mercer transportation

I'd like to hear if any of you think our agents are skimming by way of running their freight through their logistics companies first, then handing it off to the Mercer agent side of their business.

I've just been hearing some things, no hard proof; but, I talk to independents running the same freight at times and the numbers appear to reveal that could be occurring.

What does Mercer do to audit and control their agents to keep them honest?

 

I would like to see $1800 to $2200 per week in net revenue. I've made that before as a company driver in another sector, and I know it can be done in flatbedding, seeing how I also pull OD loads and hazmat, and will go anywhere I can legally go.

It's a combination of too low rates and inconsistent, thin freight volume. Also, the hazmat and OD are rarely available, even when i call an agent to specifically request those higher revenue loads. Another area that needs work is load planning to avoid a slowing or disruption between loads.

I try to prebook at least one load ahead, but I would prefer to book the whole week in a triangle of some sort to create more consistent revenue.

 

Why would someone NOT run to Chicago to get $2+ mile rate anytime they come here??? But it;s fine with me, just means more freight for me to choose from

As for the rate, you get 73% of the L/H and 100% FSC and fee's for tarping and such, so it fluxuates a bit. I try to stay above $3 mile when leaving the house and that's what I have my load alerts set for... Texas i set it for $2 even.

Most leaving Landstar are leaving for 2 main reasons.... 1) they have too many log violations and are being required ot get EOBR's (have you also noticed that Mercer's intake of new hires has gone up since LS mandated all new lease's to have EOBR's???) and the second reason is what you stated, they don't know how to work the system, so they leave and go elsewhere. I will bet that in a few months, they will leave Mercer as well because some just can't comprehend how to learn the ropes or just need someone to hold their hand...

I'm not saying that LS is the greatest place to work, or that mercer is not a good place. i was just trying to give some insight on other compnanies that operate SOMEWHAT similar. To be honest, LS and Mercer operate completely different than eachother.

 

exactly my point, why would you not run chicago?

an if they are leaving because of log violations, they wont be here long

i know i will go to chicago any chance i get

 

Sorry, i took it as the opposite. i know a lot of guys who refuse to go north of I-40 in the winter time, and some won't come to Chicago at all. I can't understand it myself, but I do know that if I lived in texas, i would not leave the state of texas. there's plenty of freight moving around the state and you should be able make $500-$700 a day after fuel i would think. i used to run like that every winter until I got married... now I have to come home once a month at least LOL

 

a rare feat to have company jobs paying that well, private fleets , but then many private fleets are ####### those dedicated deals to schneider and such.


and what is net to you, some define it differently. how much gross revenues would it generally take to net your amount?


and as to your other posts, i wonder if some agents may be agents for more than one company, as they answer the phone with "dispatch" instead of the company name.


and comparing our rate to an independent could be misleading in a variety of ways , you would expect the independent to get more for one thing

 

Mercer will fire an agent just like they will the truck. They expect us to play by Mercer rules and they expect he same of the agents

 

lol...well,i wish i could agree to that, but skateboard i prefer the orange flavor.....its the best. in my opinion.

now to the other subject,im not saying mercer is a badcompany as a whole, but i do believe some of their agents are. heres my point though. last year dean that does the orientation on says" well last year we gave around a million dollars worth of freight back because we simpley didnt have the trucks to meet the neededs of the volume of freight they needed coverd". now thats the WORDS he chose. heres the thing. theres a big difference in HAVING the freight to "GIVE BACK" than to never actually HAVE that freight to begin with.

theres a big difference in already haveing the freight and banking to being able to get the freight when you go to start signing guys on. so my case in point, mercer didnt actually give back anything, they were just saying, man if we had X amount of trucks, we could pick up X amount of freight, make X more amount of revenue, versous saying, man our current customers need this amount of freight moved, guess i should get a few more trucks on it or we loose that customer.

the oreintation itself in an entirety not only PROVED this, but SCREAMED the ol saying, QUANITY OVER QUALITY. it just goes to show that megga carrier mentality being all to real for the greeed of that ol mighty dollar......

You might even get a chuckle outta this, but at oreintaion, there was one guy that didnt know the difference between a cabover and a conventional, 4 people that didnt know what a coil rack was, guy that thought edge protectors were what you put on the side of your trailer to keep the forklif from denting the outter rail of the trailer, what ever that means..i guess he ment the rub rail.....there were only 3 people out of 16 in the class that really knew what was goin on. 2 of the people bearley spoke english too.

 

My net is gross minus all costs but my wage. My costs also figure equipment depreciation as well as the usual maintenance costs. I also pay interest on my capital investment, because if I cashed all my equipment out today, then tomorrow I would have it invested elsewhere earning interest. To make it easy, my net is usually falling between 25% and 30% of gross.

A firm gross doesn't tell what profit will be. The number of miles ran can change the net number by a wide margin. I try to focus more on profit rather than pure gross revenue. I mean you can bring in $7000 a week, have $6000 in cost, and still only take home $1000.

Fuel cost per mile variance, actual maintenance cost surprises, and the number of miles I run in a year tend to move that percentage around the most. I also average equipment over a 5 year term, forecasting a sale price at 5 years whether or not I intend to turn over equipment at that time.

 

should be able to go home with 1500- 2000 gs a week did that for the last 20 years of owning a truck and that was not having to bust your ##### . if ya cant do that ya might as well park it cause eventually your gonna run it into the ground anyway and not be able to take care of it. gave up authority because got sick of dealing with multiple brokers, shippers etc. wanted to do one stop shopping, you call, i haul, you pay me. but im beggining to think taking that kind of money home is a long shot. not enough loads going to the hot spots, to much deadhead, like the other guy said no load consistency. want to go out, do a triangle or somethin similiar make my 1500-2000 take home and go home. dont want to hang in truckstops ,talk about old times, shine my big large sleeper , hang in louisville or fontanna blah blah blah. so if a guy cant leave his house run a couple loads and go home with that kind of cash in his pocket then theres no point of being out here. unless your one of these yoy yos that say "truckin isnt a job its a lifestyle" no its not its a job! in this day and age theres no reason in the world you cant accomplish this without living in the truck. and in the four months im here no matter what i try or where i go your not taking that kind of money home here. long haul ,short haul, north ,south west, its not happening, and if it does it aint gonna be consistent. since jan 01,2013 after mercer rapes your settlement and your advances they eft into my checkbook $2,497.00 and thats with being home maybe 6-7 days since the beggining of the year dude ya can make that kind of cash as a cashier at walmart