Questions about TMC Training

you 2 aint the only one....maybe that why he done it that way?????? i aint smart enuff to come up with somethin catchy like that

 

he might have i aint either dunno

its a good read tho

 

I did word it that way intentionally, but I couldn't figure out how to write the second part. Tomorrow morning I start week 4 and I'm really looking forward to it. The problems we've come across will definitely help once I'm in the fleet, I'm pretty sure some of these issues would be real headaches seeing them for the first time but now I've got my head around how TMC wants you to deal with them which is good for me and TMC. I'm off to bed, gotta head out at 3am tomorrow.

 

We got the load off and were bounced to a TA in the St. Louis area along with about a dozen other TMC trucks. We are probably going to have to wait until tomorrow to catch a load. Seems like this might be a tough place to get a load right now, but I'm optimistic, so far they've done a good job keeping us rolling.

Today's wheeltime 323 training total 5789 miles.

 

How many miles a week are you getting? Is flatbedding picking up at all?

 

I'm averaging about 1700-1800 a week as a trainee, from what I'm hearing it's picking up just a bit but it's hard for me to say. I've seen a lot of full truck stops so who knows, I'm grateful to have gotten the miles I have though so no complaints there.

 

What have you been using to trip plan? They taught us with the atlas in school but it seems insane to use it in this day and age. What do they use out there in the real world, gps, google maps?

 

A Rand McNally GPS.....Truck drivers atlas......a gps and alot of the other trip planin gadgets will get a big truck in a hairy mess if you aint payin real close attention.....I however did use google maps only to look at major interstate changes it saved that sudden lane change cause i found out real quick i was in the wrong lane lol

 

A what do they start experienced drivers at(3 years) and what do they have there trucks governed at? and with that experience how long will i be in training for? and i have no flatbed experience. cause im really thinkin of going with them considering im only a mile from Tamko in Frederick and lookin to go back over the road.THX

 

We've been using GPS and the trucking Atlas. The Atlas has a lot of important information you can't get on the GPS like weigh stations, weight restricted routes and low clearances. I like the Atlas, but I've always been comfortable with a map. The GPS is nice because you can keep track of your progress in real time, but it can get you in trouble if you aren't paying attention. It's also a handy way to keep track of your miles.

I ran out of hours so my trainer has taken the wheel which gives me time to update the thread. We caught a load this morning, unfortunately it wasn't picking up until 2pm so we bounced the 100 miles to the shipper and waited. After 4 hours we were finally loaded. This is the first load I have run entirely on my own from paperwork to planning to tarping. There were a couple issues, we were picking up steel pipe and the shipper needed to cut off the ends of the oak 4x4's because they were sticking out to far. Also the two steel tarps weren't enough to cover the load by themselves. Not a fun load to tarp, uneven and round it was some pretty bad footing. This is also the first LTL load I've seen with TMC, we are dropping off part of the load in Dubuque and taking the rest to the NW side of IA. I'm really hoping we can get them both delivered tomorrow but the paperwork for the second stop says Thursday so we might be layed over for a day.

All in all things are still going well, I'm still uncertain about whether or not to go percentage or CPM. With CPM you get paid for ALL bounce (dead head) miles, on percentage you only get paid for your bounce miles when they are over 150 and from what I've seen most of our bounces have been between 100 and 150 miles. Still, percentage has a real draw, I need more information here before I decide and time is running out.

Today's wheel time 343 miles, total training wheel time 6232 miles.

Pay is performance based, basically you get a score based on your revenue to the truck, your mileage, your idle time, your safety record, have you had your truck washed every week and a handful of other things. The first three have the biggest impact by far though, and you get double whacked with mileage and idle time because your idle time is included in your mileage. My trainer is making .38CPM and his mileage isn't that great because he mostly hauls in the upper midwest where it's cold most of the winter and company policy is to idle at 15 degrees or less. That idle time is NOT removed from your idle time OR your mileage figure. The percentage pay plan is based on your performance in the same way with the scale running from 23%-32%. Our truck is governed at 65 but from what I understand some are still governed at 70. Not sure on how long your training will be but your orientation is a lot shorter than a beginner.

Has anyone gotten any word on what trucks TMC is switching to now that they are no longer buying from Pete?