My TMC experience.

It's not required, but they do request it. Kinda helps to have it and twic as you get points towards your certification for it

 

I've been in my own truck for just over 2 months now. if you don't count the 5 days that spanned across 2 paychecks, I've grossed over $1000 each week, most of those weeks at about 1300 gross. If you go with tmc you will not want to be concerned with milage, tmc specializes in near next day delivery on about 70% of their freight. You can choose to go on one of two pay scales percentage of the load, or mileage. me personally I'm on percentage, from what I can see, that is where more money is to be made on line haul. I've not had one load that paid more on milage running solo, or with my trainer. All pay increases are based on your performance. So basically it boils down to you get what you put in. You get bonus points for low out of route, and high fuel mileage. And that changes weekly. Fuel mileage is based on a fleet average. The more idle time you have, the less mileage you will have. I love yhe job,and it has been quite the learning experience. This week I'm going to be in Des Moines for my TQM class. It basically gives you feed back on you time management since you started, and you also get 5 bonus points per week that add up towards the next snapshot. Snapshots are taken approximately every 30 day's. Those snapshots determine if you get a pay increase, or decrease. My first snapshot I received a bump from 26 to 29%. There are plenty of other factors that go into it, but I'm not gonna go into them, it'll take 3 his to type and explain them all. Suffice it to say, I'm happy, although still learning

 

awesome to hear man, Ive not made it out to Texas yet, Im currently in Des Moines for my TQM class.

 

Well this week has been a solid one for the books so far. Im hunkered down at Bittles Flying J in Mt Airey North Carolina. Decent place for food. Parking sucks bawls....had to blind side back in between 2 o/o's. One was kind enough to spot for me. Im due in Hagerstown at the Lowes DC at 145pm with a load of particle board from Georgia Pacific out of Thomas Ga. My TQM class was a good time. Was kinda funny that I was the only guy there with as short of time with TMC. 9months vs the next closest was 14 months. The class is designed for people at 6 weeks solo to give them an idea of how they run, and ways to increase their productivity. Seems none of us in the class were what the instructor considered "nonproductive".

Im getting more used to it. Looking at my future options to see what direction I want to go. I could go dedicated, or after my 6 months and 1 winter I could look at being a trainer, but not sure I have what it takes to teach. My fuse is short with stupid. So far its been an eventful ride. I had one load claim costing me $300 as I am responsible for the first $300 of each load claim. The total claim was $318. It was a 4x4x4 block of insulation loaded 2 high on the back end of my trailer. One of my Xstraps failed and the wind blew it off onto the road. No damage to property or person, pissed me off cause I failed to secure it properly. Had one scare where I was threataned with a possible load claim for a very expensive steel coil that had gotten wet because I took my tarps off too soon and it started raining. The coil was sealed inside a plastic wrap, but the guy who unloaded me was still pissed. No claim has come from it, but I screwed up, and didnt like the ### reaming i received for my idiocy. There was one instance where a female driver in Chicago says I rolled back and hit her car. I dont think I did, the damage to her car doesnt support her story, and even the cop agreed with me. I didnt get a citation, cop told me "Welcome to Chicago, Next time cover your ### now, get lost"....Ill leave it at that.

Overall, im getting a system down on how to go about my days. paperwork was easy to get used to, securement was ok. I still resort to my manual and call my safety manager if im unsure. When im driving, I find mornings to not be my friend. But there have been many times Im up at 3am to start my day at 4 or 5. Those are the days when I still have a decent drive to get to my deliveries. I tend to stay at truck stops for the most part, I like being able to get a shower every couple of days, and I dont like getting one in mid day and then working, I like to be clean when I sleep. If I cant find a decent place to park at a TS, Ill opt for a rest area. For those times when Im able to knock out my entire trip in a day, Ill stay at my receivers if they allow it. Most do have parking on site, however there have been several lately that do not.

I had to take my truck in on Tuesday afternoon for its 250k service. Being that i was so far from a terminal, they had me take it to Cleveland Peterbilt, Not a bad shop, decent places to eat. There is a Golden Corral right next door, and several fast food joints within 100 yards, Walmart is less than 3 blocks away. They took my truck in at 6pm, and were finished around 10pm, I was out of hours and was gonna crash on site, nope....not allowed. Had to move 2 blocks away at an abandoned Kmart to sleep there.

Overall its not been a bad few months running solo. Its been fun at times, hard other times, downright disheartening when I was broke down for 5 days. But since the breakdown, my FM has been running me with some good loads averaging 800 a load 5 days a week. Which is above average, but not bad. This week has been decent, Ive gotten 3 loads in as of tomorrow, one run was a 2 day run with having my truck service needing done. Once i get this lowes drop made Ill be around 3300 o the truck, so hopefully He can get me a good that can possibly push me over that 4grand mark again.