Considering TMC whats the Good, Bad, and Ugly about them.

Well; their drivers got the ugly part covered...

 

when did you go to work for them again?

 

OK, TMC drivers, here's jugement question for you. I am interested in flatbedding for one reason: the exercise. TMC is attractive because they're 48 states and Canada and I live near Canada...sort of. But I want to know more about the level of exercise needed right out of the chute. I used to be pretty buff when I was younger, but I haven't been younger in a pretty long time. Can you experienced guys give me some indication of the level of exercise I can expect? I would appreciate more than something like, "You have to throw hundred pound tarps up onto the deck" because I have no mental reference for that.

Before I call recruiting, who can answer? Who can give me the good, the bad, and the ugly about exercise?

 

Hey hey hey, i make this job look good

 

Yeah, the easy stuff you can do just do it like i replaced a headlight this morning. Easy. They go about 35000 between pms, i never had problems. Ya figure with 10 gals of oil it can do that. Say ya swap trailers n get a bald one on there, get it changed. You might be down a hour or so but its not worth the risk of a blow out or dot check. plus i know from exp sitting on the shoulder with trucks going by at 60+ is nerve racking.

 

I'm not sure how they are now.but tmc was my first driving job almost 6yrs ago.

The good. Some of the best trucks an trls on the road,thought I was the s### been driving bout 2months an got a new 05 379. I was broke but I looked good going down the road. very fast road service. I had a flat on the sup single in nc an after calling in @3am someone was out there in no time. I got home every fri nit-sat morn an left back out sun nit-mon morn. , loved the 13speed an sup singles. Personaly I think they get better traction n snow but not mud. Several drop n hook loads, an right before I left they started doing pre plans so you always know you next load.and I never had a problem with weight an also if your in la I wanna say I use to get loads of rebar out of there.

The bad. You will run illigal actualy my trainer had me backing up my book 1st week in truck,I forgot who or what he was but a guy over the traines would call me an my trainer to see if I was willing to creative loging, an they have a women n the office for you to call when you need 2 "find hours". You MUST wash truck every week or after 3rd time your pay gets docked. Could only get 50 gal of fuel in GA an I live in ga. If your just starting out it is harder to back spread axle trl an more stress riding down road able to look at your load especially if tarps are flapping with no were to pull over lol. 2month n my truck 3rd month driving I got a load in. minnesota going to new york city"bob cats" they promised if I took it to syracuse someone would take it on in for me"they lied" I never been so lost an nervous in my life I crossed the gw bridge 4 times lol. Don't ask.also they have $300 deductible on loads, so you damage something with strap or whatever you pay for the first 300 of the repair.


The ugly. If you see a tmc truck with an orange triangle on side that's there tell tell drivers there job is to call in on there "co workers" if they think they are doing something bad. I only asked to get home early once an I never made it. The reason I quite was when I meet my new dispatchor back sep 06 I told him I was getting married in may 07 an was taking 2weeks off actually I told everyone at tmc even b4 I started I what my plans were. Well come march I reminded them then in april was told I could only have one week off then right before time to take off was told I could only have a long weekend 4 days. So I was in pa when they said that so I went droped truck off next day in columbia sc an got someone to pick me up an I quite, then they said I had some chains an stuff missing from my buck head an charged me 250.


In short would I recommend tmc no. Not starting out anyway. You said you were not sure about the shifting, from what I hear an see most of the big companys now have all auto shifts so that may not be a problem an take some stress off just starting out. An if you get a 10,13,15 whatever all the trainers well work with you before they will turn you lose to your own truck. To me sounds like all the big companys are the same you just gotta fig out what you want to pull,flat,dry,tanker,reff. Personaly I say just starting out pull a dry van. Just me.

Sorry for bad typing on a black berry. Good luck.

 

To me buddy flat bed really wasn't that much exercice. Yea its better than sitting in a truck all day but about 60-70% of my loads I just got out an threw 12 straps across the trl an when I did tarp the shipper always put my tarps on the fork lift an sat them on the trl. And some places even tarped it for me. You got to types of tarps steel an wood. Steel tarps are light an easy to use but the wood tarps are very heavy. I guess its like picking up a giant 150lbs medican ball an throwing it. I never minded steel tarps but hated the wood tarp an im 6'2 205 an it was ruff. Also u can't be scared of hights!! I know loads of sheet rock they would put tarps up with fork lift then I would have to climb on the top of my truck then jump across onto the load to drop tarps. Its more dirty then anything. Going to thes construction sites in mud, getting bog down straping rusty rebar an coils an what ever.and u being up north when the temp drops an tarps freez its almost impossibale to rollem back up. Course when the wind gets them an blows across parking lot you can get cardio chasing them lol. So yea after doing it 4 a year I got respect 4 flat beds an know why they make more. For me I found a company were I can unload all of my trucks. Nothing is on a pallet just 1700 boxes thrown in a 53ft trl. An I have to unload all by hand. An that's my work out. Especially in summer after in that trl 4 3hrs it looks like I fell in a pool.

Maybe that will help a lttle.