Im 35, have 2 years of driving. No flatbed experience. Thinking of coming to TMC. Gotta make more money. How is orientation for experienced drivers ? Would i have to go out with a trainer? Ive pulled everything, but looking for something new. Anyone live in Ky? Does TMC run NYC? Are the shippers harder to find than if you were in a van? Ive been to the steel plants and seen TMC trucks sitting. Must not be on E-logs yet. Hard to make money sitting for 4 hours cutting into your drive time. What do you guys do if your suppose to tarp and the wind is just too strong ? Can you fuel when and where you want or do they route you everywhere? Thanks for any info.
experienced driver, no flatbed experience
Discussion in 'TMC' started by Tweetskillet, Apr 24, 2012.
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Anyone? I have to make a decision this week.
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It may have changed since I started 5yrs ago, but I was in Des Moines for a week then 2 weeks with trainer. I had 14yrs exp, not all otr.
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1. as exp you will have 1 week des moines orientation, 2 weeks with trainer
2. yes they do nyc, but not a huge volume
3. when it's cold/wet/windy, you just buckle down and do your job. tarps can be a pain, but thats flatbed
4. its maybe easier maybe harder to find shippers/cons, kind of depends on the loads, typically you have a little more room inside the facilities but they differ widely based on location and land available to shipper /cons
5. they route you, its not that bad, we get horribly stupid routes and stops from time to time, but again if its a dispatch model, their truck, thats just the industry, associated with that, fuel is their routing/their network (policy is 1 yr with co before you deviate from routing)
6. no e-logs... yet, correction, no aobrds yet, they allow eclipse elog but it must be purchased and you must have a printer in the truck in case dot doesnt want to look at your logs on lappy
that covers the specific questions i think -
in the spirit of full disclosure
cons
61 mph limit
they will stretch you thin first month or so
these Next few are flatbed specific not tmc specific
hard work, i mean HARD, if you didnt sweat while securing, you are either very slow and making little cash, or you didnt secure it right
weather, while securing/unsecuring -
No idle? How are the benefits? Is it true 100 people start orientationand like 5 make it to see a trainer? Do you take any written test or anything i should study for? Id be pretty upset if iget sent home. I didnthide anything on my app, so im not worried about them finding dirt on me.
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my class began with 30, at end of 2 weeks we had 20, at release (after trainer) i counted 10, of those that made it, half can be expected to not last a year (trucking industry statistic not tmc, trucking lifestyle hard for most to adjust to) so at the end of the year 5 of 30 should remain (maybe)
for what its worth we had a fairly on the ball group and were told that they were suprised at the passing rate, they expected only 5 out of the original 30 to pass and get their own truck, beleive it or dont as you will
you do take a series of tests but it is not written, it is all on the computer, well steel coil test is written
the topics are trucking specific for the most part and partially tmc flatbed specific, its all stuff that if you get less than 70 % on then you absolutely MUST apply yourself to learning while with trainer because a large amount has to do with being safe as opposed to the guy rolled over on the offramp
my 2 cents
yes i drive for tmc -
I had 6 months oilfield Heavy Frac pumps and they sent me out 4 weeks with trainer, because of no flatbed exp. Some of my class had F/B exp and got their trucks Thursday or Friday first week, every class is different. We had 9 in the "experanced" group and I think we all made it to our own trucks. Their test drive is about 4 miles, 3 or 4 rights a couple of lefts and back into a 45 deg parking slot. Don't hit any curbs, get out and look during backing at least 2-3 times and get into assigned slot within 5 minutes and you pass, this is done with a SPREAD AXLE and dump valve. Backing is another beast from vans, they just handle different. TMC does get picky on the progressive shifting of the 13 spd trans. I did it in June 2012.
The rookie class had 40 something about 25 made it to trainer and about 1/2 of those got a truck.
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