Hazmat Pay

Great Post ECKZ!! You hit the nail right on the head...

I will be following you FirNaTine as your right , its pretty tough living on $400 week doing what we do. As I told you awhile ago, I'm also from South Jersey, have you had any luck finding a local driving job? As soon as I have enough time in to move I will do so.

 

Like i said, I'm not labeling them as a bad company, in fact i suspect that a new driver going into the company now with these policies and changes already set might faire pretty well for himself, but I couldn't go back now knowing what it used to be like.

Knowing Harrold, I would assume that when freight picks up things will likely go back to normal.. But only time will tell. I know that things were alot worse when Tim was running the company, and according to rumor harrold got tired of him pissing off drivers and losing money, when old man harrold came back i was in my glory, I don't think i touched a load that whole summer that paid less than 3 dollars a mile, it was great.

So, for the sake of my friends that still work there, i really hope that when things pick up it will go back to normal!

 

To be honest I haven't found a driving job yet, put in for 2 different Tri-axle dump jobs but no word yet. I don't have enough Class "A" experience to get local jobs and I have seen more than a few advertised. One of the things I kinda regret about not sticking it out at TMC at least I'd gain experience, but timing was bad both in my personal life and economy wise to get into trucking. I am considering a whole new career change now, possibly the medical field, maybe even a nurse,lol.

For me the $400 a week didn't justify being away from home all week. I have a non driving job lined up that will pay the same and probably more and I'll be home every night. Its also less demanding and less responsibility, not that I couldn't handle the responsibility at TMC but the pay didn't justify what I could lose if something happened , fines, tickets , accidents, etc. I am a single guy too with no kids, so I don't know how married guys with kids do this job.

 

Married guys with kids quit and work elsewhere. My last day was last week. I am now working for a NE regional company on a dedicated route.

Like most of you others that don't work for TMC anymore, it was a number of factors. For me it was the reports of experienced drivers being replaced with inexperienced ones, the taxation of reimbursements, the Qualcomm only being readable when stopped, the loss of EZpass, and on top of that, the financial situation I find myself in after 6 months of $60-$400 paychecks.

Its not a situation I care to be in. I've already had my house foreclosed and my car repossessed during my time with TMC. I just couldn't hack it any longer. I have no bad wishes for TMC, but sincerely hope they trim some fat in the office, tighten their somewhat sloppy operations up (less washing, less hiring, more loads for people already there, and for goodness sake PREPLAN at least some of the time), and do the right thing by the guys who are making TMC tick.

 

I quit there (Nov. '08) because, for me, I made the mistake of trying to maintain a new relationship with a girl and other personal things that were going on in my life at the time I started and worked for them. There was just too much going on in my life for a job that demands that much time and energy so I made the decision to quit. Life is cleaned up now and I have been seriously considering calling TMC to see if I could get rehired.

However, after reading so many posts on here about all the changes that have occurred, none of which favor of the driver, I don't think I'll be making that call. Paychecks from $60 - 400/wk. WOW! I don't need a whole lot to live on (single, no kids), but that's crazy.

It sucks too, because I liked it for the most part. Beautiful trucks, 13 spd., leather seats, just really nice equip. There were some crappy things that took place during my short time there, but with all the other stuff going on in my life it was too much for me to handle. A lot of it though was just the industry, not necessarily TMC.

That being said though, and even if the other factors weren't a part of my life at that time, it was/is a demanding job for the pay. Now to hear it's gone downhill, with EZPass being taken away (HUGE inconvience in my opinion) and the other things I've heard about, I'm realizing it would not be a wise move for me to try and go back.

As far as the HazMat, I never was paid any extra and wasn't even aware of that. I remember telling my FM one time too, that to take these loads with the added risk and responsiblity I should be compensated for it. He never told me about any sort of "extra" pay for those loads. I guess I should have phrased it as a direct question to him instead. He has since been fired I found out. I was actually shocked to hear that because he seemed very loyal to the company.

I always felt like the fleet manager was in the middle though. Like he was the balance between the driver and someone else who could care less about my well being and that someone else having more power and say so than my FM. Maybe I'm wrong but that was the general feeling I had.

Yeah, would love to go back and drive that beautiful truck, but the cons really seem to outweigh the pros by quite a bit.

 

it is not easy to maintain an over the road job and be married.

 

to the post about tmc taxing your re-embursements!

call the irs and then call a really good tax attorney!

that is wrong on so may levels!