Re: 1st load
 

I loaded out of Alcoa Davenport twice, was in and out in about a hour! One load was a 5 stop in the DFW area! That load was cool, because it got me into DFW Friday afternoon in time for GATS! Spent the weekend at GATS, rerouted the goofy drop sequence, and managed to get all 5 drops off in one day. The other time, one drop load to New Orleans!

Keep up the good work! Work with your fleet manager, and he/she will take care of you. New Fleet managers can burn out quickly, if they have been assigned a board full of gripers. So it is best to take the good with the bad, and praise when it is deserved, but bite your tongue on the 1 out xxx bad loads!

Oh, start out slow! What is that! Starting out slow was having you on a trainers truck for 5 weeks! :P

Well Smooth: Those of us that are happy run with our CB off most of the time. The complainers are looking for an audience to share their "misery" with.

There is also the theory that some TMC drivers don't want any other drivers hired so that they get a better choice of freight.


Besides If I told you what a perfect company TMC was to work for, and by the way mention truck 91939 in your application you wouldn't buy it for a minute.

Slo4sho: Well your first week you should get guaranteed pay, so you got paid for sitting around which I always like. :lol: As for starting off slow it is never too slow. Your FM should try to avoid back to back 700 mile next day runs for a few weeks, but other than that you won't get any special treatment unless you ask. The first key to effective management of FM's is: Don't be afraid to ask questions, and ask for things that you need. Your FM, especially a new one, will not be able to guess what you want or need. If you feel that you want a load of say 400 miles or less tomorrow since you are delivering late in the day, or would like a 2 day 900 to 1100 mile load don't be afraid to ask. Be warned that what you want may not be available, but you definitely won't get it if you don't ask.

The second key to effective management of FM's is to give them complete concise information and questions. Be specific with information. If you say "I am running late" first they will ask how late, so you reply, and later you will be asked why you are late. The most acceptable answers are 1) Traffic, 2) weather, 3) Delayed at shipper. So if you phrase your first message to say "due to delay at shipper best ETA to CT is 10am" then you are all set. Once you have informed your FM then STOP WORRYING because there is nothing more you can do.

Enjoy the thrill of being on your own Slo, it will quicly turn into work. :wink:

Thanks for the advice guys, Those are all good things to know since the only thing my trainer ever told me was to keep it floored and be at the customer by 7am.

I guess that is one reason I enjoyed the Long Haul division so much more over linehaul! Scheduling and delivery times had more flexibility, and dispatch was not dependent on being the first one to kill himself getting unloaded in the morning!

Many times, especially multiple drop loads, we were given time windows, to make the delivery. Some 3,4, 5 drop loads in the same general area, they would give allot of time. Many times I would beat the schedule by hours, just by making sure the truck was loaded properly, to make the deliveries with the least amount of miles and time!

My personal opinion, is that all newbies should spend their first few months on the long haul side, to hone routing and time management skills, before being thrown to the wolves on the Linehaul side!

Good luck!

That is true about being on linehaul the rules are simpler but more vicious. I was a longhaul guy so things were a bit different.

My best week, not most money mind you, but best overall was a week in February I only had three loads. I picked up Friday in IN with 850 miles for Monday, Had another 800 miles for Wednesday early am, and then another 800 miles for Friday am and got a load going home. Made $3800 in revenue to the truck on 2400 miles. Got to drive slow, stop often, and take it easy. Sure I could have hurried and maybe gotten a load kicked off a day early, but I found for me getting home to the corner up here that getting unloaded early didn't always help out any, it was better to be first on the board in the morning than to be empty late the afternoon before. Remember that only applies to me getting home. If I was headed away from the house I would have had an extra load that week.

Yup, that was me too! And trust me, after the last couple of weeks running this tanker all over the state, I would love to have my big shiny Black Pete back!

Will have to pull out the records, but I think during my time there, and being on long haul, the highest mileage week I ever had was 2800, most weeks were in the 2200 to 2500 mile range, with about the same as an average $3800 <<double note, I said average>> revenue to the truck!

My FM always had me in the area on Friday, on the weekend I was suppose to be home! And a full 2 days out of the truck! I think once I left early on Sunday, for a early AM Monday delivery, but that was only because I had a prime John Deere 3 drop load preplanned waiting for me in Laredo! Lots of time I would load in Sweetwater, thursday afternoon with sheetrock either coming to San Antonio for Monday, or New Orleans on Tuesday!

If my commitments were not so important to me, I would be OTR again, and in a TMC Pete! But right now, my tanker gig has enough flexibility that if there is an emergency that our EmComm group has to deploy on, I can get it done!

TMC would not let me have my extra radios in the truck, so that is also a stubling block on returning!

Catch you all later, enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Horseman

hey jerrod i have a question. Sorry to but in guys, but are yuo hiring out of michigan? what is the hometime/defintion of a driver who lives south of I-96 just west of Grand Rapids, MI and are there any dedicated routes in that area. Thanks for any help Jerrod and again appologizing for cutting in on the thread.

We will have to get Jerrod's official answer but I can guess:
TMC is hiring in some parts of Michigan. You may be in the hiring area. If you are in the hiring area I believe it would be for long haul so you would get home about every other weekend and would get one day home for every week out. I could be wrong about that.

As for dedicated opportunities I know there is a steel mill that we have a dedicated unit out of just north of Detroit. There may be others. You will probably need to be working for TMC for several months before you will be considered for a dedicated opportunity as they are in high demand.

Don't apologize, questions like that are what this thread is for. Good luck.

Thanks rawlco for the information. The map is hard to read, but i hope to get the "offical" answer about what area i would be considered. I expected that you would have to put in yuor time before you are able to go to a dedicated account. I guess the question should have asked more about the oppurtunites that Michigan could offer (i understand that we aren't a booming state!).

About a year and a half ago I was looking into hiring on with TMC and they told me anything south of M-59 was line haul.
I knew of a driver that lived north of M-59 and he had trouble getting home. He said he would have to stay out 3 to 4 weeks at a time.
I believe the steal company they have a dedicated account with is in Plymouth mi. I see their trucks all the time, both day cab and sleepers running on I-275 and also I-696.