mercer transportation

There are several I see that state shipper or consignee does not pay detention. Funny they tend to also say expect 6-10 hours to load or unload. And the quoted rates do not factor that in, they are quite average or below average for the miles involved. Easy to say no on these. Any load that say they refuse to pay, or will bill me for something beyond my control, is unacceptable.

 

Just my opinion but &75 should be minimum. And that does add up. My worst case of detention was show up 0600 Monday only to try to have the guard turn me away telling me to take the load back. I don't think so. After explaining all the options once we got someone in charge to come to the guard house I ended up waiting until 2300 Fri to deliver. They paid for a hotel, paid me 10 hours a day at $75 (this was 1988) plus $250 layover, paid for meals. And at the hotel I filled in for the pool guy on vacation and made an extra $250 cash hanging out. Based on inflation that was my best week ever. And even then, 1988, my load from Edison NJ to Channahon IL paid $3500 (1630 round trip miles).

Tanker work that I did for decades has always had detention paid, it is VERY rare not to get it. If that segment of the industry can do it the rest can too. Freight companies, Mercer included, fail to push the customer to pay fearing they will lose their business to a company that never charges detention. All that goes back to the bidding wars that have kept rates suppressed.

 

That's even worse! I many not be able to move back far enough if the loads have much weight, I will be too far behind the center between the tandems.

 

Most of the bolts on the current brackets are Huck bolts, a real pain to get off, at least for me. There are quite a few holes already drilled in the frame for the mount, several of which are not used. What is the guidance on how many bolts are needed to secure the 5th wheel assembly to the frame?

 

Cut them off with a torch and replace with normal bolts. I would use the exact number that it has in it.

Fyi, what kind of fifth wheel do you have? Is it the kind thart the track is basically just a piece of angle iron with a notched plate bolted to it? If so you can just add another section.

 

I think to that besides fear of losing business the Agents arent making money off it they've already made their money on the load being hauled so how hard are they really going to work to get the driver his detention?

 

Like I said, the $1000 gross a day is my rule of thumb. Another rule of thumb is don't go below $1.50 a mile including deadhead. I've done plenty of short stuff and plenty of long stuff to know the difference in the rates between the two. The best money I've ever made was hauling corn from field to farmer's bins at 15 cents a bushel. 8 miles round trip. That only comes once a year for a month at a time IF it doesn't get hailed out, water logged, disease, etc.. I can't base an operation around that.

The same applies to general freight. Yeah every now and again I can find that $600 50 mile quick buck too. Maybe even do twice a day for three or four days. Then it's gone for a week, month, quarter... I can't base what I do around that.

However, I can find freight all day every day grossing me $1000 a day for every day the key is in the run position, paying no less than $1.50 a mile including deadhead. I do better than that about 90% of the time, but that's what I base my operation on. I'm not going to turn down $600 for 50 miles, but I can guarantee it isn't the only freight I'm looking for.

As far as detention goes, I push for it when it is warranted.

As far as what carriers do to influence rates or freight availability, I can't control what they do. I can only control what I do to weather it.

 

Good point, some of them fight for it, at I'd say at least half fit your description better. They see it as alienating their customer.

 

Norman had me loaded within 2 hours!

 

[QUOTE="Dynames, post: 7898944, member: 180545"

As far as what carriers do to influence rates or freight availability, I can't control what they do. I can only control what I do to weather it.[/QUOTE]

Bingo! And thanks for an intelligent and civil conversation