want to know more about PAM

I understand what you are saying. It prolly want really bother me. Hell I don't plan on coming home.

 

Good luck with PAM I hope you have better luck than me.. I'm wanting to get back in it. Thinking Swift, Stevens, or Knight. Don't know yet. Already been accepted to go to Memphis with Swift and Dallas with Stevens. No word on Knight yet. Knights terminal's not but about 40 miles from my house.

 

Surviving Pam. If they are still running automatics those things are squirky. To many inputs and that xmsn will say what the hell and stop. There is a fuse you have to pull, and let the truck sit anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to allow the computer to reset, basically allow the capacitors to drain off, and then put the fuse back in. Replacing fuses and bulbs yes, go to truck stop replace them and send in your receipt with your paper work.

Yup dispatchers are squirky, I had one that was vindictive if you tick her off, power tripping. I ask this chick to do some customer service work and I thought I smacked her first born and barbecued her rat dog - lol. You're the customer service brother. If I wanted to deliver a load early I called the consignee, you can do this easy with Air conditioning loads going to small companies. They want their stuff early anyway. One time I had a load of plastic residential garbage cans, that I was going to have to sit on over the weekend. Called the company, told them who I was and what I had, they brought someone in on a Saturday since they were going have someone there in the morning. Unloaded and then parked at my cousins house, since he lived nearby until my next load.

Yes, you have to buy your own broom and hammer to sweep out the trailers and pull the nails. Stay organized and watch your spending on the road. Buy yourself a cooler. Remove one of those bottom storage compartment covers and slip your cooler in there, look for the connector to power your cooler. Treat this job like you're running your own business. Get yourself a cash book and record all your expenses and keep the receipts in a folder. Keep your food cost down. I had a brother in law spending $17.00 to $20.00 a day on food I was spending $5.00. I had to school him on eating cheap. In short, bring your own food with you. You can get the skitters eating at those truck stops - been there. I didn't starve, lost some weight, but I wasn't spending close to $140.00 a week on food. What goes in the gutt does goes to the house. Manage your money for lean times because this is a feast or famine business brother. Don't try and buy all the nice crap for your truck at once. Buy a cheap CB until you figure what you want. Some guys spend that big money early. Key here is keep your cost down. Make sure you get all your layover pay, unload pay, extra stop pay etc.


Hygeine - You'll get a shower credit when you fuel. Take advantage of it you may find yourself stuck somewhere with no facilities for a day. I've done the spong bath in the truck with two gallons of water. Some of those truck stops are nasty. There was one truck stop in Texas, where I was going to a crap. Look in there and my butt puckered up and my colon just shut down. Yes, it was just that nasty, luckely the shipper was up the road. Keep your truck clean, because that's where you're living not unless you keep a nasty house. I hitched a ride with one trucker, while I was waiting to have my truck worked on - man this dude had more dirt inside on his then outside. All I needed was some grass seed and water. If PAM is still paying for truck washes take advantage of it. DOT likes clean trucks, the dirtier your truck the closer they're going to look and keep your paper work in order. This truck is a reflection and you and the company. Yup be prepare to do laundry on the road.

Truck Assignment: You may end up picking up your first truck from a drop yard. Check it out if it too nasty, protest and find one that's cleanable. I did that once. I was assigned to pick up a truck at a drop yard, this was to be my second truck. This truck only had 170,000 miles on it and it was trashed. The APU cover was missing, the guy had ran over something with his front bumper and pulled it lose and then reattached it with zip tie. The fairings were smashed and the interior smell like a sewer. This guy had festooned the inside with flypaper, which lets off a less than pleasant aroma. I notified the dispatcher, took pictures and emailed them out. Sounds like I'm ratting out another truck driver, too bad. Look at it this way his screw up can become your problem - so watch your back out there. So look that truck over carefully take pictures make notations. You would e-mail the pictures to the safety guys at Pam. You're off the hook. Here is another case. I had to switch loads with a guy because he needed to get home not a problem. Well, we swapped trailers at night and I didn't look the trailer over. In the morning, I got outta the truck looked over the trailer and it was damaged to the point of needing immediate repair. I notified the dispatcher and safety took pictures. I wasn't on the hook for the damage because I didn't move my truck for the truck stop. Lesson learned. Fortunately there was a trailer repair shop up the road that the maintenance department directed me too. Pick up another PAM trailer there.

Truck stops: Watch out for the guys that can't back up properly. I had some guy hit my truck and take off, smash the right head light. If the lot lizards start banging on the door at 1 am tell them to go away. Here's one for you. I was backing in a spot and I had one jump on the passenger side, held on to the mirror and started waving condoms. This was while the truck was still moving - I'm not making this up.
Some of the stuff that you'll see is just hilarious.

I would attach pictures and write more, but I think you got the point. After you've paid your dues at PAM, move on to another company unless you like it there. Be patient and suck it up for about a year then move on. Some companies require 2 years of experience. Just be smart about this business and don't get frustrated.

Good Luck

 

My name is airforcetoo and I agree with this message...Well put Kleansweep.

 

Ha. I just turned in a truck like that. Couple zippies, two bungees, good as new!

 

I've been with for a little over 6 months and I've had good days and bad days, low paychecks, no paychecks, and pleasant pay checks. Yes I do agree you have to cover your assets with PAM or just like that with any other company. I like doing the team driving thing but I wish they had a better method of pairing up people instead of me getting stuck with a teammate that's old enough to be my dad, that's not fun. Yeah eating out here on the road will break the bank, but I do it because when I did have a cooler I got board with lunch meat..I am just weird like that. Now you can spend wisely at fast food restaurants aka dolla menu. Anywho long story short just keep an open mind and roll with the punches.

 

I've been with pam over 6 mounts now I also went to fta in asheboro as far as pam goes its a good company I have problems with a truck they fix it we just got a new 2013 pro star when the old tk hit 500000 good miles and a good dm if u do your job u will have no problems if u do their are supervisors who fix it I had one big problem with a weekend dm and went to his supervisor he no longer works for pam u will get out of pam what u put into it

 

Are you still with PAM now or have you moved on? I approved but they expect me to go 50miles for a DOT exam and drug test when the medical group Concentra is located in my area too, i have told em either i go closer to where i live or forget it....

Let me know whats up man!