Brian - I’m 75 and trying to research info on various work ideas. And BTW, I’m a legal consultant in “HORSE LAW & Related activities,” so, I continue to be impressed with your use of English, (no small item there) and your ability to speak with simple speech preparation, honesty and why you do what you do. It’s also great to see other drivers who have the same talents to. Best to you, and I’ll try and comment more later this week,! Dave in Phoenix Arizona.
Thanks for posting with such detail, I am researching to see which O/O company to sign on to and hearing real world helps greatly. Will be able to make the move by May and Mercer just sounds like the right fit for me. Keep the content coming.
That's a very very good fuel discount. Maybe better than landstar. The access to the amazon ups Fedex loads durning winter is advantageous. As a hotshot I can hook those loads. But I can grab the flat loads that y'all miss while hooked to a dry van. Lol
Step loads typically pay more, I just felt like there’s more flat freight at Mercer. Also, you need 6 months open deck verifiable experience which I didn’t have when I came to Mercer so I just stuck with flat afterwards.
Driven Trucking I’m currently with Prime inc we use step and flats we switch trailers often but I noticed that I use flats more than steps. But we’re not doing heavy haul or over size. When a driver pull a step at Merser are you mainly basically pulling heavy and oversized freight ? I’m assuming the freight at merser for step must be exclusively specialized since you need experience
I’m not sure of the reasoning about the experience needed. If I had to speculate, I’d say it would be more machinery going on the step which would be more expensive freight typically but I really don’t know. There is certainly more flat freight though. I haven’t really paid close enough attention to say if the step freight is more OD or just requires more height to say one way or the other.
Could you explain fuel surcharge? I’ve read up some but maybe you could put it in a nutshell for me. You said it’s upper 30s now? Upper of what? ??? Thanks!
The fuel surcharge is an amount calculated by some organization in the trucking industry. What it is, is a cents per mile charge to the shipper to help with rising fuel costs. I was incorrect when I said upper 30s, on my last trip it was $.31 per mile. My paid miles for the trip was 854 so if you multiply 854 times $.31 you get $264.74. Mercer does not take a cut of that, I received 100% of the $264.74. I believe it is calculated at an average of 6 miles per gallon, I don’t know that for a fact but I read that somewhere. So therefore it is beneficial to have a truck that gets over 6 miles per gallon because the higher that number is, the less you pay for fuel. Does that make sense?
Ok. One more question then. So when you look at your load board and you see 1000 mile run for $2000, the fuel surcharge is not in that? so you get that on top of mileage pay?
John W our load board is pretty nice, it was actually include everything when I see the total gross for the load. It’ll include linehaul, fuel surcharge, and any accessorial pay i.e. tarp pay or anything along those lines. Technically it’s added on top of the linehaul but we just see the whole package.
Back when I was there I didn’t feel like they had enough freight nor good rates. The people I know left Mercer that was doing dry van. That being said there are plenty of people there that have been there a while 🤷🏼♂️ personally I recommend Landstar for dry van.
I own the equipment and the trailer is technically a lease through Mercer. If you get a brand new one from them, which is typical, it’s $550 for 60 months. If you finish all 60, the trailer is all yours. Thanks Scott
Wow man....the company I work for has an internet ad for contractors at the moment....Make up to $240 annually....100% sucharge + stop pay included. BUT, that figure is based on 12,000 miles per month, 100% surcharge + stop pay included in my division or terminal (retail reefer delivery). I wanted to find out more, but they won't let me convert? Am I that good of a driver that I should be retained as company? YES. My CSA score speaks for itself I guess. Does Mercer require hazmat? Thanks.
Keauyon Fields it’s hard to say because of deductions and stuff but that’s roughly what my cpa predicted with las years quarter. One thing’s for sure, Uncle Sam will get his lol
H Kloss no clue 😂😂😂 it’s my first full year and I haven’t added it up yet. Also, I use a cpa so I don’t think about write offs. My truck being as old as she is I get enough with maintenance 😂
I just ran across your video and thanks for Some very valid info! So you already had your own trailer and equipment? And I'm guessing you can get equipment, chains, strap, tarps,etc. through Mercer? I know Super Truck Dan bought his trailer through Mercer. I've got you locked in and I'll be checking out your videos. Stay safe👍
Very cool, thanks a lot 👍🏻 I did not have my own equipment nor the trailer. The trailer and majority of equipment were purchased through Mercer. The rest of the equipment was mostly purchased through amazon because I found better pricing.
Okay you spoke of a very high week of about 8,000 I'm figuring the rates have tightened up a little bit here lately and let's say you average about 5,000 if your me anyway coming into the business per week so mine is my fuel minus my insurance minus my maintenance and put a little bit of emergency money aside also I want to take home about $1,500 a week the rest goes into those categories for truck payment fuel maintenance tire maintenance and emergencies I want to do 53-foot box I got to get through this year on me and my tax guy but I am looking at Mercer as one of my top choices of people to work for for all of the reasons I live in Omaha Nebraska area I have family back home and Carolina where I was born and some other people in Buffalo New York Detroit and Denver as well as Phoenix what do you think 25 years of experience no issues
8k was my highest and rare week. The rates have definitely tightened up as well as availability. I do think 5k can be averaged weekly BUT I would say figure the average at 16k a month gross ( 4 weekly with a few days off ) if that fits what you need I’d say ZERO issues. Shoot me an email so we can talk more candidly. Driventrucking@yahoo.com
Just started watching your vlogs. Great information and so far very good videos. What would you say is your average time out on the road before you come home for a reset? Also are you aquatinted with super trucker Dan, also at Mercer. Have a great day and stay safe out there.
ha whats up.do you know anything about the dry van side of mercer my brother worked for mercer in the late 1990 did well ok brother be safe like the videos also
Honestly I don’t know enough about it to give you any information. Anything I’ve heard has been hearsay and not from any trusted sources. I don’t want to give you any incorrect information. My apologies.
What about good and bad areas? What type of flatbed do y’all haul mostly(coils,sheet, etc?) Would you say buy your own trailer or use there buying service they have for brand new trailers?
The trailers they have are nice but in my opinion not ideal. I’d give them a B+ though so definitely usable. I’d say start with their trailers then get your own after a year or so. As far as the freight honestly it’s a mix of everything really. No oversized freight really, I haul a lot of coils during coil season, lumber, insulation, and machinery. Basically everything. Good and bad areas is a lot to cover in a comment. I’ll probably do a short video eventually covering that.
@@vcatdog832 I would suggest getting one. I am a Mercer driver and I have a low pro Stepdeck. It has paid me well. For the 6 months I have been here, I have averaged 2.05 a mile.
@@tangledinmymind thanks for the response, I'm still debating, I would much rather have more of a niche but I'm am afraid of freight not being as plentiful. GO ARMY!
@@vcatdog832 My time here, there has not been a day when freight is not available. Sometimes you have to deadhead further been I have not been without freight. I am currently on a FedEx dedicated. It pays me 884 dollars a day for 6 days and it's a month long. There is no deadhead involved and I park at both FedEx locations.
Y'all can have tarping. I'm done unfolding folding that heavy ass 22# 6ft drop bitch. Now if I can get away with the 10$ cheap blue one from Walmart Lowe's. I'll take those. 😝
Thanks for your videos bro. I’m hoping to be onboarding with Mercer in a couple weeks. I appreciate the time you took to explain clearly 🤝
If you pay attention rates go up at the end of every fiscal quarter. They pay more to clear the inventory off there books for tax purposes.
Brian - I’m 75 and trying to research info on various work ideas. And BTW, I’m a legal consultant in “HORSE LAW & Related activities,” so, I continue to be impressed with your use of English, (no small item there) and your ability to speak with simple speech preparation, honesty and why you do what you do. It’s also great to see other drivers who have the same talents to. Best to you, and I’ll try and comment more later this week,! Dave in Phoenix Arizona.
Thank you very much Dave
You went to the SuperTruckerDan School. What is your maintenance overhead?
Thanks for posting with such detail, I am researching to see which O/O company to sign on to and hearing real world helps greatly. Will be able to make the move by May and Mercer just sounds like the right fit for me. Keep the content coming.
That’s fantastic! Thank you so much for watching. 😊
Mercer is known to be one of the few solid ones left.
I like how you explain things and just lay stuff out how it is.
Thanks David!
the best trucking videos i ever see
Thank you so much! 👍🏻
Can a person make 2 to 2500 a week after ALL expenses at mercer with decent home time? I'm looking to become a owner op and its scary to me.
If I was to buy a truck how much should I have put aside already to begin with for maintenance and repairs?
That's a very very good fuel discount. Maybe better than landstar. The access to the amazon ups Fedex loads durning winter is advantageous. As a hotshot I can hook those loads. But I can grab the flat loads that y'all miss while hooked to a dry van. Lol
Lol, very true 👍🏻 you can find some really good loads in that time period I bet as well
I'll usually head to Florida and go Orlando Miami Tampa back to Orlando. Girls still in bathing suits there too 😍🤤😍🤤
Can’t argue with that!!
Great video. I'm going O/O this year and I appreciate the info.
Absolutely!
I have 2 tell u that ur running the right way,,keep it up
Thank you very much
My problem with mercer was the lack of loads. I was home evey week and that was a part of the problem.
I can understand that, where are you from?
Flatbed or step deck what pays more at Mercer
Step loads typically pay more, I just felt like there’s more flat freight at Mercer. Also, you need 6 months open deck verifiable experience which I didn’t have when I came to Mercer so I just stuck with flat afterwards.
Driven Trucking I’m currently with Prime inc we use step and flats we switch trailers often but I noticed that I use flats more than steps. But we’re not doing heavy haul or over size. When a driver pull a step at Merser are you mainly basically pulling heavy and oversized freight ? I’m assuming the freight at merser for step must be exclusively specialized since you need experience
I’m not sure of the reasoning about the experience needed. If I had to speculate, I’d say it would be more machinery going on the step which would be more expensive freight typically but I really don’t know. There is certainly more flat freight though. I haven’t really paid close enough attention to say if the step freight is more OD or just requires more height to say one way or the other.
Driven Trucking thanks for the reply’s
All I can say is dam it man that's awesome keep it up driver and bringing safe
Thanks a lot brother!
See i am at 2.88 per all miles, and i get 88% 2 me i dont get any fuel ser, but i am doing good and i do conestoga flatbed
Wow, very nice!
Got orientation Monday .._.Thanks for the info
Woohoo! Congratulations!
Could you explain fuel surcharge? I’ve read up some but maybe you could put it in a nutshell for me. You said it’s upper 30s now? Upper of what? ??? Thanks!
The fuel surcharge is an amount calculated by some organization in the trucking industry. What it is, is a cents per mile charge to the shipper to help with rising fuel costs. I was incorrect when I said upper 30s, on my last trip it was $.31 per mile. My paid miles for the trip was 854 so if you multiply 854 times $.31 you get $264.74. Mercer does not take a cut of that, I received 100% of the $264.74. I believe it is calculated at an average of 6 miles per gallon, I don’t know that for a fact but I read that somewhere. So therefore it is beneficial to have a truck that gets over 6 miles per gallon because the higher that number is, the less you pay for fuel. Does that make sense?
Ok. One more question then. So when you look at your load board and you see 1000 mile run for $2000, the fuel surcharge is not in that? so you get that on top of mileage pay?
John W our load board is pretty nice, it was actually include everything when I see the total gross for the load. It’ll include linehaul, fuel surcharge, and any accessorial pay i.e. tarp pay or anything along those lines. Technically it’s added on top of the linehaul but we just see the whole package.
I was thinking of coming to Mercer to do dry van.
What do you think about there dry van division
Back when I was there I didn’t feel like they had enough freight nor good rates. The people I know left Mercer that was doing dry van. That being said there are plenty of people there that have been there a while 🤷🏼♂️ personally I recommend Landstar for dry van.
Awesome. Like your videos. What company were you at before Mercer? Thanks
Thanks! I was a company driver pulling dedicated reefer at FFE
Driven Trucking So you took the Load Securement class at Mercer too?
MrBigR 504 yes sir, sure did!
I'm not reading all the comments, but do you lease to own your trailer? Is it rent the trailer and equipment?
I own the equipment and the trailer is technically a lease through Mercer. If you get a brand new one from them, which is typical, it’s $550 for 60 months. If you finish all 60, the trailer is all yours. Thanks Scott
Wow man....the company I work for has an internet ad for contractors at the moment....Make up to $240 annually....100% sucharge + stop pay included.
BUT, that figure is based on 12,000 miles per month, 100% surcharge + stop pay included in my division or terminal (retail reefer delivery).
I wanted to find out more, but they won't let me convert?
Am I that good of a driver that I should be retained as company?
YES. My CSA score speaks for itself I guess.
Does Mercer require hazmat?
Thanks.
Nice! No hazmat is required but we do have a few hazmat customers that pay nicely
How does insurance work with Mercer? I saw that there’s a 1% insurance fee on their website.
How much are your taxes roughly after write offs with making 220k a year? If you don't mind me asking.
Keauyon Fields not 100% sure honestly since I haven’t been through a full year yet but cpa is having me pay in 4500 a quarter at the moment.
Cool thanks man. Haven't finished a yr with Mercer, was wondering what I was going to be in for.
Keauyon Fields it’s hard to say because of deductions and stuff but that’s roughly what my cpa predicted with las years quarter. One thing’s for sure, Uncle Sam will get his lol
H Kloss no clue 😂😂😂 it’s my first full year and I haven’t added it up yet. Also, I use a cpa so I don’t think about write offs. My truck being as old as she is I get enough with maintenance 😂
I just ran across your video and thanks for Some very valid info! So you already had your own trailer and equipment? And I'm guessing you can get equipment, chains, strap, tarps,etc. through Mercer? I know Super Truck Dan bought his trailer through Mercer. I've got you locked in and I'll be checking out your videos. Stay safe👍
Very cool, thanks a lot 👍🏻 I did not have my own equipment nor the trailer. The trailer and majority of equipment were purchased through Mercer. The rest of the equipment was mostly purchased through amazon because I found better pricing.
Driven Trucking Nice👍
Does Mercer pay any percentage of tolls?
Unfortunately they do not
Okay you spoke of a very high week of about 8,000 I'm figuring the rates have tightened up a little bit here lately and let's say you average about 5,000 if your me anyway coming into the business per week so mine is my fuel minus my insurance minus my maintenance and put a little bit of emergency money aside also I want to take home about $1,500 a week the rest goes into those categories for truck payment fuel maintenance tire maintenance and emergencies I want to do 53-foot box I got to get through this year on me and my tax guy but I am looking at Mercer as one of my top choices of people to work for for all of the reasons I live in Omaha Nebraska area I have family back home and Carolina where I was born and some other people in Buffalo New York Detroit and Denver as well as Phoenix what do you think 25 years of experience no issues
8k was my highest and rare week. The rates have definitely tightened up as well as availability. I do think 5k can be averaged weekly BUT I would say figure the average at 16k a month gross ( 4 weekly with a few days off ) if that fits what you need I’d say ZERO issues. Shoot me an email so we can talk more candidly.
Driventrucking@yahoo.com
Good numbers.
ehhjeep thanks 👍🏻
Thanks for the info
No problem 👍🏻
Just started watching your vlogs. Great information and so far very good videos. What would you say is your average time out on the road before you come home for a reset?
Also are you aquatinted with super trucker Dan, also at Mercer.
Have a great day and stay safe out there.
Thank you so much! I’m generally out 3-4 weeks, occasionally 5. I do watch supertruckerdan’s stuff but we have not met...yet 😊
ha whats up.do you know anything about the dry van side of mercer my brother worked for mercer in the late 1990 did well ok brother be safe like the videos also
Honestly I don’t know enough about it to give you any information. Anything I’ve heard has been hearsay and not from any trusted sources. I don’t want to give you any incorrect information. My apologies.
How long have you been a Truck driver.
Since May 2012 😊
👍😎👍
👍🏻👊🏻
hello driver hope all is well iam a new brand new owner operator i want to come on with mercer what are the steps
What about good and bad areas?
What type of flatbed do y’all haul mostly(coils,sheet, etc?)
Would you say buy your own trailer or use there buying service they have for brand new trailers?
The trailers they have are nice but in my opinion not ideal. I’d give them a B+ though so definitely usable. I’d say start with their trailers then get your own after a year or so. As far as the freight honestly it’s a mix of everything really. No oversized freight really, I haul a lot of coils during coil season, lumber, insulation, and machinery. Basically everything. Good and bad areas is a lot to cover in a comment. I’ll probably do a short video eventually covering that.
@@DrivenTrucking so you wouldn't suggest step deck?
@@vcatdog832 I would suggest getting one. I am a Mercer driver and I have a low pro Stepdeck. It has paid me well. For the 6 months I have been here, I have averaged 2.05 a mile.
@@tangledinmymind thanks for the response, I'm still debating, I would much rather have more of a niche but I'm am afraid of freight not being as plentiful. GO ARMY!
@@vcatdog832 My time here, there has not been a day when freight is not available. Sometimes you have to deadhead further been I have not been without freight. I am currently on a FedEx dedicated. It pays me 884 dollars a day for 6 days and it's a month long. There is no deadhead involved and I park at both FedEx locations.
Don’t give away our secrets. No it’s bad at Mercer you don’t want to come here.😝 leaves more money for us!!!!
I mean *cough* *cough* I’m joking.....I kid I kid 😂🤣
Y'all can have tarping. I'm done unfolding folding that heavy ass 22# 6ft drop bitch. Now if I can get away with the 10$ cheap blue one from Walmart Lowe's. I'll take those. 😝
@@dixiemae5042 chump
2nd 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌
😂😂 good morning