Mercer

Hey thanks Redd. Are you back on the road?

I might end up going through Louisville. I'm on my way to Bristol, VA. I'm doing LTL again.

It's cool Mercer covered half the cost of re-stacking.

Try looking through this whole thread. Redd posted some of his numbers, and you'll see my number from this past March as well.

Redd is correct our revenues are never constant. Gotta save some money when times are good.

 

Hay ya'll, I was thumbing through the old posts and seen that fella doing his "I am slightly less than pleased with Mercer" video. Wow!! I could see him walkin in the office dressed in camo with a bag full of high powered this and that. I watched several of them and .............. Wow!

 

He wasn't at Mercer long. 6 months at the max. Some people are just in the mindset that the world has to revolve around them. Can you hear that man talking that way to his customer's? Cause technically each & every one of us are independent & Mercer is our customer!

 

I'm getting ready to leave the motel here is a minute to head back over the the dealership. I went in originally for a coolant leak & got that fixed. Then I had them replace a leaky seal in my power divider. And since I was there, I told them to go ahead & run a overhead since I didn't know when it was last ran... They found that I have a cam that has gone flat... They are working on that today & I'm sure the warranty will pick up the $3000.00 price tag for that.

 

Hows Ya doin out there Katz? I rather enjoy your earlier posts. Kinda gives me a little insight as for what I can expect. Did I understand that you bought a T600 that belonged to Melton?

 

Doing OK here, actually pretty good money-wise. A bit getting tired (read: the hot weather is making me thirsty for beer and margarita) - I've been out 6 weeks going on 7.

I had dinner with Redd last week, and we almost got talking about LTL I've been doing, but we kept getting distracted by some fine-looking ladies walking by. So I'll post hard numbers/my thoughts/etc here as others could benefit from the info. Give me a couple hours or so.

And you're correct I bought an ex-Melton T600. Other than lack of power (435hp), it's been a good truck so far.

 

Wimp!!!

Aww Man! That waitress could have hit me with a sexual harassment charge!!

 

Well, what can I say. My body needs healthy dose of nourishment (booze) every few weeks. Helps maintaining my sanity too.

Yeah, no sheet LOL.

 

What can I say? I prefer a good looking waitress to be nude when she takes my order!!!

 

So I'm on the final leg of this LTL cross country tour - final drop off at BP refinery in Blaine, WA tomorrow morning, and my trailer will be empty for the first time in 3 weeks. The following is the list of loads I hauled (and cancelled loads, shown in blue heading) since July 1. GTT means Gross to truck.

- Fresno, CA to Somewhere, NJ
GTT: was supposed to be $2,600-ish

Got cancelled while I was still sitting in Madera, CA. As a result, DH increased to 300 miles from 15.


- Sierra AD, CA to Ft. Drum, NY (PU: 7/2, Del: 7/9)
GTT: $3,581.36

A body shell of MaxxPro. 11,000 lbs and 16-ft long. It had a hole on the side courtesy of an IED. As such, it was considered a sensitive material so it had to be fully tarped. Needed a pair of 8-ft drops and a bunch of furniture pads. Still poked some holes. Grrrr.


- Sacramento, CA to El Paso, TX
GTT: forgot how much it was supposed to pay

Eric originally got this to replace the load out of Fresno. It got cancelled after I got held up at Sierra AD for few hours and Stockton agent determined I wouldn't make it (it was Friday before the Independence day holiday weekend, so that didn't help). I had to check in my cell phone at the gate so I couldn't contact anybody. I had no idea I had a load out of Carson City lined up, and I knew I wasn't going to make Sacramento P/U, so I was taking my time, helped the other Mercer contractor tarp his load, etc.


- Carson City, NV to Somewhere in MT
GTT: was supposed to be $1,600-ish

The shipper, after giving load confirmation to Stockton agent, gave it to another carrier. I found that out when I got to the shipper and the forklift guy couldn't find the load in their warehouse. Obviously I didn't get paid for it.


- Madison, SD to Shelocta, PA (PU: 7/6, Del: 7/8 )
GTT: $933.10

3 rolls (about 3-ft diameter, 8-ft wide) of plastic sheet. A little over 10,000 lbs, and took up about 10 feet of the deck. One 4-ft drop tarp. The shipper said it just needed to be covered on top with a smoke tarp, but I didn't have one.

After I picked this up, I sat at a nearby truck stop for a few hours while Eric checked to see if there's any other LTL in the area. No luck, and I drove to Morris, IL.

There, I sat again the following day until noon-ish. I ran out of patience, and I started driving. Just as I was crossing IN/OH state line, Eric called. There was a load out of Hammond, IN going to Long Island. Quick calculation said it'd be worth turning back.


- Hammond, IN to Hauppauge, NY (PU: 7/7, Del: 7/12)
GTT: $1,815.11

3 bundles of 3/8"-diameter steel rods, 14-ft long, 10,250 lbs. Tarp, obviously.


The trailer was almost full at this point and I wanted to unload the MaxxPro on Friday, so I hauled hiney. Delivered plastic rolls at a mine in Shelocta, PA. Then Eric called to see if I'd be interested in going back west with another round of LTLs.

At that point, I was honestly disgusted with lots of "hurry up & wait", cancelled loads, and late-night driving day after day. But I figured I'd give it a shot one more time.

I dropped off the MaxxPro at Ft. Drum the next morning, and headed back south to pick up the first of the return loads.


- Hazelton, PA to Pocatello, ID (PU: 7/9, Del: 7/19)
GTT: $1,920-ish (not sure on this exact number - it's already off my "dispatch" list on the internet, and I haven't received the settlement yet)

Some kind of a centrifugal pump with a long bellmouth extention. 14-ft long # 2960 lbs. One 4-ft drop tarp.

This was Friday, and after I picked this up, I shut down at TA in Columbia, NJ. I probably slept 15 hours or so on Saturday. I was worn out.

Monday morning, I headed down to Long Island. GW Bridge was backed up due to a wreck from the night before, so I took NJ-17 to I-87 as per other drivers' suggestion, and delivered the steel rods.


- Norfolk, VA to I have no idea where it was supposed to go
GTT: forgot how much it was supposed to pay

It got cancelled after I started heading south on I-95. Then I got a load out of Bristol. Would have been an easy drive on I-81, but instead, I wasted money on toll and had a pleasure of dealing with traffic in DC. Ba$tard!


- Bristol, VA to Seattle, WA, drop off in Walla Walla, WA (PU: 7/13, Del: 7/20)
GTT: $3,389.55

A pair of transformers. One's 2700 lbs and the other's 3600 lbs, taking up about 17 feet total. Just 4 straps and good to go.

Eric and I discussed whether I should hang around in the area for a while. I ended up going and shut down in Louisville, but the next morning, a load of steel showed up in Pittsburgh for $2200. Crap. But too late.

Spent half a day in Louisville. No additional load, so I drove a little and shut down in Kingdom City, MO. Wasted almost a full day there, then Eric called around 16:00 EST with a load out of Tulsa, going to Rock Springs, WY for $1100. He wasn't sure if the load was good or not at this point. 17:00 rolls around, Eric went home and the agent called. Still not sure if the load was good - apparently it had to be X-ray tested for whatever reason and they weren't going to test it until the following morning. I decided to take a chance and headed over to Tulsa.

Next morning, another load popped up on the board. Going to Blaine, WA for $2300, no tarp, and it only weighed 1900 lbs.


- Tulsa, OK to Rock Springs, WY
GTT: was supposed to be $1,100-ish

Eric managed to get me off this load and I got Blaine load instead.


- Tulsa, OK to Blaine, WA (PU: 7/16, Del: 7/21)
GTT: $ 2,435.10

4 pallets of cast steel/iron parts. 1900 lbs, taking up about 13 feet. Customer or agent decided the load should be tarped, so they added $100. One 4-ft drop tarp.

Only 5 feet left on the deck (I had the pump loaded on front with 1-ft overhang), which is basically useless. Gross revenue on the return run was already over $7700, so I decided it was good enough and got going.

Squeezed in a reset at Flying hook just south of Pocatello on Sunday, spent last night at Wild Horse casino at the bottom of Cabbage, delivered the transformers today and here I sit in Blaine, WA.


So in summary...

Total # of days....21 days (counting tomorrow)
Total miles..........8536 including the initial DH from Madera, CA, going to Carson City, turning back from IN/OH state line, et al.
Total GTT.............$14,074-ish
Ave. $ per mile....$1.6488, including FSC.

Total fuel purchased was $3,887.73 during this time frame. I think I had about 1/4 tank left when I left Madera, and right now, I have a little over half tank left.