flatbed driving: for guys only?

I hope so. I missed the text link to it the first fifty times I looked through the "orientation" section of their website.

 

I had my first day of orientation with TMC today and was sent home.

I called my recruiter last week because I was worried about having to lift the 120 pound lumber tarp for the physical assessment/essential job functions thing. She assured me that they used the 85 pound tarp for that and no one would have to lift anything heavier than that.

She flat-out lied. Not cool.

I could lift the 85 pound tarp, but not the 120 pound one. Not even close.

Also, on the link to the "essential job functions" section, the picture and description for "climbing" are wrong. The description reads "Climbing. Requires the ability to pull the user's entire body weight off the ground and onto the back of the trailer." The pictures show someone climbing up the DOT bumper. The climbing assessment is actually pulling yourself onto the side of the trailer using nothing but your upper-body strength (no stepping onto a tire or anything else) and a bit of a jump. A lot more demanding. You then dismount the trailer by climbing down the DOT bumper. I feel that the picture is misleading and could be changed to one of someone climbing up the side.

I'm just putting this information out there for anyone who's thinking of going to TMC.

 

Well, that just flat sucks. I don't lift 120 pound tarps, by myself. Never have and never will. My tarps all weigh under 80 pounds and I still don't throw them on the deck, unassisted. I do lift them about a foot and a half, off the ground, to get them in my tarp boxes. Any higher than that and someone will be helping, as I'm not straining anything, nor looking to injure myself, like getting a hernia, for anyone. No help to get it on the load or deck, no tarp on the load.
Climbing the side of the trailer, as you describe, is stupid too. Either climb up the back, or use a ladder.
I'm not the oldest broad out here and I'm sure not the dumbest, either.

Keep looking, there are better companies around, that aren't run by mental midget, ex-Marines. Besides, TMC only pays 10 bucks, to the driver to tarp a load.

 

The other flatbed company that offered me an orientation spot now doesn't have any open ones. I don't have the luxury of waiting to see if one of those opens up. I've scheduled an orientation with a van company and after six months or a year, I may revisit the flatbed idea.

For now, I just need a job. A paying job.

I did (after quite a struggle) manage to lift the 120 pound tarp to waist height... but there was no way I could have ever gotten it up over my shoulder. That was yesterday morning and I'm still sore!

And the climbing up the side thing? I totally agree. That just seems like an injury waiting to happen. By the time I gave up on the 120 pound tarp, I didn't have the strength left to left myself up the side of the trailer. I had already failed the tarp test, so that didn't really matter.

For me, it was a waste of time.

 

$10 to tarp!!!!

no wonder every load you see is tarped.

 

If it was me it wouldn't get tarped for that

 

Well, tarping is a privilege you earn after cleaning the tarp with a toothbrush.

 

That came straight from a current TMC driver I was BSing with, in Commerce City, back in the spring.

 

me niether but if my guys were doing it for $10 I would have them tarp everything