My tour of Duty with Marten Lasted 6 Months. My Recruiter told me that Marten had the freight to get me home at least once a week. I left an OTR job with a 'Reefer ' company to persue Regional run that would get me by the house more often. Big Mistake on my part was trusting the Recruiter in Mondovi. After three days of orientation in Dallas, Tx, I hit the road only to find out that regional sucks. Runs are 450 - 600 miles and delivery next day. I was averaging 5 -6 deliveries per week loading and unloading at shipper and reciever, We had pleanty of frieght and not enough drivers and would use OTR drivers for short hauls. I live in New Orleas, LA and my regional terminal is Irving, Tx. So my dispatcher would run me out of DFW.
Then the bottom fell out! Freight was falling off so fast that he started putting me on Long Haul loads. I was staying out for 3 weeks again. Getting home was near impossible and the only way to get a day off was goto Irving Terminal. The Irving dose not have a shower, lounge or driver amenities. It is three small rooms, one for dispatch, one for training and one with a transflo fax and coke machine. We rarely had fuel at the location. There is a Sunset Trucking Repair Shop on-site.
The Nearest Pilot is 20 miles away and never had parking. I was forced to get a hotel room fora much needed bath and nights rest. If you live in DFW area fine but if not. Don't plan on getting home weekly.
It's true that Marten Started Firing Drivers with 4 Points (1 Incident) after A driver had a major accident with fatalities last year. Randy Marten as CEO demanded Zero accidents to remain employeed. While I often ran 2800 to 3200 miles per week it was the number of appointments that made me crazy, Drivers get 36 cent p/Mile and sitting 4 -5 hours at a customer and still running 500 miles for early am delivery next day was tearing my body up.
My advice is to live near Dallas, Atlanta, LA, Or Chicago if you work for Marten as a regional driver. If you hire on as OTR, good luck getting miles because they are averaging less than 2200 as of 01.
Marten Is a Common Carrier that brokers it own freight and rarely runs broker loads. Dedicated and Regional National Accounts is the focus. Marten is a financially strong player and over-all I would recommend them if you can follow their Rules and put up with forced dispatch. Trucks are speed limited to 65 or below (63 MPH) average. Less than 4% idle time (APU on Most). Qaulcom Dog Chain included. No pets allowed!
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