Anderson Trucking / ATS

They don't have a school. They dont hire students.

 

This doesn't look like a very good post to chime in on but I'll ask anyway. Do yas know anything about ATS company heavy haul drivers? I've got the experience, not interested in l/p just curious how they treat co drivers.

 

Been talking to a few company drivers who grab a lot of the oversized stuff and they are plenty happy.

I just joined the company myself about two months ago, and I don't have any complaints. I'm a company driver on the specialized (flatbed) side. Haven't seen any oversized stuff yet, but I do keep asking my travel agent about it. With winter coming on, and the oversized stuff starting to slack off, I doubt I'll see any before spring.

Pay per mile is a bit low (I got .41/mile with about three years of previous flatbedding experience), but there are good miles available. My average trips generally run 1,100 to 1,500 per trip, with deadhead included.

Hometime is what you make it. I stay out a bit these days (gotta burn them miles and all that BS), but they haven't screwed my hometime yet. Travel agent even tries to get me through the house whenever freight allows.

That's all I got so far. I need a few more months to really get to know the company. And I no nuttin' about nuttin' on the dry van/padwrap side of things.

 

ATS for me is a company run. Issued a 350 cat on a single fuel tank that held 140 gallons, 125 useable roughly. Fueling twice a day sometimes in the van division.

Knowing what I know now I would have gone specialized and enjoyed first class freight even if it took permits and a few more days to deliver correctly.

Nothing bad about ATS, just... not the van division, it was a mistake on my part to choose it and end up with a thirsty truck that interfered with my logs sometimes because fuel must match legal logs. Ended up short on miles sometimes waiting to midnight to open up a new working day and get hours to fuel and then move.

And finally, when I joined ATS I ran into a attitude about the shop that only teams get the biggest cabs. There was a cultural embedding of flaws in the company thinking of how best to use equiptment. A coffin sleeper in the back of my frieghtliner is not conductive to long hauls when you are not able to stand up and really sit and do paper work like you do in today's sleepers we take for granted.

Again, Im not "Unhappy" with ATS, I would have gone specialized and made sure that I teamed up with someone to get the best in power then availible in the early 90's I ran with them.

Finally the very best experience happened to me one day. I was sent to HQ to meet my dispatcer. Drove about half a morning to get there. Arrived next to the Dispatch building with bobtail. The satellite beeped are you here yet?"

I said look out window. They say there is no windows. So.,.. technology travels over 50,000 miles into the cold of space in additon to 6000 miles worth of telephone copper to get there and back to talk back and forth. Gotta love it. But little I knew then the wonders that were coming in the form of cell phones and later smart phones.

If you go with ATS, do it with my blessing and a promise to go with Flatdeck or Specailized. I have a picture somewhere in my pile from a load hauled by ATS in which it was a A6 Intruder airframe complete with ####pit and glass. They filmed a major movie called flight of the intruder with it in many scense. That freight ended up I think in the San Diego Air Museum, Im not exactly where where the haul originated but Im pretty sure that would have been far more interesting and professionally engaging than a ordinary load of toilet paper in my van.

 

I just filled out that long ### app n guess I'll hear from someone. I'm only interested in heavy haul. We'll see i guess. Really can't complain where I'm at but if I can get more miles n more pay its something to look at. Good luck to ya the brsims. Keep us updated how it goes n I'll do the same. X1 it sounds like you had an ok dealing with them then.

 

It was ok, as long I kept my mouth shut about that stupid single fuel tank. They said it was to make more weight and more money... eh... being late does not always equal that money.... savvy?

Go for it. Heavy haul; all you want. You will do well. They gots the equiptment too. Bridge trailers with 36 axles? Can do that too... be a heck of a haul those things...

 

Just be aware that it takes time to get the fun loads. I try to stay hooked to a stepdeck as much as possible, but regular flatbeds do happen. I've been stuck with one for two weeks now. Just started really begging to get back to stepdeck.

The Oversized stuff and RGN stuff gets snagged by the lease and owner operators. Normally not a problem, but lately oversized has been running slow for us.

 

Never knew Ats had a 36 axle setup
They got 2 19 axle units and a dual laner
Would need to see a pic to believe it.
I still have people there and they never said anything about a 36 axle unit

 

You are not leasing anything lol. You are a company driver and all they are doing is fleecing and scamming you. The sad part is the drivers don't see it and let the LP drivers cling to the illusion that they are owner operators lol.