TMC question

You do not, directly, loose points for idle time. Indirectly, you will not gain as many points for fuel mileage, which does effect your percentage.

Once your idle time is over 25% you will start getting nasty grams over the qualcomm from your fleet manager. If you do not improve quickly I'm not sure where it goes from there. You will probably be routed to a terminal for a face to face, thereby loosing revenue.

Idle time is listed on our Certification Update we view online and that we get with our paycheck info. While it does not effect our pay now I can see that it might in the future with fuel cost so high.

I usually keep mine below 8%. If you live in the North where temperatures are often below 15 degrees per company policy you have to idle your truck as long as it is below 15%. That will give you a very high idle time. I doubt they will say anything about that.

 

You are welcome, and thank you for your service. I spent some real quality time in South Carolina, a lovely three month island vacation spot!

We load a lot of Griffen-Pipe out of Council Bluffs. An easy, high paying load.

If I didn't have my dogs to take care of I would be back on Long Haul in a heart beat. That is where the money is and you actually have to work less for it.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Terry - Any word on how the TMC home office is faring with the flooding in Iowa?

 

The campus itself is in no danger. It is not close to any water and is not in a low lying area. Routes in and out of the area were closing as of Friday. I was there on Friday for scheduled PM on my truck and they rushed me out of there without the PM so I wouldn't get caught in the flooding. When I was there on Friday the flooding wasn't so bad, I 80 and I 35 were being shut down. Since then the water has risen and a levy broke. The major concern for TMC is that I 80 is closed and we haul a lot of freight in Easter Iowa.

 

It's amazing looking at the photos from Cedar Rapids and the other areas out there. Can't imagine how widespread the damage is, and how long things will be disrupted for those living there, plus all the business disruption (what do you do without I-80?). Many prayers are going out for those affected.

 

Dang, you mean they didn't make you wash and detail your truck 1st???

 

Are you kidding? This is TMC, of course I had to wash and be inspected before they would even talk to me!