Marten Transportation SUCKS!!!!!

Not ALL Marten Trucks are Elog Yet.. There are still Regional trucks who have yet to have elogs i turned in ther trucks. But it coming soon to them.

 

Guess the requirments for being a "runner" have changed since I last drove OTR. None of the company's I worked at would confuse running legel with being a "runner". Telling a company you could not legally do something just was not condusive to being a runner. It usually made you a sitter in my experiences. I think the days of running where over as soon as the 11-14 hrs system started.

Believe it or not I was bringing home 900 a week or more over a decade ago driving for medocre carriers. It's getting less worth it to drive OTR every year it seems. A lot of people just doing it out of desperation instead of a career choice.

 

Well, when perishable goods merchants are all hot and bothered to shorten their length of haul, it's getting pretty impractical to expect a job that offers coast to coast operating area and good, consistent miles.

Getting your miles by driving long distances (and not having dedicated or semi-dedicated freight to do it) is going away, for the most part.

 

When you want to run, sitting at rec 3 to 4 hours, to only run 300- 400 miles, then sit a shipper for another 3-4 hours kills your pay. There is a Company named Continental Freight in Miami that I used to delv to when I worked for a previous Employer. I know for a fact that they run Miami to Calfornia, Miami to Denver, Phoenix, and other West States runs that are smiliar in length. They are reefer, and a small company with a frigerated wharehouse. Probably 30 to 50 trks I'm guessing. Point is there are some long haul reefer companies out there. Wish there were more, then sitting those 3-4 hours after 2000 miles won't seem so bad. I'd take a 5 cent a mile cut to get those kind of miles.

 

Indeed, and that's basically my point. The business model is changing to the point where some choice carriers with good customer relationships have long, pseudo-dedicated freight...but the more casual customer/carrier relationships are left with shorter freight.

All that said, it doesn't excuse Marten's practically criminal inability to properly utilize a driver's time. The only reason I haven't left yet is because I got handed a dedicated assignment...and even then, the 22 hours I've just wasted waiting for a simple oil change here in Mondovi between yesterday and today are enough to make me want to drop the cushy freight and consistent miles just on principle alone. I haven't even been pulled into the shop yet, and I had an appointment set up for 17 hours ago.

When I'm supposed to be at home with my wife and son, and I'm sitting here getting ignored or treated like a 3rd class human by the shop foreman, nice miles and easy loads don't seem so worthwhile.
And the kicker of it all, my dispatcher's bending over backward to make me happy, because I'm servicing the customers on this new contract so well...and the lazy, arrogant, passive-aggressive crappers in the shop are fixing to make all of that effort (on my part, and my dispatcher's) worthless.

It defies description, honestly.

 

Do you have the in cab scanner yet? Next time I'm sitting at a shop I' getting it installed.

 

Yeah, they gave me one of the 91xx Petes. It came installed. I have to say, I really love the new qcomm and the scanner. It's intuitive to me.

 

Does the GPS routing work? Sometimes I wonder if they have mine blacked out because the way the paid miles, and actual miles differ in their favor.

 

Routing's pretty good. Wacky sometimes.

If yours doesn't work, I'd imagine it's just a fluke. Marten pays "short" miles, and it's no secret that you're dropping miles on every trip. If they claimed they paid practical and there was such a disparity, then I'd start asking questions.

 

I thought marten was decent