no loads? at TMC

[san415]

seems like, at least at TMC, loads are hard to come by right now, at least in long haul? Hard to run somewhat legal if you sit a couple days, and they seem to have a hard time utilizing any week-end runs at all. Maybe hire less people and work the ones you have or hire more fleet managers so they can put things together better?

[devildice]

Hard to run somewhat legal if you sit a couple days,

:?: :?: sorry for the ignorance, but what do you mean by that :?: :?:

[Rawlco]

If you sit a couple of days you get a 34 hour restart and should be ready to pound out the miles when you get rolling. If you aren't running legal perhaps that is why you aren't getting loads. Fleet Managers aren't stupid. If they dispatch you on a load that you have to run illegally that exposes them to liability.

I have talked with many many drivers this week and nobody is sitting. Perhaps you are not properly using your macros, or perhaps you annoyed your fleet manager and are getting crap loads. Talk to your FM and find out why you are not getting loads. If you are not giving them proper information the Fleet managers can't do their jobs properly. If you want a long weekend run you need to be on one coast or another, not in the middle of the country. Good luck.

[Karnajj]

Hate to say it but it seems that a lot of companies are experiencing a shortage of freight. Here at Crete the CEO even went so far as to send us all a Qualcomm about how they are working on the problem. Left the house on Wed morn and come this Mon morn I will only have 1000 miles.
Kinda hard justifying staying out for 4 weeks at a time for that kind of money.

[san415]

I don't know... 3 drivers sat 1 day early and one day mid week, All have different fleet managers. 2 in long haul and 1 in line haul. 2 tmc drivers at a place getting a load in Texas, names unknown, said they sat 2 days also. My husband likes his fleet manager very much, and he seems very sorry about the sitting. Perhaps its just the coordinating of the long haul loads? I work at UPS where we say "work slow make more dough". But my husband wants to drive not sit, drivers out there think loads are off and slow.

[richey94]

Jeff didn't sit without a load but he was sent home on Thursday, which would of been great had he started on Sunday instead of Monday.

[san415]

Hi Brandy, I see you on LOADS alot. At least in Line haul he comes home mine just sits overnight in a truckstop or a stops parking lot.

[Crete_drvr]

Hate to say it but it seems that a lot of companies are experiencing a shortage of freight. Here at Crete the CEO even went so far as to send us all a Qualcomm about how they are working on the problem. Left the house on Wed morn and come this Mon morn I will only have 1000 miles.
Kinda hard justifying staying out for 4 weeks at a time for that kind of money.

That hasnt been my experience at all. and you say I make the company look bad maybe you're just lazy

[GoldiesPlating]

TMC is actually experiencing a shortage of DRIVERS, not freight. VERY few drivers ever get laid over and when it does happen, it is very much an exception, not the rule. If a driver has this happening often there's either a problem with HIM or his fleet manager. Either way it should be addressed.

Four reasons why this MAY be happining to your husband:
1) He pissed off his fleet manager. (rare)
2) His fleet manager is not doing his job properly. (possible)
3) Your husband is not "getting it together". This sometimes happens with new drivers. (usual)
4) This one may be WAAAY off base but needs to be considered. (Unless of course you are with him, then ignore the following)
He's being "laid over" by CHOICE and isn't telling you the WHOLE story. I've known drivers who have over the road girl friends and spend a day or two with them while telling their wives they are laid over by the company. OR he's just taking breaks or time off and telling you he's laid over so as not to get yelled at.

Having access to TMC's office personnel and computer access to TMC's office computers, I KNOW first hand how much freight we have and how much we turn down. The freight is there, believe me. If hubby's not getting his share he needs to either talk to his fleet manager or switch fleet managers, or come clean and admit he's at fault an not the company.

[yoopr]

Never drove for TMC and we're not there yet but coming close to the slow season.
TMC hauls ALOT of loads at a Mill near me.

[GoldiesPlating]

Never drove for TMC and we're not there yet but coming close to the slow season.
TMC hauls ALOT of loads at a Mill near me.

I agree, the slow season is fast approaching, but it's not like we're a mega-carrier such as Swift or Schneider with 20,000 trucks. We've only got just over 3,000, I believe, so finding freight in a country of 350 million people SHOULD be do-able. If not, perhaps I may just have to visit Des Moines and have a seat for a while as a load coordinator/buyer.

[vonSeggern]

The loads in the northeast this week SUCKED.
35 drivers were w/o loads on Wednesday in the northeast. The other regions, all combined together, might have had half that many people mt.

[mudflap276]

not sure if this is his case or who his fleet manger is, but my old FM would send me to the house once i met my weekly average. several times i was sent home on thursday nights for a 3 day weekend. if i laid over it was for a couple of reasons:
1. i made a late afternoon delivery and was not preplanned on another load and the rest were gone. this happens usually midweek and in KC and STL. i make a strong effort to stay out of this area after wednesday.
2. no good load/no loads to choose from, so i just stayed put and waited it out. this happens in joplin a lot. i stick it out because i can usually get a late load out of parsons, ks.
3 the plant is broke and not shipping. roofing plants do this fairly often. it happens in joplin and ennis about once a month. they also shut down for maintaince and dont ship. OC in irving,tx will be down for the last 2 weeks of dec. so freight will tighten up in dallas area.

[san415]

thanks for the input everyone. My husband is in Joplin right now. We aren't hurting for money so he's ok with tmc right now. But he is a Type A work-a-holic. He was working as a city employee and driving every week end for a small company here in Michigan. Since he can retire from the city he did. But he has driven truck since he was a kid, when he's out he wants to drive hard. It bothers him to sit overnight mid week somewhere because there is no load for him. He doesn't care what type load he hauls he just likes to work. He's never had so much free time in his life as now working for TMC. I think he figured he would be working harder than he is. Maybe he needs to relax a bit, or go O/O so he work the way he wants.

[san415]

Hate to say it but it seems that a lot of companies are experiencing a shortage of freight. Here at Crete the CEO even went so far as to send us all a Qualcomm about how they are working on the problem. Left the house on Wed morn and come this Mon morn I will only have 1000 miles.
Kinda hard justifying staying out for 4 weeks at a time for that kind of money.

Hope things pick up for you too Karnajj, Thanks for the info,

[richey94]

Hi Brandy, I see you on LOADS alot. At least in Line haul he comes home mine just sits overnight in a truckstop or a stops parking lot.

Well he is home on the weekends. I think his dispatcher was just making up for a couple of weeks ago when she shorted him the 34 hr restart. She felt he wouldn't of gotten home until Saturday morning if he would of delivered his load on Thursday and picked up another for monday. His dispatcher is great. We will keep her. She tries to get him home when he needs to.

[GoldiesPlating]

The loads in the northeast this week SUCKED.
35 drivers were w/o loads on Wednesday in the northeast. The other regions, all combined together, might have had half that many people mt.

Hey Von, WOW 35 sounds like a LOT of trucks laid over. Then I did a small amount of "figuring" and that's only about 1% of the fleet. Not TOO bad but hopefully will be closer to ZERO once the new FM's and their coordinators get their butts in gear.

[mudflap276]

The loads in the northeast this week SUCKED.
35 drivers were w/o loads on Wednesday in the northeast. The other regions, all combined together, might have had half that many people mt.

Hey Von, WOW 35 sounds like a LOT of trucks laid over. Then I did a small amount of "figuring" and that's only about 1% of the fleet. Not TOO bad but hopefully will be closer to ZERO once the new FM's and their coordinators get their butts in gear.

lots of new faces in dsm in operations

[Karnajj]

Hate to say it but it seems that a lot of companies are experiencing a shortage of freight. Here at Crete the CEO even went so far as to send us all a Qualcomm about how they are working on the problem. Left the house on Wed morn and come this Mon morn I will only have 1000 miles.
Kinda hard justifying staying out for 4 weeks at a time for that kind of money.

That hasnt been my experience at all. and you say I make the company look bad maybe you're just lazy

So good to see you again Crete_Drvr. Glad to see that you are not still sore at me for putting you in your place over you ridiculous PM you sent me.

[GoldiesPlating]

Yes there ARE MudFlap. The winds of change are HOWLING (quietly) through TMC.