TransAm Trucking On my way ...

Have a form for turning in your hrs every day so yes, they know what your hrs are.
I have been out here since the 5th this time and have had 1 reset. Been short some hrs and bumping against the 70 .... a lot!!! Been 1 of those deals tho, that if you've got 5 hrs, you run them. They really would prefer to get you to some meat plant, out in the middle of nowhere, since they ALWAYS have windows on them. Have sat for 3 days b4 at a couple of them. Luckily, that doesn't happen to often. Has to do with that layover pay bit.

 

to any new driver get some experience before leasing..but though these blogs are good resources for info beware of what you hear here. ive been leasing with trans am two years...i have had no problems getting miles....but i only take hometime every two months or so.....it is a new business you have to keep the doors open for business after you get to know the businees a little better plan ,plan plan your hometime....im taking a week off in dec. but ive built my escrow accounts up to pay myself for the week.....i started back in april to do this...plan,plan,plan

 

They have no dentention pay what so ever. As for layover pay, you sit for free, the 1st 24 hrs. After that, they'll pay you a whopping $50 a day for sitting. You'll find that most of your meat loads will be just under that 48 hr window.

As for bigdaddykgray, listen to what he said. He is evidently one of the few that has lasted and made money with TA as an L/O.

I still stand by everything I've posted, from my point of view.

 

My husband and I run teams for Transam, and I will have to agree with the advise that leasing a truck right out of training may not be wise. There is still so much one has to learn about this business. In particular, time management (trip planning) and truck maintenance are aspects of the job that are crucial, but will be left to your own to figure out where the boundaries lay.

Through my tenure at TA I have ran across many drivers that lease a truck, get the miles and make the money. Unfortunately I have met those that have failed because of various scenarios. So, you have to be determined before you begin training with TA which one of those people you are going to be. TA is by no means flawless, but the flaws are the same characteristics that you hear others talking about that are hired on with other companies.

Though our experience overall with TA has been very good, things don't allows work out exactly the way we think it should. Sometimes we don't exactly make the miles we want to make, and sometimes we make more. It takes a while to cultivate the understanding that, this is not personal, or backlash at a driver, this is business across the board.

If you do happen to see one of those very nice Kenworth T660, in your favorite color, and decide that you want to lease, make it 6 months. If you decide to lease an older model, make sure your truck still has a warranty on it, just in case when something happens you will not have to worry about covering the expenses. The warranty on our truck has been fabulous.

My best advise to give anyone that works or aspire to work for TA is, follow policy and procedure or better said...do what you are told. TA does not make policy because of drivers, but rather in spite of drivers.

Good Luck!!!

Oh, dag, you are going to be training during the winter months, good luck

 

I'd like to thank Big daddy and Lydialong haul for chiming in here. Its always better, for newbies, when you can have more balanced info about a company your thinking about. What I would tho, if ya'll don't mind, is some more specifics to help the newbies out. How do you go about trip planning or just planning, and what are ya'll doing that makes you the successes that you are.
I thank ya'll for your input!!!

 

They need warm bodies and as long as your trainer passes you and you pass their tests, they'll hire you.
For trip planning, I take the miles they've given me, add 35 or 40 more then usually divide by 55. If I'm going thru a major city like Chicago, I'll add another hr. So say you've ended up with 23 hrs. You know you'll have to take 2 10 hr breaks, so add that to the 23 and you'll have the total amount of time that it will take you to run the load.
Now that you have that, start looking for your stopping spots. As a company driver, I usually try to run only 10 hrs a day. That can be anywhere from 575 to 625 miles. Look at your rt sol. and figure out where that will put you at. I try to pick at least 3 spots within that range to stop at. 1st one might be full.
Follow that guidance and you'll usually end up within 25 miles of where you want to and should have no problem.

 

They tell you the route (rt) they want you to go as a company driver, you have to follow it. They'll also give you a fuel sol, that tells you where and how much you can put in.