What it's like to work for TMC?

Washed by who? The driver or someone else? A drive through truck wash? Where? Do you work for TMC? Have you ever been asked to help load or unload a truck? Is it 100% "no touch" freight, all the time?

 

I worked for TMC before my current employer.

Trucks get washed at a truck wash by someone else.

You can't load/unload because you aren't a forklift operator and I doubt few if any would have a driver use their own forklift.

 

Okay flatbed is 100% touch freight considering u are securing every load... U may not have to unload or load freight, but i can gurantee u there is 0 loads in flatbed that u will not spend atleast 30 mins or more , securing...

 

We have a country-wide list of approved washes that we can roll into and have our truck and trailer washed 1/week.

You will be 100% touching freight in the world of flatbed. You will throw steel and/or lumber tarps more than you will ever have wished to have regardless of the extra pay for having done so.

Will you have to help load/unload? Not necessarily. At least not by way of operating a forklift or crane. Safety wouldn't like to hear/see you do that and #### up the load/truck/trailer/you/somebody else.

 

I wasn't counting tarps or the securing of freight as 'loading freight.'

I'll take that as 'maybe, perhaps, sometimes, by hand, but not with the aid of heavy machinery.'
Thanks.

 

I wasn't counting tarps or the securing of freight as 'loading freight.'
I'll take that as 'maybe, perhaps, sometimes, by hand, but not with the aid of heavy machinery.'
Thanks.[/QUOTE]

I have hauled things that have to be rolled off the back in order for the forklift to pick them up.. I have hauled cars on flatbed and stepdeck that have to be driven off.. Flatbed is alot of stuff not easily moved by hand but everyonce in awhile u will see where that 1% comes into play.. I dont work for tmc but all flatbedding is the same from one company to the next

 

I've not come across anything crazy, and would even go so far as to say a rarity. Just don't want to say you never will touch freight, then reference my post stating such later down the road.

It's flatbed. It's emmanuel labor of the trucking industry.

 

I didn't know what the various methods were for loading/unloading flatbeds were. So it sounds similar to other situations (refrigerated/grocery, etc.) where you sit and wait for someone else to empty the truck, and if they don't work all night, you're waiting until they show up for work. No "drop and hook." I'm wondering what type of freight make up "drop and hook" routes, allowing you to minimize the time you aren't getting paid cause the wheels aren't moving, and how drivers go about getting those routes without being the truck company owner's son-in-law or other preferred employee.

 

I wasn't considering tying down or covering freight to be the same as loading/unloading. And I didn't realize it's always being done with forklifts, cranes, heavy equipment, etc. I've seen flatbeds going down the Interstate with nothing in the bed but tarps that are themselves tied down, but it didn't look like enough tarps to cover much....certainly not 6' of freight running the full length and width of the bed. Maybe one or two stacks and that's it. Thanks.

 

Pre-loaded trailers are basically the only drop/hook scenarios in Flatbed. You may have to throw some extra straps and bungees, but that's about it.

You won't get only those routes regardless of who you are unless you are on a dedicated account for that account/shipper.

I've been OTR now for just about 2 months and I've had 2 drop/hooks and honestly, I'm not a fan of them as the tarp jobs are sub-par and the trailers tend to be overweight.