Trans Am Trucking, Inc. - Olathe, Ks.

Werewolf:

Don't do a lease purchase agreement with JB Hunt either. As a matter of fact in these times (or any time for that matter) I would never do (rather my husband) a lease purchase agreement with any company. You are at their mercy. Miles or no miles you still have the fuel, truck payment, escrow deductions etc..which can result (and has) in paychecks of less than $100.00 or even weeks where you are in the negative. Bottom line the company is making the bucks and you are stuck holding the bag.

 

I don't know a whole lot about trucking, but when Transam offered my husband the leasing program, a lady in the office that worked there (several months ago) gave me their accountants phone number. I admit I did not tell her my true reasons for wanting the number. Even their own accountant said that after all was said and done, fuel taxes, expenses, etc, you only made $3000 (average) more than being a company driver. After looking into what all it involved, we decided it was not worth it. You'd have to do some major driving. The good part was that since the leasing began, that is where the drivers get the miles. Company drivers (due to several other drivers who work there) are getting crapped out of miles they used to get. Leasing drivers are now getting them. Dispatcher complained that 20 drivers quit in span of 2 wks.

 

Maybe TransAm gave drivers in the lease purchase program the miles but that wasn't the case with JBH. My husband averaged about 2000 miles a week and when you do the math he made far less than $3,000 less than a company driver. Again I say (and a lady in OOIDA backed me up with this statement) the only one who profits in a lease purchase agreement is the company.

 

Yes whispers, you are absolutely correct. Only the company (on the average) benefits that well or why else would they be doing it??

 

Yes, they have the poor driver paying for maintenance, fuel and other expenses along with a truck payment ( a truck that is already old with many miles on it and is owned by the company) Do not only do they make money on the load they make money on the lease of the truck. When you stop to look at it you wonder why so many (includng my husband) would think a lease purchase agreement is the way to go. Miles or no miles the truck payment and escrows are taken out.

 

Folks,

I worked for Trans Am trucking for two years. In those two years I experienced dispatchers that were not easy to work with. Dispatchers that expected you to violate hours of service requirements set by DOT. I also experienced a family emergency of which they played around with. Johnny the owner of Trans Am stated in orientation that if someone has a family emergency he would fly them home. I had a wife that wound up in the hospital. Not only did I find out this was untrue but they had me wait just north of nashville for a meat load while my wife was laid up in the hospital. They played around with my family. I have run into several Trans Am drivers and have warned them about this to no avail. No one seems to listen. The drivers don't care about anything but the bottom line but when it happens to you and you can't get home on an emergency run you will know that you are being screwed. I made my way back to the terminal a few days later with everything that I was issued by the company. Jeff...a night dispatcher and former cop tried to claim I quit under a load. He threatened to place this on my dac report(which would be a false claim). He verbally abused me then gave me five minutes to leave the property (of which I did) then he called the police on me. Subsequently, my last paycheck was taken away from me by Transam trucking because they claimed I deadheaded illegally(of which I did not) and was charged .81 cents per mile. There is more that I am not going to list but this company is a bad company. They treat their employees like crap! I did nothing to merit this treatment from anyone. The only thing that happened was my wife got sick...I had to get home then all hell broke loose. I suggest anyone that wants to work for this company or lease from this company think twice.

Havoc

 

deadheaded illegally? This is a new one one me, but I don't know everything.

I do know that if you did not sign any kind of paper work authorizing them to deduct or keep any of your pay for any reason then you can either sue them or file a complaint with the labor board.

Good Luck with everything.

 

Somehow I missed this one from a couple of weeks ago...

This is the second instance of something like this I have read about, where it concerns that company. It's inexcuseable.

The better thing, is that you are warning people that may be considering the company, and who would rather not take that chance. You can't save everyone from their own misery.

That's completely understandable.

What a jerk.

Unless there was any written policy in place, and you were made to sign an acknowledgment of such a policy, where it concerns the taking of your pay in such a manner, they are in violation of Federal law.

You need to step into your local State Labor Office, and file a complaint against them. Some states will bring charges and recover pay taken illegally, along with interest and penalties.

I trust that your wife is okay now, and that you have moved on from this experience, but don't let them get away with stealing what you worked for. Go after them. Get it on record. Get it back.

 

Isn't this the company that the truck went right thru a bridge,into a river?Where was it? Kansas or Texas?