TMC question

So, do the TMC guys suffer from the trucker's equivalent of dishpan hands?

 

No, when we talk about washing our truck once a week, we mean we request a PO# over the qualcomm and then take it to a truck wash and it is washed for us. When we have service at a terminal, every 30,000 miles we clean the inside of our truck really well. We keep the inside clean at all time, but we detail it when going to a terminal.

 

Well, I think I could get used to that; having someone else wash it and the company pay for it. I have to keep up my duelly all by myself. Too big for a car wash, and too small for a truck wash.

 

The Idle time doesn't figure directly into the snapshot as Terry stated. Of course burning fuel by idling DOES impact your fuel economy. Fuel economy is a big part of the percentage pay system.

I took pride in having the lowest idle time on my Long haul fleet managers group. I came in at between 8% and 13% year round. At my March full service my FM told me that my idle time was TEN points lower then then next lowest person on his fleet. I think I had 9% and the other 39 drivers on his board were all above 19%.

Being on long haul you will usually have to idle a couple of hours a day on the weekends to recharge the batteries if you have a cooler or tv. I took any opportunity to turn off my truck when checking in at shippers or getting unloaded. Saving five minutes here and there allowed me to use that time when I wanted it on the weekends.

Another thing is to keep the curtains closed on the sleeper for the last few hours of the day with the AC on full blast. That will give you a sleeper chilled to about 50 degrees that will stay comfortable for hours without idling.

 

i have been accepted to tmc, i have a question 4 rawlco (or anyone that can answer it) i live in western mass & rawlco mentioned line haul in mass, but the recruiter said strictly in the orange area & east of i-87 & i-90 would be long haul, any imfo would be helpful. i know they have a dedicated run out of westfield with day cabs, but no idea of line haul in this area. thanks

 

They are always redrawing that orange line. When I was hired anything south of I-90 was included over as far east as I-91 in the line haul area. I lived about 300 miles outside of the orange line so I was long haul. If you live within 20 miles of the orange line you should be accepted to line haul. I have known people in Keene NH and Sturbridge MA being on line haul. You will need to be in a position of strength to bargain with the recruiter on that one. If you are a great candidate you can say to the recruiter that you would love to work for TMC but you really need to be on line haul and get home 46 weekends a year. If that is the only demand you make and you make it in a nice tone of voice it may be accepted. As always be prepared for them to call your bluff and say "too bad, not gonna happen."

Now if the recruiter does accept you on line haul in your location get that in an e-mail and print it out to take to orientation. Your actual division is selected at orientation and you would have to convince the training people that you were actually accepted for line haul if you are outside the area.

If that does not work you could start on long haul and possibly switch to line haul after a few months. If you are a good driver they would rather let you switch than lose you after you have proven yourself. TMC will do a lot to keep good drivers happy in most cases.

Actually I was not aware that there were any day cabs at Westfield. We do have day cabs at Norwood for the Home Depot dedicated stuff. At Norwood you would have to commute in your personal vehicle and leave the truck at the yard. We currently do not have any openings for drivers at Norwood.

Good luck.

 

thanks for answering rawlco,i will certainly give that a try.i know the pay is a little better with long haul which stands to reason, its just time for the home repairs,firewood, you know the drill living up here. tmc acually advertised on their web site a few months ago about the runs in westfield & i have seen the day cabs there.(naturaly they are taked) thanks again & be safe.

 

There are daycabs in Westfield (Lowes DC), and they are looking for people to take dedicated slots, though I think the daycabs are spoken for already. It's been a few weeks since I've been in there...for awhile I'd get a load out of there every Friday like clockwork.

 

Boy, see what I miss sticking with my 5 states.

I know the drill living up here. I also know that 34 hours at home is hardly enough time to rest up from the tough week. I was much more productive having 2.5 days at home every other weekend than I was several weekends when I got home Saturday and had to leave Monday morning.

I didn't look at Long haul as a permanent deal. I probably would have quit TMC next spring after 2.5 years having had enough of the open road being home less than 70 nights a year. Now on this Home Depot dedicated I spend at least 10 nights a month in my own bed. Also my wife has been able to ride with me a lot of Fridays when I start and end at the house.

You do the Long haul to get experience and be on the waiting list next spring for one of those daycabs. There will be a slowdown over the winter of building products and I will bet that several of those dedicated people will quit between January and March. You have a much better chance of getting on there if you work for TMC than someone else. I do caution you that you will need to get to know personally the TMC employee in charge of that yard. Going through your FM up the chain in Iowa doesn't yield good results. I speak from personal experience.

 

jpenn, you say they are looking for dedicated in westfield, would that be like line haul, but going to the same place all the time? i'll have to ask about it. i'll take what they give me,& be glad they gave me a job. they give me shot, i'll give them my best shot. thanks for the imfo.