Well I had a rotten week last week. I spent Monday at home, catching up on the days owed me. Tuesday morning I was ready to go and got a load with a 250 mile bounce to Norwood MA. Loaded at Certainteed there with shingles, destination Maryland paying the truck $525. Usually A 500 mile trip is a one day event and park at the shipper, but with a 250 mile bounce that brings it to needing an extra hour or two the next day. I parked in a rest area by the south end of the New Jersey Turnpike/295. I awoke to some snow, ice and general bad weather. Chatter on the CB talked about really poor traveling and approximately 25 mph conditions. TMC policy is if you can't drive conficently at 35mph then park it so I considered waiting for a few hours. Something nagged at my brain to check on the receiving hours and the numbers didn't match between the qualcomm and the bill of lading. I would have had my fleet manager call the consignee and inquire but he was snowed in and had not made it in to work yet. I called the consignee and talked with the ONLY person there who was leaving in a few minutes and the place would be closed for the rest of the day. Bad weather prevented most workers from coming, prevented deliveries, stopped customers, and lack of electrical power sealed the deal for them. So I couldn't deliver this short cheap load for two days, not a great start for the week.

My reload was at Tamko in Frederick MD. After my bounce I arrived at 9 am CST. There were 25 trucks ahead of me outside the scale, plus probably 6 or 8 ahead of the scale. Upon inspecting my trailer I found a flat tire, right rear outer. I was parked in the next to last row to the right so there was space for a tire repair truck to get to me and fix the tire. Tire service was arranged, and the next problem arose. My load was not scheduled to be loaded until Friday, so I needed a different load, not a real problem exactly but I failed to check something out about this load that I had paid close attention to on the first load I was dispatched. As the day progressed more trucks showed up, the tamko scalehouse mentioned that they were trying to load 200 trucks today, plus 85 that didn't get loaded the night before due to the weather slowing them down. Glad I got there early. :roll: The tire service truck can't even reach Tamko since trucks are backed up about half a mile from the entrance, so I will meet him off the property after I am loaded. At 3pm CST I finally depart the shipper, still needing to complete my x-straps but I am secured enough for the 2 mile trip to Lowe's. Once I am at Lowe's I let the tire service company know where I am and complete my securement while waiting. Eventually the tire is repaired and I am on my way. I went as far as the nearest CAT scale in Haggerstown MD and discovered a slight problem. Gross Weight 81880 pounds. :shock: Slight problem. You see the thing that I didn't check when assigned a new load was the weight of the product. The first load was 46,000 pounds, which matched quite well with my 34,000 pound empty weight. This load was 48,000 pounds, and I didn't look at the weight since I was in a hurry to meet tire service. I had already kept them waiting long enough. I also partially trusted the Tamko outbound scale which read 75,000 pounds, incorrectly. I can't burn off that much fuel so it is back to the shipper to have them take off a pallet. I arrive fifteen minutes AFTER the last day shift forklift operator went home, so I am out of luck until 6am when they come back. At 6am I find out that they will need to wait for someone in the main office to allow them to take off one pallet, and they get in at 8am, or so. . . :roll: Finally at 9 am EST the forklift operator spends the three minutest to take one pallet off my truck. Since this was Friday morning I sure wasn't going to make delivery that afternoon out by Chicago, so with delivery on Monday I went as far as Akron OH and spent the night, spending my weekend at Gary IN a mere 12 miles from my consignee.

This morning started off well as I just finished putting my last strap away when this building center opened and the forklift got to work. A nice short 15 mile bounce and a 3 hour wait for the union forklift guys to load me, and I was on my way. Destination Griffin Pipe in Council Bluffs, IA. A slight detour through the Des Moines Terminal for fuel, wash, and a chat with the log department in the morning and I will be on my way. For tonight I am in the Baymont enjoying the Internet, at least this internet spot hasn't been banned from CAD yet. :lol:

I have a hunch the merger won't go through-The FCC has a thing about monopolies and Sirius and XM are the only 2 satellite radios and the FCC is gonna have plenty of ammo against that going through

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You could be so very right!!!

The person that picks a company because they like the color of their trucks is the person that keeps these low paying carriers supplied with drivers that drives down the wages for all of us.

The only reason that no one has responded is that they don't have the answer. Best to call Matt in recruiting, he may not even have the answer.

The whole trainer thing is a crapshoot. If on the weekend that you get done with orientation, all the trainees that are within 100 miles of you may be involved with trainees at some point of their 6 weeks, you may end up with a trainer farther that you want.

All I can tell you is that there are a lot of drivers in your area, whether or
not they train is the beeeg question.

I finally figured out the truck stop in De Pere, WI that I had trouble with.

PM me, with your e-mail address, if you would like a copy of TMC Fuel Stops v.3

WOW HEAT WAVE!!!! I'm LOVING LIFE right now. 45 degrees is like summer in NYC. No more ice and snow (for now).!!!!

Just got done talking with flatbed Fred an he answered my questions straight forward and no BS. I would recommend anyone thinking of TMC to PM or call him, even though he is from NY and I am Boston, Go Red Sox!!, anyone remember 2004, I do. But seriously he had great info about the company and a couple helpful hints about going DSM that I an sure to use. Just wanted to say thanks Fred and hope to run into you in person someday. Chef Trev

lol u better remember 2004 last time the RED SOXS will win anything lol
good thread here enjoy reading all your post guys
some good info and advice here hoping to get my cdl and joining your ranks

back again any drivers from NC? would like to hear from u all
hey fred i'm a former NYer glad i got out of there in 2004
don't miss the snow one bit lol only goona get up to about 65 today
good website enjoy reading it sheds alot of ligth on flatbedding and tmc
well off to get my DOt physical and take premit test
be safe guya and have a good day