Federal Safety Dossier
The Merchants Company
d/b/a Merchants Foodservice · Hattiesburg, MS · USDOT 78889 · 258 power units · large fleet
In a crash involving this carrier? This federal record is where your case starts. Send it to your state's attorney →
12
Crashes · 24 mo
0
Fatal · 24 mo
Self-insured
Insurance limit on file
Out-of-service inspection record
Out-of-Service (OOS) Rate — how often federal inspectors pulled this carrier's trucks or drivers off the road for safety violations.
Vehicle Out-of-Service (OOS) Rate
CARRIER: 6.5% | NATL AVG: 14.4%
Driver Out-of-Service (OOS) Rate
CARRIER: 2.0% | NATL AVG: 6.0%
At or below the national average (▸ marker).
Federal crash record · trailing 24 months
12 reportable crashes on file.
Fleet-wide averages don't decide individual cases. Liability turns on what this specific driver, dispatcher, and truck's logs show in the hours before your crash.
Liability Insurance Status
Liability insurance — the coverage this carrier has on file with federal regulators (filed under the federal category "BIPD," Bodily Injury & Property Damage).
Filed Liability Limit
Self-insured (federally authorized)
Claims backed by the carrier's own assets, not a third-party policy limit.
Primary Insurer
—
ACTIVE FILINGS (ALL TYPES): 1 | SELF-INSURED: Yes
What happens next
Send This Record to a Licensed Attorney in Your State
After a serious crash, the carrier's insurer is typically notified within hours. Their attorneys will review the same federal record you are reading now. So far, only one side is using it.
- Never resold
- Encrypted
- 1. Submit
- 2. Licensed attorney reviews
- 3. One firm contacts you
USDOT 78889 · The Merchants Company
FMCSA snapshot 2026-05-01 · metrics recomputed 2026-07-05
This record is attached to your submission — your attorney starts with the evidence already pulled.
Why timing matters
State law may give you years to file a claim — but the evidence often doesn't last that long. Dashcam and onboard data can be overwritten within days. Federal rules require carriers to keep a driver's electronic logs (ELD) for only six months; after that, deletion is lawful. A preservation letter from an attorney puts the carrier on formal notice — destroying evidence after that point risks court sanctions.
SafeNY is an independent legal-advertising service — not a law firm. Your submission is routed to one licensed personal-injury firm in your state.
Step 1 of 3 · What happened
Institutional appendix · technical record & compliance
Trailing 24-month federal record
Recent severe & fatal incidents — The Merchants Company
This carrier's trailing 24-month federal crash record. The cards below surface the most severe incidents; the full record of individual incidents follows. This is a records list, not a total.
Individual incident record
| Date | State | County | Severity | Fatalities | Injuries | Tow-Away | FMCSA Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 27, 2026 | AL | — | Injury | 0 | 1 | No | SAFER → |
| Mar 20, 2026 | MS | — | Injury | 0 | 1 | No | SAFER → |
| Mar 3, 2026 | LA | — | Property damage | 0 | 0 | Yes | SAFER → |
| Feb 11, 2026 | MS | — | Property damage | 0 | 0 | Yes | SAFER → |
| Dec 18, 2025 | AL | — | Property damage | 0 | 0 | Yes | SAFER → |
| Jun 23, 2025 | MS | — | Injury | 0 | 1 | Yes | SAFER → |
| Apr 25, 2025 | MS | — | Property damage | 0 | 0 | Yes | SAFER → |
| Jan 20, 2025 | GA | — | Property damage | 0 | 0 | Yes | SAFER → |
| Nov 18, 2024 | FL | — | Injury | 0 | 1 | Yes | SAFER → |
| Sep 13, 2024 | AL | — | Property damage | 0 | 0 | Yes | SAFER → |
| Aug 22, 2024 | SC | — | Property damage | 0 | 0 | Yes | SAFER → |
Mar 27, 2026
- State
- AL
- County
- —
- Severity
- Injury
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Tow-Away
- No
Mar 20, 2026
- State
- MS
- County
- —
- Severity
- Injury
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Tow-Away
- No
Mar 3, 2026
- State
- LA
- County
- —
- Severity
- Property damage
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Feb 11, 2026
- State
- MS
- County
- —
- Severity
- Property damage
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Dec 18, 2025
- State
- AL
- County
- —
- Severity
- Property damage
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Jun 23, 2025
- State
- MS
- County
- —
- Severity
- Injury
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Apr 25, 2025
- State
- MS
- County
- —
- Severity
- Property damage
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Jan 20, 2025
- State
- GA
- County
- —
- Severity
- Property damage
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Nov 18, 2024
- State
- FL
- County
- —
- Severity
- Injury
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Sep 13, 2024
- State
- AL
- County
- —
- Severity
- Property damage
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Aug 22, 2024
- State
- SC
- County
- —
- Severity
- Property damage
- Fatalities
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Tow-Away
- Yes
Source: FMCSA Motor Carrier Crash File (github-actions-monthly) · Data snapshot May 24, 2026. Each crash record is individually verifiable via FMCSA SAFER.
Federal violation record — 58 violations recorded in the trailing 24-month inspection window. Source: FMCSA SMS BASIC.
Night-driving crash pattern
The SafeNY Night-Driving Pattern: Of 9 documented crashes in the past 5 years, 6 occurred in dark conditions. This represents a 66.7% dark-condition share, which is statistically distinct (p<0.01) from the national FMCSA baseline of 25.7%.
Related carrier records
Three ways to cross-reference this carrier's record: state peers, comparable-fleet carriers, and the worst national records.
Other MS carriers worth cross-referencing
Other high-record carriers domiciled in MS.
Comparable fleet size and jurisdiction tier
Carriers in Tier D jurisdictions with a fleet within ±100% of this carrier's power-unit count.
Other high-record carriers nationally
A national cohort of carriers with comparable federal records footprint.
Verified federal extraction · 2026-07-05 05:55:14 UTC