Mesilla Valley Express

JC1971 · Oct 14, 2020

Dockbumper said: ↑

I've been yelled at for not leaving the El Paso yard with only 28 minutes of drive time left.
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"F U. I quit"

Long Haul Lumper Fee · Feb 11, 2023

Enzo_Guy said: ↑

I worked for them for a while so I can help here. Everything is based on your fuel mileage here.

Pay:
OTR pay was 38cpm base when I left last year. They pay sliding scale fuel bonuses that also require a certain number of miles driven per month to get. I think the mileage was either 11k or 12k for solo when I left, it's a lot but doable. The way the fuel bonuses work is if you hit like 8mpg you get 2cpm, 8.5mpg you get like 4cpm, etc. They have some of the most fuel efficient trucks on the road, so 8mpg or better is completely realistic in these trucks.
They also offer several dedicated triangle lanes. The pay for these can vary by lane, some upwards of 45cpm. Just keep in mind that the more the lane pays, the less likely you are to see a fuel bonus so in the end it all sort of evens out to around 42-45cpm for their company guys.
They have a very generous per diem package. About 1/3 or so of your pay will be tax-free and they don't take a cut off the top as a service fee like a lot of mega carriers. This can really add up. 2400 miles on a dedicated lane with them can look like 3000+ miles with other companies with how their per diem and fuel bonus structure works.

Speed:
Again, based on fuel mileage. The minimum is 63mph and it step increases to 65mph and 68mph if you can get near 9mpg. They have a setting for 70mph but I never met anyone who got to that. I know that sounds crazy but 9mpg can be done with those trucks. I recovered a couple where the last guy had been getting good enough fuel mileage to have the truck doing 68mph.

Operating area:
They run 48 states and they get quite a few central and western Canada runs too. I heard about quite a few Alberta and Ontario runs, never saw a Quebec run but I never went to Canada at all. They generally stay off the east coast, I'd say their main operating area is going to be between I-15 and I-65 and south of I-80 (although a lot of the western OTR guys did end up in Montana).
Their dedicated lanes are GRAVY MONEY of you live in the right place. Here are a few I know of.
Laredo-Denver-El Paso- Laredo (sometimes stops in Dallas, Albuquerque, and Cheyenne)
El Paso-Dallas-Denver-El Paso
Houston-Atlanta-Dallas-Houstom
El-Paso-Los Angeles-Salt Lake City-Denver-El Paso (goes down 80 not 70)
They also have several more out of Nashville but I only really know the Texas lanes. Pretty much all of their dedicated lanes go through Laredo, El Paso, or Nashville.

Trucks:
Whew boy! We get hella hit or miss here. Get ready some whacky equipment! For starters, all of their trucks have only one driven axle (yeah the rear tandem axle is just a dead tag axle on the tractor) and they run super singles. You will have so much fun in the snow hahaha!
Now for the fun part! They're always experimenting with new gadgets so you can get all kinds of crazy equipment combinations, especially if you get an early series truck. They have a mix of several APU brands, some just idle with no APU (avoid these because fuel bonus), just be ready for anything here. I once had an early series truck that had a solar-powered APU of a different brand and disc brakes on all axles. Their trucks are the biggest grab bag I've ever seen, but it's actually kind of funny comparing whatever nonsense your truck has with other drivers.

Company:
They're former outlaw and they still kinda operate that way. They'll push you. I've been yelled at for not leaving the El Paso yard with only 28 minutes of drive time left. I've also been yelled at for "refusing a preplan" when the shop put my truck out of service due to a shattered brake pad (yes shattered into pieces). You might think there's more to the story but there isn't, I gave them a heads up in writing and the planned me the next day before the truck was fixed then yelled at me. I had to get safety involved and nearly had to call the state troopers to place it out of service. A week later they were still telling me I refused a preplan and now I was going to get crap loads for a few weeks.
Their benefits suck. Their health insurance is either a very high deductible or very expensive, double or triple what I've seen at other companies. Also you know how you're supposed to be legally paid for any accrued vacation you didn't take when you leave? Good luck with that, they just flat out refused and told me they knew I wouldn't hire a lawyer to fight them so shove it.
You will get paid well, but be ready to put up with a lot of infuriating BS. And this is coming from a guy who spent a year and a half at PAM and didn't think it was entirely terrible, so I got a pretty high tolerance for BS.

I don't know if I can recommend them or not. You just have to figure out if you can put up with them for the money they pay. You will get the money and the miles. There are days I miss those $1200+ after taxes checks pretty much every week.
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That El Paso-LA-SLC-Denver route seems great until u realize ur kinda F'ed taking the 70/80 due to constant hw closures and crazy weather. Only great in the summer/fall months

Enzo_Guy · Feb 11, 2023

Long Haul Lumper Fee said: ↑

That El Paso-LA-SLC-Denver route seems great until u realize ur kinda F'ed taking the 70/80 due to constant hw closures and crazy weather. Only great in the summer/fall months
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I think they require those guys to take 80 every time. The company says they don't allow 70 for anyone, but I got routed on it once with MVT for a beer load to Farmington.

Long Haul Lumper Fee · Feb 11, 2023

Yeah but still the 80 between SLC and cheyenne is always 50/50 with weather

Enzo_Guy · Feb 11, 2023

Long Haul Lumper Fee said: ↑

Yeah but still the 80 between SLC and cheyenne is always 50/50 with weather
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The guys I knew on that lane all seemed to like it. They got paid enough they didn't mind getting shut down once in a while, or so they said 5 years ago when I was with that company.

RubyEagle · Feb 11, 2023

Picked up a power only load.once and they have the pass through shop you get a free inspection when you come in and leave IIRC. Oh and and some of the ladies in the office are absolutely stunningly gorgeous

MM71 · Feb 11, 2023

Back in the day they used to host giveaways for best fuel mileage. Got drivers filling up out of their own pockets to win a motorcycle. .... Thats some serious devious greed.

Enzo_Guy · Feb 11, 2023

RubyEagle said: ↑

Picked up a power only load.once and they have the pass through shop you get a free inspection when you come in and leave IIRC. Oh and and some of the ladies in the office are absolutely stunningly gorgeous
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I think the power only guys can grab their cheap bulk fuel and DEF at the El Paso terminal as well. There's also a little grill inside, most of the food was mediocre but the Mexican breakfast items were pretty good (I live in Laredo so my standards are high haha).

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