An Uzi?

How about a few minutes with a Glock 18c Running a 32 Round Magazine?

 

As you all know, there are big changes in the works at TMC.

After being trained the "old way" on logging. There is now a new way. Y'all know what the old way is.

I was ripped a new one by safety and logs. They are now watching actual stops and starts against what you physically log and can compare them on screen. I had the pleasure of experiencing this with Barb in Des Moines; not pleasant. I was asked why I did this or that. My response was, "That's the way I was shown in orientation and specifically with my trainer." After that session I was sent to Tony in safety for more counciling.

My response to both parties was that doing it the way that safety and logs wanted was fine but that there had to be a coordinated effort between all of the TMC divisions. Continuity. The drivers and trainers are losing their minds over this. It is all well and good to do logs and driving "spit-spot" but if the LC's and FM's are dispatching us in the same old way, how the heck are we supposed to get the loads delivered?

An actual example. On Wednesday I started driving at 6 am had a 2 stop load that I finished at 10 am. The first stop could be delivered no earlier than 8 am. Waiting 2 hours for a dispatch it is now noon. The dispatch comes in and it is a 100 mile bounce, in city driving, a 540 mile run, tarped steel to be delivered on the following day. I arrive at the steel mill at 2:30 pm. We all know how steel mills are, slow and nasty; I wasn't loaded, secured, and tarped until 6 pm. We are now at 12 hours. It takes me a while to get my sh** together and I leave at 6:30pm. Keep in mind that I have about 11 hours of driving left to get to my delivery, which says 0:00 but we all know that means 8:00 am or earlier. So I drive 1-1/2 hours and stop at the 14th hour as the HOS state, take my 10 hour starting at 8 pm and begin driving at 6 am. Instead of arriving at 8 am I get there at 2 pm. It turns out, laughably, that the delivery appointment was 6 am and someone forgot to put it on the load screen.

How is this going to work. I surely don't know. I don't think that unless some extremely high amount of coordination is done that the average TMC driver will be able to get in his 5 loads per week. Wages will drop, drivers and FM's will quit. Rumor has it that shippers are not giving us loads because we are not able to meet appointments.

A training scoop. In the past, trainers logged sleeper berth when the trainee was driving. Most of the time they were sleeping, at least mine was. Now, for the first 2 weeks the trainer has to log on duty while the trainee is driving. That means that the trainer will run out of hours pretty much at the same time the trainees do. Hmmm. How many trainers will we lose?

I don't like this. I feel like one of those punching bag clowns with safety on one side and dispatch on the other. Something has to give and it isn't me, I have nothing to give.

Keep in mind boys and girls that despite these workable problems, TMC is a damn fine company. Especially compared to the other rats in the industry that suck drivers blood.

 

That reminds me of the old saying, "If it ain't broke, Don't fix it." why would TMC want to try and twist up a working program and make it fubar as you so described?

 

Because, my fellow flatbedding friend, they were ripped a new one over blatant log and driving violations by the Department of Transportation a while back. They have no choice.

 

An Uzi?

How about a few minutes with a Glock 18c Running a 32 Round Magazine?[/quote]


fired the Uzi while working with IDF and loved it. wouldnt mind the glock though.

 

Thanks for the info vonSeggern...How much as your pay decreased with these changes? I image it would be quite a bit since you wouldn't be able to get in 5 loads. Are you doing 4 loads a week with the changes or fewer?

 

i went into joplin the other day for my "log issues" and turns out that on the weblog, it was flagging my 14 hour violations 1.5 hours early. i had 2 and when we went over them on the weblog and compared them with the log we couldnt figure out how it was doing this. it flagged me with 2 fuel stops that were off by 4 hours and 12 hours. i asked if i could see the actual fuel time from comdata and it turns out that i was only off by 15 minutes on both stops. i dont put a lot of faith into weblog. but if that is how safety is going to run, then either put it in the truck so i can have access to it or stop using it altogether. neither will happen but because of this system i can be liable in a civil lawsuit if i did drive illegally or even if i did not in some cases. also dont think that you cant be liable. the guy from pheonix is going through this now. another thing, if you are driving and you lose your signal on qualcom then it keeps you driving on weblog. i was in a thunderstorm in texas and lost tracking. i pulled over and slept due to the heavy downpours and 3 hours later got a call saying that i had to stop. i told them where i was and that i had been stopped for a while. after a short, mild conversation they agreed that i had lost my signal. also i use GPS to do my own routing and take a lot of back roads. when they put in your stops from the log, it calculates the practical routes and will show that i was speeding. i had to discuss this with safety also in the past.

 

Wouldn't these new logging rules be less of an aggravation to the LONG HAUL drivers?

Assuming that you don't mind staying out.

 

mudflap i to have had the same conversations with logs and the same thing has happened to me when i pull over and sleep it doesn't register sleep



vonseggron i agree also fine company but nothing to give its all being taken

i think to when they have the driver issue meetings and they get the input from the drivers that most of the drivers are from des moines area
which i just speculating from what i've heard that a lot of them are yes mean they just agree and go on


i to do my own routing and i have actually been given a map to show them how i made it home i said i did it in 95 miles the weblog showed that i did it in 110 miles yeah both could be correct because it depends on where your at in theose zip codes but she finally agreed and that was cleared up


as far as the changes yeah use show all sleeper birth then it went 4 hours on duty not driving for the first three weeks of training a new driver then on duty not driving the whole time then log tolls yeah right
of course proper fuel stops but with the fuel stops i was told once that whoever drives to the fuel stop logs the fuel because we would usually switch there then it was i should log it every time because the card was in my name anyway then i was told if he logs it and i was in the sleeper i still had to flag the fuel stop to justify the stop woops i said sorry i'm not logging it while i'm in the sleeper thats my but not yours if the dot later sees my logs without a trainee just different little petty stuff



yeah as far as training right now i'm done and like i told training if we're going to run leagal then i need to use all my hours effficiently because i like teaching but i do take time to train my guys but if i take the time to train them on load securement which i do take time no offense to the new guys because its not there fault but i'm losing money

because loads that i could possibly make happen with my drive time and 14 hour i just lost by teaching them and i told training u keep your extra 75 dollars a week because to me losing a load here and there is not worth the lost loads of the week sorry but i'm in it for the money



yeah cableman i feel your pain so does tcurr they must stop dispatching on the old system and running on the new not going to work and yeah i agree if it wasnt broke dont fix it but they are the destruction of their own creation just let the log books speak for themselves and quit using the weblog as a babysitter because its not accurate anyway tmc even says that its not but u can still use it knowing thats it not accurate


so even if u do run things right u could still get jammed up because the thing is not accurate


i'll see how it go's without a trainee me and momma going out for two weeks starting tomorrow so we will see

 

Hey Joker, tcurr and others.

I'm a little concerned/confused as to WHAT I should ask over at Des Moines regarding my future log entries. I was trained by Sam and pick up my truck this Tuesday. Is the logging method I've learned incorrect or "different" than what they require now? What/who should I ask when I get there??

Fred