Eckz did a good job explaining the out of route, I will just add a few numbers to give you an idea of how it works.

TMC's computer knows that for each load you start empty at point A, then drive to point B to get loaded, then drive to point C to make your delivery. At TMC the trip from point A to B is called the "bounce" while others call it deadhead. Now the computer calculates that from B to C is 800 miles while your bounce from A to B is another 200 miles. That makes a total of 1000 miles. Now several things happen on this trip, the first is that your actual customers are not in the exact center of the city, so in some cases you have to go 10 miles past the center of town, then take a right and go 5 miles down in and around an industrial park to get loaded, so that makes 15 miles extra so far, but you have to go back out the same way you came in so double that to 30. Later along the way you take the loop around a couple of cities to avoid the downtown traffic so add another 15 miles. Each time you exit the highway in search of food or fuel you add up another mile circling the truckstop. By the time you make your deilvery you have actually driven 1050 miles instead of the 1000 that the computer expected. So you take those 50 miles and divide by the original 1000 and you get 5% which is fantastic. TMC expects you to have from 4% to 10% out of route. Now if you had taken that detour through a friends house and used another 50 miles you would have gotten 10% out of route all together.

Am I making any sense yet?

With some of the miles you can explain them away. Say that one of those cities that you needed to take the loop around was because you had to get fuel, so that gives you those 5 miles free, and somewhere there was an accident so you had to detour 5 miles out of your way to get around it. You just tell your Fleet Manager and it will be taken care of.

Now your out of route will only catch your FM's eye if it is above 15% most of the time, and one load being high won't get you in trouble, but keeping your extra miles down towards 6% will get you a lot better pay than 10%

__________________
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

-- J R R Tolkien

Not sure, can't speak for truthfullness there, either. I guess it could be possible if you started monday out with a load that paid you a grand, those are few and far between right now, though.

hey eckz are you a trainer with tmc?

Thanks for that explanation eckz. That makes it real easy to understand.

When i was on the road i was a Trainer, yes.

Ok everyone sorry bout the delay. But it's been busy here. I left off at day 3. So day 4 was basically simulation and backing in the yard. All went well there. Not much more to mention about day 4. Day 5 was the first day of Load Securement. Everyone watched some films and then the fun began. First thing we did was carry the tarps around and went thru some exercises to test our endurance. After that we climbed a ladder up on top of a 13' 6" container and stood on the edge with our feet hanging off just past our toes or a little more. Just to test balance and see if you have a fear of heights. Then more classroom study and shop training on load securement. Day 6 was going over all the trailers and different load setups and more tarp carrying. lol Learned all the different tools and supplies needed for proper securement. More study and that was it for day 6. Day 7 (Sunday, today) we took a test on computers on load securement. Then we had to go to 7 different trailers in groups of 4 to set up and secure each trailer, we were given 30 minutes per trailer. That was actually fun a great learning experience. By the way we started out with 33 students, down to 28 not really bad. Still have till Friday tho. Tomorrow (Monday) we start driving and yard work. Then we will be on the road also. That's all that is left till Friday. Hopefully Friday will be my official hire date. I'll keep everyone updated, hopefully I'll be joining the TMC family come Friday. Take care all.

glad it is going well dex keep up the good work and keep us posted

how do tmc drug test is it urine,blood,swab or what? just wondering

Well all I had to do was a urine test. Hope that helps.

Thanks I will do that. As I said earlier, just have the driving to get thru in just 4 days. The weather here has turned frigid 4 degrees here and snowing. I'm sure if I stay focused and don't make any bonehead mistakes I'll be fine. Take care.