Former TMC Driver may go back at it,,,

[Back on the Road]

Hello all,

I will try and be brief and try and get some good opinions from all (especially current or former Tmc drivers). I have been off the thread since coming off the road with Tmc in August of 2007 to work at a plant on shift work 2 miles from home. The plant is down-sizing so I am considering going ''Back on the Road'' (again, just like my name,,,

I spoken to the Tmc recruiter and also the training coordinator I had during my training period. I have had my Class CDL A in good standing since 1978, when I drove as a Bed bUg Hauler for 4 years, went to work for Uncle Sam, retired after 26 years, had to go to driving school (because of being out of the seat for so long) and went to work for Tmc. In nine months I was always on time, no claims, truck bumped up to 70 mph because of past experience and safety record. I ran hard (but safe) on the Line Haul Division before going to Florida dedicated hauling for Lowes. I just did not consistently meet my salary expectations of grossing 1200-1500 per week as I anticipated. (I believe my average gross over nine months was approx 850-1000 per wk)

Tmc has informed me that I am good to be re-hired and I will just need to attend a 3-4 day orientation class in Columbia SC . (this is where I originally trained at)

I am looking to stay out for 2-3 weeks a crack in hopes to generate more revenue to the truck. By the way, I left at making 28 percent of load and was told that is where I will start.

Sorry for the long email and hope to hear/get some feed-back.
HELLO G-MAN AND NICK FROM CA, YOU GUYS STILL OUT THERE ? HOW ABOUT YOU FLAT-BED FRED?

Thanks for reading, Joe (Back on the Road)

[Back on the Road]

I should have asked or added a few questions; Are you guys (specifically Flat-Bedders) seeing a decline in freight giving these slow economic times and also do you see the freight rates suffering because of this ? I know as a paid percent of the revenue driver you hope to get decent paying loads so that at the end of the week, the long hour days and away from home make it more bearable. It seemed when I was driving I would haul a lot of freight that I felt should have paid more however, I never once said that I would not take a load or that I would not run in a certain area.

Thanks again.

[Rawlco]

I just did not consistently meet my salary expectations of grossing 1200-1500 per week as I anticipated. (I believe my average gross over nine months was approx 850-1000 per wk)

The $850 to $1000 figure sounds more like it. I had weeks where I grossed $1500, but that was always followed or preceeded by a lower $800 or so week, so it averaged out to about $1000. With the current economy I would not expect to get much higher than that. I did talk with a TMC long haul driver from Jacksonville who did really well running the I-10 back and forth to TX or somethimes CA. He claimed he could make $1200 per week and be home every other weekend that way. Of course that is word of mouth and I can not verify it.

Are you guys (specifically Flat-Bedders) seeing a decline in freight giving these slow economic times

Everybody I have talked to has been keeping fairly busy. TMC has worked hard to streamline the load assignment process creating a new employee group called "planners" who match freight with trucks. This usually means that if you are unloading later in the morning your load is already scheduled for your truck and there isn't much wait time. Of course there are glitches in this system as well, but it works most of the time. TMC had a long haul hiring freeze for a while but I have heard they are accepting a few people outside of the line haul area now. That may have reduced the number of drivers by enough to make up for lower freight volume.

do you see the freight rates suffering because of this ?

The rates certainly have not risen, and in a few cases they have fallen, or at least the drivers portion has shrunk after the fuel surcharge is stripped away.

I do not know how the current Wall street meltdown will affect freight volume or rates if at all. We have seen no slowdown in recent weeks in my Home Depot dedicated division. I don't think that TMC has ever hauled much for any of the car manufacturers so I don't see a slowdown relating to the lack of car sales. Farm Equipment is booming and John Deere has orders for 10,000 combines this year compared to 7,000 last year, so that freight should be steady. Most of the Shingles that TMC hauls I think go to home improvement stores that are bought by people replacing their roofs anyway, and that will continue weather the economy is good or not. Housing starts are slow, but I don't think we have a lot of that kind of business anyway. Overall I think that TMC is diversified enough to weather this current economic storm fairly well.

[Back on the Road]

Rawlco,

Thanks for the info. Are you still with Tmc ? Do you know if they are running anything dedicated from Florida or the surrounding area out to Texas/Ca ? I guess I need to call them and find out.

Joe

[Rawlco]

Yes I am still with TMC. I don't know anything about Florida, although we do haul a lot out of a drywall plant near Jacksonville, so I think there are dedicated jobs there.

As with most TMC dedicated jobs I imagine you need to put in some time with TMC before being placed on the waiting list for that gig.

[GMAN]

Flat bed freight is off, as with most other types of freight. I have seen the amount of freight being off as much as 30% or more. The last week or two has been pretty flat across the country. There are still loads, but rates are down over a couple of months ago. Some of it is the time of year. I just checked Internet truck stop and there are 919 loads posted within 150 mile radius of my home base. A couple of months ago there would have been somewhere between 1,900-3,400 flat bed loads in the same area.