Drivers' experiences with PAM Transport Company

im supposed to be going to C1 in littlerock at the end of the month then on to pam, hopefully?. I called today to confirm as instructed by the guy at driver solutions and they said they hadn't even started my background check yet, then about 30 minutes later they called me instead of my former employer for a reference. doesn't exactly build confidence in their program.

my biggest concern is getting a long string of bad paychecks. I know you can have good and bad weeks no matter who you work for but some people are really trashing PAM.

im also not sure about team driving. I think I would do OK but I like my cigs and my music and im worried about getting stuck with someone I wont get along with at all. I do like driving at night though, which most people don't so im thinking that will work in my favor.

 

What do you consider a string of bad paychecks?

...and I would suggest looking somewhere else if you don't want to team, cause @ PAM u will be teaming. Since u r the minority of drivers who prefer night driving then maybe u can find a teammate b4 u go

 

I just quit pam less than 2 months ago. They are really busy right now and have plenty of loads. That being said your Dispatcher or partner can still screw you. If you want to make money teams is where its at as long as you get a partner who has the same work ethic. For me its not worth the money. I had a splitting head ache because I got almost no sleep. I would fall asleep for 15 minutes, get woke up, get to doze for 30 minutes etc. and that would be my sleep for like 5 days until we layed over. My partner was agressive and loud while he drove blaring up rap music I didn't like, blasting his horn at every girl going by, screaming at people etc. Even with a good driver some of the roads are so bumpy its impossible to sleep good, but its possible to do with a good partner. The best thing to do is find a partner in the C-1 school or find one before you go and you can request your partner. USA is probably a little more stable in their money. With PAM you will have really good weeks and then lousy weeks simply because the dispatchers aren't real good. The night and weekend dispatchers will steal your loads and give them to their friends. They love to t-call people. If you don't drive your clock out you wont get any good loads either. Expect to work 14 hour days if you want to make the money.

I asked for a non-smoking trainer and they gave me a smoker. Another person in my class asked for a smoker and got a non-smoker. They really don't seem to care much, its like pushing through cattle. They just try to fill seats and put as many people as possible through the program because they lose them as fast as they can push them through. But at the end of the day I did get a paycheck which was a lot better than being unemployed. The max you will make in a really good week going out to california is about $1,000 a week, minus the school, escrow, unusually high taxes they seem to take out etc. you will probably get like $775 or something. The odd thing was there wasn't much difference in my take home pay from week to week even though before taxes was a big difference. When I made more money they just took out more in taxes. So you might make like $700 and take home $600. Then you make like $1,000 and take home less than $800. It doesn't seem to vary much I averaged around $600 or $700 a week after taxes and deductions. If you go home for a few days it will mess up your pay for two or three weeks though and probably be about $400 take home. I didn't have any health insurance or 401k deducted either.

If you almost never go home and drive your clock out you will get long loads. They have plenty of loads to cali, loredo (then up to Indiana, Chicago or Michigan), out to florida etc. they have plenty of long trips. But if you don't put in a lot of hours or request home a lot they will just keep you on short routes and you wont make anything. If you go to Loredo don't stop. Get out of Texas and away from the yards. Don't take a break until you are far away from a PAM yard in order to avoid being t-called. They will lie to you. tell you they got a better load for you etc. its all BS. Once you get out of PAM territory with a good load then you can eat, take bathroom breaks etc. You got to learn to play the game, but if you learn it and have a good partner you can make pretty good money considering you are just starting out.

 

1rainman, u sound like a recruiter to me.

As a team u will get $700 paychecks but they are rare. I spoke with a team that lived in the heart of texas and were merely averaging 4000 miles a week. I mean if ure a team that lives in TX 4000 miles average at 17.5 cpm is not right to me ... And like I said b4 I've spoken to a handful of teams that experienced the same thing I did, so again rainman, please stop the misinformation. Will u have 6000 mile weeks, yes, but its what u average that matters.

 

I'm just telling what I experienced. Even if you are only doing 60 mph down the highway 4000 miles is 2000 a piece only about 33 hours of work in a week. If that is the case they are probably spending a lot of time sitting in their truck or on free time. PAM will work you if you want to work. You have to understand the dispatcher gets paid for your miles too, as does PAM. If PAM has no work then just quit and go to another carrier. There is a national shortage of truck drivers. There's plenty of work for people that want to work. As I said if you drive three hours, take a two hour break, only work 8 hours a day, have a bad attitude, want a lot of time off, constantly bad mouth the company etc. you probably wont make much. If you are willing to work 14 hour work days and never refuse a load and when they ask you to do something say "yes sir" and "no problem" you will work until you collapse and make big pay checks.

It makes absolutely no sense why PAM would pay $4,000 in tuition for someone, pay the cost of their orientation etc. and then have them sit in a truck and not work. It's just not logical.

Now freight is unpredictable. The economy is unpredictable. Sometimes its really busy and other times it slows down a bit, but overall there is a shortage of workers which can be verified by looking up the government's department of labor statistics. There is no shortage of work, only of people willing to do the work.

Yet when I was there I saw countless people quitting, complaining, saying they were making enough and so on. I would guess its because they didn't want to work 14 hour days and 70 hour work weeks (actually more than 70 but officially 70). Or maybe they just have a bad attitude in life I don't know. I'm just saying what I experienced.

 

1rainman;

First off any driver who has any experience knows you don't drive 60mph all the time. Especially thru the crazy routes PAM sends you thru. But for arguments sake let's say that 33hrs were spent by each driver going 60 mph. Guess what PAM pays ZIP CODE to ZIP CODE miles not actual miles. So you don't get paid what u actually drive. Another thing is that you are forgetting the other on duty time such as PAM policy of a minimum 15 min pretrip & other things such as fuel, drop and hook, unload, load, post trip etc etc..

LOL ..it seems to me that u r very disconnected on how things work in PAM. Cause working 8.75 and 7 days a week is the best chance you have at making money with them mainly because of all the long waiting periods. Hurry up and wait, that's the trucking business motto. Yes u will wake up start ure day and end 14 hrs later but that doesn't mean you spend all 14 hrs working, it means you get to a shipper/receiver, do what u gotta do and then if ure relieved of loading/unloading as is with most, u get in to the sleeper and wait.

 

Furthermore, you cannot refuse a load in PAM because its forced dispatch.

And how did you see all these ppl complain? You must have been up @ headquarters... Or my bet is still recruiter.

You ask why would they pay $4000 in tuition? Well maybe because the government gives companies a kickback for every new driver

 

I was netting 525 a week with insurance at my old job, but after 9 months of being unemployed and feeling useless it would be nice just to be able to count on 400 a week and not feel like a deadbeat living off the system. my wifes job covers most of the bills so as long as I can pay for preschool and eat good i'll make it through the contract alright. I know the first year is the hardest no matter what career you choose and at least with trucking I wont be working harder and getting less money just because of where I live. im OK with the idea that I might be on the road 2 months at a stretch, i'll adapt and my daughter is young enough that she wont remember me being gone, and hopefully I wont have any trouble getting a regional or dedicated route gig once I put in my year.

and im not really worried about team driving, I think I might enjoy it if I get along with the co-driver. as long as he isn't too inconsiderate and doesn't cost me money all the time I can get along with most anybody

 

You can probably get $400 a week starting out. The first 3 months are usually the best in PAM so this is when you should save up, cause once u start getting ure raises they start running u less. Giving you smaller runs. It's business to them so its expected and should be expected on ure part. I never got a $150 paycheck but I have heard horror stories. Remmber if u do sign up they own you for a yr, so that means for better or for worse.. and usually it'll be for worse. If u don't expect much (in this case $400) then u should be fine BUT prepare to work for those $400 like never before... I've had many jobs and their were many days I wished I was back doing what I was doing before, even if it was sweating in the 100 degree weather, but I stuck it out and kept doing my job to the best of my ability. Being on time, being legal, being safe; and now PAM Transport is in my past. The reason I come real hard on PAM sometimes is cause I hear and seen many horror stories... Thank God I didn't have a bad experience. Good luck on whatever u decide and remember, above all else be safe.

 

yea its the horror stories that scare me. I mean I want more than 400 a week but I can live with it if that's what it takes.

however, I just filled out an application for central refer, my uncle went through their training and has been solo with them for 7 months, he really likes it and his only complaint has been a few 2-day layovers and a few minor problems with his tractor, which he just traded for a '12 Cascadia with a 9spd and 24 miles on the clock. also their school in GA is a lot closer than littlerock so I could come home on weekends during school and keep my 4wheeler at the terminal to make home time easy. they have better rates for solo but no discount on school like pam offers so I don't know that pay would be that much better once it balances out but it seems they have a better training program which is a big deal. wish I had known about their GA school sooner my uncle was in cali when he applied and went to Utah, he just told me about it when he came here to take his home time a couple weeks ago but I didn't think much about it till I started looking at