Also need help w/ Marten
these are the two comanies I,m looking at
TKS

Never heard anything bad about this company from anyone. Talked to a bunch of there drivers and they all seem to like it there. Heard a few gripes but nothing out of the ordinary. Never worked there but one of the few companies I'd consider if I went back to driving.

I remember reading something about them not paying for your scale tickets. I may be wrong.

Yep Marten does not reimburse for scale tickets they allow ...$1.50 wk for scales they justify this with having weight guages on the drives ...Sounds great on paper ,but that only gives you a rough idea of your weight ...on the drives ,And does nothing for the trailer ...Also how many times do the bills say 40k but it's really 43k ...well with weight guages for only the drives you are completely gussing at gross weight ,And Marten certainly will not be paying any overweight fines due to lack of scaling ,and what are the chances of a heavy or over weight produce load?

I know I scaled all loads over 25k with rare exceptions in cases no scales were within reasonable distance.


One plus for Marten is APU equiped trucks ,But before you start thinking ...wow...Marten really does care about driver comfort,and went the extra mile spending money on these for their drivers realize ,They did not as they got them installed ...FREE...through the state of Michigan .

I used to drive for them...they had decent miles and good home time (IMHO) 5 out/1 off. up to a total of 7 or 10 (?)

If they did not get you home by your chosen date you got something like 50.00 dollars per day if i recall.

You must be able to function with a roaring reefer going

about its business right behind your bunk.

They had some very modern silent ones...but the majority I experienced were very noisy.

Also alot of delivers and pickups between 1100 pm and 0400 am..

....really miserable hours of service if you like real rest.

Had to cook the book to make most of those odd

hour pickups or deliveries and still appear to have hours

to run the miles during the daylight hours.


I did witness 'mass firings' in my time there.

Everything from logbook violations (if caught) to dents and dings.

Accident demerits are Doubled during the first year....no screw ups allowed

You had to install a steering lock under the hood everytime you left the truck....if your truck got stolen and the lock was not in place...instant termination....this happened

several times while i was there...for some reason people like to steal Martens equipment...never worked for a company that got so much of their stuff stolen...it was wierd !

Some guy put there wrong fuel in his truck....he got canned....a few roll-aways...etc...etc...the list is endless.





Great paychecks ..... strange company

PS: I made a lot of money in 'detention pay' sitting at docks and waiting on lumpers.

keep up with your times of arrival and departure they will work to get you

you detention...I always got mine.

The waits in the food service world can be extreme...sometime the product is being packaged

and loaded as you sit....after all its food...and it has strict guidelines in its production

I recall there were very few preloaded trailers with them...usually had to wait it out.

(Kraft was one of the few that always seemed to be ready to go)



Scales ?

43K or over to get a scale ticket authorized if i recall correctly.

Air gauges were very accurate when you set the trailer on the hole position noted for each state...rarely ever used a CAT scale

There were some benefits that required you be there a least a year to get...i think it was 401K enrollment or something (?)...they had a pretty healthy turnover rate...

so you sort of had to prove yourself before they took you into the fold so to speak.

They used to give you a flat rate of $1.50 per trip in your paycheck whether you scaled the load or not. Last year they changed to where you get reimbursed if you needed to scale a load over 42,000.

One of the things about shippers of food products is that the weight on the bills is "NET WEIGHT". The pallets are often not included. If you have a load that weighs 43K, add about 75 pounds for each pallet. That means, 20 pallets adds about 1500 to the weight.

I always ask if the pallets are included. Many times, I'm told that they are, but be on your toes. There have also been many times that I've been told that they are not. If you don't figure that in, it can put you over gross. That means the nice folks at he state scale may also give you anywhere from a level one to a level three. It sort of gets their attention if you're over.