TMC Drivers out of Memphis & Nashville TN $$$

Ok. Thanks.

 

If your are looking at TMC as a flatbed company to work for I think you will do fine. They and all the others operate about the same. You have to decide what works for you. I put 5 years in with them and had a couple issues I didn't agree with. But I had to get experience somewhere and they worked for me at the time.

 

Right now TMC is my first choice for my situation. I've been doing lots of research and asking a buddy of mine (who drives for TMC) lots and lots of questions. I've been trying to get all the info I can get before I put in my application.

 

Well he is your best source of information for you. Best of luck to you.

 

You lasted about a year longer than I did!

I still do look back over my time with TMC fondly, probably because it was where I began my trucking career. And I will say this: as far as megas go, you will find few better-looking fleets on the road, and on good authority probably NO better-trained fleets on load securement. If you wish to establish a good solid foundation in flatbed load securement and safe driving practices, TMC will offer that to you in spades. Time management? You'll get that, too. And I'll also add this: at least when I was there (I've been gone for almost four years now), there wasn't a problem I came across, personnel-, human resource, or finance-wise, that somebody in that Des Moines office didn't have an answer for. And when you're trying to handle homefront issues on the road, that's a huge relief and peace of mind.

Now, here's what you'll get on the other side of that:

-MICROMANAGEMENT. TMC is far from the only mega that does this, but they take it about a good four or five steps beyond the ledge. The entire certification point scale system is micromanagement at it's core. It does detail you how to get points, but you're gonna have to work for them, too. Those Qualcomm systems measure and record everything your truck does, so if the computer thinks you took a turn or a curve too fast (or if you legit DO take a curve too fast), if you overspeed (and the nav system knows the speed limits in most areas), if you have a hard brake event...expect a call from safety, because the moment the computer records it, it sends a red flag straight to the safety department, which then leads to a Qualcomm message coupled with a phone call from safety (despite the no-cell-phone-use-at-all-while-driving policy they have--oh yeah, that, too).

Speaking of micromanagement, let's just get this out the way now because this is every TMC driver's biggest beef...

- APPEARANCE. That clean fleet I mentioned? It's because they pay for truck washes while you're out on the road...and they WILL make you get it washed at least every other week or they WILL nasty-gram you about it. This is how ham they go about appearance: Des Moines and Indy (and last I knew, South Carolina) actually have "appearance bays" (bays purely dedicated to truck appearance), going so far as to issue appearance inspections when it's time for you to turn your truck in for routine PM. They do take pictures, they do have a checklist, and if even one thing is off on that appearance inspection, you're not getting that "Appearance Issues" tag cut off your mirror until that small iots of dust is removed--yes, they will tag your truck out of service for appearance issues. (I really wish I was being facetious about this but I assure you I'm not.) Now I've heard they've began doing random pop-up appearance inspections recently (they had a few guys doing that while I was running dedicated out of Lafarge Gypsum, now Continental, down in Silver Grove KY). So as you can see, they do go too hard on appearance, to the point that many times they legit had me questioning whether they valued appearance over maintenance. But that's the TMC trump card... appearance, appearance, appearance. (I'm just giving you the benefit of knowing this going into it because NO ONE warned me about it.)

Now if you can deal with all of that (and there's much more I missed, but that's the major stuff), TMC is a fine outfit to work for and get you a solid base for the skateboard world. If you choose to remain there, that's on you, as many drivers have put in 20 years or more there. That said, many many more have used TMC as a launching pad to bigger and greater things later on in life (such as me and several other TMC vets around here).

 

Where do you live?

Many times you'll make the bigger bucks either pulling specialized or going local/LTL. (That's what I'm doing now.) There's plenty of those out there. Just gotta get your endorsements!

 

that was a great post. when it came to service and the inspections I would just shake my head watching a driver spend an additional day at Indy cleaning their truck. For a while there TMC sent people out to places like home Depot Dc and inspect your truck in the yard. If you failed you were oos.