a couple weeks in the life of a TMC driver

they vary, things really aren't consistent. I got a 77 mile run that paid $28, till I complained and asked for another $50 to offset such a stupid run. I had a 45 mile run that paid $175 because my FM offered to pay me on percentage since I'm on mileage. generally if I run 2500 miles a week # $0.375/mile, let's say 4 loads with one of them being a long one, 3 of them tarped # $10 each and if I'm lucky, one stop off # $20, that's around $1000.

lately it has been inconsistent because I've missed out on at least one load every other week due to mechanical issues with my truck and having to spend time in the shop, but if I had to guess it would be around $550. I grossed $39,640 in 2009.

if I had to guess, 44 out of 52 weekends, sometimes by choice, sometimes not.

no problem man.

in my opinion, TMC is a good place to start if you want flatbed experience, decent hometime, and nice equipment. they are NOT a company you make a career out of anymore.

 

the word "career" is misused a lot today. do this: next time you walk into a Pilot, look for their hiring poster on the wall. it says "careers" ...my point exactly.

when I think of a career, I think of 3 things:

long term tenure
income potential
advancement potential

I made less money with TMC in 2009 than I ever have in my entire life working fulltime. I made more when I was 21 and still in college. look at it from the perspective of someone who is not a career trucker, that's where my opinion comes from. there are guys who have been there for 15-20 years, and there are guys who are making money. not me! if I don't mind risking my life every day, I don't mind being away from home, what I mind is doing it for $39,000 a year, and doing it with a company such as this.

I agree you could somehow work for TMC for 20 years, god bless anyone who can do that.

 

$1150 take home, that was back before we shipped the entire John Deere Welland, Ontario operation to Mexico and could actually get decent John Deere runs out of Canada. this was a load with 5 stops in TX. the week before my check was $200. so it averaged out to two $675 checks.

$0.375, since April 2008.

for a while safety and management were very fair to me. lately safety and management have become rather abusive with me. I'll elaborate more after I quit. my fleet manager is cool I guess, he has 42 drivers so I never talk to him. the only time I hear from someone is when they're mad at me.

 

I have tried to provide a fair analysis of my time with the company, and again, they have been pretty fair to me up until recently. I messed a lot of stuff up and safety was more than forgiving. my grandfather passed away in Nov, my FM got me a split that got me home the day before the funeral and there was a truck waiting to take the load in my family's company's abandoned parking lot where I park when I got home. that was handled in a very professional manner, I went back to work the next day, FM said I didn't have to.

honestly I could probably put up with all the negative if I was making the 50K+ a year one is supposed to with this company. I am burned out on the culture, some things just really, really rub me the wrong way. my truck is goverened at 62 and actually goes 60.5 according to radar and GPS. if I have anything good to say, I'm not sitting that much and it looks like freight is picking up compared to this time last year, this spring and summer should be busy. had an average week last week, 2143 miles, got a load from IA to OH that got me home to PA at 1400 on Saturday, leaving out at 0700 Monday.