Orientation....

If you work at TMC which do you recommend? percentage or mileage pay?
Also I've read every TMC post on here at least twice. So i feel pretty good going into orientation. But any last min. advice would be great!!!!

 

its actually 12 days straight monday of the first week straight through til friday the following week?

 

The majority of the drivers currently working for TMC pick the Percentage Option. The way the instructor explains the pay/point system it is obvious to most that percentage is more profitable. For me, this was explained in detail on Thursday (the last day of classroom) of the first week for the inexperienced guys that are in the 2 week program. You will not make your decision on mileage or percentage until after you complete your 5 weeks with your trainer, you will have to evaluate each load you do with your trainer for both mileage and percentage so by the time you are ready for your own truck you will have a better idea of what would be the better choice.
I just finished my orientation in Columbia S.C. yesterday 11/07/08

 

hey joe congrats on the orientation graduation,

How was the yard training?? also how was the load securement? how long til you get a trainer?

 

Thanks for the congrats bigpapa,

12 total days of Orientation:
1st 4 days of class room (Mon thru Thurs)
3 days of load securement (Fri thru Sun)
4 days of yard/road (Mon thru Thurs)
final day paperwork & cleaning the trucks.

The yard training was great!! The instructors really know what they are doing and really care if you get it or not. They split the class up, 1/2 stay in the yard and 1/2 go out on the road in the morning and then they switch them up in the afternoon after lunch.

As far as the yard, its mostly training on the concept/theory of the split axle and air dump which was all new to me and with the top notch training they offer, its absolutely incredible what you can make that trailer do, whether your going forward or back...The instructors really know their stuff. If you listen and pay attention to detail you will learn.

As far as the road, 1st day (Monday) is mainly to get used to shifting the 13spd and being safe on back roads. 2nd day (Tuesday) is more challenging terrain with traffic and light city driving while also paying close attention to the shifting. 3rd day (Wednesday) is more intense with heavy city driving with steep hills & some crazy turns , rights & lefts (again this is where the knowledge of the air dump comes into play) and the 4th day (Thursday) is the most intense the instructors just calling out streets & you must decide when to turn and how you are going to make the turn with minimal help.( proper setup is the big factor) They are big on the shifting, we lost a couple guys to that on Thursday morning, you dont have to be a pro but you must have the idea and focus on what your doing for sure. You really only get approx 3 to 4 hours total seat time in the first 3 days so being that its fast paced you really have to do your best. Everybody has a different learning curve I guess and we had 2 that TMC felt were just not polished enough.

Load securement was great also, again , great information from a very knowledgeable instructor who specializes in just securement. If you listen and pay close attention to detail, he will teach you what you need to know on how to do it TMC's way, which by the way, is all about safety for you and everybody else just like all the aspects of all the training from day 1 to day 12.

I cannot believe how much I have learned in 12 days straight, just unexplainable how they can possibly cram so much info in such a short period of time. Really blew me away!

My trainer is currently getting his truck serviced in Iowa, so I will meet up with him next weekend to start my 5 weeks...CAN'T WAIT!!

 

joecool313 could you give me a brief description on using the air dump for turns? I am very interested in hearing and trying that!!! Man i can't wait to start on Monday. Thanks for giving such a detailed description of what all goes on!!! I hate the unknown and now feel a lot more comfortable.
Thanks again!!!

 

Chad, I by no means am an expert but I will give a brief description, don't worry , you will not be expected to know about it before they explain it, but I guarantee you will be amazed after they do. I was!

For the standard, TMC uses a 48' flatbed that has spread/split axles. The rear axle is located at the very end of the trailer and the front trailer axle is approx 10 feet forward of the rear, thus the split or spread. When you dump the air with the trailer aux switch in the cab it deflates the suspension for the rear axle taking the weight off of the rear axle and making the trailer pivot on the front axle. Going forward this changes the tracking of the trailer and makes it easier on 90 degree turns and such. It almost makes it like driving a 38 ' trailer instead of a 48'. Going backward it has a similar effect. Like I said before, I'm not an expert but to me the air dump is your friend and once you understand the concept and see how it works in person I'm pretty sure you will be a fan as well.

Being your location in Nebraska, I would imagine you will be going to Iowa for Orientation so just remember, the schedule and info I gave was for South Carolina, so it might vary a little for Iowa, but I would imagine it would be somewhat similar. S.C. does not have simulators like Iowa either so that might change some things around also.

Good Luck next week. If Iowa has the quality trainers that S.C. has I'm sure you will enjoy it like I did.

 

Great info Joe!!!!! Let you know how Iowa goes!!

 

The air dump will save you from totally trashing your front trailer axle's tires, too...any time you're turning more than about 30 degrees it won't hurt to hit the dump. If the trailer starts bouncing or hopping, reinflate (usually only happens empty).

Mind you, there are trailers that do not have the air dump (ex-TDT MAC trailers, Fontaine steel trailers, and a fair amount of the regular Benson or Fontaine aluminum ones where it's either not working or been bypassed/removed). It's worth adding to your pretrip routine and noting if it's not functional.

 

Just looked at the pics of the graduating classes in the TMC site...must be gett'n pretty cold in Iowa....

Thanks for all the great info, Joe and JPenn. Really appreciate it.

R/

Frat