truck driver

local driver

diesel mechanic

owner operator driver

driver

Martin Transportation Systems

Martin transportation systems is a joke of a company. You're paid a flat rate per run. Which it boils down to around 30c per mile. The fleet managers and dispatchers  in grand rapids will do everything in their power to force loads on you to take. They tried to make me feel guilty for calling out when my mother passed away 2 states away from where I live and told me I had to be back at work. The dispatchers 'ben' at night will threaten your job if you dont take something he offers. The dispatcher sarah in grand rapids likes to guilt trip. 
Whitepine, the shop takes a week to get anything done. Genie the terminal manager cant even make it a full week without leaving early. She would threaten my job at least once a week. You HAVE to kiss butt at this company to get anywhere. Whitepine has a tattle tale driver that likes to make lies on everyone. Genie gives keys to the office where everyone's personal information is kept to a couple of their "favorite" drivers. They are the only ones that get the nice trucks. The equipment is trash. Theyre all from 2011-2015 with 500k - 1m miles on them. One daycab has been rebuilt 3x now. The trucks cant stay running more then a week. Everyone slip seats with each other so if someone leaves their nasty mess behind you're in charge of it. If you dont smoke, tough. You'll be coming home smelling like smoke because all the trucks are caked with ashes and cigarette smell. *all the trucks have driver facing cameras that always watch you* the recruiters wont tell you about that or the fact they hold your pay for 2 weeks and wont get paid till your 3rd week. 

Once broke down and sat in a lot for 11 hours waiting on a tow truck. By the time I got back to the yard finally I had to be back ready to roll in 4 hours. 

They will lay off employees randomly with no notice. They laid us off for 3 weeks for christmas and 3 weeks for the 4th of July. And several smaller times between. This company will put you in debt real quick. THEY DO NOT GIVE RAISES. No raises at all. 

The whitepine lot is a dirt lot. So when it's hot outside its dusty and dirt everywhere. If it rains it's a huge mud hole. 

Genie once told me I had to take a load even though I didnt have the hours. I ran out of hours 1 hour away from home. She said she'd get me the local extension then went home 2 hours early. I had to stay out for my 10 hour break with a day cab. She never apologized or anything. She has no concern for anyone but herself. 

Once I went to my normal pickup/delivery and grand rapids sent to many drivers that day, the customer told me it would be 8 hours before the next load was ready. Called dispatch and they said "that's not my problem. You'll have to sit and wait for it. If you leave you'll be fired." 

Theres been more than one occasion I had to borrow money to put food on my table for my kids because of this companies low pay and random lay offs.

If you have a complaint, its IMPOSSIBLE to reach anyone above dispatch. Once in a rare occasion you'll get ahold of Kelly, and he doesnt care at all. 

1/10 would not recommend.

Only decent thing about the company is after you work there awhile and be super nice to the dispatchers you might get a decent shift that theyll threaten to take away constantly. Also the insurance is decent. 

So if you like a company that'll put you in debt and constantly threaten your job, this is the place for you.

this place loves to flood the area with these fictitious signs and advertisements that say around $200 a day driving back and forth an hour at a time and that you'll get all these benefits and be home every night not to mention the drop and hook part they talk about. FALSE! I'm not sure how these types of places can get away with lying to people and wasting their time. Sure, who wouldnt want to make two hundred bucks a day just driving from Lansing to the Detroit area and back?
Here's the real truth...you show up not knowing what you're doing or what truck you'll be driving, if you're lucky enough to have one left on the lot for you....eventually one of their brainless used car salesman attitude dispatchers will contact you with what load you'll be doing that day and then you'll stand in the parking lot for 2 hours looking for a truck to take because there won't be any left. Keep in mind they pay you by the load so the accumulation of hours you'll be wandering around waiting for other people or waiting for a job or waiting for some response by a dispatcher is all on your time. and what about the 200 a day driving from Lansing to the Detroit area? nope think again, you won't make close to that number you'll be sent to various car plants not knowing what gate to go into or what address for that matter, I started at 7 a.m. and I didn't leave Detroit until after 6 p.m. because they will send you without the correct paperwork and once you get to the auto plant you'll need to provide them with the correct documents and MTS is so mismanaged that they really don't care about the documents you need as long as they have bodies driving trucks around wasting their life. 
I remember calling the dispatch repeatedly explaining to them that I have no more information or paperwork or correct answers to give to these people and they will basically respond by saying okay let me call you back so you're basically standing around all day everyday working with stupid people that don't know how to communicate or inept in doing their job. 
oh and did I mention that when they finally find a truck for you to drive some of the gauges won't work and you won't have any fuel so after working 12 hours that day and having your electronic log go off because your way over hours you'll be on empty driving a truck that is either too big or too small for the job. 
not to mention these dispatchers will call you worse than telemarketers and try to sales pitch you these drop offs, all day everyday. 
and then when you make up your mind that you don't want to do a certain run because they've conned you into applying at this place via their advertisement they get an attitude with you, which is hilarious because you guys did your sales pitch on making around 200 a day so how can you get mad at somebody that has just been told that I'm only going to be making 60, I mean do they think people are stupid? once you analyze the amount of hours you drive around aimlessly you're lucky if you even make minimum wage at this place.good luck finding anybody that can critically think for themselves to work here. MTS, a bunch of Liars/ false advertisement company. do yourself a favor and remember when a company is constantly looking for hires every single day for years at a time, there's a reason for it.

Pay is sub par, they say they have a 2 week hold back on pay, but you don't get paid for your first week until your 3rd.  The vacation time--look at this--there is no vacation until you are done with one year.  Then you get one week.  This is far beneath what my old company paid me.   Also they will lay you off at least 2-4 weeks out of the year. The benefits are so-so.  They do have a 401K that matches, but who can afford to put money in it when they like to pay so far behind. Also you will be worn out by having to work long hours and driving around and then waiting at the shippers all the time. They also like to hire a lot of people who are new drivers or know nothing, that way they can pay less.

A typical day at work is show up in the afternoon find out what truck to take and get going as soon as possible. There's a lot of turnover here. Just ask around. Even the people in the office don't last. Which is just as well to me, they are very rude and liars and like to talk down to me when I have tried to call in.Their phones seem to always have problems and you can't get through. If you leave a message plan to call back several times because no one will ever call you back, no kidding. 

The family that owns this business has their pets and they can do no wrong even though they are bullies. The family is not afraid to show their wealth in struggling times. When you do see them they are just coming back from a vacation in some stupid tropical place. They park their nice cars where they can be seen by the lowliest of all of us.They do not care to hear about their problems if you tell them what is going on. All problems you alert them to are turned around and you are the problem. They also like to threaten to fire you all the time.

What I learned is watch your back, keep your head down and mouth shut. Learn to live on a very meager pay check. The hardest part of this job is dealing with the office staff. They act like they own you and are snobby. The most enjoyable part of this job was going home at the end of the day. I am looking for a new job I just did not want to have too many on my dac.

Their ad says dedicated runs for new drivers which turned out to be a lie.  I got there and was given open board runs only. After three weeks of promises of a dedicated run, it became apparent this was a big story.  
Their ad says new drivers get paid $240 per day.  Wrong, most runs there are $200 per day. 

I worked their for over three weeks and never did receive a pay check. They said they would hold back two weeks worth of pay.  When it got to be over three weeks, I simply can't afford to work for free.

I was surprised to learn that driving for MTS is all split seat driving.  You would being sharing a truck with who ever takes the truck first.  Nearly all of their trucks are HIGH millage plus.  So, those who are on dedicated runs that start in the morning will get a better truck to choose from.  Those who are on later runs get the junkier trucks.
Not to worry, they have a maintenance mechanic shop who try to keep those junky trucks working.  

You are paid per run, not hourly.  Problem, driver wait time getting unloaded and loaded can easily amount to three to five hours per day.  This of course means driver does not get paid for these hours per day.  If a driver is working 12 to 14 hours per day, these hours can add up during the week.  MTS is not going to pay you for these hours. 

MTS will threaten your job if you don't work weekends.  You definitely will no longer get the better runs.  Considering all of the above, I decided to quit

after 5 years i couldn't get a good run, new guys or complainers got the best runs and me and a few other good drivers were taken off our regular runs and given bad runs because of our work ethic to help when needed . the only way we could get a temporary good run was  to tell them we were going to quit then for a few weeks we had good runs. after a few weeks we would be told that we had lost the run & in a few weeks we would run into a new driver who was on our run that had supposedly ended . they do have good affordable blue cross & blue shield which kept me there as long as i was or i would have left sooner. all their yards have great supervisors the management in mic seems to be pretty good the biggest problem seems to be dispatch lying constantly to  you first it was  (she is gone thank God)  & then it was  . also they put cameras in the trucks that are on you and the outside at the same time , also sensors in the truck constantly going off at the least little thing, STRESSFUL WORK ENVIRONMENT !!!! I started driving in 1977, I gave them  5 good years of my life they wont get anymore! I am talking mostly about their over the road jobs I have heard their jobs where you get to be home every night might be pretty good, I know you still have deal with the cameras pointed at you & all buzzers & alarms  going off all the time though. probably be good job for a beginner who doesn't know how much better trucking can really be

Typical trucking job. They’ll lie to you at every corner. Their  maintenance team(if you want to call it that)in Spring Hill Tennessee is nothing but two sarcastic guys who themselves are overworked and working in  a parking lot without a real shelter. So they’re in the elements. The dispatchers are stressed out and take it out on the drivers every time they get a chance. They look at their drivers as a “dime a dozen.” Instead of working with them when lifestyle changes happen they refuse every request for time off or schedule changes. Work/life balance???? what’s that with this company. If you have time left on your 70 hour clock they’ll make you come in and work it. It doesn’t matter how much or how few. They’re so short handed they have to treat you this way so they can continue to serve their Automotive only customers. Which those layoff all the time. Especially in this day and age. No one is buying cars. Parts shortages like crazy and everyone is scared of getting sick. It’s maddening. During layoffs you can choose to go out of town or take unemployment. Most of us need to work. If you’re looking for steady, consistent year round work. This isn’t the place. Just beware of this. 

If you have a family emergency expect them to browbeat you down and not let you off if you need any extra time off they will give it to you and then call you on your day off and have you come in you may have 36 hours off in the week just long enough for your time to reset they treat every driver as if you are brand new and don't know anything they constantly push you to use your 16-hour rule to pull Freight they will constantly demand favors from you but the first time you ask them for a favor you will not get it when any of the auto plant shutdown for holidays they'll make sure they run you at least one day a week just enough so you can't get unemployment but not enough to make a living off of their pay is somewhat reasonable if you can make it within an 8 hour time frame which a lot of their loads you cannot it's a constant fight to get detention pay and they do not care how long you have to wait between your loads if you run doubles late loads are common due to planning they will constantly call you on your 10-hour break if someone calls off they will use your emergency contacts to get ahold of you on your day off if you can't get to your phone in time I would use this job as an absolute Last Resort

I have been here almost 5 years. A local driver that drives over 600 miles a day usually. Pay is .02$ more for OTR but I drive OTR miles I’m local because I’m home daily. I sleep in my bed at home. They don’t take into account of commute to and from work. Often expect you to take 10 hour break and be back to work. Try making you work 6 days a week. No pay raises because the loads don’t pay that much but can buy other trucking companies so they can have more of these loads. Pay is .36$ per mile and if not driving you are not paid. Inspections ,fuel and if you have to sit at dock or wait for repairs you have to give them 2 hours time before requesting hourly pay. Safety is judged by someone behind a desk as they have cameras facing inside and outside of the truck. No matter how experienced you are you are compared to the person who just got their license. Expected to sit in seat with hands at 10 and 2 don’t reach for anything, don’t eat while driving you will be written up and told how unsafe you are even though the video shows you driving in your lane with eyes on the road. Local means home time but expect you to pull over to eat when you already give 1.5 hours of your time free to the company.

The job is easy, and the pay is excellent, but Ford and GM have not been consistent lately. If you are a new hire, they will keep you running for a while so you don't quit because of lack of runs, but as soon as new people come in, you will be lucky to work 2 or 3 days a week.

We lost our terminal yards, so now we are in a drop yard that can get holes more prominent than a Volkswagon. There is no point in keeping your vehicle clean because the dust bowl always keeps it dirty.

There is a significant lack of communication, and the new management and planners lack experience in this field. We used to be able to run consistently every day, but those days are over. There was great potential to make over $80K a year, but you'll be lucky to make $65K now. This place is excellent if you don't mind not working every day or maybe looking to retire. Management will tell you what you want to hear and is very good at making himself sound like he knows what he is doing, but in reality, he talks in circles but sounds good when speaking.

The trucks are old and break down all the time unless you get a truck that starts with an 813 or higher. The head mechanic at the St. Louis shop is horrible and lazy, but he is considered the golden boy of Corporate. 

It's an easy job but beware of the lack of work once you have been here a while.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It doesn't matter what your hired to do, MTS coerces you to do what they need done.  I was hired OTR and paid mileage.   When they needed local or short haul done, you had to do it.  So I would be paid mileage and make $150 for a days work while the drivers dedicated on the account recieved $350 for the same work.  When asking for fair pay, I was told no you signed up for OTR so you get paid OTR rate.  I left after a couple instances of this because, as an employee,  I couldn't refuse to work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Dispatch never shared information.   If your load required a pick up number, it was never sent.  You had to be atcthe shipper blocking the gate to get your pickup #

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Good people limited by how management  chose to run the dispatch.   

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
OTR was great.  The constant shortage of dedicated acct and local drivers created a situation of "what now" every time you emptied out. Preloads that were never picked up.  Spend half a day loading somebody elses load for $7 an hour.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Truck driver 352 salaries reported	$319 per day
Local driver 3 salaries reported	$350 per day
Diesel mechanic 5 salaries reported	$31.38 per hour
Owner operator driver 4 salaries reported	$205,070 per year
Driver 3 salaries reported	$295 per day

Working at Martin Transportation Systems: Company Overview and Reviews

Martin Transportation Systems

Martin Transportation Systems Ratings

Popular jobs at Martin Transportation Systems

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected