Mercer Van opportunities?

I have not seen a lot of van freight on the board. I went thru orientation and there was a guy or 2 that had no or little exp with boards. They had to go thru securement training. One of them asked me a bunch of questions and I gave him some tips on what to do and what not to do. We walked around the yard looking at loads and I told him how I would have secured rather than how they did.

 

Your welcome!

 

Notarps is right.... Mercer freight for vans is on the low side right now. I haven't seen much on the the load board either. To be honest with you, I think they are only leasing on flats & steps right now. Give em a call & they'll be able to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Has there been any increase in van freight? I'm thinking of pulling the plug on our company's authority. Reason - can't get decent drivers!

We have vans we can lease on although I'm not at all against flatbeds. However I'm in the same situation as others with nearly zero experience.

Is there much opportunity for a small fleet owner to get drivers into trucks there?

 

Mercer is a flatbed/stepdeck company. Yes we do have some vans, but not a lot, so the primary focus for the field agents is flatbed freight.

There are a few fleet owners who are leased on. As for the driver's, that is still the owner's responsibility to find responsible driver's to operate the equipment. And the driver's have to meet Mercer's minimum qualifications.

 

Thanks for the info Redd. I've been communicating with Mercer during the week and they've been patiently answering my questions. The possibility of arranging to move multiple trucks and drivers at the same time gets complicated. It looks like only one driver may actually want to make the switch, which is fine with me. The biggest obstacle is all the start-up expense getting a trailer, rack, and securement items. I'm looking at various trailers but there are so many variables in FB that it is hard to decide what will give the greatest loading opportunities.

I was told we could start however we want, flat, step, even drop/RGN. I would guess that a basic 48x102 flat would cover a great percentage of the available loads. How many shippers need the additional load capacity of an all aluminum trailer vs. a combo unit? Would the price difference be justifiable when getting started with them?

I know this will depend on each drivers individual preferences when choosing loads, but what percentage of loads are tarped, how many are coils, lumber, machinery, etc? Anything that can give me a reasonable idea of exactly what is being hauled. Recruiters at even the best companies will paint a nice picture of their company, drivers are more likely to tell it like it is.

Comments from any Mercer drivers appreciated!

 

I'll call lil blue pony & tell her to chime in as well. Her & her husband has been here longer then I have.

I just leased on this past July. I'm pulling a 48'x102" combo flat. I wanted to do the stepdeck route, but the drivers I talked to told me to stay away from the stepdecks because the freight just wasn't there to justify the extra cost of the trailer. I lease my trailer from Mercer.

I have only been offered 1 lumber load. I never did haul it & it didn't need to be tarped. We do a lot of military. in fact, I will say that 75% of the freight I've been hauling has been military. Some of it does need to be tarped & most of it does not need to be. From what I've seen is that we'd haul just about anything. I have not hauled 1 coil nor have I been offered a coil to haul. I'm sure that has to do with my refusal of getting my Alabama coil certification.

The 4 months I've been here I will say that I've only tarped maybe 5 loads, if even that. I bought my rack, tarps, & securement from Mercer. I put 50% up front out of my pocket & they deducted the rest out of my settlements for a 30 day period.

If you go step deck.... Get a 53' with a 41' bottom. Sliding axles on the rear. It comes in handier in California to get a load out of there versus a 48' with a 37' bottom.

A member here called Gonzo pulls a RGN with Mercer. I haven't seen him logged in for awhile, but he should be able to contribute to that side of the company.


And make sure your preferences are correct in the computer... These past 2 weeks have been hell for me because someone made changes or didn't input my information/preferences correctly. I think I got that straight now & got a decent load going to Californa. I'm already matching to loads coming back out of there coming home.

 

These numbers below are my numbers. They include my deadhead miles & are accurate as of 10/31/2009. My first load for Mercer was on 7/31/2009.

Paid to the truck = $46,175.96
Miles driven (including empty)= 36,447
Avg. revenue to truck= $1.26

I hauled a total of 26 loads. which makes my average length of haul 1,401.8 miles.

I had hauled some loads with disgust because it didn't pay very good. But sometimes it is better to move the truck to get into a better freight area then it is to sit a week screaming "I ain't hauling that cheap stuff". I have also hauled loads for close to $3.00 a mile because other driver's just refuse to go to certain areas... I won't mention those areas, but I will say the initials are NYC! If I omitted my empty miles, I would say that my revenue per mile would be up there around $1.50 or $1.60.