mercer transportation

kmx7022, heres some input.

last week you posted there was no loads out of your area. we had this discussion before then, you could have loaded on the 4th with run to pitts burgh area , the loads from that area from around there to youngstown area were plentiful, to many destinations. you have to come to understand that in some areas where guys live you have to take a shorter one to get back into a the good lanes. scranton seems to be one of those areas.

now after 17 days you "HAD" to do something, what you did was shoot yourself in the foot. reno isnt the freight capital of the world. if you would have done just a bit of homework you would have known that was 500 mile deadhead when ya took the load.

did your coordinator tell ya this also, no doubt he did.

most guys would have turn down what i got preplanned and in fact they did which is how i got them, one 360 mile run (0/S), one 540 mile run and another 540 mile run. the 360 paid 1000, the other two pay 1305 each and they are turnarounds paying 2.45 a mile each and no d/h. point being in a weeks run i will have done 3600 dollars ( low low many would say) driven a total of 1500 miles includeding d/h. used 900 bucks fuel at most, and after 100 dollars a day for truck maint escrow , payment etc etc , 7 days i will have made 2200 free and clear. ON LOADS OTHERS TURNED DOWN i was #44 on the o/s and drumroll , ready for this #81 on the others, i went ahead and booked 2 of em back to back.

my point is i am taking loads that it seems others dont want for some strange reason and all well over 2 dollars a mile.


since the subject is up, what are your load preferences?? did you just want long haul or will you pick up and drop one every day?

last time i comapred notes at louisville, i was talking to one driver whose overall avg for all miles was 1.48 , he asked mine and could not believe mine was at 1.96. the difference we determined was he only wanted to drop or load once a week and ran east to west coast.

and i looked for loads paying the most revenue for the least amount of miles.

you would be surprised at loads i get well over 2 bucks a mile for because of 4 words, 1-tarp 2-twic(ports even though they got twic) and 3- hazmat and 4-multi-drop

my bud wideload is beginning to see the light even though he is still in recovery and fighting the long haul addiction


but bottom line is, stop yer yapping about being in reno. YOU made a poor choice of a load , and no one but you made that choice. you can continue to whine or figure out how to do it better.

and i know the ones of us doing well still are brown nosers, know the agents, etc etc. not the case, i just work the noodle more.

question< how many of you ever sit and pull up the load board state by state to help get a feel for the areas with lots of freight? how many when looking to commit to a load and look ahead at destination to see how many loads on the board before taking it.

i been at this going on my 33 year and i study that loadboard like a bible. it like chicago, i will load to chicago from anywhere, its guranteed good load out for example. but hey thats just me

 

think i might head to mercertown for the night. dont have to be in MS untill noon sat.

 

Question? How many terminals or drop yards does Mercer has. When i was with sni, they had drop yards and terminals all over the place. That help me trip plan better, i always had somewhere to park.

 

we own our equipment, we dont drop it. and there is one yard. this isnt sni this is big boy trucking

 

skateboardman .... I also ALWAYS do a 500 mile search when looking at the board for the same reason. I can see a short load, then see if anything is loading near there coming back or going someplace else. From my house in PA that gets me up into Canada, down into NC, west into OH ... and a pretty good overview of what's happening. but, now I'm stuck sitting south of the border waiting on my PARS to clear. The shipper had the wrong broker information on the paperwork. And I even called them to get the fax number and they didn't tell me it was the wrong division. My papers went to UPS Brokerage instead of UPS Supply Chain Solutions. Four hours of phone calls to find out what the problem was. Of course if "Customer Service" was part of their business model the person who got it could have just emailed it over to the other division of the same friggin' company. I've had other brokers do that, ones that understand it is not "stupid truck drivers" sending the papers to the wrong place, it is a paper-pusher somewhere that gave us the wrong information. By the time I'm cleared it will be too late to deliver, and I don't think there's a lot of parking between the border and Montreal. Oh well, they open at 0600, I"ll cross at 0500. Just makes for a long day tomorrow, still plenty of time to get reloaded. You're right about taking freight no one wants. Tarps, haz-mat, multiple stops, nobody wants to do them. Or NYC or the northeast in general, even running the northern states in the winter. Just look at all the Mercer trucks that will be sitting in TX and all the other southern states. Got a couple good loads last winter from NC to WA and OR at great rates because nobody wanted to go there in Jan and Feb. It has always worked for me that if you are willing to do what most other drivers don't want to, then you will have work. But I guess that's the difference, we may have to do a little work tarping, load/unload more than once a week, etc. ... vs those who just want to drive and "get miles". I was way down on the list for the 200 mile load that started the week, you know the type, don't take a load under $800. this was about 637. And a little planning showed you could reload back to the starting point, another 630... a bit over 400 miles, one day, $1267. But ... that load didn't pay 800 ... and 200 miles ... "I ain't no local driver" .... We need more drivers like that ... more $$$ for us!

 

Yup thats it im afraid to tarp afraid of snow dont know how to look at the load board yup thats you keep drinking mercers coolaid and my friend im not about to spend 40dollars in tolls and 150 in fuel to go to fairless hills to haul a crap 500 load to pittsburgh just to get going shouldnt have to be like that when you live by at least 3 major cities on the east coast like i said nice people no frieght worth talkin about right now.if your doing well hooray for you but in my opinon right now anyway if your not into camping on "mercer row" right now pulling a van for them looks to be the way to fly thats all im saying

 

Oh ya 1 more thing if you all were as busy as you say yas are then where do you get the time to be on this web page every couple of hours? just wonderin?

 

Hey I have lots of time on my hands because it's not about the miles. Before Mercer I drove on avg 3500 miles a week. Hell my driver over there is still doing that.
If I drive 2800 in a week here at Mercer. That's a lot.

Point being I don't work nearly as hard and make twice the money. It's not sac religious to have time on your hands. That's quality of life really.

I'm not trying to one up ya or fight. Just saying its a good life to be able to take it easy and make money. Don't make it sound like a crime. Lol

 

Come on down to the Sweet Magnolia State. You can buy me a Cold Brewsky.....