Jim, you will be finished 1630 to 1700. I do not have to deliver until 0930 the next morning in Dubuque, IA that is about 200 miles away. I will probably stay the night in the hotel. Which reminds me of another question. When remaining overnight at the Terminal in DM where do you park?

Right outside to the left on the driving range usually. If not there then over by the shop area if you can find a spot. If not, there is usually PLENTY of room up by the tarp repair building/recruiting office area.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE
Wishing all a SAFE and HAPPY holiday
Flatbed Fred

I have a few question on the Certification Program:

What are the plus or minus points for idle time? I got hit for 25., whatever that means. I idled for 25% of the time? No way because I don't idle at all at night and very, very little during the day.

I know they don't charge for missed 0800 check calls, what other changes are there?

I have a 379 with about 201K miles on it. What column do I use?

Other than recruiting what other classes am I eligible for with 6 weeks in my truck?

CoPilot Good
Cleaner main interface. easy to see, truck friendly, you can drag cursor over a road and you instantly know name, better sound, automatic rerouting if you miss or change route, easily to change routing, enroute operations better.

CoPilot Bad
Quirky software faults, sometimes does hugely stupid routing, planning aspect sucks, non-existant customer service, data import is very bad.

S&T Good
Better routing, excellent online resources, easy to input databases, planning good, no quirky mistakes in code, better routing with shortest routes. very detailed maps.

S&T Bad
Hard to see, bad sound drivers, no truck route only capability, too complicated, hard to change routing, no mouseover street info,.

That's all I can think of right now.

Happy Easter Everyone!

terrylamar said:

I think there is either something wrong with their calculations or the tracking system for idling was not working correctly. I also got at 25 (seems odd to be exactly 25 - not 24, not 27, but exactly 25). The reason I question the results is that I used the heating pad a lot and zip close the bunk shades. I did quite a bit of driving down south in February (TX, AL, GA, FL, SC), so there was no need to run the engine. Still ended up with a 25 though.

I use Delorme street atlas USA 2005. I used older Delorme software when I worked for Comdata doing oversized overweight permits. When they used version numbers as opposed to year they included a feature to route based on size and weight of the vehicle. They took it out of the newer version because the royalties to the states for bridge height/weight limits is very expensive. It's a great program that shows the name of the street on mouse over and you can set via points and stops along the route. There is also a high contrast mode for night driving. I don't know about using the gps with it because I don't have the earthmate receiver. I also like that it shows all of the routes that I haven't deleted in the background. This works for me since I run the same routes with minor variances. When you set a route it shows all of the roads that you will travel on at the bottom of the screen with distances on that road and total at the turn.

Idling:
I believe TMC's computers consider anything UNDER 5MPH idling. So traffic hurts it. Also if you idle when in line at a shipper or receiver, that counts too.

Mapping:
When OTR I sometimes used PC Miler for city to city directions, then used either the locals supplied by the Qualcomm or Mapquest. All directions were checked with my trucker's atlas.

Fred brings up a good point. GPS/internet software is a fine thing. You still have to use the a combnation of the good old maps, TMC's directions, and, of course, your grey matter.

Not sure if I got a direct answer to my question last time, but the question was reguarding 'home-time' and 'parking.'

Does TMC make their Long-Haul 48 state drivers bring the tractor and trailer home, or just the tractor?

If they require the driver to bring the tractor and flatbed trailer home, where do people park these things? Not everyone has a 70 ft driveway and I don't have the acreage.

I could see the tractor, but the trailer is a different story. Hope this doesn't disqualify me from employment with them. What are the options?

thanks.

[quote="mf2004champ"]Not sure if I got a direct answer to my question last time, but the question was reguarding 'home-time' and 'parking.'

Does TMC make their Long-Haul 48 state drivers bring the tractor and trailer home, or just the tractor?

If they require the driver to bring the tractor and flatbed trailer home, where do people park these things? Not everyone has a 70 ft driveway and I don't have the acreage.

I could see the tractor, but the trailer is a different story. Hope this doesn't disqualify me from employment with them. What are the options?

thanks.[/quote

I think that they want you to park the tractor and trailer together to help avoid theft of cargo. It takes less time to steal a trailer by itself than a tractor-trailer hooked up. The truck doesn't have to be parked at your house but in a secure location. You will be surprised as to the number of places that you might find in your parking scouting missions.

TMC upstate?
 

any info if TMC has any work or need for drivers in the upstate NY area, ie albany? I have seen them with aluminum from Massena and didn't know if it was continuous freight or once in a while. Thanks for any insight.

jpb, Jim,

Great to meet you tonight and put a face with a name. Thanks for dinner.
Good luck with TMC. Give me a call if I can help.

Terry,I can't thank you enough for letting me pick your brain on everything from TMC to gps to showing this hillbilly how to get his laptop to do the wifi thing here at the motel(I actually remembered how).And I sure enjoyed the company at supper.You take care and thanks again. Jim

Re: TMC upstate?
 

TMC needs drivers everywhere. You may want to check the company web site for the line haul/long haul circle; your location is near the border of that line. The Massena aluminum run is usually part of the Lowe's dedicated. Drivers run loads from a Lowe's Distribution Center in Westfield, MA to Western, NY, bounce to Massena to get the aluminum billets, drop those off in Jersey, then bounce back to Westfield to do it all over again.

Contact Matt at TMC recruiting in Des Moines, or, PM him here, his handle is "TMC" He can help you better with the information that you seek.

Good luck,

Safety won't let you leave the trailer behind and take the truck home. You need to leave both truck and trailer at a secure truck stop and you're supposed to check in on your truck every day.

Most drivers are %. There is a new CPM program which could change that though.

I hear that CRST flatbed is running out of Westfield MA these days, does anyone know if TMC lost the contract up there?

I was there this week and there were 8 TMC trucks loading, about 10 preloaded trailers, many empty ones, and a full time TMC driver on site.

Saw plenty of Overnite flatbeds yet no CRST.

There are 2 TMC trucks that park in this area, where I live. One..Pete 387, parks right next to my truck, on the same lot...the other...T-800 Condo, parks across the tracks..about 1/2 mile away. Both trucks are within walking distance of the driver's homes...the T-800 is 2 hundred yards from drivers house. Sometimes their loaded...sometimes their not.

Vonseggrn thanks for the fuel stop info.

Well two weeks left with trainer and I get my own truck can't wait seems like it has taken forever.

Questions?

These may have been answered already so sorry if it has, but

1 if TMC pays % then what about deadhead miles?

2 Does TMC hire older drivers who have never worked flatbeds before?

3 I saw a TMC truck today in Brownfield, TX. Do they hire out of west Texas?

1. Bounce miles are paid at $0.20 per mile if over 150 miles.

2. I am a post 50 hire. They don't discriminate based on anything. You have to pass a company physical and show the capability to do the work during orientation and training.

3. Check the company website for hiring areas. The only issue is whether you would be on long haul or line haul.

Good luck.

I am here in DSM for the weekend taking TQM class finally. I have been trying for the past three months to get here for it and always had something come up keeping me away. :lol:

I even got home last weekend for the Easter holiday. It took plan C to get me there, since plan a got thrown out by 6 hours of waiting to get loaded in Dayton OH for Baltimore. Plan B was to layover in Maryland and load at Tamko in Frederick MD Thursday morning to connect with a load in Pittsburg headed for Vermont. That plan fell apart when I checked in as the sixth truck to be loaded that morning and my load had already left on another TMC truck. Apparently the Customer service people at TMC entered that load into the system twice. Finally they came up with plan C which was to bounce to West Virginia and take some lumber to Brentwood NH. I now have faith in getting home when I want to since the load plannners can now plan to get me home even last minute. I just need to have a lot of patience. :lol: Of course that is the week that is being used as an example in TQM class being compared with everyone else's data. I thought I had a bad week but I did end up in the middle of the pack. I even had a high out of route due to making three incorrect turns in Baltimore, even with my Delorme GPS. I tried to take a straight run from the west side of Baltimore to the TA in downtown Baltimore to drop my trip pack. On a three air mile trip I put 20 miles on the odometer. :oops:

On those "air cleaner" lights. . . Mine mysteriously burned out between 70,000 and 75,000 miles and I have never gotten around to replacing them. I have the bulbs and if I have to fix them at some point I will, but it isn't really high on my list of things to do. :lol:

On Lowe's in Westfield I believe that if TMC doesn't have the trucks in the area they will broker the loads out to anyone else, even the competition, after taking their profit off the top. It could also be that certian stores have a certian dedicated driver for some company or other to handle their freight.

Regarding the Lowe's account. One of my past trainees has accepted a TMC dedicated job at Lowe's Westfield. So...I think that means that we still have the account.

I'll start with 3 first. Yes. We have a few Texas Dedicated drivers that live in your area like Lubbock and Midland/Odessa. We deliver loads into those areas on a reguar basis. I've been thru Brownfield myself a few times. Our division delivers pipe to the oil rigs in west Texas and eastern NM as well as Lowes in Lubbock, TX and Clovis, NM

2 I am 37 and had never pulled a skateboard until last year.

1 Texas dedicated pays mileage only. My deadhead is often 30-50% of my total miles. If you want percentage you can run linehaul.

I hope you don't consider 37 as being old. I'm 52.

you have some great pictures on your site. i recommend everyone check them out, are you a professional photographer? if not, I think you could be

37 old? I was a gazelle then, relatively speaking. I am also 52 truckie. I had a recent trainee that was 54. He acted like he was 70.

I scamper up and down the truck, running circles around trainees that are my son's age. It's all relative and about your attitude.

TMC hired me with no experience at all, just driving school and I am 57.
Funny that Brownfield, Tx is mentioned here. I met another TMC driver at the Morenci copper mine and he is from Brownfield. I also am from there. I am considering moving to Midland-odessa and signing up for the tex dedicated. How long a waiting list they got for that??

The question about TMC losing the Lowes's Westfield, MA account came up last week. I was there today. No CRST trucks. We are getting day cabs in to make the account truly dedicated.

so are we getting all the lowes flatbed stuff? i was in Ennis, TX lowes last week and Mcelroy seemed to have themselves worked into a pretty good position there. they had drop and hook and tarpers and a mule. not that i am fond of going to lowes distro, but it pays pretty good. once in a blue moon is just fine with me. i finally made it to Lafarge yesterday. pretty nice set up that they have there. they made loading/tarping easy since i didnt have anything to do with it.

Just a random gripe..... "NOREASTERS" SUCK!!!! and so does the flooding they cause!!!!! But it WAS fun PLOWING through the puddles!!!!

Not all yet, that is for sure. The Lowe's in MA is work in progress. Going there is very frustrating. The loads are poorly loaded, the tarps that are laid ALWAYS have to be removed and replaced. TMC needs to work with them more closely to get their systems set up better. There are still UPS, and other carriers coming in there. Three companies are drop and hook. TMC, UPS and a company out of Dunkirk, NY

U got that right. We couldn't leave Sunday for Maine and waited it out until Monday PM. Started and got turned back twice with flooded roads.

just curious, TMC gonna buy that company out of Dunkirk?

Is that a random question or do you have info? They were there at at Westfield also. What is their name?

well, I read goldiesplating post once, forgot where, and he was talking about TMC buying a major NE flatbed co. They are pretty big but I havent seen to many of them around. They used to be all over and now they seem scarce. I have talked to one driver and he was not happy with them because of "broken promises". I was just wondering if they were on the wrong PATH? and TMC was gonna buy them. I was prehired with them and was gonna haul concrete forms out of schylerville but 750 a week was kinda low. just curious

actually, I forgot what they were gonna pay. I just felt like they were trying to shaft their drivers from the get go. In their info packet they sent me, they stated that they pay 42 cents per mile if your willing to run NYC and Canada, no big deal, right? But if you run to, lets say TN, they decrease your milage rate. Seemed to say more miles, less money and I didnt like that feeling. I also drive a pete and am not to fond of internationals, except the 9900. I have also heard of drivers "stuck" because it was up to them, at times, to find a backhaul. Then the loads dont pay cause they just want something to get back, know what I mean? Aint something I would want to get tangled up in. Anyway TMC seeems like a decent reputable company and if they had more work in upper NY (I-90, I87) I wouldnt have to think to hard about leaving my company. I dont like to blatenly drop names but it is in the previos post. Just my two cents.

I've started a new page on my site for links to TMC drivers' websites and/or picture sites. Check it out at my website below. Click on "Driver's Pages"
If anyone knows of a page or has one, PM me the address and I'll list it too. Thanks!!!