Comments By Justin F.

Sorry I'm late on the responses. Otr training was not bad. I had a good trainer. Everything is going well. They definitely have held up to what I was told via recruiter. Unless I get a good offer after my first year, def will stay with these guys

Hey everyone. So far so good. Had a rough couple weeks. Aftertreatment issues cost me two days of work. Plus hitting a pole going into a customer cost me a two days. But other than minor trailer electrical stuff, I love it. Drove 611 miles one day and that's after unloading and reloading. My fleet manager is impressed with how good I run. Said I do better than half her guys. Whether or not that's true time will tell lol. Still trying to figure out what gloves work best for this job. Went through 2 pairs in one month, but pilot points just keep adding up lol. And is there a such thing as a tmc ghost fleet? Heard rumors of it. Not sure you experienced drivers know of it. I know this post is all over the place. Just so much to type and not sure what to say lol. I do have my untarping and rolling the tarps and getting straps of away down to an hour and 15 mins. And tarping and securing is about 1hr 30. I guess that's good considering I've never done this and have less than 2 months driving truck period. Anyways any tips or ideas?

Sorry for the lack of updates. Will you have your cdl when you get out of the military? Or are you getting it through them? I learned that depending on the class size will dictate the schedule. My class had two people in it. What I exp may be different because of class sizes.

Day 3 we worked on finishing videos and forms of needed and was taking out driving to evaluate my skills and see what needs worked on.

Day 4 they had us meet with recruiting to discuss referal program and reimbursement. Also took a personality test so they can pair us up with trainers and fleet managers. Which was retry accurate btw. The 2nd half of day 4 we started load securement class. Spent 4 hours doing classroom art of it.

Day 5 was load securement. Did load securement from 0630 to roughly 2100. Homework was to study 19 things needed for 20 ton coil and memorize them. And they have an order. We also reviewed for the test.

Day 6 we did load securement. Not as long this day. We reviewed for the test and worked on memorizing the 19 things.

Day 7 we did some load securement things. We stayed later this day than what is normal because TMC has a no alcohol policy while your here. Someone found alcohol and so the whole live and die as a team mentality came into play but anyways. We did tarp folding. Reviewed for the test and then took the test. I got 76/77 correct. I missed one because I rushed and didnt read the answered right.

Day 8-11 we drove for the first half of the day and backed the 2nd half. Worked on pti ( pre trip inspection).

Day 12 we drove some and cleaned the trucks.

Day 13-15 we had off due to Labor Day.

Day 16 we drove dot route and worked on pti and backing.

Day 17 practiced pti and backing. Took exam drove some after exam

I passed my exam so day 18 was driving day.

And today is 19. I leave to go home an meet my trainer

Day 2

Today was rather uneventful. All classroom work. Did route planning. Signed our contracts. Did a few power points, went over esop and benefits, as well as pay. Tomorrow they will put us in a truck to assess what we know and what we need to work on. Only homework we have is to watch the hours of service video.

Day 1: Classroom, Physical, and physical assesment.

Today was day one of the in house program at TMC. Day started and we rode a bus to the training center. Got off and was quickly seperated into our different groups. Upon the seperation we was quickly introduced to the online part of the classroom. Filled out forms while waiting for the bus to leave for the physical. At 0800 we left for the physical. I didn't take one prior to coming, which I regret now. Mainly for an injury that happened a month ago. Now I am trying to get a copy of my release. But anyways. Physical was done and shuttled back to the training center. After arriving we were directed to a garage for our physical assessment. They had a P.T come in to instruct us on how to lift the lumber tarps. Also how to craw and climb. We climbed a ladder onto a container and then had to stand at the edge, then climbed back down. Did some stretches and proceeded to the tarp station. We had to lift a 40# tarp, an 80# tarp and the big 120#. The 120# was what we was graded on. We had to pick it up, place it on the flatbed and then proceed to climb onto the flatbed, put it onto a coil, move around coil, pull the tarp off coil, get off trailer, and then get tarp and carry back to starting point. Once that was finished, we had lunch and was back in the classroom working on forums, tests and modules on the job. Left at 4pm. Now relaxing lol.

Side note, the drive here was pertty interesting. 10 hours for me and the other guys was 18. Hopet his was quasi detailed enough.

I am aware of the tricks of the trade. One company could not verbally say I would be home weekly and then told me if I moved to where I live now it might be possible. But with TMC their website states guaranteed weekend home times for my area.

On the 22nd I will be starting my training for my cdl with TMC. I am unsure how long they have been doing this, so I figured I would ty to blog my exp.

Here is my background and reasons I chose TMC.

I am 26yrs old minister and just got married three weeks ago. I have worked factory jobs and some office jobs in my adult life. Recently the shop I am currently at cut our hours and was on the verge of laying off. For anyone who is getting married would not take this lightly. I threw the idea out to my fiancé after a sparked interest after meeting an O/O. She was very supportive since I have no college education. After researching here and making calls, I was on the verge of signing with Millis Transfer. I applied at Millis, Schneider, and swift. Schneider had opportunities but not what I was expecting. Millis couldn't give me the home time I needed. In a dilemma I was unsure if I should drive. I called a driving school and they listed companies that sign out of their school. I wrote them down and called to inquire more about their company. I spoke to TMC and the recruiter was very open and even offered to make a conference call to bring my fiancé in to discuss stuff. Not only that but unlike other companies, she kept in touch. Schneider told me to call back when I was ready and the same with Millis. The time I made the decision to pursue driving, I was getting married and couldn't postpone the honeymoon. TMC worked around that and my ministerial obligations. I told them when and its been history since. My recruiter and I have talked almost every week either phone or email. This spoke to me and my wife a lot. Well this is all I can think of for now. Stay tuned for updates!

So August 22, I start with TMC Training. Where I'm at just went to one shift running my area because we have too much in stock and all I'm thinking about it getting started sooner. Any advice for a new guy getting into flatbed right off the bat? I was reading the tarps weigh 125. I guess if I can pick up a 200# part and walk it 3 feet with no issues I should be good right? Just little concerned about some things. Especially since my wedding day is in 2 days lol

I am doing this. Really cheap too. Do have to sign on for a year but their flexibility is what hooked me. I start the 22nd of August

I got my permit and will be starting training in August with TMC. I really appreciate Brett and the High Roads Training. That sure did help me. Prior to taking my test I read our state manual just to be safe. Only endorse me I didn't get was my Hazmat. I will start a thread when I start training. I'll do my best to recap the days. I'm excited, my soon to be wife is excited and most of all I'm gonna do something I've wanted to do since I was knee high to a grasshopper lol.