Everything you wanted to know about CSA 2010 but were afraid to ask!
FMCSA's Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010) is a national safety initiative to more effectively identify and quickly intervene with large truck and bus drivers and carriers who are not complying with safety rules in order to make the roads safer for everyone. To learn more click
CSA 2010 .
TruckDriver.com
Carrier of the Month
Marten Transport, Ltd.
Founded in 1946, Marten Transport has reached its high level of success by focusing on providing excellent career opportunities for professional drivers like you. As one of today's leading national protective service transportation companies, Marten Transport is able to offer company drivers excellent opportunities for growth and stability.
According to CEO Randy Marten, the company's success comes down to its people. "When my father started Marten Transport more than 60 years ago, he developed a philosophy that still guides the way we do business today,” Marten says. “Treat your driving force and customers with the respect they deserve, and success will come naturally. It's a philosophy that has served us well, and as long as I'm in charge, that's the way it will continue to be.”
Roger Marten founded Marten Transport in 1946 at the age of 17, delivering milk and other dairy products. His routes were primarily in the Modena, Wisconsin area where he was born and raised. Driving for the Modena Co-op Creamery, Roger purchased his first truck route with a $400 loan from his mother.
In 1956, the first tractor-trailer combination was purchased, and Marten began hauling petroleum for Bauer Built of Durand, Wisconsin. Marten's volume doubled after the acquisition of Mondovi Trucking Co. in 1959. The following year Marten added a tandem axle tractor to its fleet.
In 1962, the Land O' Lakes drying operation in Mondovi closed, creating a need for a milk transporter. Marten secured a contract to haul the products, purchased two tractor-trailer units and began what would become a long-term, profitable relationship with this dairy cooperative.
Having experienced some regional success in the early 1960s, Roger began to develop his interstate carrier business. His initial focus was on serving customers in the Midwest and on the West Coast. Roger made a decision to secure his company's roots by planning a small office complex and service terminal on the property that now houses the current corporate headquarters in Mondovi.
In 1965, a one-bay garage (in Mondovi) became Marten's first terminal. That same year Roger's son, Randy, joined the company, initially assisting with equipment maintenance and dispatch. Dry vans were also added to the fleet to expand Marten's service to include dry milk products.
By 1972, six new trucks had been added to the fleet and Marten began hauling milk to Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, expanding the company's long-haul milk transport business. In 1976, Marten purchased Hiawatha Produce of Winona, Minnesota. This acquisition was the start of Marten's long-distance hauling of perishable foods in refrigerated trailers.
Marten opened its Ontario, California terminal in 1985 to better serve customers on the West Coast. In 1986, Marten began trading on the NASDAQ National Market. That same year, Marten named Randy Marten President, the company exceeded $50 million in revenue for the first time, and built a major expansion to its Mondovi headquarters.
Electronic Data Interchange (or EDI) was implemented in 1987, allowing for more efficient flow of information between Marten and its high volume customers. In 1989, temperature-sensitive transportation service became the company's primary focus and the Aurora, Oregon service center was opened.
In 1993, Marten surpassed $100 million in annual revenue, but it also suffered the tragic loss of company-founder Roger Marten. After his father's passing Randy Marten assumed the primary leadership role for the company. During that year, Randy oversaw the completion of a 15,000-square foot corporate office expansion, the addition of a new terminal in Jonesboro, Georgia and the implementation of a satellite tracking system.
The company made a strategic decision to begin hauling 53-foot trailers in 1995. The new equipment allowed Marten to position itself for maximum market flexibility. It also purchased a maintenance facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, near Portland and grew its fleet to more than 1,000 tractors.
In 1996, Marten reached three historical milestones; it opened the Roger Marten Community Center in Mondovi, celebrated 50 years in business, and 10 years as a publicly traded company.
Marten Transport believes their drivers are the best in the industry. The integrity and professionalism they exhibit on a daily basis has earned them elite status among temperature protected freight haulers in North America.
If you're interested in becoming part of a team that is dedicated to excellence - if you want the best that professional driving has to offer, call Marten Transport at
800-395-3331.
Conventional Wisdom Can Be Wrong—The Changing World of Getting a Good Driving Job.
Derek Hinton - DOTJobHistory.com
Here in Oklahoma, in the 1980s, the conventional wisdom was that energy, specifically oil, prices could only go up. After Three Mile Island, new nuclear power was at a standstill. Developing nations, to say nothing of the industrialized world would need more oil. OPEC was a cartel who controlled much of the world supply, some of the countries weren’t too stable and they would not do anything to slay their golden goose. Meanwhile, not much of the world was left unexplored for new oil and there sure didn’t seem to be any new dinosaurs dying to make new oil. So what happened? For a good decade the price of oil tanked. Oil is still relatively cheaper than 30 years ago. There’s a lot of faded bumper stickers on cars around Oklahoma that say “Dear God: Please let there be another oil boom. I promise not to [whiz] it away this time.”
This is similar to the “driver shortage” conventional wisdom of a few years back. Trucking companies needed drivers and they needed them now. The “old breed” of drivers were retiring. Young, potential drivers had other, more attractive career opportunities. Increased regulations and standards (drug testing, CDL testing, etc.) would further limit the demographic pool. Motor carrier transport as opposed to other forms of transport kept growing. Also, commercial driving was one job you couldn’t out-source to China. As a professional driver with even a halfway reasonable record, driving jobs were easy to come by.
And what has happened? If you’re like most drivers, you’ve discovered that it is not as easy to get a job as it used to be. I spoke with Brian Thomforde, CEO of Truckdriver.com, one of DOTJobHistory’s partners, a while back and there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. Brian has been in the business since 1996, and said “Some companies are starting to look for drivers again, although nothing like in the past.”
But one of the problems for drivers in the job hunt is that the downturn sent many past employers out of business. And so when potential employers try to verify past employment, the company has gone out of business and the employment is tough to verify. In the past several months, I have had far more conversations with drivers in which they have obtained their MVR, criminal record database scan, SSN check and “DAC Report” through our service and the DAC report does not list even half their employment. Many of their other past employers have gone out of business. And at the same time, because most employers are not desperate for drivers, they can afford to be more selective than they have in past times.
So what is the driver to do when faced with more selective companies (who will most certainly want to verify previous employment) when past employers are not around? The drivers who are getting jobs, at least the better jobs, are those who are those that make it easy on potential employers. Having an MVR, criminal record scan, correct DAC report has always been a good idea—a “secret weapon” for many drivers today is a verified report from the IRS that lists past employers of the past 5 years. In this way, regardless of whether the company has gone out of business, or reports to DAC, a potential driver employee can prove employment. (And speaking of the IRS, fees that you spend in your job search are tax deductible.)
The old conventional wisdom for getting a job is changing—but if you’re looking for a driving job, there are things you can do to stay a step ahead.
Is the economy showing signs of improvement? Here's what you reported in the TruckDriver.com State of the Economy Survey.
Do you think the economy is starting to improve?
Yes - 26%
No - 50%
Hard to tell - 24%
We agree with the last 24%, it's hard to tell.
As they say, time will tell, but in the meantime, take the TruckDriver.com Spare Time Survey. Let us know how you spend yours.
Until next time, keep on truckin' and please drive safely.
Your Comments Are Always Welcome
We do like to hear from you and invite you to let us know how we can improve the e-Report. Please send your ideas and suggestions to: jobs@truckdriver.com
