WELL , Thank you all is going alot better now,2 more days till 3 weeks up so not much longer, till I go to tonitown to do my oriontation, get my truck and head home. My wife and kids are looking forward to my return, if only for a four or 5 days. I was in laredo again for 5 days but this time in a new truck that had a working air conditioner and not the a ss h le I had before. I half to be careful to not use offensive language, I got in trouble for the post about the jerk off I had at first, for the 1st week. I`m looking forward to getting in my own truck. It`s all about getting you to run alot for cheap when your with your trainer.You know you get like 35 bucks if your lucky a day after taxes so thats like 3 bucks an hour driving, so I do my best to be respectful and learn from my trainer he`s cool lets me listen to radio and doesn`t complain much, so I guess I`m doing OK ,,......JUST REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE END TILL IN MY OWN TRUCK WILL LET YOU, AND all the OTHERS KNOW IN DAYS TO COME how I`m doing, and how it is to be a PAM truck driver see you in the tail Lights......................

Good to hear you're hangin tough, BRICKMAN. It appears the training period is pure HELL for most newbies but many have reported it to have been worth it once they got their own truck. I appreciate your no bs account of what takes place during the PAM otr training period. Carpe diem!!!

Hey Brickman, glad to hear things are going better for you. My start date wi C1 is nearing and I was kinda getting worried we had not heard back from you. I am also going with PAM by means of Decker. Your experiences are greatly appreciated.

Just so you know. Chances are you will get an old truck that PAM just needs the miles run out of.... It will probably have problems.... Trust me, stick it out and your trucks get better. They won't give you anything brand new until you've been there over a year.. Be sure you thoroughly inspect your truck when you get it and get all problems you find fixed right away... PAM will fix anything without complaining... Also, get a new mattress. They will give you one, no questions... All you have to do is ask... Oh, and if you only get one key to your truck, ask for a spare and find a way to hide it on the outside of the truck somewhere.... If you lock yourself out, YOU are responsible to pay to get it unlocked.... The company will not pay for it (been there, done that LOL)... They will give you one, no questions asked...

Also, you might have to travel with another driver to another yard to pick up your truck before going home...

And yet another also.... There are some NASTY drivers that don't know how to clean a truck and a guy in tontitown paid to clean them that doesn't have a clue either.... BUT!!! PAM will reimburse up to 15.00 a month on cleaning supplies.... So, get what you need to clean it properly and turn in your receipt.

I'm glad to hear you made it through training.... Don't worry, it really does get better....

Chip, do you still run out of the Willard Terminal?

Ugh, 5 days # $40 per... I ain't looking forward to that kind of check after getting my own truck. At least in your case you were on the flat $300 deal then

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Stupidity is choosing not to renew your CDL because you THINK you will never again want to drive.

I just like to say, Thank you all for the advice and kind words..I will take them to heart and get a matress and ,I had planed to clean the truck when I get it home on my first break . I have less then a week left in training then on to tonitown to get my truck. I figured it would be a high mileage truck just hoping to get in a freigtliner not a volvo,but I will deal with what I get. I`m now in greenville SC it`s saturday and we dont deliver till monday morning ,my trainer is not much on calling to see if we can deliver earlly when i`m in my truck i`m going to get in the habit of calling and delivering earlly if they allow. I think we would get more loads and spend less time setting waiting he likes to collect the 40 bucks and set maybe if you need to reset time or do laundrybut I would rather drive and get miles ,but of corse thats my opion I already know what most of these trainers think about opions LOL .....Well going to get off here and watch a movie or read, will get back on here in couple more days TY again everyone!!!!!! The RealBRICKMAN!

You have a Trane load.... Are you guys sitting at the receiver or down the road? I delivered there Friday afternoon LOL.... Then I was sent to NY but I live in SC, so I spent the rest of Friday and all day Saturday at home.... I left this morning to deliver Monday morning...

Chip

Chip...with the current state of the economy have you experienced any reductions in miles, loads, etc. with PAM? I'm concerned about coming into this as a new driver...and not getting many, or any miles, as economy worsens; preference to seinior drivers, etc.

Well ive been with pam for 8 months the first 2 months was good. Since then its bad i have spent the last 3 weeks in the shop. That is a month without a paycheck.