Questions about TMC Training

Haven't heard that one yet. DH was in Joplin last week and was told they just weren't buying as many right now until the economy picks back up.

 

Thx cplmac2 well ima keep up with your tread and if everything is good after i get married in april ima go head and join the team, and from reading your thread seem like percentage is the way to go but correct me if I'm wrong I'm still tryin to do my research.

 

My training coordinator who has been with TMC since WWI and works out of the Des Moines office told me that they are through with Peterbilt and haven't decided on what trucks to buy from now on. He said they are to heavy, which is true and that they just haven't decided yet on what to replace them with. I'm sitting at the fuel pumps by bobtail row right now and it is loaded with 387's. At any rate, he made it perfectly clear that the days of TMC=Peterbilt are over.

I wouldn't tell anyone which way is better, there are to many variables. Hell I don't even know which way I want to go yet and I've been here for 6 weeks between orientation and training.

 

We were able to deliver to both consignees today and were bounced to Des Moines for a truck wash and trailer inspection. We caught a preloaded trailer from John Deere bound for central MN and Deere is pretty strict on the trailers so we spent three hours getting a wash and inspection. Everything was good and we headed out to swap out trailers in Ankeny at the Deere yard. Turns out we were swapping our 53' trailer for another 53' trailer, on the plus side the new pre-loaded trailer has two sideboxes where our trailer had none. We are currently on the road to consignee hoping to beat the snow that is supposed to hit MN tomorrow morning. I'm in the sleeper as my hours ran out and I might need to pick up the last leg of this run. Got a chance to talk with some of the dedicated drivers and Over SIzed Load drivers, it was good to learn more outside the norm. I got a few more backs in today and this Deere load was no tarp, can't complain about that.

Today's wheel time 450 miles, training total miles 6682.
Every one of those miles was in IA, that is entirely to much Iowa for one day...

 

Today was something. We got our load off at a John Deere dealer in south central Minnesota and that's when the fun began. Some of you probably know what the weather was like up in this area today. We delivered right when the snow started to fall, got unloaded pretty quick and headed towards Shakopee to ride it out at a truck stop. By the time we left the dealership there was already more than an inch of snow and the wind was whipping. Every road we traveled was drifted and nasty, lots of cars in the ditch. I was allowed to drive in this crap which I'm grateful for, I know plenty of trainers wouldn't trust their trainees in this whether and it was great experience. So, three and a half hours and about 100 miles later and we finally made it to the truck stop. Those miles alone would have been a good enough story but the next stretch was good enough to bump it down to mere mention. When we got to the truck stop we were offered a load of hay, but given the weather conditions at the time and the route for the hay load it was declined. Nobody wants to risk serious injury tarping hay in a blizzard. It's been snowing for 12 hours now and it's still snowing although the amount of snow has decreased a bit. So, the exciting bit.

We decided to leave the truck stop at Shakopee to head to a truck stop that that is only three blocks from where we have to be to pick up a load of steel in the morning. So off we went and off I went to get a little more drive time in the inclement weather, during rush hour, through the Minneapolis suburbs. Everything was smooth sailing until we got onto 494, which is when traffic seemed to hit a crawl. On the bridge just past route 5 it was a crawl bumper to bumper and when we cleared the bridge we found out why. There is a slight hill, long but not particularly steep, and on this hill were at the time 5 stuck trucks. Not stuck buried in snow, but stuck not enough traction to climb the hill. There was a state trooper there trying to back them down the hill against the flow of traffic one at a time, but that was taking forever. These trucks were spread out well and across all lanes. I got on the CB and asked the trucker next to me if he wanted to let me in and I'd hold off the center lane until the last minute and we'd let traffic get a bit ahead of us so we could get a run on the hill. Sounds good was the reply and we worked it just right, I got a good run in front of him and he started a good run behind me. Well we cleared the first stuck truck in good order slowly building steam, then past the second truck all was well. Until.... A line of cars decided of the three empty lanes of traffic they would all congest the center lane, and stop.

Well I radioed the truck behind me and he got around me just fine, but I wasn't able to get over in time and #### if I didn't get stopped behind that line of cars. Our truck was empty, and has super singles so this was a death sentence for us. Nope, couldn't get the traction to get started up again. I tried to sound the air horn to let the cars know to get into the empty lanes that must have been lined with kryptonite the way they were avoiding them, sadly the days weather had clogged the air horn to the point that you could barely even hear air dribbling out of it. At this point I already had my four ways on and as luck would have it those four ways were possibly the only things being heeded on the road, NOBODY was getting within 50 yards of the back of our truck. So, keeping a tight eye on the mirrors the truck inched back, and after about a minute we had probably gone backwards 5'. After that it was granny gear and the most cartoonishly slow bleeding in of the clutch that I've ever taken part in. Just barely started noticing we were moving forward, couldn't even feel it but you could see it, and after inching forward, literally I began to ease on the throttle. For the next quarter mile we probably traveled at 1-2 mph not wanting to break traction. I eased over some of the loose snow (excellent suggestion from the trainer) and before we knew it we were over the hill. I would guess that by the time we topped that hill there were probably another half dozen trucks stuck there, it was an absolute mess. Didn't look like a single flake had been cleared from the road.

I'm sitting at a truck stop real close to our shipper, and I'm kind of happy at the days events. There were some real obstacles between the weather and traffic, all went by without incident. 150 miles of winter storm occasionally white out driving and nothing bad to show for it. Not a ton of miles, but a really long day, I'm beat.

Todays wheel time 242 miles, training total 6924.

 

Sounds like you had an adventure lol but glade everything went well for yall in the snow, them four wheelers can mess up a drivers momentum. A does your traimer know how much the loads pay if so you could i guess get an estimate on how you would get paid if you went percentage. But yall be safe and keep us posted cplmac2

 

I'm trying to track down the percentage pay for the loads I've done, I really need to get that locked on soon so I can figure out which way to go myself.

 

Weather Sucks!

I live in Saint Paul, currently I'm not driving a big truck, but I did spend 10.5 hours yesterday driving around the metro area delivering wine to stores and resturants in a cargo van with rear wheel drive so of course as the day goes on the snow gets thicker the 4wheelers get stupider and the van gets lighter and lighter on that rear axle, uhhhhh... ( that would be the last thing I need right now is an accident in a 4wheeler when I'm set to go to TMC orientation at the end of the month) I made it back to the warehouse with the rubber side down...

You'll be glad that you got that weather driving experience during training, and you're going to be so happy when you're done training and get your own truck!

PS, I was once stuck with dozens of other trucks just 80 miles from home in WI. The next morning the roads were plowed but nobody could get out of the parking lot. I got out my handy driver manual and learned how to use my tire chains (in wisconsin, not the rockies or anything) just to get out of the truck stop... WOW, at least I learned how to use my chains I guess...

 

If I make it through orientation (lol) I'm going to choose Mileage pay at least at first to keep myself and the company honest.

I'm thinking that freight rates are affected buy demand, and right now it's a buyers market baby. the recruiter told me you can choose twice a year in september and february. So, if buy september, business is booming, then maybe I'll switch to %...

TMC pays the same for dispatched empty (bounce) miles as they do for the loaded right?

 

If you are a new drver with no experience, percentage pay is the way to go.

A new driver with no experience will make .34 cents per mile with TMC. You may or may not get a fuel bonus or an out of route bonus. For your first year you will not be making above .36 cents.

If you are on percentage pay, after the first month you can go up to 32%. That is not likely right now, but you can still go to 27% to 28% with luck, everything falling into place you can go to 29% or 30%. That is the equivelent of .40+ cent to .50 cents per mile.

The only thing that cannot be known is how much bounce you will have each load. On mileage, you get paid for all bounce miles except those getting you home. On percentage, you only get paid bounce mile once you bounce 150 mile. You get paid all bounce miles 150 and over.

I still stay, with few exceptions, percentage is the way to go until you have at least one year in.

If your trainer is on mileage, percentage information is not sent over the qualcomm. You might ask his FM to transmit those numbers.