What Am I Thinking
Topic 15317 | Page 1
How much experience to you have flatbed? What you are describing sound normal for flatbed. Hopefully Old School will respond to you. You could look at his profile and posts. Maybe you could talk with your FM about your home time. Usually with OTR , most companies offer 1 day home time for 7 days worked. Hope this helps.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Fm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Hi Brian.
What you're experiencing in regard to hometime is not out of the ordinary. TMC gets their drivers home for the "weekend," but it's still not like a typical job where you're really off for 48 hours. A lot of trucking companies that promise weekly hometime are the same way, getting drivers home for a 34 hour restart, sometimes under a load, but yet calling it "home for the weekend." It's pretty common practice.
Did you not know this before signing on w/ TMC? Why did you get back on the road if you still want to be home? Even without trucking experience before I joined the industry, I had a general idea of how long I'd be away from home OTR , and what most trucking companies mean when they offer jobs that are home "weekly." Thankfully I was able to get a linehaul gig with an LTL company and I truly only work 5 days a week. My weekends are more than a 34 hour restart. Have you ever thought about LTL? Not everybody has LTL opportunities where they live, but P&D and linehaul gigs are awesome trucking jobs for pay and hometime. So is hauling fuel.
LTL:
Less Than Truckload
Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.
LTL carriers include:
- FedEx Freight
- Con-way
- YRC Freight
- UPS
- Old Dominion
- Estes
- Yellow-Roadway
- ABF Freight
- R+L Carrier
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
P&D:
Pickup & Delivery
Local drivers that stay around their area, usually within 100 mile radius of a terminal, picking up and delivering loads.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers for instance will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.
Linehaul:
Linehaul drivers will normally run loads from terminal to terminal for LTL (Less than Truckload) companies.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning them to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.
The "they will take your early" bit is kinda common too. I always get places really early... sometimes taking my 10 hr at the customer so I can roll out with a full clock.
I left for one customer later than I normally would cause they refused early didn't have any parking and was watching my 14 clock. FM messaged get there they will take you early. I fight rush hour traffic to get their 2 hours early... "your compnay knows better. Your appt is for 7... u ain't checking in til 7".. now the problem is no where to oark
This is typical stuff that you might have forgotten while off the road. Good luck and drive safe
Fm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Very well could be because I dorm remember it being like this. I enjoy trucking but when they hired me I was told that I would be home early on Friday and leave out Sunday night. That is the most frustrating part. I'm considering getting my hazmat and trying to get on with a local fuel company. Having a family and trucking is a game changer for me. I don't mind being gone but I do want to be home for quality time. Thank you for your reply. Helps a lot
The "they will take your early" bit is kinda common too. I always get places really early... sometimes taking my 10 hr at the customer so I can roll out with a full clock.
I left for one customer later than I normally would cause they refused early didn't have any parking and was watching my 14 clock. FM messaged get there they will take you early. I fight rush hour traffic to get their 2 hours early... "your compnay knows better. Your appt is for 7... u ain't checking in til 7".. now the problem is no where to oark
This is typical stuff that you might have forgotten while off the road. Good luck and drive safe
HAZMAT:
Hazardous Materials
Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations
Fm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
I enjoy trucking but when they hired me I was told that I would be home early on Friday and leave out Sunday night
If someone guaranteed that then they were lying. You know you can't believe anything unless they put it in writing and I know TMC didn't put that in writing. They should have said "normally" that's what will happen, but not always.
Unless you're running a dedicated run that's always the same all the time there's no way that any company is going to guarantee getting you home early on Friday. Any company that runs irregular regional routes that get drivers home on weekends will normally get you home anywhere from 36 - 48 hours at a time. You might get home Friday morning, you might not get home til Saturday afternoon. It's always going to be different.
My fleet manager told me to go ahead and get there early so I did at eleven this morning. They told me they spoke to the company and told them they would not load me early before I even got here!
I've had a million places tell me they wouldn't load or unload early but did anyhow when I showed up. Your dispatcher was just hoping you would get a lucky break.
I can totally understand you wanting to be at home with your family as often as possible. Maybe TMC has some dedicated accounts you can move into at some point where you can count on a certain schedule but if you're running irregular routes your home time is going to fluctuate. But don't worry, there will be times you'll get home early on Friday and may not leave out til Monday. It will work out over time.
Dedicated Run:
A driver or carrier who transports cargo between regular, prescribed routes. Normally it means a driver will be dedicated to working for one particular customer like Walmart or Home Depot and they will only haul freight for that customer. You'll often hear drivers say something like, "I'm on the Walmart dedicated account."
Regional:
Regional Route
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
Dispatcher:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.Fleet Manager:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.New Reply:
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First of all I'm new to this group so hello everyone! I drove otr years ago for a heavy haul company. I was single and had a blast. I came off the road for about 10 years. I worked local driving jobs. I recently came back to otr. I work for TMC. I haven't ever worked for a big trucking company before. They promised me I'd be home every weekend because I do have a family. They haven't exactly lied about that but my home time has been one day. I have a new fleet manager that tries and I'm trying to work with him but today is my last straw. I drove to hours to new london Wisconsin to be loaded. My appointment time is for 5 this evening. My fleet manager told me to go ahead and get there early so I did at eleven this morning. They told me they spoke to the company and told them they would not load me early before I even got here! This load is going to Houston supposed to be there Friday morning. If I don't split this load (which really pays good) with another driver I won't make it home this weekend. I'm sitting here not getting paid for today. Just frustrated and needed to vent to someone that understands this.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Fleet Manager:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.