mercer transportation

The normal steps is to be driving as a company driver that has owner operators, then put the truck on there.
Problems that you will run into are most flat bed companies want a year experience as an owner operator some as flat bed. Mercer does take on some with not flat bed experience if enough owner operator experience. Also most flat bed companies want you to own or purchase a trailer as most flat beders get paid percentage.
A suggestion would be to go to a dry van company like JB or snider to start. Little more stable, and lot more the company takes care of, including the trailer expenses.

 

Also alot of compaines require the truck to be so new. Most compaines are 5-6 years old. Normally the smaller companies have less requirements for O/O trucks.

 

Actually yes, that is what you do. Find the company you want to lease to, go apply with them, and when they accept you then you get a letter of commitment from them. You give that to the people that are going to finance your truck, and that shows you have a job/work lined up for your truck. That's common practice, companies and truck dealers do it all the time.

 

so much to hit on here. now bear with me, i am learning. i dont want to come across like i know what im talking about, but i have been trying to educate myself on this stuff. so first off, i would love to be an o/o for my current company where i run as a company driver, but thats not an option. they make too much money having all their own trucks and paying us 0.34/mile. second, some of the places i have come across dont require any experience as an o/o, only a certain number of months as an otr driver, of which i dont know how many months i have really, but i feel 600k+ miles should do ok, yes? 2 for example: crst malone and mercer. also, these 2 companies either dont require you to own your own trailer. crst malone rents them to you for, last i checked, $185/week. now i realize renting a trailer will get me no where and its basically throwing money out the window, but i dont want to buy my own yet for fear of too much overhead starting out. mercer has a leaseto own program for trailers, right? please correct me on any of this if im misinformed. this lease to own or lease purchase program, whichever you wanna call it, is from what ive read on here approx $600/month? prolly more, bc that only breaks down to roughly $150/week, but you get what i mean.

jb or schneider? *cringe* the list of things id rather do than drive for them is, well, pretty long. granted, if i run down all of my other options, and theres absolutely no other way to get off the ground, i would consider it. i am proud, but not too proud.

also, you say companies require truck to be within a certain age limit. again, i may and very well could be wrong, but what ive learned is that crst malone takes any age truck, as long as it passes inspection. and also ive learned that mercer used to limit trucks to 97 or newer, but have since retracted this requirement, therefore open to trucks of all ages again.

i really hope i didnt come across as a know it all, thats not my intention at all. im here to learn and to get opinions from you guys who have been through this kind of stuff and have experience that i can learn from. i really appreciate the replys guys

 

does the same apply to me if i paid cash for my truck? bc thats what i did. i saved my pennies. we budget everything, helps that my fiance works at a bank so she has a strong financial background. from what ive learned, its best to start out with as few costs as possible, so that way i can afford to have some failures while i learn the system of where ever i end up. if i started out with a nice shiney new-ish truck and the $4-500/week payment that comes with it, if i screw up and have a terrible week, its far easier to be in the red than if i dont have a truck payment. just trying to do everything i can to prevent overall failure.

 

crst trailer rental is 185 a week and the upkeep for the trailer is incuded in that 185 they also pay 75% and thats 5% more than most that would take care of the $185 a week I have looked in to them and thinking of going there to get flatbed exp. after 14 years of van whant someting to give me some exersize. Herd Mercer was good but know nothing about them with both of them you will find your own loads off there board or brokers or agents no one will hold your hand be ready for that. Pay cash for truck is a great way to get started if it dont work you can let it sit and go work some where. When i started I bought a used truck cash and had 12K inbank after got the truck feeling good after 4 mo spent all my savings on repairs almost went belly up. The company I worked for was not giveing me the miles Because I was new. I should have gone somewhere else sooner but scared to leave the company. Whent and took small loan for truck with warrenty and it worked a lot beter for me. I dont want this to disscurage you I belive after 10 years o/o it is better than paying someone truck off you woork for But you will work harded and sometimes less money. good luck.

 

so where do you work at now? have you applied with crst malone yet?

and yeah ive been made well aware of how hard the work is, not just driving anymore but running a business. and the money, im not really in this to get rich quick, but im looking at what i can do in the future, 1 yr 5yr 10yrs down the road. much more promising than, like you said, paying off somebody elses truck. so no discouragement taken.

 

I will be honest with you the freight in the area you are talking about has pretty much dried up. One of the reasons I have hauled my last load for Mercer. To get to the good consistent freight you are looking at Chicago area. That may change but I noticed the loads around here declining a year ago. Not saying you wont find a load closer but it will be hit and miss and you may not like where it is going.

 

When did you leave, and where did you go?

 

I know a guy on with d@e out of mm that's pretty happy. Not sure what their requirements are though.