for the second part of your question... if you take 2 hours to load or unload, dealing with tarps and securement and observing the loaders, then that is 2 hours on duty not driving. if you log 30 min then into the sleeper you did not log what you actually did. I'm not saying this is not common practice, just answering why it is in fact illegal.[/QUOTE] I don't know about you but at a lot of companies I'm not allowed to get out of the truck while loading I show them where the center is and they have At it if I don't like it when they're done I'll tell him they have to move it
I already have the eld. I got it twice from contractor relations and twice from tech support. Which is in itself contractor relations people. That's the only emails I get besides permits.
I know this is five days old now and I'm just now getting to reading it my two senses is you want to know when the rates are going to go up you better start asking Mercer what they're doing to stay competitive I know Melton trucklines plans at the moment is to keep growing 10% year they run the 48 states Canada and Mexico and you're one of the highest price carriers out here i've read several times on this post that Mercer drivers have a hard time in Texas especially down the Laredo I don't understand why Mercer hasn't set anything up for cross country trade maybe it's because all the drivers on their own trailers but Melton is making a killing running AC units crossed the border from Mexico all the way up in Canada I also know they're planning to set something up in Montana so they can move freight from one trailer to another so they can run that into Canada don't ask me which province I don't know one from the other in Canada i'm not putting Mercer down i'm planning to come over to Mercer but after reading this thread it sounds like Mercer needs to figure out how to leverage their number for better profit from what you all have said they're running about 2200 trucks and Melton still only at 12 to 13 hundred
Mr huds, with all due respect I don't think you understand a few things. When we say Texas is bad, it's not so much that it's bad, it's just not as good as we are used to. Laredo for example, lots of freight, but it's cheap as sin. And again, cheap to some of us is still a lot more than what trends of thousands of guys are getting on those cpm pay packages the big box companies do. We are really a bunch of spoiled brats over here. As for those ac units crossing the border, not very many of us are gonna let some Mexican carrier take our trailer across the rio for two days. Especially not for the rate the customer wants it done for. Id be willing to bet melton isn't making as much of a killing on those loads as you think they are. Are they making a profit? Yes. But not the margin I, and others on this thread are used to.
I had a friend here at mercer who had a load requiring his trailer go into Mexico some years ago. It wasn't a pleasant experience to say the least. Shipper got to pay for tires, rims and all new led lights, because none were the same when it came back across.
I do respect all of your input I am in no way an expert in any area of the trucking industry but I am trying to take a crash course in it thank you for filling me in
Recent Grads: 33 CPM 1-5 months OTR: 35 CPM 6-11 months OTR: 37 CPM 1-5 years OTR: 42 CPM 5+ years OTR: 43 CPM Melton is making a killing, the driver's not.
That's a reason Tmc was better in my mind than Melton and such. Though you still cap out and all that, the pay package just seems better...And it weeds out the really worthless drivers. But this thread isn't for this topic haha.
