this week: KY to MI, OH to CT, MA to NY, PA to.PA. $3400 to the truck, $180 in bounce and tarp pay, adds up to about $1150 gross. currently loading at Wheatland Tube.

I see a lot of trainees but no more than usual.

 

That 6% was last year on long haul, from November to February I believe. I won't idle if the outside temp is above 20 degrees, and my FM kept me running in the warm wet snowstorms last winter. Personally I would rather have the cold than the snow, but I took what loads I could get.

My idle time is higher this winter, because there have been so many weekends that I have had to leave the truck running here at home when the temps fall towards zero.

I was in a daycab for a month just lately. Peterbilt had my truck waiting for parts. It was in for an oil change/PM, but while they were pulling it into the shop at pete it started to run really rough. I guess it broke a lobe off the cam on that Cat C-15 with 304,000 miles. All together they replaced some exhaust parts plus a cam, rollers, lifters, rockers, etc. I am glad to have my truck 91939 back though, those daycabs have a horrible ride.

 

How does that make scense? I know many,many TMC drivers who cant get more than 2-3 on the ground each week. Deliver today, reload 2 days from now, 16,17,20 on the list of reloads? Loads from Northern Pa TO Lower VA, just to sit for two days, and rebounce back to Northern PA for a reload right back down to Lower VA?

I know the economy stinks right now, but when you cant get freight for the drivers who have been with you for a few years, dont you feel its a slap in the face to them to bring more sitting ducks into the field?

Tell me Im wrong TMC insider


I have ran a webasco unit in 3 different trucks now. No way can I turn it up past 1/4 way or im sweating heavily, and im sure many others have the same experience....but then again, its easy to claim,"we were not impressed" and ask a driver to buy a stupid bed pad, than for them to fork the bill.

One day you folks will learn...this is not ice road trucker, and you are not "brave" or "cool" for trying to sleep, or rest in extreme temps, your just another tool that a company, in this case, TMC wants in thier truck. If the company was so good to you, why would they not want you comfortable? Oh sure you can get comfortable, but your gonna pay for it from your pay check.

Funny, you idle under 15deg, it counts against your snapshot....HOWEVER, you kill the batts, or gell the fuel up, your getting the bill, or atleast a portion of it.

 

I swear I saw 91939 the other day on 80 in PA. I'm in 91374, you can usually recognize it by the empty trailer and it's usually taking the wrong exit. kidding.

did have a big of a disagreement with my FM about almost getting stuck out 5 hours from home, I can't quite figure out how a company will deadhead a truck 600 miles to haul something for $0.80 a mile but doesn't really care if their drivers get stuck out 3 weeks at a time. I was stuck out 4 hours from home last weekend and informed him it was not going to happen again. they found me a load out of Wheatland Tube again for Monday, that place is 25mi from my house.

you have a point in your last statement steelhauler, but having an agenda against TMC isn't adding much to the discussion. I hauled 4 loads last week, 2 the week before, but one of them was 1300 miles.

 

Carter, you said yourself they dont care if you are stuck out 3 weeks. You informed your FM that you won't be stuck out 5 hours from home again. What are you going to do if it happens again? Quit? Steelhauler does have a point that drivers are just tools that a company uses to get their loads hauled. What he is trying to say is that some companies treat their tools better then others. We are asked to idle when we need to but to use our heads. They also have equiped all trucks with bunk heaters so we can be comfortable when we dont need to idle. They feel that drivers who are well rested are safer. How well rested are you if you cant sleep at a comfortable temperature because you are worried about your idle time or being punished for it?

 

That was not me in PA the other day, it must have been a similar number.

TMC allows the driver to make the choices about being comfortable and when to idle the truck. I figure that I will idle when I need to or want to. Yes it burns fuel and decreases fuel economy, but I never tried to get stellar fuel economy anyway. I also turned the truck off whenever I could so I wouldn't feel guilty about idling when I wanted to later.

The problem with selecting an anti idle technology that works for everyone is that within a typical week on long haul I could be in Maine over the weekend at below zero temps, and taka a run to Florida where I would want air conditioning instead of heat. I would much rather have some way to cool the sleeper silently than heat it silently. A webasto heater wouldn't make me happy.

TMC is hiring because by the time a new driver gets through training at this point and into their own truck the freight will be picking up again around the end of March. TMC has always been about forward thinking, not waiting until something happens and then saying shoulda, coulda, woulda, didn't. TMC wants to sieze the opportunity. While other major trucking companies are scaling back and freezing hiring TMC is taking their freight. Yes it is cheap right now, but it allows TMC to be positioned properly when freight availability increases in the spring. This is the way TMC has always operated and their business model is sound, especially in a tough economy.

 

For those of you that are wondering , TMC's website has not been updated to reflect the changes in thier hiring area's.............

Just got a e-mail for one of the recruiters, he stated that they are not hiring ( until this Spring ) anybody out of the state of Michigan, as far as any other state changes, he did not say !!!

Just thought that I would pass that along, for those of you that thought that TMC, was all out hiring, and have not slowed down !!

 

any insiders care to comment on the recent shakeup, re: permanent layoffs?

really couldn't get a straight answer from my FM, all he said is that I am fine.

heard all sorts of stuff, from everyone at Lake City getting fired, to anyone in a truck due to be traded getting fired... not sure wtf to think. think I will try to keep a low profile and just keep running.

 

Next time to go in the Iowa see what it looks like. They always had way to many people working around that place anyway. I would say they shot a few of them down if anything.

 

Yep that's the thing it's cheaper to saddle the driver with the expense/burden of keeping warm/cool and holding his/her idle time against them rather than actually getting the equipment that allows atleast AC/HEAT without idiling ...I often wonder if some of these posts are really being made by company cheerleaders and not drivers ,because what person with an IQ above 70 lives in a 25 degree truck to save company fuel and takes pride in this ? I mean homeless people live like that ,but none of them are bragging about it or wearing it like a badge of courage . And the excuse of not equiping trucks with an APU due to not knowing if they're actually effective is laughable and obviously the reason is it's cheaper to treat the OTR drivers idle time like he/she was working local and shutting the truck off after shift and going home ,and not living in the cab after hours .,as opposed to spending $$$,and hey if you don't got the money to do this maybe your company does not need to be in business ,but I'd have an easier time with the " times is tight" speach regarding fuel/apu if the management offices were 90 or hotter in summer and 50 or cooler in winter .