TLI

Heading up Sun. to start orientation Mon. Not sure if this is the proper location to start this thread. What can I say, not sure if it'll turn out good or bad. Anyway thought I'd start it here and go from there. Perhaps down the road it will help others. Bit about me. Owned four trucks/trailers with my own authority from mid 90"s to early 2000. Since that came apart I've basically stayed with owner operators. Guess I'm just ole school. Have really done only one company gig. (Knight) for a year. Actually I had no issues there. Been out of a truck for 1.5 yrs. In November hooked up with a small outfit in Camden,Ar. Lasted two weeks. Very dishonest company.

Onto to TLI. Transco Lines Inc. Based in Russellville,Ar. Obviously just know now what was explained on phone. The recruiter seems to be straight up, said he wasn't going to tell me anything that wasn't true. I personally don't enjoy running the northeast, he told me I'll probably be seeing it. Was told 85% of their freight runs east of the mighty Mississippi and a lot of Texas. Really nice trucks with O/O specs. I'm hopeing for a Pete 386. All their trucks have frig's. and if you bring an inverter they'll install while you do orientation. The Pete's I saw out on the road all had 70" sleepers. Was told they have some 387's KW t-600 and T-660's, and just a few International Prostars. Governed at 67 mph. Three day orientation pays $200, course they foot the bill for motel and I'm told they provide a real lunch. Hazmat required,they give 30 days to get the process started. Dry vans. The lady that got back to me to set up motel arrangements was very pleasent and kind. Pay is .34 to start,.35 after 6 mos.,and a penny a yr. up to .38 Major medical,vision,dental for $30.00 a wk. Prob. after 90 days. You know the drill. 50 % drop/hook,98% no touch. Dedicated accounts in Tx.,and Tn. Was told they have very little turnover.? 250 trucks makes for in my opinion a small company. I'm hopeing this is a good move. Will take my laptop but I don't have a modem as of yet. Gotta find something to purchase without a 2 yr. contract. Might be a week or so till I can add anything. Perhaps as this thred develops it will be of use to others. Happy trails.

 

Appreciate it rookie. That's what I was told. Lots of fed-ex,ups,and Lowes.

 

Okay, end of second day of orientation. Everything appears to be going well and the folks here are all laid back. First day gal checked my med card, said it was fine and wouldn't need a new one. Two other people here with me,a guy and a gal,both rehires. They both have been gone less than 6 months and have returned. Both said this is a good place to work. Human resource guy took us to lunch at a steak house, he's an ex driver and has been with the co. for 14 yrs. Watched a couple safety movies before lunch, and the insurance lady came in to talk to us. After lunch they tossed us the keys to a mini van and told us to go take our whiz quiz and return in the morning. Back to the motel by 3:00. Today was meetings with maintence manager,401 k lady,safety manager, and a guy from a seperate ins. co. that offers supplemental ins. above and beyond what's offered by T.L.I. Everyones pretty laid back. Safety manager talked the longest, flat out log things legal, not at all about the ole days of burnin up the roads with bullcrap logs. As we all know this is the future of trucking. We were told at lunch that the president of the company was sorry he couldn't be at lunch with us as he normally was with new hires, but he was down in New Orleans for the sugar bowl. Mostly a Peterbilt fleet with some International Pro stars and KW T-660's. The 86" sleeper for teams,70" for singles. Looks like they have a few Volvo 780's that will be gone when new trucks arrive. The gal here was wondering bout the Volvo as she'll be teaming with someone. Had a bit of an issue/concern with the super singles on drive axles. Maintence/shop manager told her, no biggie,they'll change them out for doubles. Looks like the other 2 trucks available are a 2010 Pro Star with 90,000 mi. and a 2010 Pete 386 with 135,000 mi. Tomorrow will be spent on haz-mat,trucks will be assigned,inspected by us,repaired if need be,permit book checked out,fuel cards given out,etc....... I'm pretty impressed with things so far,trucks are O/O spec'd. Drop yard in Little Rock, drop yard/shop in Mt. Pleasent,Tx. with drivers lounge&shower. They stress communication with load managers,importance of drivers moving freight on time and taking care of bussiness. 48% turn over rate. Mostly rehires return after seeing grass isn't all that much greener elsewhere. I'm sure it's not perfect,but sure looks promising. Quite frankly I'm pretty impressed. Oh, the gal lives in Alabama,and the fella lives in Indiana, I live in Arkansas. Load manager met with us and said there's no problem getting us home. They like a 7-10 day notice via quallcom followed by phone call. Hope this helps someone. Be careful out there.

 

Ooooops,forgot to add. I asked bout road test. Main man said if we're brought in we've been checked out and hired when we show up unless you fail the drug test. We wouldn't be there if we didn't have experience. No road tests given...........

 

Hi giants, didn't think there was an interest in my thread. I need to get steppin down the road, will post possibly tonight at length. Been here bout six weeks now and things are good.

 

finished orientation bout the 3rd. or 4th. of Jan. I stay out for a month at a time so was home from thurs. afternoon to tues. bout 11:00 They say one day home for 7 out. Pretty positive bout everything. Will definately keep you moving. Course there is no perfect company. But I'm pretty darn happy here so far. Caught a Ca. load a couple weeks ago which was nice during the cold spell and crappy roads. Averageing 3,000 mi. a week, course that can very depending on freight and where it's going. Looking at my latest pay stub. $3,838.36 in first month. Gross of course. Appears they do a good bit of freight up your way Giants. Waiting on a fed-ex load now here in Indy, going to Pocono Summit, Pa. Done Oh,WV,Il,Tx,Ca,Ga,Pa,NJ,Md that I can remember off the top of my head. They do require haz-mat but don't push too hard bout it. Just want you to start the process within a month. Pretty tight with Lowes, Fed-Ex, and Peterbilt freight. All drop and hook of course. I ended up with a 2006 Peterbilt 387 with over 700,000 mi.,ex team truck. Good truck, hasn't let me down. Apparently they used to trade out at 400,000 mi. but do to economy they've stretched that out. I'm told I'll be getting a new truck in the next few months. Pretty much all 386 Pete's now, they're replacing the old 387's. Also they're trying some Kenworth T-660's for the teams with 86" sleepers. Easy going folks. Just communicate if you have issues/problems. Oh, they pay real close to practical miles which is sweet. As you probably know with short mile pay you can easily run 400-500 miles a month you don't get paid for. On my last load from Ar. to Indy I was paid 199 mi. deadhead and actually ran 205 mi. I was paid on 705 loaded miles and ran 730 mi. Loaded miles was obviously less than 4%. If you have specific questions I'll do my best to answer them. Smaller company, just over 250 trks. They just ordered or waiting on some new trls. Air assist pins on trls. Let me know if I can help further.

 

Oh, trucks are O/O spec'd. Concert class stereo, refrigerator, and if you bring your inverter they'll install it. Nice having a micro and coffee pot with me. Cuts down on the daily expense of eating in truck stop. Also frees up where I shut down for the night since I don't need a truckstop for dinner.