TMC Transportation, Inc. - Des Moines, Ia.

Yes, you have a 14 hour day. On an ideal day, everything goes right, you have a 15 minute PTI, the trainee drives for 11 hours, that leaves 2.75 additional hours on the 14 hour clock. The trainer can drive for an additional 2.75 hours making 13.75 hours legal driving in one day.

I disagree about the team driving cannot be training. At some point you have to let your trainee's hand go. You have had three weeks to evaluate him. You trust him, now you need to let him make his own decissions, without looking over his shoulder. You are only an arms length away and you can be up front in seconds. Personally, I think it is a valuable training exercise to drive, essentially, on your own. Many people do not agree on this, but I think it is an important step in training. Obviously, if the trainer does not think the trainee can handle the responsibility on his own, he will remain in the front seat and even recommend that the trainee not pass.

 

good luck finding a slave to drive 11 hours straight. what about the time to pick up the load? deliver the load? fuel? lunch? oh wait, they're probably no time to eat.

 

TMC has about 3,000 trucks. The last time I checked the graduating class was less than 40 people. I do not know what the real numbers may be.

During this time of economic slowdown and the seasonal slowdown I would expect a higher rate of drivers quitting. Again, I do not know what these numbers may be.

 

Why do you have such a hard on for TMC, did they turn you down?

 

Why not? I made 0.38/mi and I managed to make just under $43,000 my 1st yr.

 

I remember TMC offering percentage pay or mileage pay. I don't recall 40cpm for a new driver though(with any company). Maybe they upped the anti since I looked into the company.

The average new driver earns about 31cpm. If you make that much and work all 52wks in a yr, you're looking at just over 40K averaging 2500mpw. Of course, that's only 2/3 the advertised 60K in question. Most new drivers, sad though it seems, will be lucky to run so many miles. That "average driver" will run closer to 2250mpw and gross a little over 36K.

Ontop of the other hopes, a new driver needs to consider the fact, according to TMC, he/she will spend the 1st 8 weeks(that's 2 of the 1st 12 months) in training. During that time, the driver will earn $2,700.

Now you've got 10 months to earn $57,300.00 ... For a new driver... Very unlikely... That's an average gross pay of over $1,300.00 per week. At 31cpm, that requires about 4,250mpw. You ain't likely doing that legally.

To reach the goal we're discussing, a driver needs to reach their 32% pay program within 6 months of hire. Most drivers are more likely at about 25%.

At 38cpm, you averaged about 2250mpw, as I was saying above. Training included in the yr, you probably ran more miles once solo. It's just a point of how unrealistic it is to expect 60K. 43K isn't even close when you think about it. Infact, it's about 4 more months at the $.38 rate, if you run 3,000mpw.

 

Doesn't seem like he's upset to me. He's being pretty realistic. TMC seems like a decent company, but this is a "bad" forum, and you may as well expect to see things here which are not particularly nice.

Besides, have you ever driven 11 straight? I have(except short bathroom stops) and it ain't fun or easy.

When training, the trainer is supposed to be on duty. That's just how it should be. At some point, training should be completed and the "student" should be deemed a "driver" instead. At that point, the trainer should be able to drive a normal schedule. Should it happen in the 1st few weeks? Probably not, even with a good student. Does it? Of course, and all too often it leads to a tragic ending.

 

Ok. Point taken. I guess that I should have clarified just exactly what I was posting in reference to. When I 1st came across this thread, I read a post stating that first yr drivers shouldnt expect to make more than 35-36k their first yr. (not that first yr drivers were making 60k). My point was that it is totally possible to make more than 35-36k their first yr. I guess that I should also point out that I've never driven for TMC, I was just talking in general. I was driving for Maverick at the time for 0.38/mi and I left just before they went to 0.40/mi. If I had stayed with them another yr, I would have made at extremely close to 50k if not more.

 

It is the take home pay that most of us consider when we think of our own wages. Even gross though, 36K is about all the average new driver makes. Almost all new drivers start at less than 32cpm. At that rate, averaging 2250mpw and driving all 52 in the 1st yr... $37,500 is about all they'll make. Sure, more can be made. It just isn't normal.

 

I guess it's all dependent on where you are working at. I drove on a dedicated Sears account for Swift # 0.32/mi, then went to Maverick # 0.38/mi, and leased a truck with ATS averaging 1.38/mi.