Thinking of Joining TMC... How are the newbies doing?

Maybe I'll see you there, Fozzy!

 

I have heard that they try to have you do 5 loads a day...with the average being around 600...shouldn't be too hard. It worried me a little bit at first, but the way that I see it, if i am going to be away from home, my family and friends, I want to be making good money and working hard. Now that doesn't mean running illegal, but I do wanna make some money.
Hey sounds good Jarhed. Are you still trying to decide to go there or just when?

 

Just when. They are pretty much my first choice. I've been on the phone weekly with my recruiter. I should be done with school on the 2nd or Third, and assuming I pass my CDL test on the 2nd, I will hopefully be going to Iowa the weekend following for a Monday 8/6 start date.

BTW, dont you mean 5 loads per week? $600 sounds a little on the low side. At .23% thats only about $690 gross per week. Course, I'll be doing long haul from here in Mexifornia, so maybe mine will be higher value loads? I know that long haul doesnt tarp as much, I suspect they are mostly large steel parts, copper and steel coils, etc... That cant be THAT cheap to ship, I would imagine.

 

When I said 600...I ment that they say average trip is 600 miles, not $$. Sorry for being not so clear. From what i here (btw...I am doing the reginal not the long haul) after you get your truck, on average he said you would gross around 950 a week for the first month. After 1 month the evaluate you and give you a raise based on performance. He said then again...on average you will be up to around 1020 a week. Sex months from then will be another raise witch is performance based and should be around 1100. Sounds good...just hope it is for real.

 

Good point. Just going to run as hard as I can, stay safe, and try to earn as much as possible. I figure they are still my best choice as far as earnings are concerned.

I wish I could run regional/Line Haul but I'm on the west coast for the time being. Once we get this house sold (that should take just a little less than forever) and get moved to the east coast, I'll do their linehaul so I can be home more regularly. Wife is on board with this as it's the quickest way for me to get reemployed and be able to provide (which unemployment checks cant do). Nothing wrong with a little sacrifice, no matter how much it may suck for me not being home.

 

How much you make will primarily depend on where you live, or if you are longhaul how long you stay out. There are good freightlanes and there are cheap freightlanes. Some runs will pay you well, and some don't pay enough to eat a meal while on them. I was booked on one run last week out of the house in Maine, paying me 28% of $820, supposedly on 819 miles to Detroit MI. Well to get that for miles takes you through Canada and down some forest roads here in Maine. To actually take a route entirely in the US was going to be 965 miles at least. Now that load cancelled due to lack of product at the shipper so I got a different run from the same shipper going to the same company in a different state that paid me 28% of $1650 on 1200 miles. Figure that one out. Same Shipper, same customer, same carrier, different rate per mile. Freight out of Maine is cheap usually, and freight in is scarce (same problem you have in your part of the country Brickman) but I make up for that in the low cost of living.

As company drivers at TMC we do not get a percent of the fuel surcharge. The fuel surcharge is calculated off the top before our percent is calculated from what is left. The way I know about it is this. I collected a COD check for the delivery of a load for $1100, but I only got paid my 28% of $965. I believe that that worked out to sixteen cents per mile at that time. I believe that it changes by the week. I also believe that we are not paid a percentage of the "extra's" like tarp pay and stopoff pay. We are paid a fixed rate on those and that we are paid for that weather it is included in the original rate or not.

I also had a run that billed at $9.25 per mile, so I made $2.59 per mile myself. Now mind you it was only a 54 mile load, but I would much rather earn my $140 for a days work on 50 miles rather than 500 miles. The owner operator that I loaded next to at that place was making a killing running two of those loads per day for that rate, and only 220 actual miles on his truck each day. I could go for almost $4000 in revenue to the truck on less than 1000 miles while being home every night, couldn't you? He will be sorry to see that construction project wrap up.

 

Good stuff Rawlco. Thanks!

I guess just keeping the left door closed and the fingers crossed for the best loads is the best policy. I'm going OTR from Southern California so hopefully I'll have decent paying cargo.


Anyone ever run skateboards from Cali here? Any insight into the Flatbed Longhaul freight to/from Cali?

 

Tmc is a good choice, I wish that I was still in their truck. My experience with them was not perfect, and I'll take some of the blame for that. You will get a very good opportunity with them, make the best of it. I made decent money on long haul, no loads under 1000 miles, which I liked. I was being paid percentage of load.You will get good training and get a good truck when your training is done. Good Luck and be careful, watch out for those 4 wheelers.