I am trying to convince my fleet manager to get me to DSM next month for the TQM class. I have to stop by there tomorrow to get some straps replaced. Now just a general question...


How in the heck am I going to replace my messed up straps on a plastic pipe load where some are belly strapped?

All I can think to say tonight is, Damn I'm wore out! I worked my flatbeddin' azz off this week, but the good side of the coin is I got a load out of Charlotte Pipe for Monday, and I actully got a better trlr out of there than I went in with.. :D

How was your week?

.................................................. .................................................. .


Anyone else besides me get stuck in traffic in 5:00 traffic in N.Y.C. this week?

It's not fun, so don't even think about it, unless of course you don't have anything else better to do with your life.

hey NC what is the trailer # ?

I just left Charlotte Pipe the other day left a 102 in damn good shape vs this piece of junk that I have now

Who is your FM? Mine asked me a couple of times.

The class was great. Basically it should have been called, "TMC, how to make money, fit in to the system, and maybe be happy."

It's trailer # 5400

Was that the one you left? It is in really good shape!


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ic_soldier.jpg

nah... it was 5717

well i see that you finally made it out of nyc traffic NC. i got unloaded in houston late friday thanks to pablo and his lazy arse so i had to take a load that loaded at 2300 so didnt get home until 3am sat. but i dont have to unload until midnight monday. i ended up with another FM. mike is leaving. tom seems like he will work out well. we seemed to click. other than my lovely friday, you seemed like you made out pretty well.
Cableman, when i needed some more straps, they just gave me a box and told me to put the old ones someplace and not use them when i pulled them off. i ended up cutting up one of them and using it as a edge protector and turned the rest into joplin when i went through. they just tossed them in the trash bin.

My FM has had a trainee that she just released yesturday, his name is Tom. could it we be talking of the same one here?

If so, he is pretty cool..




http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pport_iraq.gif

:shock:
very well could be.

NC, anything from Richmond, Va north on I-95 is any good these days. Your best to stay the F away :D. I have to drive it everyday between DC and Richmond and the only good time to come thru is in the middle of the night. Anymore though, that is getting just as bad with the wrecks overnight. Big props for giving it a shot thru NYC though. I will NEVER EVER go there for any reason, I cannot stand those drivers.

Yeah, I would lose no sleep what so ever if I never had to drive up there again in my life..

We all know very well that's just wishful thinking, but still, let it be known, I lost nothing I ever need to go back up there to the NE part of the Country to get.


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FYI
I heard on the Sirius trucker channel that they are going to open the new bridge on 495/95 on Sunday and Monday; it is recommended that everyone take 301 or go round on the outer loop.
Be safe.

I'm off to Columbus Ohio, on to a new week and another couple of dollars down the road.

You all be safe out there this week, and when you see me go by on the other side of the median, hold your hand up and wave!

We'll see ya!!!


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Von, your screwed either way if you go anywhere near the WW bridge on 495. Take 301 if your coming from the northeast or heading to the northeast. If your coming out of Frederick, MD, you should be able to head south on 495 off of 270 and MAY only hit a small backup. Might be best to jump off 495 at 66 and take 66 west to 29 south to 17 east onto 95 south down at Fredericksburg. OOR will be up around 30 miles but it could save you an hour of sitting in traffic. VDOT is telling people to basically stay the F away that it will be a total nightmare with commuters mixed in with travelers and trucks. The outer loop may be wide open but the other idiots on the road will be stopping to look and see what is going on and it will quickly back up.

I usually try to take my shots at DC, Boston, NYC, and Chicago at 3 am or so. I can't imagine DC being any worse than a regular day but I guess this WW project takes the cake.

Good man Von, BTW, VDOT said everything went smooth and they had the road open well before 5 am this morning with no backup at all. They FINALLY got it right for once there. :lol:

:arrow: Here's what I was told at school...If you are on an 8..10 ...or 34 hour reset, you can use your own truck but...You must have written permission from your company and you must bobtail

i know that driving flatbed is different from vans. my question is this: when you are driving a van you are normally in the lineup to back up to a certain dock door and have your freight unloaded and then possibly get reloaded. how does flatbed work? i know you dont back up to a dock to get loaded. do you just drive into a loading line and they load you up with your freight on a fork lift?

Backing?
 

That's kinda of an old wise tale about flatbeds never having to back up. Sure there may be sometimes you won't have to back up..... Usually when you are delivering on a jobsite or something. But when loading drywall or shingles you may have to back into some pretty tight spots.

To add to dollar's hollar, some jobsites you go to are not pretty. You have no choice but to back in because they are too small for you to turn around or you park on the road and get unloaded. Some jobsites have hidden hazards like holes in the ground that you will not see in your mirrors becuase they blend in with the background or you have to back into a place you may think you can never get into. You will do backing with a flatbed just not as often as a van does.

Hey!
 

I was wondering what ever happened to Goldies Plating a.k.a. Flatbed Fred? He hasn't updated his website since 6-13-06. He was regularly keeping us informed of his daily activities.

you know i was wondering about him earlier today. i havent heard anything from him lately. must be running so hard he doesnt have time to stop and talk

Re: Hey!
 

Fred is probably working his TMC a** off and get to the HTML.

In the flatbedding world you do it all. Backing in the most ridiculous places that you can imagine. Places that would make a grown van driver cry like a baby. Jobsites, crappy steel mills, yada-yada. Driving into a "pull through" or outside yard where there is no backing at all is most common though.

this morning i had to back down railroad tracks so the deck of the trailer was even with the forklift. pretty narrow and very tight turns, but done it safely and still got empty before all of the vans who were in line before me. not to mention, its easier to put a spread axle into one of these tight parking spots. i waited at least 10 minutes this morning for us express to try and pull a 53 ft trailor through a hole that i would have squirmed or more likely not even tried. none the less after all the cb chatter, he/she finally gave it up then they had to try and get out.

Hi everyone. I'm OK. I worked the weekend before last (by choice) and was driving a lot out West. Last weekend I got in late (Saturday Morning) and left early (Sunday afternoon) so I really had no time to visit CAD. Finally, I was having some "issues" with my fleet manager (now being resolved) and didn't want to post with an emotionally charged negative attitude I'd probably regret later. One "dig" I'd like to take public because it pisses me off is I WISH those in charge (at all trucking companies) of telling you where to go should have gone there themselves before. What I mean by this is that i think fleet managers should have at one time been truck drivers or at least be required to spend 2 weeks on the road in a truck with another driver before being allowed to tell you how long and where you can drive and how long it should take you to get there.
I'll write more later as I have to get some updates done to "flatbedfred.com"
Talk to you all soon!

Good news!
 

Glad to hear you are okay. Get some well needed rest and get back on here and get us up to date. Talk to you soon.

I don't know?
 

I have a gut feeling here that poor Fred has seen the light and possibly experienced some of the :dung: that we have warned him about. How do you go from posting nearly every day, to not posting in over a month?
He said it's just because he stayed out last weekend. Seems like another starry eyed individual that was blinded by all the chrome jumped in his avatar and is toast.
Come on Fred, you have been totally honest up to this point. Now lets hear how you really feel :roll:
I know running totally legal you will have at least 10 hours a day to fill us in.

Re: I don't know?
 

So.. what you're doing here is asking him to bite the hand that still feeds him? Even if you're right I don't think it would be very smart of him to come out and air the laundry. :wink: I tend to agree with you though, it sounds like he might have found a few thorns in the bed of roses.

Dollar

Do you seriously have nothing better to do than sit and rag on TMC or it's employees? Who cares what your opinion is seriously? You said you worked there like 5 years ago and you act like you still know everything about them. Maybe Fred is busy unlike you who doesn't have a driving job.

I'm sure Fred has had his ups and downs out there, everyone will. I'm sure he had a lot more time to write b4 he got his truck but now he's making a living unlike some of us.

Hey!
 

Hawkeye, lets just agree that you and I don't see eye to eye. I was tired of hearing all the "TMC is better than anyone" rant. Sure I was to just sit back and let the cheerleading go on. So that's what I did. I stopped posting for a while and just sat back and read the posts. Now that I have seen that everything that I said would happen is happening I guess I wanted to be the first person to say I told you so. Shame on me for letting unsuspecting rookies be sucked into the game. So now I will just set back again and wait until the next sucker going to TMC shows up. So long for now.

Then let these people make their own decisions with all the info they can get off these boards. I don't think by telling them I told you so is really going to help because I can say " I told you so" about every single company out there. I know TMC has been very good for people, including 3 friends of mine working there. So maybe it didn't work out for you there but it has worked out well for a lot more people.

Didn't the TMC recruiter even help you out a couple of months ago? Can't remember exactly what happened but remember him trying to help you out. If you still pissed at them from something they did that long ago is one thing but no need to keep bringing it on here. You need to let it go, I know TMC is a very good place for rookies to start out at and get quality training and good hometime. Sure they have their faults too just like every other company but at least they try fixing them (there's a reason the have a drivers issue meeting once a month).

No, on the contrary, I've had NO problems at TMC so far and really DID work the weekend because I had to go to Des Moines to pick up my EZ-Pass and attend a safety meeting before going down to S.Western New Mexico to take a load back to CT. I personally LOVE New Mexico and ASKED if they had a load there for me.
What do I have to complain about? The loads pay good running on percentage pay (which I'm up to 29% already), I get to choose my load almost every time, I'm driving a 2007 Peterbilt 379, I'm home EVERY weekend for and average of 49.7 hours so far with the exception of that one and that was MY choice, I had a 4.5 day fourth of July holiday, they're paying for my CDL schooling and I'm in lust with a woman at TMC in Des Moines.
Sorry.... Life is GOOD! ..... REALLY.

I'll admit.
 

Okay, I'll be the first one to admit when I am wrong. I guess I was off the mark a little bit. I am glad things are working out for you Fred. Really :) Just to let everyone know...I have been totally honest about everything I have said about TMC on this and every other thread where I posted. If you read some of my past posts you will find that I have also said some positive things about TMC as well.

Someone asks a question, or wants to know something I will be honest...good or bad. Period! If it's something derrogative about a company and it's fact...I'm sorry to have pi$$ed in your cornflakes, but I will continue to be honest.

Also, Hawyeye, I ask you to please don't fight and defend a company in which YOU personally have never worked for. It is all hearsay for you, and it's wrong also.

Ummm, Hawkeye, these forums are here for people to get info, dollar is giving insightful info. Might be a little old, but things tend to not change very much when the brass at the top are still the same. Sounds like you want the recruiters to come in and talk TMC up and suck in newbies but it's not ok for someone else who has been there to talk whether it be for or against?? Can't have it both ways hoss. It's good when you get both sides of a company, let's newbies make a better decision. Also has helped clear some stuff up, dollar has said some stuff and Matt(aka TMC) has come in and informed everyone how some of it has been fixed or revamped to make things better.

Havent posted for a while but been running the dedicated and absolutely love it, its like a local job but with TMC. Been home every night and making very good money right now.

I think if the company as a whole could take the lead from how they run that it would benefit greatly. To keep it short basically run people the same runs within 400 miles of there house back and fort and across.

Thats basically what I do now I deliver in the morning pick up another load get it off the same day and pick up my next load for the next morning going right thru the house. Cranking about 500 mles a day and home every night and before 5 on friday.

damn Tom glad they finally got you something that will get you home alot more than at first. I am working my a** off out here... I am in Wisconsin heading to east of Indy to deliver tomorrow. Out of hours but still plan to deliver tomorrow. :? :?

I don't know if this has been posted yet but ALL TMC drivers if you haven't been to a terminal in the past few weeks especially DSM and your truck runs above 65MPH stay away because they are trying to conserve fuel so they are turning back the fleet except for 5 year + vets who will get to keep theirs at 70. I unfortunatly had to run through there yesterday and that was the first thing that they did. I spoke to my FM about this and he told me that Operations wants to get the fuel bill down since the rising cost of fuel is costing more to operate the trucks.

TCurr
 

TCurr, It sounds like you fell into a great deal. Good for you! You have such a great attitude and outlook you deserve it. Enjoy, and be safe :)

Mr. Ford

I understand your point with people wanting to get info on companies but I just think people should get the correct info. I will only speak of things I know and not what I "heard thru my buddy out in DC"

Let's take you for example- You mentioned in another thread that you heard thru your buddy that when TMC got audited that they also found that we had illegal immigrants working for us, maybe part of the landscaping crew. Well here's where you story holds no water, why would the DOT be auditing records for non-driving employees??? The landscaping crew has like 5 guys on it and none of them are mexican.

So how do I know these things??? Well like I said b4 I have 3 friends that work for TMC and 1 of them happens to work in the safety dept. and he was one of the ones putting in 80hrs/week while the audit was going on. So I think I can speak about TMC because I heard straight from the source on what happened. He did want to mention to you that no driver was audited for being an illegal immigrant.

Like I said, I will only speak on things I know and that happens to be one of them. I'm not complaining about Dollar speaking his mind about what happened in the past but if he thinks he knows why TMC is bringing in larger classes, I will argue it because there could be a ton of factors that play into it.

You have your right to talk about companies just like I have my right to talk about them.