Can anyone tell me if their trucks have a fridge in them? I figure with them being loaded like they are they probably do.

Also can someone explain idle time to me. I understand where TMC wants it to be kept under but is that for all idle time? I see most trucks idling at night, or at least I think they are because all their marker lights are left on. What about when it's very hot or very cold outside, they idle them then don't they? I can handle the heat but the cold is a killer for me, the old bones just don't take it like they used to.

I'm leaving sunday to head to Des Moines so if nobody answers these I'll be finding out down there I guess. Thanks for all the good post in the other threads, they have really helped. Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holidays!

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Even the biggest a-hole will change his attitude if shown nothing but respect and brotherly love.

Anytime the temp drops to 15degrees or below they want the truck to idle at all times even on the weekends you are at home.Other than that it is left up to the driver.They want you to be comfortable but on the other hand it can and will cut into your'e pay.Only time it don't is when the temp.is 15 degrees or colder/Then like I said it is compant policy that the truck idles.

I hate cold weather but I can sleep pretty good when it's around 45 to 65 deg. I can get under those covers and sleep like a baby, but it sure is hard to crawl out of bed in the morning. I can sleep pretty good as long as it isn't above 80 or so without any air. Man 15 deg! If it ever got that cold her we would shut the town down! Actually it very rarely gets that cold here. Even today it's only 61deg.

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Even the biggest a-hole will change his attitude if shown nothing but respect and brotherly love.

Good Morning.
I see there is a TMC truck parked near Rt.301 in Va., close to Ft AP Hill. I was wondering if that driver a member of this forum. The reason why I ask is because I see that he gets good home time on the weekend. I was wondering what they are hauling, or if they are on a dedicated account. Thanks.....

Grumpy1, best of luck to you in Des Moines. If you have time while you're there, please share with us how your time in orientation is going.

I'll try to but I'm not taking my laptop with me. If they have somewhere that I can access the the web site I'll make some post. If not I'll try to post what all happened after the oreintation but before I leave with a trainer. I've been watching the weather channel and it looks like the weather has made a change for the better up there. Of course with my luck there will be a freak blizzard hit! Let me give an example of my luck. While driving one day in driving school I was pulled over by DOT. I didn't do anything wrong, he said he just wanted to do a GI on the truck. The instructor said they had never been stopped in the five years he had been there! Now get this! They found three violations and made the school shut the truck down until they were corrected. A few days later one of the trucks quit while we were about twenty miles from the school. Guess who was driving? Yep, Me! The fuel filter had become clogged. I talked the instructor into letting me look at it and I was able to get it running good enough to make it back to the school, limping. I had the highest grade point average, I won the backing rodeo and I won a new award... The most unlucky student! They were just ribbing me and said that the trucks should have been in the shop for regular maintnance before our class started but it just worked out where they didn't make it. At least I know what to expect now if the DOT pulls me over for an inspection.

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Even the biggest a-hole will change his attitude if shown nothing but respect and brotherly love.

Hey Grumpy, do you own a Dodge truck andpost on the cummins message boards? I just read a post from a fella in Carthage.

Anyway, congrats and good luck with TMC. I'm going to try again in a couple weeks but might end up having to go to Werner for a couple months to get recent experience again then upgrade if TMC will have me.

Carthage, TX. I loaded from Georgia Pacific on more than one occassion. Some of those loads are hot loads (heat wise.) They will load you, but you can't tarp it for hours. You just have to sit on the side of the road until it cools off.

Luckily, I never had one of those. They load you fast there, strapping and then tarping are pretty fast.

They check each load and mark the BOL, tarped or not.

I imagine during the summer here that could take quite some time! Does TMC tarp EVERY load? Is that a requirement from their customers or is it done as a courtisy to them, for saftey, ect?

It is up to the customer. Sometimes TMC requires it on high value loads when going home for the weekend.

It will tell you on your Qualcomm Load Screen if the load has to be tarped or not.

With, experience, you know if this is true or not. If it said tarp, I tarped. Sometimes it doesn't say to tarp on the Load Screen, but the customer may tell you to tarp. Just make sure you tell your FM, so you can get paid.