TMC Training - Accepted!

[Diesel_Matt]

Howdy fellas, so recently I've decided to totally switch my career path from civil engineering. Since I was a kid I've always been interested in trucking and couldn't help but stare at the rigs running down the highway and seeing myself in one some day. So, after some company research and speaking to different drivers, I decided I wanted to pull flatbed and I submitted my application to TMC. I was quickly accepted and was invited to come take their company offered CDL class, followed by their company orientation in Des Moines.

I was wondering what I should expect come July when I show up at their training center. What is it like? How's the atmosphere during training? My main question is, even though I know I'm competent enough to do the job, as well as being physically able, will I be fighting other students for a job there after all is said and done? Or is earning a spot with them as easy as they made it seem?

Any advice will be appreciated, good AND bad. Thanks guys.

 

[Tazz]

Minimum speeds are 45 to 60. I know plenty of folks O/O that run 60 or less. It is a speed limit not a requirement.

I am governed at 65 but when I see a pack of elephants trying to screw up traffic by being in front I will back down to 60 or 55 for a half hour to let the idjit go.

Less stress, easier on my equipment, and in the end I normally get there right behind the speed racers. Never stressed that much about going fast even in my own truck back in the day.

 

[mndriver]

I've just lost interest for what I do. I work as a land surveyor currently, but not a registered one because I only have an associates degree. I'm not necessarily after big bucks here, but definitely trying to find where I belong. Since trucking's been on my mind since I was little, figured I'd give it a shot.

Got a 4 year degree in industrial engineering and a 2 year land survey / civil engineering degree.

I make about 25-30% more driving truck compared to my 4 year degree and easily twice what others I went to land survey school make.

Had I completed my PE for land survey and gotten my licensure, I would have been well over 50 and pushing retirement.

It was of better benefit to go get my own authority.

 

[Southern Fried]

Got a question for you surveyors.

How come you see surveyors out for several weeks doing a highway project, then 6 months or so later they're out doing the same thing in the same place?

What changed???

 

[mndriver]

The layout and the as built when completed are two different data sets.

The first is telling what the contractors are supposed to do. The later is recording what they actually did.

 

[Duck]

Got a question for you surveyors.

How come you see surveyors out for several weeks doing a highway project, then 6 months or so later they're out doing the same thing in the same place?

What changed???

Politics.

The surveyors used English units but the (D) who earmarked the funding says imperial standards are racist because foreigners don't understand them. So they have to redo it using only the metric system.

Meanwhile the project is on hold because they found out one of the owners of the construction company that got the bid was born in the USA.

 

[GAnthony]

I can't agree with your whole post but some of it. You do know running under the speed limit can be a hazard on the road right? Most speed limits are 65 and up and when going under the posted limit will make other drivers irritated other truck drivers especially when they are running in wrong lane instead of being in the granny lane.

the speed limit can be 80 mph, but your company may still have the truck cut back to 62 mph, what are you going to do.>??? if the speed limits are the limits and blow by them, then will you be here crying that you got a speeding ticket you think you did not deserve..??

it is what it is, argue, debate, discuss, the speed limits and the dangers of slower trucks and faster cars, all day long, it's been discussed many times before. no one will listen, especially the people that make the limits what they are, and ALL the cops that so easily hand out "state invitations" to pay up....

 

[Injun]

"Speed Limit" is the limit of speed you are lawfully allowed to travel. I've never seen a sign that said "Speed Requirement." Closest I've seen to that in "Minimum Speed" wich is usually 45.
Therefore, if a vehicle is traveling at 45 mph and you're going 5 over the upper limit, the accident you claim was caused by the slower vehicle will be your fault. Hell, it'll be your fault even if you're minding the 65 mph limit.

 

[ayran993]

I don't drive a company truck . I was just throwing it out there. Anyway OP good luck!

 

[Diesel_Matt]

Got a 4 year degree in industrial engineering and a 2 year land survey / civil engineering degree.

I make about 25-30% more driving truck compared to my 4 year degree and easily twice what others I went to land survey school make.

Had I completed my PE for land survey and gotten my licensure, I would have been well over 50 and pushing retirement.

It was of better benefit to go get my own authority.

That's good to know. Like I said, in order to become licensed and make better money I'd have to go back to school to get my bachelors. I couldn't wait to get out and start working, so I don't see myself going back. Especially for something I have no interest in anymore. What do you haul mostly?

Got a question for you surveyors.

How come you see surveyors out for several weeks doing a highway project, then 6 months or so later they're out doing the same thing in the same place?

What changed???

mdriver is correct. Originally the crew is there to do a topographic survey of existing conditions and provide the engineers with data to begin their designs and prepare construction documents. We go back to a site to do construction layout (Ex: giving contractors spot grades, roadway stakes, or building corners) and eventually the As-Built to submit to county records and to ensure everything was built per plan. (And to replace the stakes/lathe that the dump truck drivers run over.)

The job is pretty cool in the ways we obtain and interpret the data, but sometimes it's very mundane when you do a lot of commercial building projects.

 

[Rigjockey]

"Speed Limit" is the limit of speed you are lawfully allowed to travel. I've never seen a sign that said "Speed Requirement." Closest I've seen to that in "Minimum Speed" wich is usually 45.
Therefore, if a vehicle is traveling at 45 mph and you're going 5 over the upper limit, the accident you claim was caused by the slower vehicle will be your fault. Hell, it'll be your fault even if you're minding the 65 mph limit.

Excellent post Congrats! You won the internet today!

 

[Rigjockey]

I have been thinking about getting out of trucking. Maybe I will get into Civil engineering.

Northern or Southern it don't matter, I Just want to drive the train

 

[mndriver]

To get your professional engineering licensure will take 2000+ hours of actual recorded and verifiable ACTUAL civil engineering work.

The PE's I spoke with, all took about 8-10 years to get it.

 

[Injun]

Civil Engineering...

I thought that meant running a pumper truck without drowning the neighbor's cat?

 

[Mammoth Transport]

if you only listened to the good things, you'll never know when you're gonna be biting an onion....

I like onions. What's wrong with biting an onion? The only thing I've ever found in the transportation industry is **** and vinegar.

 

[r3gulator3]

So everyone talking about trucks limited to 62. They do that for fuel economy. And going past GHG17 the EPA will start putting speed restrictions on new trucks or optimize fuel economy to meet the new federal standards. So look forward to more speed restrictions on trucks in the future.

 

[mndriver]

So everyone talking about trucks limited to 62. They do that for fuel economy. And going past GHG17 the EPA will start putting speed restrictions on new trucks or optimize fuel economy to meet the new federal standards. So look forward to more speed restrictions on trucks in the future.

source for the "speed restrictions".

and a break even for speed and fuel economy is 66 mph, not 62 mph.

 

[r3gulator3]

source for the "speed restrictions".

and a break even for speed and fuel economy is 66 mph, not 62 mph.

OK so research the greenhouse gas standards for diesel engines and you will see in 2020 there starts a regulation for mpg requirements. (They did the same thing with gasoline engines for cars in the past).

Working on trucks I go through a lot of schooling for Detroit engines. Detroit has made public that the DD15 is currently as fuel efficient as it can be. And that truck manufacturers will have to improve aerodynamics ECT to improve.

In Detroit's GHG 14 class they tell you for every 1 mph above 60 you run you lose .1-.2mpg so at 65 you have lost close to 1 mpg. Figure that by a fleet of 800+ trucks...

Speed limiting is a no brainier for cost of fuel savings. Crete and Shaffer also limit trucks at 62 for the same reason.

 

[r3gulator3]

OP, did ya make it thru school? How's Woking for TMC?

 

[mndriver]

Real world and class room are not the same.

As well as their claim of 0.1-0.2.

Car engines have been at the point of diminishing return on performance and fuel mileage for sometime.

I seriously doubt those levels have been reached for trucks when you look at the inefficiency of the after-treatment systems that are currently used.

While I agree, operating at a lower speed does save fuel, no where in the regulations is there a defined speed limit as you are saying there is.

That's the part I am looking for a direct source for.


As for mpg requirements, those are not speed requirements.

And there is a ton of work that can be done to reduce the drag on these bricks we drive called tractor/trailers.

 

[r3gulator3]

Real world and class room are not the same.

As well as their claim of 0.1-0.2.

Car engines have been at the point of diminishing return on performance and fuel mileage for sometime.

I seriously doubt those levels have been reached for trucks when you look at the inefficiency of the after-treatment systems that are currently used.

While I agree, operating at a lower speed does save fuel, no where in the regulations is there a defined speed limit as you are saying there is.

That's the part I am looking for a direct source for.


As for mpg requirements, those are not speed requirements.

And there is a ton of work that can be done to reduce the drag on these bricks we drive called tractor/trailers.

I'm sorry, I may have came across wrong. I wasn't saying a speed limit was going to be a requirement or a law. The MPG is. With the Cascadia evolution they come with programming to allow 10-30oil to be ran for reduced rotating mass drag. Which will give a .4mpg boost. Also the aero package along with a trailer aero package help also. Some engine manufacturer may lock the speed parameter at a set speed in a certain body of truck. (Eg. DD15 in a Cascadia evolution) to make it have optimal fuel efficiency. Not set in stone. But possibly could happen in the future.