Ya'll are killing me...

Frankly, your post makes a lot of sense. Sitting will not make you money, nor will refusing loads.
If your paid to drive, do it. Do what it takes to make money (legally). The benefits will come in time. Given that you stay with a company longer than it takes to change your drawers.

 

Nuff said.........

You want me and other over the road drivers to except your comments , then tell us you would give up your daycab to go back over the road and give up going home every night and that you wanna run the NorthEast only where you will be dealing with an average of 15 to 25 tolls a week(approx 150 to 350 bucks , thats an awful lot of com cheks) ...Then you will have some merit in what you say.....I don't see you giving up the daycab, do you?

$200 a day....good luck dude, I never , ever, ever refused a load. Over a year and might have averaged that one week in over 70+...Things are not what they used to be I guess.

Oh yea, I really don't think daycabs need apu's either....Must be real easy to sit back and say whatever you want when your not currently in the situation everybody who is ######## is...hmmmmm sounds more like the people sitting in the office comments.

 

Your post is well written and you have some very valid points. If you get 10 drivers from the same company and ask each one what they think of the company they are driving for, your going to get 10 totally different points of view. It doesn't matter what company I drive for, I will make the best of any situation. A job any job is what you make of it.

 

I never refused a single load the time I was with TMC, there were times I wanted to but I never did. The problem with getting 15-20 comchecks is that time is money, and you don't always get reimbursed for your comchecks. If you forget to . an I or cross a T they will screw you out of your reimbursement. I also took more resets on the road than at home. You got it right when you said your situation isn't comparable, it's not. Nothing against you or your job, but the two are simply apples and oranges and so is two years ago compared to today for that matter. I'm glad running the daycab dedicated is working out well for you, I hope you continue to have success with it.

 

No I would'nt run it when I was home on my 34hr reset. Yes , I do try to get home every weekend not that that always happens but probably get home more than most takin into account all the TMC OTR drivers I talk to week in and week out. I think its obvious that the drivers who were concerned about the 34hr reset were talking about being stuck out for the weekend either by choice or TMC not being able to get them home.

Are you really serious??? There's not a Pilot or some other truck stop where I usually run every three exits like the midwest. Plus there are usually long lines and time is money. I realize its hard to understand and everyone has different circumstances, but take my word for it, its just not that easy when it comes to the toll situation in my neck of the woods.

You drove OTR so you know the waiting game that we have to play at times. I can assure you, that things are'nt the way they were as far as freight goes. Plenty of days I empty first thing in the morning and sit all day not getting a load until the next day, this has been happening more and more... This is sometimes the hardest for me to deal with personally, do everything right and sit all day and night waiting...

Don't get me wrong, I would give anything to be in a daycab..I would much rather be sitting home then in the truck all day when there is no freight available plus be getting home everynight..I'm jealous of you and do wish things pick up for your location to keep you running hard and making money.

Also as far as TMC goes, they were once a GREAT company, they are just a good company now. Still better than any I could find or have heard of for a starter company and will teach you the right way to flatbed and to keep the freight on your wagon in a safe way. Its just the recent changes that have the drivers a little banged up , lots of time to think sittin in the shiny Pete all week is all.

Good Luck with your daycab, hope things pick back up for you..

 

Dude if i was a daycab go home driver everyday i would not even be on this form get a life. you are at home. just my opinion. When I am at home its family time.

 

I'm staying pretty busy lately, only time I waited for a load was due to technical issues with load screens not going out.

my main complaint, and I feel it is valid, is that every week, every single week as far back as I can remember, every time I start to have a good week, every time I think "hey, I might make it 5 days straight without something going wrong" something ALWAYS, ALWAYS happens that more or less ruins my week. some weeks worse than others. it's getting to be a running joke between my FM and I. I had one productive week in July 2008 where I actually got some miles... I was on track to run 3100 miles last week because I stayed out last weekend, I was never notified by my FM that I was dispatched on a load Thursday and ended up picking it up Friday morning due to communication and technical issues. could not make Friday delivery so it delivers Monday, so I ended up with a 2600 mile week, which with my $0.01 pay cut on mileage, is an average week.

I have strived to be fair and accurate in my criticism of TMC in my nearly 2 years of employment with them. I report things as I see them, good or bad. I don't hate the company. they were awesome to work for when I first started. I was rolling in money, home almost every weekend. anymore it's frustrating to work there and the low pay simply does not justify the frustration. I made more when I was 21 and in college than I do at TMC and I can't quite look at working here as a "career" anymore.

I'm looking at the bigger picture. I have never worked for an employer where the rules change every 15 minutes. I am burnt out on TMC culture, and every time I see something redeeming that might make me change my attitude and give them a chance, someone in Des Moines does something to f$ck it up. I was just out there and I saw a bunch of nice John Deere loads on stepdecks and I thought hey, maybe I'll give this another try if I can get on John Deere, then after this week, no, what was I thinking. I get delusional when I see shiny clean long nose Petes and forget how oppressive it is to work here. that's all. to their credit, the trucks are awesome and the Baymont has a nice exercise room. that's about it anymore.

 

I believe this is where experience speaks volumes. JoeCool sorry you are on the losing end. CplMac, you know as well as I do you never cared for OTR,you were a local driver before you worked for TMC, and your posts generally reflect this. TMC is not the only company out there making numerous changes is their operations, this economy has made it rough on everyone and you had better be willing to change if you want to stay in business.