I'm leased to Mercer, the story I was told was that they got rid of the problem drivers. Problems with customers, logs, safety and being late etc etc etc.................
I also heard they are not done with the cuts, but that could just be gossip............

 

I have a friend of mine who is leased to Mercer and he told me the same thing, Pony Express.

 

Is TRL still around anymore?? i NEVER see any of there trucks anymore.......

 

Are you talking about, The Real Leader TRL? I've seen them recently. Last year sometime. If I remember right, the name was multi-colored.

 

TRL the reefer outfit out of the Scranton Pa area was taken over by Prime a few years ago.

 

They went out and liquidated most of their equipment. Sold accounts to Prime. *****canned mass amounts off drivers. My old trailer was a TRL trailer bought for $3000. This happened in February last year.

 

At the drivers meeting last Wed,Dale said all the layoffs were over for now. If more are needed it would be on a luck of the draw from a hat. The ones that were cut were probelem drivers, ones that were looking for a change anyway,drivers that dont want to drive much,etc. Mercer is a for profit co. If u arnt making money for the co,why keep a person.

 

There are some problems with the logic in what is being said here as far as the reasons given for letting someone go first is if you are not always keeping your eyes open for a better business oppertunity then the one you have now i.e. "looking for a change" you have not got a very good business plan and that is not something that would make a person a "problem driver" but, more of a shrewd business man looking out for his well being.Second the "drivers that don't want to drive much" how do they determin this in times like we have now??IMO that sounds like it would be impossible and here's why,take a load that goes to the West coast where you know there are already a huge number of trucks waiting on the few boards we have and you are now there for several weeks without so much as one load offering does this make you someone that doesn't want to work???Now after you are there all this time you finally start to get load offerings with a rate so low you couldn't get anywhere close to your break even point going to a place you know will deadhead hundreds and hundres of miles to reload once again does this make for a bad driver that doesn't want to drive much???If this guy or gal gets many loads offered to them that will not cover thier costs and they keep turning down freight that will not make them a profit are they a problem??That is the way they are looked at because you see it doesn't matter to all the others above them if they make a profit it matters to them that they haul the load that way they still get thier same percentage from it even though thier cost of doing business has not been affected at all like ours has in this economy.If we are asked to haul for a cheaper rater they (those not owning the truck) should be told they are now going to get less of a percentage of the load and if they don't like it they really are not team players and should be let go.You see none of that is going to happen.
You see I am a for profit company and Mercer comes second.You would think if I am profitable Mercer would have nothing to worry about but,in the real world that has not been the business practice of late.I have been told that things were in the works to change things here and my fingers have been crossed that I will start to see some of these changes and as of now other then the freeze on recrutment and getting rid of some that should have never been hired I have not seen much to brag about.I do want to have a career here but, it is being made very tough when I do everything I can to hold on by staying out for extended times from home and the bills still can't be covered because of the amount of sitting + deadheading + the pittiful rates makes for a sinking ship.Now am I one of those drivers you speak of because I worry about my interests more than I do Mercers??My safety record is spottless,never a problem with any customer,always get the load there on time,way over 2 million miles with no tickets or accidents ever.I have been home once for two days in the middle of Feb. since the last week of November,I was not home for the holidays for the first time in my life, in fact my children went without a Christmas this all together because the money was just not there.I get really flustered when I read a sentence like the last one in the above statement and I just don't get it why is it we are the ones being told we should make someone els more money when we are a huge important link in the chain at least I believe more important then the agents that have way less overhead then we do.Most of them could do what they do from a spare room in thier homes and they are told they will not have to compete with anyone els while we have our whole life savings (sometimes that's what it feels like) invested in all kinds of equipment that needs to be constantly maintained and when we say we can't haul a load for that kind of rate there is another less businees savy contractor right there that will no matter how much it cost him.That has made him my compitition not co-worker yet he just made Mercer money now that's what is called a company man right there and untill the repo man catches up with him he will be making the company a profit and that seems to be IMO all to a fimiliar story not just here but a big problem here.I do believe Mercer is a way better place to be then most companies and that's why it should be way harder to get hired on here and some have slipped through the cracks but for the most part there are a lot of good people here it's just like anything els in life those bad ones really stick out in your mind and lets hope we can get rid of them and have some of the good hands we have lost come back.
I'm going to try to keep hanging on but,I don't know how many more zeros I can keep putting in my log book before I jump that fence to where there are a lot more folks looking for freight to be hauled than we have.

 

Talk about hard to read.

 

Mercer like any co is out to make money. Thay wont let someone go if that person is making a profit for the co and not causing DOT to look at them(mercer) Chasing the dollar doesnt always work. Steady work and profit works the best IMHO.