Is TMS the one to choose

Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by pacman, Apr 3, 2010.

  1. pacman

    pacman Bobtail Member

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    Apr 3, 2010
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    I've been offered employment with TMC. I'm a little skeptical due to the post that i've been reading that go up and down. Can any of you drivers give me any wisdom on this issue? And, what to expect? Thanks
     
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  3. drillbit

    drillbit Bobtail Member

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    Oct 5, 2009
    sullivan il
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    I have been with tmc since october got my own truck in december and yes i am a new driver all together so take this as my opinion and nothing more definately not as the only way it is.

    In my opinion tmc is a starter company its a pretty good place to get your feet wet but may not be a long term choice. I have been run pretty hard since i got here with the occassional crap that i assume you find everywhere. Most of the time i am running hard 5 days a week and then i have had a couple loads that even though i could get them there earlier i had to wait to deliver per the consignee's instructions. Unfotunately that doesnt pay very well and i ended up losing money on the fact. I am a percentage based employee who just got to 27% you start at 23% and have to fight your ### off to move up even though they make it sound like a cakewalk. They will have you believing in orientation that you will be at 29% at the end of your first month and while i think that maybe this is possible no one i talk to got it done.

    I am averaging about 2400 to 3000 miles a week and that is just me keeping track to see if i am really making more money on percentage over mileage or if i need to change but with living in the midwest i am almost always paid better on percentage.

    A big key to your success is your FM ( and his load planners) unfortunatelly some of them really suck. I have a good fm but the load planners suck and will screw you a the drop of a hat.

    As far as home time it seems to be getting harder and harder to get home and i basically told them that it isnt optional for me i don't care about great paying loads as much as i care about getting home to my wife and kids. I am more than willing to stay out a couple weeks but if i ask you if your getting me home this weekend and you say yes then i expect to get home and i expect to get home friday for a full 34 hour restart. They have tried numerous times to send me home for 12 to 24 hours and i have refused to go home for that amount of time twice it just upsets the kids for me to be there that briefly.

    The past couple weeks i have not parked at home because they have not been able to get me all the way home but can get me within an hour of home and my wife comes and picks me up or inorder to get a 34 in i had to stop before home and have wife pick up and drop off so i could restart my clock and still make early monday delivery and start my week off right.

    Percentage wise i have been averaging 2800 dollars to the truck a week and still getting home.or close to home. I do know some guys who stay out 3 weeks at a time and have been running west and some big paying loads getting weeks of upper 4000. So take that for what its worth to ya. For me its alright to make less and get home more.

    Unfortunally i have had some issues with load planners/Fm and i basically said that i wont take it and had to fight back and things have been better. In my opinion they try to push as far and take as much as they can and you just have to make your limits know. And unfortunately i am short tempered on some stuff and got heated.

    Yesterday was good friday and i drove past my house to make delivery and then got there and found out they were closed for the holiday and the planner hadn't thought to ask. Luckily we jumped through some hoops got the plant managers home number and got me unloaded and then i got reloaded at another place but since so many places were closed had to take freight that didn't get my truck home again and i have to leave early sunday morning to make delivery on monday and am going to miss easter with the kids but i can understand some things just wish I wasn't forced into having to make that choice.... Again this is my situation and may or maynot be the normal situation for others. Take it and in my opinion everything you read on this site or hear from drivers everywhere with a grain of salt and form you own thoughts.

    #### ended up writing a book instead of a quick response. Apologies!
     
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  4. carterbeauford

    carterbeauford Medium Load Member

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    Mar 21, 2009
    northwestern PA
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    agreed they are a good place to start, load securement training and equipment are second to none. if you can stick it out 2 years you will have a decent resume and 2 weeks vacation, that's the way I see it.

    they have problems typical of any megacarrier, dispatch is almost robotic anymore, I never talk to my FM, just deliver one load and I have another one on the qualcomm. they have changed quite a bit in the 2 years I have been there, when I started there were a lot of good drivers, now they are more or less a driver mill, they have systematically forced out their experienced drivers and are using rookies at the bottom of the pay scale. a good indication as to the quality of drivers they are hiring is that they rolled 4 trucks in march alone, 3 coils and a load of paper rolls. my main problem is that they don't really seem to appreciate the type of driver that knows to take turns and offramps slow with a steel coil, like myself.

    lately I am pretty frustrated working for TMC, I don't get anything I ask for, like west coast runs, occasional help with routing, might ask for a different fuel stop because the suggested fuel stop is not on my route, ask for help with payroll problems, I never get a response. you are just a number to them. fleet managers are bean counters, as are team leaders. when there are too many or too few beans, they get angry.

    they like to micromanage every aspect of your life and that can become tiresome after a while. that and I can't seem to get any more than 2200 miles a week on mileage, my pay has been cut 1.5 cents per mile since I switched to mileage, having a hard time understanding the longer I work here, the less I make.

    I made $39,640 in 2009, I am guessing a realistic figure for a rookie who runs his ### off would be $42,000, maybe a little more since the economy has picked up. hometime will depend on where you live, I live off I80 and make it home virtually every weekend unless I stay in DSM for service. I can't seem to get long runs unless I stay out 2 weeks, and I can't ever seem to stay out 2 weeks when it's convenient for me. like I wont have any plans for the next 3 weeks, I'll request to run for the weekend, and will end up at home.

    bottom line, you can make a little money if you work your ### off, the work is dangerous, working conditions SUCK sometimes, sometimes they are rewarding (I dont mind rolling up a steel tarp on a sunny morning, can be a little bit of a workout) you learn invaluable job skills and are different than a lazy van driver, you will make it home most weekends, you can drive a truck that's really pretty to look at but goes really slow, you'll get sick of it after a year or two and someday will look back and laugh at having worked from TMC.
     
  5. pacman

    pacman Bobtail Member

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    Apr 3, 2010
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    #### ended up writing a book instead of a quick response. Apologies![/
     
  6. sdelong

    sdelong Bobtail Member

    Thanks for the post carterbeauford , drillbit and pacman.
     
  7. pacman

    pacman Bobtail Member

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    Apr 3, 2010
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    anyone else considering TMC?
     
  8. eckz

    eckz <strong>"Radio Rambo"</strong>

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    Sep 15, 2007
    Detroit, Michigan
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    I worked there for a reasonable amount of time. They screwed me, looking back, I'm glad they did. If they wouldn't have fired me over stupid horse dung I would've quit by now anyway.

    Some of the changes that have been made over the year and a half to two years that I have been gone are astounding. I can't believe how hard they have made the lives of their drivers by slowing the trucks down, taking away prepass, telling you where to fuel, etc. It's amazing how they want to micro-manage now.

    Back when I started they were a great company, but i don't think I've heard anything positive about them lately. And I deal with TMC drivers every day at work - Most of them lately have been utterly lost (Probably thanks to them stripping away trainer bonuses), and the ones that arent' lost and have any reasonable tenure are ready to call it quits.

    I don't think I'd ever go back. at one point in time I was hard core black and chrome, and was on here defending them during my weekend home time, but now it seems to me they are just like swift, J.B or any other, the only difference is the name on the door. You'll learn that.

    With that said, trucking in general isn't a job, it's a lifestyle. You are going to deal with a reasonable amount of crap no matter who you drive for. These days it seems like trucking companies make more money by screwing their drivers than they do by actually hauling freight.
     
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  9. pacman

    pacman Bobtail Member

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    Apr 3, 2010
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    Eckz, thank for the info. What are some other companys that i should look at. I live in nc with little to no seat time.
     
  10. pacman

    pacman Bobtail Member

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    Apr 3, 2010
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    The question that I have is what makes TMC a better company above all others, if any?
     
  11. carterbeauford

    carterbeauford Medium Load Member

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    Mar 21, 2009
    northwestern PA
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    shiny trucks, but shiny trucks don't make a company.

    also the aluminum trailers are really nice. that's about it.
     
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