mercer transportation

That is the first time I have read that about LS or Mercer. Lazy huh? Now I look at it from the completely other side. Mercer and LS attract the smart business person. They see that they can make more money on less miles and refuse to haul cheap stuff. But maybe I am missing your point.

 

I don't have one of the big house trucks, and I don't put on very many miles at all, less than two thousand per week, last week I only put on 540, 173 of which was loaded, still averaged 2.72 per mile for all those miles. Last year I could run my log book out of hours almost every week and still average over $2 per mile loaded and empty to me. This year I have only had one month over two dollars a mile, that was in September, I did alot of show moves for ag companies and my bounce miles where higher than my loaded miles. But this last month has been horrible, I have sat more than moved, bounced more than loaded and have probably had enough, they are hiring way to many trucks with the freight market for open deck the way it is.

 

I forgot to add that I don't think most of us are lazy, I know for #### sure I am not, but I am not going to wear my truck and trailer out for peanuts, I did that for to many years, I learned my lesson the hard way. I could run my butt off here right now, and still put money in the bank every week, from every load, if I would settle for an average of 1.70 or less for all miles, but I won't.

 

thats not what i meant. landstar themselves tell you in orientation a certain amount of people just cant seem to make it without someone holding their hand and pushing them to work. they go home and just dont book loads

 

and i didnt men to lump those two together, my fault. and i didnt say most are lazy. however as an example i talked to a couple at the yard who told me they only take loads to places they have friends or family to visit with. and that is perfectly fine. i am glad mercer and ls let people do that. however its not exactly great for fleet avaerages. thats all i was saying.

 

good deal. i'm glad someone is doing well. also you may just be one of the highest paid guys i have ever talked to at mercer. i hate to say it, but when i asked dean what the turnover rate there was, he wouldnt tell me.I think mercer is an awsome place to work, but i'm not proud of the freight they had lately and how many guys they have hired and quit in the last 3 or 4 months is all i'm sayin. As far as debt, i dont really have any, but when considering that the rates havent really changed much since the 70's or 80's,and fuel was 60 to 80 cents or so.....and tires wasnt around 5 to 6 hundred a piece, then i tend to try to take home all the revenue i can. i'm not a hobby trucker, so when i work, i want paid. as far as 4000 a week average, i hope to never really have anything less. i do between 4700 and 6000 gross and home weekends pulling my tank......so to answer your question.....yep, i'll take all i can get while i'm at work.

 

Over at LS we have a mix of busy, "lazy" and just plain cheap freight haulers.....

The lazy one's have no bills and don't need to move loads unless they feel like it. The busy one's (such as myself) are trying to get to the place in our financial lives where we can be "lazy" if we choose to. And the cheap freight haulers are the guys who over-extended themselves with new trucks and lots of payments and will take anything to make a buck, even if it is only burrying them deeper in a hole.

It is the same at just about any all O/O company, and will most likely never change. I tend to try to provide exceptional service and make a very good impression so the agents remember me and call me again before posting loads. I know at Mercer, you have a load board somewhat but are also somewhat dispatched. First in, First out kinda deal correct???

That was the only thing that turned me away from Mercer was the different freight board areas (East/West/South ect ect) I prefer to be able to control where I go, what I do, and who i do it for..... and have the loads lined up for my return before i even head out to an area.

Both companies are good, especially for those who want to be independant. I think the problem we all run into are the shippers control our destiny as they are the front line of whom they ship with. And in a capacity market like we have now, only service and personality will set you apart from cheap rate companies like TMC/Boyd/Shaffer...... just keep on truckin' and doing your best.

 

the avg is for loaded and empty miles, they keep track as close as they can when you bounce to a load.

what wideload means is you have some who avg 1.40 and some who avg 2.30 and the result is something in the middle.

and i think he means by lazy , is some who do just enough to keep things going.

there is no doubt things have slowed down a bit, which they always tend to do but moreso at this time in an election year. this year was particularly a heated contest and there has bit a bit of aftershock afterwards.

but the reality will soon again set in and things will even out. honestly if one has survived the last 4 years, he has shown some grit and should be able to handle it.

and rollin glad to hear you do so well with a box. me , i shudder at the thought of swinging a door on a trl, unloaded at weird appts at all times of the night.

i think once the election memory begins to fade all the happy campers will be back. but remember all ya see posting here is 4 or 5 guys from mercer, not really a representative slice, same with any outfit even bill and rollin.

but i am a happy camper and hanging in there pretty good, i am having to work it a little harder. many people are happy with different things, if you are happy that all that matters.

pigs are happiest rollin in the mud, dung beetles roll up little balls of crap very happily.

time will tell, who survives and who doesnt

 

and keep in mind this, the money that a mercer driver talks about is money to the truck, which is all we deal with. no arithmitic needed

 

No arithmitic needed
Is that cause we can't subtract or cause we can't add?