Mercer

Look out driver...

 

sent it to ya......

lol Monkey man...funny ...I am tired did the show....did about 5 haircuts heck they meet meat the back door when they see me roll in....lol

I love my mercer friends I always have a good time......the show is over and I am tired and sore...goona be fun crawlin over them coils tomorrow......sigh.....

 

A couple days ago, my coordinator Eric called me to tell me he found a load for Friday (ie, yesterday). 600 miles and a little over $1000. It's a little short for the weekend, but I was scheduled to unload on Friday morning so the chance of getting anything better getting in line on the board was pretty slim and the load is going to a good area. So I said go ahead and grab it for me.

I dropped off a pair of giant steel tooling dies in Wattsburg, PA and head on over to Weirton, WV where pickup is. Found the shipper. I went in from the wrong gate and drove all way around the building. None of the doors is open, it's awefully quiet and not a single car parked. Not a good sign.

I locate a trailer with "shipping" written on it. I see a note on the door that says they are closed on April 2, 2010, in observance of Good Friday. It was just before 1:00 PM, so I knew Eric was on lunch break. I called the main line and talked to another coordinator. He connects me to Youngstown agent. I explained him what's going on and told him the shipper is closed. He said he'd check with the agent babe who booked the load, and call me back.

30 minutes pass by, and still no call. By then Eric is back, so I called him to see if he heard anything from Youngstown. I tell him what's going on, and he tries to contact the agent, only to find out they are all gone for the weekend. Whisky, Tango, Foxtrot!!!???? Who the furk do they think they are, union workers!? Sheet happens, and I wasn't gonna yell at them. It would have been nice if they called me back and at least pretend to look for another load for me. It was extremely unprofessional on their part.

People in Louisville treat me pretty good, but I don't know about some of those agents. Just last week, an agent lady in Buffalo refused to get me detention when I had to wait 5 hours to get loaded. I'll be driving away next time that happens.

Eric found a cheaper, shorter, heavier load about 20 miles away so I took it. He says he'll try to get me some kind of compensation for Youngstown's fock up. Honestly, I don't need it (though I certainly wouldn't refuse it if he manages to get some money). As I said above, sheet happens. I'm pissed at lack of ethics in people more than anything else.

And this concludes my rant of the day. You all have a good Easter weekend!

 

sorry Katz....getting detention is hard cause so manny carriers promise to get screwed and not complain about it....sigh....and as for TONU well we had that load canceled 5 miles from being there and we had been dispatched on if 4 days prior.....couldn't get it because the customer would go to another carrier if we try to get it...... and why did it get cancelled?! well we all know why someone else said hey we haul for less than peanuts.....

 

I had that happen a few times when I was with them. Agree to the terms, get assigned the load then the phone call. If I still want it we were underbid. If you still want it you will need to take a pay cut??? How about you take the cut instead of me???

 

exactely what I think

 

The load wasn't cancelled per se. The agent babe who booked the load apparently didn't know the place was closed yesterday for Good Friday.

And to be honest, I didn't know what Good Friday was until yesterday. I'm not really a religious person - I'm sorta Christian-leaning agnostic, if that makes sense.

As far as larger carriers and some mathematically-challenged O/Os under cutting everybody else, there's gotta be a point where they cannot cut rates any lower (ie, break even point). I hope we're getting close to that point, and some of them will eliminate themselves from the industry in the process of getting there.

Then once Obama regime is taken down in Nov 2012, we shall prosper again. Well, maybe. I'll keep on dreaming LOL.

Later on (or maybe tomorrow), I'll post numbers from March. Looking back, Feb was disasterous, and I did much better last month.

 

I was going to borrow Redd's format for reporting, but I'll keep it a little simpler out of my laziness.

I went home at the end of Feb, and didn't come back on the road until March 8th doing various repairs. I'd like to think it paid off, as the truck has been pretty reliable and getting decent fuel mpg.

The following is the list of all loads I hauled between March 8th and 31st. I don't have copies of settlements for the first 3 loads, so the actual revenue may vary by $10, give or take. All miles include deadheading and mistakes from when I took a wrong turn or two, and GTT means Gross to truck.

- Selma, CA to Kennewick, WA
Hub miles: 1052, GTT: $1420-ish

A load of irrigation tanks and pumps. No tarp, but lots of straps. I was anxious to get back to work, and I kinda jumped on this one without thinking. The shipper was 45 miles from home, but had to DH long ways to the next load.

- Blaine, WA to Seattle, WA
Hub miles: 468, GTT: $565-ish

A bunch of steel structures. No tarp. Short run, long DH. Fortunately it paid well (otherwise I'd have waited for something else).

- Ft. Lewis, WA to Annville, PA
Hub miles: 2975, GTT: $4165-ish

This was a 10-foot wide oversize load - it was a set of loading ramps for Strykers and other military vehicles. It was light at 12000 lbs. I had communication problems with Mercer's OD permit babe, and it delayed me by a day. Had to shell out total of $185 for permit & tolls (EDIT this was in addition to permits the aforementioned permit lady faxed me), but they are supposed to be reimbursed. Again, don't have a copy of my settlement so I'll find out when I go home the next time.

- Camden, NJ to Horseheads, NY
Hub miles: 434, GTT: $723.66

A load of 40' pipes. No tarp. I dropped this on on Friday. I sat at a truck stop in Buffalo until Monday. Tolls were expensive - almost $30 for NJ bridge and $34-ish for I-476. Should have taken a detour to avoid NJ bridge.

- Niagara Falls, NY to Monroe, MI
Hub miles: 524, GTT: $562.88

A load of palletized bags of sand or something. This was one of those sacrificial loads going to better area. Cheap, heavy, and had to use 3 tarps (one 4' drop and two 8' drop tarps). Consignee made me drive through scrap yard while a magnetic crane was pickin up metal scraps. I won't be doing this again.

- River Rouge, MI to Nashville, TN, extra pickup in Toledo, OH
Hub miles: 599, GTT: $848.69

Some steel plates. One 4' drop and one 8' drop tarps. Note that I only have one 4' drop tarp, and other 2 are 8-footers. All loads listed could have been covered with 4-footers.

- Dyersburg, TN to Waverly, NY
Hub miles: 1162, GTT: $ 1667.34

Palletized bags of sand. One 4' drop and one 8' drop tarps. Heavy, and lots of hills through I-71 in KY and I-86 in NY. But miraculously the truck still managed 5.93 mpg.

- Buffalo, NY to Grand Rapids, MI, extra drops in Batesville, IN & Hickory Hills, IL
Hub miles: 1171, GTT: $1440.50

A load of brass coils and sheet. One 4' drop and one 8' drop tarps. Had to wait 5 hours to get loaded (an unionized factory) and the agent didn't give me detention. Grrr!! But at least it was Friday afternoon and I wasn't particularly in hurry. Took it easy going to Batesville, and did a 34-hr reset on Sunday. Stuck for 3 hours behind a 3-truck wreck on I-65 on Monday. I barely made it to the 2nd drop before they close. I sat around all day in Grand Rapids after dropping the last piece on Tuesday morning.

- White Cloud, MI to Ghent, KY
Hub miles: 560, GTT: $662.53

A load of fire bricks. One 4-foot drop tarp (finally a moment of break from dreaded 8-footers). I arrived in Ghent on 3/31, and delivered the next morning.



So in summary...

Total days out.... 24 days
Total miles..........8945 including DH, personal use, mistakes, etc.
Total GTT.............$12055.60
Ave. $ per mile....$1.3477, including FSC.

When I left home, I had about 3/8 of tanks on the fuel gauge (about 60 gallons, I think). So I can only guess how much fuel I used. I filled up tanks in Seymour, IN on 3/31. During this time frame, total fuel purchased was 1574.879 gallons, at cost of $4331.04. It would have been about 135 gallons less if I were to fill up to the fuel level I started out with. EDIT what a dumb arse! Ghent, KY was 107 miles from Seymour, so figure I used another 18 gallons or so. The earliest true fill up since 3/08 was at Love's in Ontario, OR en route Annville, PA. The truck averaged 6.08 mpg upon filling up in Seymour, IN since Ontario, OR.

So my gross revenue after fuel is $7724.56, approximately $320 ([135 - 18 gallons] x $2.75) more if you go by the actual amount of fuel used. Then there's deduction for apportion plate, escrow, etc.

 

Great info! Thanks Katz! I'm getting ready to get my own authority and pull a step. Be safe out there!

 

You're welcome. And good luck to you. Eventually I'd like to go on my own, but for the moment, I'm quite content at Mercer.