Mercer Transportation reviews

I am not considering I am looking for a free lunch frommercer at the show. I liked mercer and the set up but the money not there for dry vans , I know it may be for flats and steps for 9 months out of the year. If I was going to buy more trucks and hire drivers young ones I would put them at mercer with steps or flats. But I only know a few o/o o
Who are making it with other trucks and I seen and helped a bunch go under inexperience o/o who needed exp drivers always Payed more money and I take there money and watched as they failed .
You can not over pay in wages,mechanics,or products . Yea I have watch you and several others helping mercer recruits over the time Spyder7723 . The learning curve was to steep for me at the time but it did make me a better at negotiating rates from brokers when I need to ,there always 15 to 25 % more money on the table even in bad area and down times.

Q: I know Mercer had a treat that already 1800 pages but wont i wont be going through it all. just how long the application process take? I know landstar some say 4 to 8 weeks

A: I didn't go with them but they approved me in about a day or 2, and called me not even 15 minutes after I put in the application.

Q: I have had my own operating authority for the past four years, but things haven't gone so well in generating revenue the past six months or so. I have been accepted to lease on to Mercerand was looking for some feed back from O/O with similar experience. I have talked with one who was very happy to suspend his authority and lease to Mercer and is doing very well. I have read another thread from Jaqeisi23 (my apologies for misspelling the handle) where he was leased, but reverted back to his own authority, yet still runs on the brokerage side.

I understand the revenue split between the two (lease 75/25, brokerage 80/20), but other than that does one have advantage over the other? For those who chose the lease side, how difficult was it to give up your numbers? What did you experience during the first month or so as you adjusted to Mercer way of business? Are you happy you made the move, or did you eventually go back to your own DOT number? How has leasing affected your operating costs (insurance, fuel, etc)? Just looking for some honest answers before I get into the pool.

A: Keep your authority and become an approved carrier for them. You will still get the fuel discount  etc. If the Mercer brokers Do not have a load you will be stuck like Chuck. At least you will have the ability to get freight if Mercer comes up dry.

Q: I was just wondering if there any Mercer drivers from Texas here? I just signed on with Mercer but I'm having a lot of trouble finding flatbed freight down south with Mercer. Makes it hard to get home to Texas. Can anyone with experience with Mercer tell me if I'm going to have trouble making a living with them? Let me know what you think.

A: Ok man, there are plenty of loads to TX. I go there all the time. You really just need to learn our lanes. Take some time and learn where the loads to TX come from. Try a reverse search where you see what's coming into TX and from where. Do this daily for a week or two (better yet a month or two) and you will start seeing regular loads that go into and out of TX on a regular basis. With time you can learn how to get to anyplace. I have two homes and my GF lives in Houston. I can get to all 3 within a matter of days because I know where I need to be to get a load going to each place. You just signed on. Give it a little time and learn our lanes. You will be fine.

I respect ur intelect,in my five months with mercer i grossed over 90k and iwas home weekly.what you do is no secret to me,keep ur eyes on the load board and match urself to loads in areas like ct and ma ahead of time,also make sure the rate going in justifies a 300mile or more deadhead,however i dont find that doable for a guy who lives in a bad spot and got to be home every weekend and average what you guys claim to average.

Q: I know LS has some just didn't know if Mercer had any or any frieght for one other than just van loads?

A: Yes, they have a few running around. Every now & then loads pop up. Certain agents will load them. But, it's a flatbed company.

Not a problem. The couple I ran into while I was leased toMercer were loading the same load as me. Most of the reefer loads I had seen, I was able to pull in a van....watermelons, apples, stuff like that. It wouldn't be worth ur time to drag a reefer here unless the agent up in Washington was willing to use you all the time. To be honest, she runs walmart loads up to Alaska & very few loads out of the western 11. Probably wouldn't be a great idea, but it wouldn't hurt getting ahold of her & seeing if she has stuff moving. You never know. Mercerfreight in any kind of box will blow your mind. I still have a flat leased onto Mercer and he moves nonstop. If you have anything else about the box side feel free 2 ask. Best of luck whichever way you go.

If you broker thru mercer you can get a efs card and they can load the settlements on the efs card. When you do that you can get the discounts a leased driver gets if you use the card to fuel.Landstar, universal etc do the same thing. Mercer pays broker loads within hours with no fee, others charge 1 to 2 per cent. But its perfectly legit, in the preferred carrier program you even get a coordinator.

It seems Mercer is once again changing their truck requirements. Truck must be able to run an ELD.

They aren't changing their truck requirements, it's been mandatory, all incoming contractors must have ELD for a couple of years. As of July 1st, 2016 ALL trucks in the fleet must have them, with a handful of exceptions for guys with mechanical engines....at least as long as they don't get a log violation.

Q: i'm sure this question has been asked 1000 times but I can only find spotty information on it. Does Mercer have a lease purchase flatbed trailer program and if so is it a good one? Any current Mercer drivers can please chime in. Thanks.

A: its 535 a month now - no escrow - 1 $ buyout at end .

A: When I was there for flats it was 95 % Danes and 5 % something else

Q: So what is the length if the lease and the total cost of a flatbed or drop deck thru Mercer?

A: I grabbed a used one 
44 months at 535 with a purchase price of $1 


I reread the lease - technicaly I'm renting the trailer for 500 a month and a 35 a month administration fee and on 3/1/2020 I can buy the trailer for 1$

I'll tell you they take care of the trailers that come back if you buy used , mine for example had new brakes . Some others had new tires 

Q: What is average per mile at Mercer on the Flatbed side? I know it's percentage based over there but would like to know the breakdown and weigh my options. Highly appreciate

A: During the month of December the fleet average was 1.88, that's what a recruiter told me.

A: My average for the year of 15, all miles off the odometer, was 1.93 and that's with over 30 percent dead head. My dh is much higher than the average guy, for two reasons, 1 I live in south Florida. 2 I run a lot of very short loads, on those I might have 3 times more empty miles than loaded ones.

Same stuff as any other orientation. Whiz quiz, then while they wait on the results, you get to learn all about the "MercerWay": Safety discussion, Hazmat, what you gotta do to get loads and get paid. You get fed. Sign all the paperwork. Meet your coordinator. Get your truck inspected and fixed if there are issues. Get your decals on. When all the boxes are checked...get a load and get outta Dodge.