mercer transportation

Spent 2700 on fuel about 150 on eats 100 on oh tpk and indiana trpk and no i dont consider that income thats operating expense!

 

kmx, now you know someone is gonna come on here and tell ya you shouldnt have spent that much on eatting. you shoulda ate lunch meat and and drank water. c'mon!....lol.....

 

It seems like it may be time to get a truck that gets 7-8mpg in this day of high fuel prices. Those of us running in that range don't care much about fuel price since the FSC goes up higher than the fuel cost. There are loads where the FSC has completely paid for the fuel for my loaded miles. As fuel goes up you make more money, not less. If you are getting less than 6.5 then as fuel goes up it costs you more. Easy to prove with simple math. Since fuel is the major expense, I'd be seriously thinking about changing trucks.

Comparing costs, Philly to Seattle is 2821 miles on google maps. My cpm for fuel has held near 50 so I would plan on 1500 for fuel, more if heavy and driving into the wind which I always seem to do heading west. At most 1800. That's a big difference, adds up to a whole lot at the end of the year. So that 4800-1800 fuel leaves 3000. Minus 20% reserve and 200 for ins and trailer lease for the week should leave me 1840 deposit roughly, and a 960 deposit to my reserve account. That would be my expectation on the same load, 2800 net for the week, allowing an extra 300 for fuel contingency.

If there was 1800 after advance, and a deposit of only 560, there's a big discrepancy there. Trailer payments are around 150/week average, and insurance isn't much.

Driving for a contractor could be tough, can't argue with that. I wonder if Mercer gets involved in disputes between the fleet owners and drivers on pay issues? I guess it would be a way to get started at the company if planning to buy a truck in the near future, but I can't imagine doing as well as a regular company driver for someone else. For someone wanting to be home weekly I still recommend a local company.

 

And ya random is right the freakin cost for the tag from october was 9 somethin still owe like 120 give or take. ok fine no problem totally get it. that tag expires end of march. well settelment comes 650 deduction for next years tag which the one im still payin on isnt even expired yet. now 1 st off all how do they even know ill be here the end of march and second of all 650 in one shot come on! seems like every time you think your going to take a little something home they think differently.

 

Listen man im not here to argue but i find it hard like way hard to believe you could go from philly to seattle and only spend 1500 on fuel maybe i read it wrong and i really havent seen an increase in mercers rates since ive started in october but fuel has gone up like .50 cents since then

 

Ok so you spent $2700 on fuel. If roshea's mileage for your trip is accurate at 2821 miles, and we figure on fuel cost of $4.20/gallon, then that brings your overall fuel mileage down to 4.39 mpg. Im guessing you had a ton of idle time to get it this low, but it also sounds like your truck is not running efficiently. What were you hauling? Oversize? Over weight? If you could get your truck running at a slightly more efficient rate, and cut your idle time down, i dont see why you couldnt get your fuel cost down to $2000. Thats $700 back in your pocket just bc you put another blanket on the bed and shut the truck off, and you examined your truck and spent a little money to squeeze some fuel mileage out of it.

now i realize theres a lot of factors to consider here, so maybe you could inform us a bit more. What kind of truck/ motor/ trans/ rear ends/ tire size are you running? What were you hauling? How fast do you run on the big road?

Just trying to help paint an accurate picture here, for myself and for others

 

My truck gets 5 mpg right now it's running me about $.82 a mile, I've had my truck in the shops so many times it's not funny. It's in the shop now at a Detroit shop changing the football gasket, there pulling the head so I'm going into the motor this time checking injectors head and everything else

What I'm trying to say is there are more 5 mpg trucks than 8mpg out of the 4 trucks I own the Volvo gets 6.6 2000 Detroit/13 speed/373 rears on SS midroof. I don't have a fleet of these trucks just one and it has 1.3million miles on it and cost me alot to keep it legal and on the road

My truck at mecer won't be there much longer he has been at home 10 days now he understands we don't make money under $1.80/mi he was on the road 3 weeks. Mercer called him this week asking how things are going and he told them. When he called yesterday he said if he can't be home every other weekend it's not going to work he has kids at home and shouldn't live in a truck away from them, can't say I blame him, think he is trying to go back to Martin gas he pulled tanker before made $1,200 a week had insurance and all but worked nights and worked 6 days off one so most weekends he worked for him to make $1,200 with mercer he would have to have a $6,500 week to the truck and that never happens

 

oh god, he went to oregon. now we will soon see the post where he sat out there for a week.

if i took a 300 grand advance on a load leaving 1800 on it, and having the daily charge for trl payment, tags coming out and some equipment also the exact daily charge could be figured and the amount left.

i have all my settlements figured within 2 or 3 cents as soon as i take the advance. i dont get surprised. there also was a letter mailed out explaining how the next years tag worked if you didnt pick an option by a certain date.

honestly kmx, i thought you owned your trl when you came over since you had been running your authority.

but even with 1800 left and the "unexpected" 650 dollar charge, with what was left you had about 2 weeks of trl and other charges taken out ???


honestly that high dollar west coast load is a trap when you are in a tight, many jokers take that as there first load out of orientation, then sit out there for a week , load the lower paying stuff back, and after 3 weeks have grossed not even half of what a guy running east of i-35 has done in those 3 weeks.

i am wondering if some of paid any attention at orientation to the people that explained what would be deducted out of each settlement , and the amount it would be each day. because all that is gone over and you sign the sheet that it has been done.

i think the free sodas and snacks in the back of the room are causing attention deficit disorder.

i , and nobody else have said it was all peaches and whipped cream here at mercer. problem is there is a price to pay being treated like a grown up here, you have to know how to run your truck, know the true costs to operate it, cause there aint no hand holding and babysittin here.

guess thats why the men are happy and the babies are crying.


fuel is eating you alive, but thats mercer fault too, maybe we can get you a special 1.25 a miles fuel surcharge.

 

gracious midnight, didnt you forget some costs??? you didnt include pacifiers, diapers or tissues.

 

Don't forget the baby powder. I get rashes easily when my diaper isn't changed promptly.

I knew where not to go before I started driving for my Mercer contractor. Most of it was in this thread

I see many loads going to the great Northwest, but I'm not going until I get my passport or Fast card as I want some of those Canadian money loads to keep me busy.