Chalk up TMC as a bad company.

I'm a new driver, and just received my CDL. I just spent 5 years in the Marine Corps, and did my homework on companies before I decided to go with TMC. They had everything I wanted as a new driver. Home time, good pay, strict and structured policies, and I could use my GI BILL.

So I get hired in, and set up orientation. I arrived at a hotel, and attended their orientation the next day. Their orientation is 12 days long, and they expect a lot out of you. Which is fine, and I understood why it was tough.

So I excelled at their tests, paid attention and focused on every task at hand. I averaged a 93% on their tests, and received 2 100% on both of their load securement tests.

Then came the road, I had a rough time at first with downshifting at first, but smoothed out. I received all 7 out 10's on every driving skill. Which is what they wanted and told everyone what they wanted.

During the 12 days, TMC fired around 15 guys, and another 5 quit due to low scores, and job security. No student felt like they had any.

So the last day came, and I got hired. We all cleaned the trucks eariler that morning, and got called in the classroom to finish up our paperwork to get hired. We were all excited, well they called the 2 guys with the lowest scores in the class and fired them on the spot.

They didn't have a Trainer for me so I had to sit at home until they found one. So I got home Saturday morning earlier. I told all of my family I made it, and was pretty excited, even though I knew I had to prove myself to my trainer. I was home 5 days before I got fired.

Well Yesterday they found a trainer for me, and I planned on leaving sunday. I'm still stoked.

Today I get a call, and they Fired me due to living out of their hiring area that they just changed.

What else could I have done? Considering 1/2 of the students came from Michigan that got hired, I bet the fired everyone. I called a guy I knew while I was there, and he was in his first week out with a trainer, and they fired him too.

It's like I just lost 3 weeks of life, I cancelled my unemployment, and now I have to start all over.

Beware before you think you got a job with TMC. They will fire you if you look at anyone the wrong way, talk to the wrong way. If you score low on a test, if you hit cones, if you simply live outside their new hiring area even though they just hired you.

I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT, AND I STILL GOT FIRED. I feel robbed since I wasn't even given a chance. I know the economy is down in the dumps, but it didn't change that much in 3 weeks. Geesh.

 

...and the same testimonies come truckin' in... 2 x 2 every day.

We BELIEVE YOU!

 

Was there ever a time in this industry where the garbage that happens now was non-existant or at least not as bad as it is now??

 

TMC seemed to be a GREAT company until about a month ago.

I don't get it at all. All the companies are experiencing hardship, and the ones with a really good reputation just stopped hiring and took care of their own best they could.

Whatever move or philosophy TMC is adapting, it's not driver friendly and it's going to cost them thier reputation. It might have been smarter to just give up the whole Peterbilt and chrome thing rather than whatever they're doing to human beings.

 

That really sucks. The number of posts about layoffs, hiring freezes, and people getting fired for stupid reasons is really amazing. What they gave you was an excuse to fire you. There was a post in another thread where a driver was fired, after being HIRED and even DRIVNG for a number of weeks. The company said their policy about tickets had changed. Apparently the driver had a ticket sometime in the past a few years and now was being fired over it.

 

The most likely explanation is that they had more drivers than they needed at the end of the class and were looking for any reason to pare down the numbers. Most companies bring in 20% to 30% more drivers than they need knowing that some will quit and some will be disqualified. Even then many times they have more than they want and therefore have to find other more creative ways to dump drivers. They might claim that they just found something in your MVR that they missed earlier or maybe they heard back from a previous employer that had something negative to say. In you case it was a (probably bogus) claim that they just changed their hiring area. Years ago when I was at Swift 50% of the orientation participants never made it far enough to even see the inside of a Swift truck.

 

In my opnion they just took your money be happy uncle sam paid for training. What part of Michigan do you live. I live in Warren and I called them back in early November '08 to get in and I was told that they Weren't hiring in my area. I have 1yr of OTR Exp too, just no flatbed training.

 

No doubt that is the explanation. It's just that we knew who the driver mills were before and they are easy to name: Werner, Swift, CRE, USX, Covenant. No one wanted to add TMC to the list. People applied there out of research and pride to have a GOOD job that paid well and respected them, provided good equipment, etc.

They can do whatever they want, but they'll be reclassified on this site and likely others.

 

Hey, it's a shock to hear this about TMC. I've been out here for a while now and until recently I've heard very little negative feedback from their drivers. It's just sad that they wasted the OP's time not to mention getting his hopes up just to dash them.

 

I'm very surprised to hear this about TMC. My friend works for them & other than things being slow right now (like everybody else) he loves them. Gotta say this is very disappointing.