Why do some Fail @ Mercer

Ahh... well, that's probably a good thing...especially if we're in a does cycle like it appears. And I'm not a basher, but I do know that a lot of people will jump without looking. It winds up hurting everyone.

Carry on... I'm just nosing through

 

Yeah,all flatbed freight pays decent at Mercer,it is the van division that is badwhile the FB makes anywhere from 1.50 up,plenty of freight,the van is as low as .75 cpm plenty of frt at that rate...in any case is not Mercer s fault,the market is what the market is,I d avice van drvrs to switch to FB or else they will starve,Mercer s part on this is their false advertising,their pitch to me was loads to Ca as high as 3.00 a mile,the reality is nowhere even remotely close.

 

I've seen loads paying that going to cali. Don't see them every day like a couple years ago, but often enough. Almost often enough to tempt me into buying a carb compliant new truck. Almost.

 

You guys here are so right,I only wish I had read all your posts b4 I signed on,I am not a flatbedder,the van frt pays very little,no matter where one goes,I am open to go anywhere,I may get a load up to Ma or NY,getting out of there is difficult bc I just won t haul a load that pays less than 1.20,I guess I am in what you call the learning curve,my coordinator is always busy,so there really is no one to ask,I took a load from Oh to Fl after waiting 3 days in Mi,a Dollar Gral load which is eating my day as we speak,is Fri and is Fl...there isn t anything within 350 mls that pays any more than 1.20, those that do are 200 ldd mls at 1.50 or so..
I truly,truly wish I had read your comments before I signed on,I came from a mega carrier 1.10 pm loaded or mty,no trailer payment or maint to speak of,& it looks mighty good right now.
My recruiter at Mercer said I d be making an avge of 1.71 per mile..my highest paying load was 1.92 pm Fl to NY...but then there was 3 days wait up in NY...finally got out with a 1.27 pm.
As I am typing this,I am not throwing shade on you or Mercer,all I am saying : prospective Mercer contractors DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!!! and do it well,it is very tough,van freight does not pay even close to flats, and I am thinking flat 's frt is what my recruiter had in mind when he said an avge 1.71 per mile,I can believe that.come to think of,this FL load was a trap load,as you call it but I had already waited 3 day in Mi,my coordinator said it was fine,so here I am...sadly it looks like another lost weekend,it s 740 mls to Louisvlle,if I had another job lined up for Monday,I d pay for the fuel and go drop off their trailer...bc of my ignorance,sugar coated reality and high expectations I find myself in this situation.

 

You talk about the reason I came to Mercer,I wanted more independence and a bigger piece of the pie,but I ve found none of the two...so pardon my ignorance.. hiw much money and time would it take to get one's own authority? And would it be profitable to haul for a carrier's brokering side vs a load broker such as Mercer or CH Robinson? I ve noticed that in some Mercer freight two slices of the pie were already taken by the time it gets to us,that s why I asked you that..thanks.

 

Have you asked for a different coordinator? Its none of my business and I have no direct knowledge of Mercer. I only know what I have read here. But, if your coordinator is too busy to help a contractor who is obviously struggling, you need a change. Even if the coordinator is a great person and doing everything that they know how to do...maybe a different coordinator can be of more help.

Sometimes its just the chemistry between two people. If I were in your shoes, I would probably try to get back to L'ville but it would be to sit down and have a frank discussion with people in the office. Let them know where your problems are. Let them know you need help, serious help and quickly. A lot of times they don't really understand just how desperate the situation is until you lay it out in front of them in a factual and direct manner. Be nice, be respectful...but be direct and factual as well.

Its always worth a try as a last resort, especially if you feel the company is honest and you really want it to work.

 

you had better go back to your mega.. Cause your gonna lose your shirt on the van side. Trust me I left a mega and came to Mercer.. Stayed only 6months... The wait to get on the flat bed side was extremely long and I was losing my arse..I went back to the company I left and couldn't be happier.. And I'm home more

 

Honestly, you have made a few comments showing your ignorance of the trucking markets. this is not an insult, the weird ignorant means lack of knowledge. The reason I say this is because you went to Florida and new York and are surprised at the low freight availability and the cheap rates coming out. the only tie anyone ever gets a good rate from there is almost poor luck. Right place right time type of thing. you just don't go to those areas unless the front hall pays enough to absorb the cheap back haul. or better yet, you can bounce empty to your next good load.

The good news? We all made the same mistakes. none of us were born with knowledge of freight lanes. Some of us survived long enough to learn the lanes, some of us didn't.

The big question is, can you adapt and learn freight lanes now that you're not with a mileage pay carrier? Only you can answer that. Just need to make a truly honest escalation of your abilities and talents. if the answer is no, then the sooner you go back to a mileage carrier the better off you will be. if the answer is yes, then you need to ask yourself do you have the fiendish resources to survive the learning curve. if yes, stick it out and test each mistake that cost you money as nothing but stupid tax and hope your stupid tax is not as high as mine was.

As for your question about authority. It's not much. 300 for the authority, plates, insurance, ucr, ky number, drug testing, etc. 5k to 7k depending on how good an insurance rate you get. Plus operating money. How much operating money depends on how much risk you are willing to take on if the truck breakdown. If you gaff to factor and rake quick pay options, that's giving up enough of your slim profit margin you should of stated lease. And the process takes about 45 days. The fmcsa is moving slow these days on approving new entrants.
And the basket sicks right now. For every one. Every where. but the spot market ifs feeling it worst. The spot market adjusts gets hit the worst when the economy goes in a downturn.

Next topic: our recruiters don't lie. They either were bad at communicating to you, or you misunderstood. Our management team is very clear to the recruiters on this, they don't want to mislead people cause all that happens is they got to pay me to go get a trailer back. if a guy quits after just a couple months they literally lost money hiring him. this is why our recruiters are paid flat salary, not by how many seats they fill in orientation.

My advice to you is see if cj will put you in contact with his friends on the van side and ask them for help. Don't let pride over ride common sense. Nothing shameful about asking for help, every single one of us here has need help in the past.

 

They got that new mentor program also.

 

After doing homework compare to other carriers we have it made lol, which ain't saying a lot but I'm not going anywhere.