as usual on a memory stick or some other media. If you use Excel and really want to get fancy, I think Excel can import your pay data directly from the web page into a spreadsheet...it's capable of doing this for html tables, which those pay pages use.

 

Marten is good as long as you keep your mouth shut and not cause waves. They will find a way of firing you (with their point system) in a way they see fit. Then they will protest when you file for unemployment (even though they tell you to file for it). Then they will put negative statement on your DAC. Which will in turn make it hard for you to get any driving jobs with any carrier. I know this by personal experience.
I know that they're a lot of drivers that are true to Marten since they haven't gone through this with the company. If you current drivers haven't had anything happen to you then you are indeed lucky. Marten isn't an angel by any means, but this site to me is used to warn up in coming drivers (for any company) what to look for and what to beware of. By warning these drivers applying driving jobs at these companies on this site helps the newbies and oldies to make the right choice.
Just because Marten has treated somebody good that is good to know but there is always a flip side to everything. IT IS BETTER TO BE PRE-WARNED THAN NOT WARNED AT ALL.

 

Marten is being sued by a different driver for wrongful termination. The driver refused to drive illegally. I found this out by doing a study and I found this out.

Randy doesn't run the company, he is a figurehead. From all that I've read and the old timers that I have talked to and about this company, it was a good company to drive for. Good things don't last forever.
It is better to be forewarned then no warned at all.

 

I worked for marten the majority of the last 6 years, and "yes" they did manage to run me off. I alternated between team driving with my husband and solo driving the last 6 years and was content with marten and the job I did for them running an average of 3000-3200 mi. per week until their fed. safety rating (mostly due to log violations) reached an all time high.This in turn was due to the caliber of driver they chose to hire who was either incompetent at understanding the hos rules or incapable of using alittle ingenuity where logging is concerned. My 3200 mi. per week slowly turned into 2300-2500 per week not to mention several instances that I arrived to pick up loads that were cancelled before my arrival and customer service failed to alert dispatch to that info. When your income drops $1000.00 per month you definitely feel the pinch.Because of my inconsistent miles,I was contacted with an opportunity to get on a dedicated bud/beer acct that would enable me to be home on a regular basis, of course I jumped on that, and within a month of running dedicated, I was "informed" by a JB Hunt driver at one of my deliveries that the warehouse I operated out of was closing. (I would no longer have my dedicated position) Thats a pretty humbling feeling to say the least, and when I contacted my fleet manager to inquire about this, he denied the allegation, flat out lied to me, because the following month all 6 of us dedicated drivers were informed by the personnel at our bud whse that it would be closing. Marten did not have enough respect and courtesy to tell us themselves, and that is unforgiveable to me. I have posted very positive comments about marten in the past, maybe it was the dedicated fleet manager that should take the heat on this one, because my otr fleet manager was a pretty honest guy who I enjoyed working with. To sum it up, I was offered to go back otr for marten once the warehouse was to close, and I just couldnt see doing that after I was lied to. I guess Ive gotten what I deserve now though...I've been with a company for only 5 weeks otr, who I thought was a good company, excellent safety rating etc..I wont tell you their name since I do have a sense of loyalty while I am employed, and havent quite yet formulated my opinion,lets just say the pay per mile is excellent but of no consequence if your not running the miles you need to run to make it worth your time and inconvenience for living in a truck 6 weeks at a time. I find it hard to believe theres a driver out there that can say they actually love the road 24/7, some claim they do, but how can you love the reality of living in confinement,battling traffic jams,4 wheelers intent on committing suicide,dot who abhor us as well and shippers and receivers who some treat us as vile animals. At this point your most likely thinking "why I am driving truck for a living" the answer to this is I am completely addicted to the open road. I cant see myself doing any other thing in life now. Definitely a love/hate thing