Orientation : My Experience.

I just got out of orientation on 4/8/2011, and I thought I would share my TMC experience here. Perhaps I'll answer some prospective driver's questions!

Rule #1, you do NOT step on the grass. Not at the hotel, and not at the main facility. Furthermore, they are just as serious about cigarette butts on the ground. DON'T DO IT!

The hotel is the Baymont Inn and Suites in Ankeny. It's actually really nice, and you have the full run of the place. Breakfast costs 3.18$ and is well worth the couple bucks. In addition to your fellow orientation-mates, there is no shortage of actual drivers staying there at any given times. For the most part, these guys loved talking about their jobs. They'll answer questions all day long. Furthermore, I didn't talk to anyone that was unhappy with TMC.

Days 1-4
You'll be in the classroom, going over pretty much the same stuff you learned at trucking school. The only thing that will be news to you here is TMC's policies.

On day one, you will be given a new physical and drug screen. Two things here.
1) Don't mention that you snore. One guy did, and they tested him for sleep apnea. He got sent home the next day.
2) Don't try to fool the drug test. It's not that it's any different from any other drug test, but George (the guy in charge of the classroom), promises that he'll personally burn your DAC with a drug test failure. Furthermore, TMC doesn't have to pay for your ride home if you bomb the drug test.

There are 5 tests you will take. General Knowledge, General Math, and DOT regulations are the first three. You get a calculator (if you don't have one, the computer has one installed), and a copy of the federal regulations handbook, so these tests are super easy.

The last two are timed tests. One is on driver behavior, and I forget what the other one was

Don't screw around and fail these either. It didn't happen with my group, but the group before mine said they lost a few people due to low test scores. Even if that's not the case, at the end of orientation, they look at your overall progress to decide if you move along to the next phase.

Don't fall asleep. One guy did, and went home on the spot.

Days 5-7 (The weekend)
Load securement class. You're going to learn how to secure all kinds of loads. They have a bunch of real loads on hand for just this purpose, so it's actually pretty good hands-on training. You're going to be split into groups. Just don't screw around in this phase. We did lose one guy because he kept taking breaks... in the instructor's chair... while everyone else worked.

At the end, you'll take the final test on the computer. They grade this test on a curve : it's 70 questions, and if you miss 6 or more, you fail. The upside to this is that they give you a word-for-word copy of the test on day 5. You'll spend the next 2 days specifically addressing each question in the classroom, then again in the hands on area. Furthermore, the instructors will freely provide the answers up until the minute the test is administered. There is no excuse for failing this.

If you do fail this test, you'd better know how to drive.

Day 8 - go home time.

The rest of your orientation will be spent driving. (Who'd have thought you'd actually DRIVE in this job??) The time is split between actual road time, and time in the backing yard.

There are 4 maneuvers you'll be doing in the backing yard. 45 degree backing, 90 degree backing, serpentine backing, and the figure 8. Make it your goal to do at least one of everything every day. If you don't get many done, it's grounds for termination. (lost 2 guys because they only got 1 maneuver done in 2 days. Cmon guys, what did you expect?)

One thing to remember : They don't care one bit about time. They tell you to GOAL (Get out and look) about every 4 feet. No joke. They don't care if it takes you 20 minutes to back into the target zone, as long as you don't hit any cones.

For the actual driving, it's actually a lot of fun. Unless you went to a really ritzy driving school, you were probably driving old junkers that have been beaten into oblivion by legions of inept students. Jumping from that to these shiny Petes is like going from Pinto to a Rolls-Royce. Just don't be scared of the 13 speed trans if you learned on a 10 or 9.

They tell you not to skip gears when out driving. I skipped gears while downshifting about 50% of the time while in town and never heard a peep out of the instructor. I didn't get any brownie points for it either, so if you are uncomfortable with the idea then don't do it.

Some of my classmates said that they were told not to use the Jakes either. Again, I did, and didn't hear a word about it. My instructor said this : "The Jake brakes are just another tool to help you drive. Why shouldn't you learn to use them?"

In conclusion, I had a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to driving for TMC. If you're thinking of attending their orientation, come with a good attitude and do your best. They don't expect perfection, they expect you to listen, learn, and improve every day.

Oh, and tell George that 8 inches isn't all that big.

 

I know it was posted a while ago, but I'll answer DMB-FAN's questions...

My experience has been amazing. I'm the only person from driving school that is happy with their decision! I've been home every weekend with 2 exceptions. Once was to take a load that paid me 850$, and another that paid a little over 1,000$. They didn't have to twist my arm that hard lol.

Average miles... I don't know. I'm on the percentage plan, as you should be too. So miles are meaningless to an extent. What I can tell you is that the cheapest loads I have hauled are around 650$ (at the starting rate, that's 149$ for a day's work), the average is closer to 750 and 800, 1200 and up from time to time. And the occasional god-send that tops 4 grand.

Pay : average paycheck is 650ish take home. But, I go home every weekend. If you choose to stay out, you take home considerably more (800 to 1000 for me).

Idle restriction : there isn't one... kinda. they did grumble at me one time, but it was because the road repairs dept told me to never turn the truck off until the starter got fixed. Explained the situation, conversation was over. From what I understand, you have to idle the engine 30% of the time it's online in order to get on the "bad boy" list. And even then, if you have a good reason, they leave you be. (like a country-wide heat wave)

Truck accessories : No power inverters (unless it's the company one), No cosmetic changes. That's about it. Put an oven, cooler, tv, lot lizard detector, whatever you want in there as long as it doesn't damage the truck.

Dispatcher : Apparently I got lucky on this one. Mine is awesome for the most part. But from what I hear, there are some real screwups in the dispatching dept. But, I think it's fair to say that there are jerky/stupid dispatchers in every fleet out there.

Seasonal slowdowns : Haven't had a winter here yet... but if I had to guess, I'd say that there will be a bit of a slowdown in the winter. I haul a fair bit of shingles, drywall, lumber, and other construction stuff. And there isn't much construction going on in the dead of winter lol. But, I haul plenty of other stuff too, so it won't be crippling.

 

Chromewheelz : Those were my starting checks, and the bottom % rate. 750-800$ is the current average take home. 650 still happens from time to time, but those are slow weeks. And 1,000$ and up can still happen if I get lucky.

I live in Effingham IL.

Motomack : looks like i should check this more often, since you'll likely be in your trainer truck before you read my reply lol.

I'm single with no kids, so we have the same insurance and deductions.

Word of advice for all.... Loads going to Canada consistently pay 2.00$ to 2.50$ per mile with TMC. At 27% (a VERY achievable goal if you go percentage pay), that's 54-67.5 cents per mile, and it's often a 900 - 1800 mile load. The only downside is that I've never made it home for the weekend with a Canadian load.

Along the same lines, if you decide to go mileage, put that passport into the nearest paper shredder. No way would I put up with Canada for 30-40 CPM.