Most of the linehaul drivers do not get home until late on Friday with a load and plan on leaving Sunday around noon to get to their first delivery early Monday. You can stay at home until Monday on some loads, but the rest of your week will be screwed up and your paycheck will be short. There will be weekends that you barely have enough time for your 34 hour restart, and there will be weekends that you get home early and have plenty of time but can complain about not earning enough money. Just so you understand that you are earning money by using time, and sitting at home earns you no money you will be fine.

It will take time to learn how to get the outcome you want from this job. Eventually you will be able to predict that when you unload in Delaware that you will bounce to Tamko in Frederick MD for a load. :lol: You do not yet know the joy of being the 99th truck waiting in line at Tamko, just plan on bringing your lunch, and supper. :wink:

It is important to communicate with your fleet manager. If you would rather be home on Sunday he can try to put you farther away on Friday so you get home early Saturday and deliver close to home on Monday. If you would rather be home early on Friday and leave Sunday noon he can plan to have you unload close to the house Friday morning. Bear in mind that in otr trucking things rarely go as planned.

 

Dakota1, where do you live in Delaware? I lived there for 20yrs and drove part time for a few years and full time for about a year before I went back to just part time, for a company in Milton where I lived. I was home every other day and weekends. I don't have enough post's yet to pm so e-mail me if you are interested. May not be what you are looking for but it's worth a shot. [email protected] My name is Bob

 

Thanks for the info. you guys have provided as far as being a linehaul driver. I appreciate it. Sounds like you guys are familiar with Delaware even though you pass through it in the blink of an eye. Most of the time I hear DelaWHERE?

I start orientation in Des Moines on Mon. Any suggestions on what to take/not take for the week? Thanks again.

 

Leave the women folk at home, your need to give your undivided attention to orrentation.

Leave the attitude at home, you need to come with an open mind and learn the TMC way.

Leave the beer at home, no drunks allowed.

If you do drugs I hope you get caught soon.

Do bring your good attitude and willingness to learn.

Of a more practical nature:

Gloves

Paper and pens/pencils. Don't be one of the unprepared who always want to borrow paper and pen or both.

You already filled out an application and submitted it, bring it and copy it for the one you will fill out the night before class.

A Rand McNally Deluxe Motor Carriers' Road Atlas or Large Scale MCRA.
Not the cheap paper Wal-Mart special. You want to be a Proffessional Driver, get "Proffessional" tools.

Steel toed boots.

Work clothes.

Rain gear, you won't stop for rain.

An extra pair of glasses if you wear glasses.

A hat or cap. Do not wear it in an indoor class.

Snacks, meals. Lunch is provided the first week. You have to provide the rest of your meals.

Have a checking account or savings. Bring a check or deposit slip. You must have a bank account for direct deposit.

Your CDL.

Marriage/birth certificates.

Money.

Prescriptions of any medication you are on.

Did someone mention stay off the grass? STAY OFF THE GRASS!!

I'm sure someone else will be along to add to this list. Good luck!

 

hope they didn't pay too much that fuel optimizer... I predict that it's going to suck. bigtime. not looking forward to it.

another month gone, nothing really new to report, truck is like 5000 miles overdue for service, how much of a talking to am I going to get for overspeeds? GPS says my truck went 79.5mph at one point. other than that I am staying pretty safe. my idle time sucks too but out of route and everything else are looking good, overall pretty happy just not looking forward to dealing with safety.

 

How fast was your overspeed, how many times did you overspeed? I was talking to one of the mechanics on my last PM. An overspeed is over 75. It must be 75 MPH or over for 20 seconds.

Since June 1st they are taking it very seriously. I assume you received the flyer in one of your paycheck mailings. You will be counciled and sign a counciling sheet for your first offense. Your truck will be turned down to 60 mph for your second offense. You can be fired for your third offense.

You need to get control of your driving habits now. You say you have more than one occurance between your PM or 30,000 miles. I guess in your case 35,000 miles. You need another mind set. Don't try to take it to 75 and thread the needle. Set in your mind you will not go over 70 mph. This is your job and it is a pretty good job, don't loose it through carelessness.

Make it a habit to flip on your engine brake. That way your speed on downhills will not creep up on you. The engine brake can be irritating. You can either turn it off when shifting or learn to shift with your clutch when splitting.

Hopefully your overspeed wasn't over 20 seconds. Otherwise, expect the worst.

 

... So i just finished out my 5 weeks OTR training. Trainer was an interesting guy. Make sure when you go out for your 5 weeks to do so with the attitude of I am here to learn and I can handle anything for 5 weeks. You would think that if someone volunteers to be a trainer they would have a little more patience but no. Overall it was not too bad of an experience. On my 4th week I blew out a the left steer tire on the PA turnpike. Talk about a wakeup call. I am not sure how that happened exactly, dont think i ran anything over but i dont know how else i coulda blown it with the cruise set at 65 going down the road. luckily no one was in the hammer lane so i had some room to regain control and get her off the road. My trainer was in the sleeper at the time, he came out of there screaming at me about jerking the truck around and bouncing his head off of the side of the truck, until he realyzed what had happened. Then he thanked me for not killing him and wrecking the truck. I am headed out to des moines on sunday to test out, I am not to worried about it but wish me luck anyway.

 

Congratulations and good luck. Just relax, you will do nothing different than you have been doing for the last two weeks with the exception that will you be testing out in a Long Nose 379.

Remember to take turns in 3rd gear. Drive a little slower than the speed limit. Down shift at least once. Start out in 1st gear. Dump you valve when making 90 degree turns. When backing get out and look at least once. If you don't get backed in the time limit don't worry, you can do it again. You will get one on one instruction. Don't shift while on RR tracks, and stay within the lines in the city.

You may have to drive to any terminal to pick up your truck. If you are too tired the next day tell your Fleet Manager. Don't drive sleepy.

Let us know what truck you have been assigned.

 

What was he doing in the sleeper? Hopefully not asleep, if he was asleep someone in Des Moines needs to know unless you were running as a team at that point and you both felt good about your control of the truck. I have never been a fan of a trainer in the bunk asleep and this is a perfect reason why, you never know when a hairy situation is going to arise on a new driver and they may need your quick guidance to save both of you. Good job on saving it yourself and just so you know, might be bad batch of tires. Saw a TMC truck about a week and a half ago sitting just south of the DC Beltway with a left front gone.

 

I had only the 2 week deal with a TMC trainer, for securement training! Luckily for both the trainer and myself! While he is a great guy, and have stayed in touch to this day, he had absolutely no patience! I showed him on day one that I knew my stuff, and made it clear that we just needed to get through these 2 weeks! About day 4 we had a issue, I stayed my usual calm and collected self, which irritated him even more! He tried to key me off, but could not do it! After that, we got along great! I think he took one more trainee after me, a one weeker, and after that refused to train anymore! I believe the conversation we had the last day heading back to Joplin may have triggered something, that made him realize he was a ticking time bomb, and needed to change!

Real trainers(teachers) are hard to find, especially in the trucking industry! Few actually have the social skills and patience to make excellent trainers! I think TMC does its best to keep the real jerk offs (money hounds) from getting the position, but they have students to get on the road, and sometimes do not end up in the best of situations!

The ones I hate hearing stories about, are the ones that never stop for food or showers, and the poor trainee has to suffer through that! Not a good start of a career!

Good luck! Your real training starts now! Enjoy it! Their will be good days, and bad, but overall, you will do good!