I wanna hear from some Pam drivers what's the pay for newbies fresh out of school

Yes. It's going. And Yes.

 

To let you know:

I called these people about a driving position and they were rude to me like I was asking too many questions and wasting her time. The lady recrutier wanted to pay me 28 cents to start (13 years experience with clean record). Then she was going to call me back and never did. I waited a few days and called and got a recruiter answer machine-left a message and no one ever got back to me. That tells me volumes about this run-of-the-mill company. Enough said.

 

Believe me, I had the same outlook on it especially since I am not married, no kids, no house, etc...
but unfortunately, With PAM, one hand never knows what the other is doing. I've put up with a good bit of being taken advantage of, and I've just about reached my limit.
They started me out in a beat up 06 freightliner century autoshift POS. I stayed in the shops, literally missed several weeks of pay checks only getting layover.
then they teamed me up, we'll I was usually driving with little to know sleep, DM's pushed for me to run beyond what a person could do. I had to tell them if you find an on/off switch on me let me know, but I dont believe i have one. My partner would take home time, i stayed out solo, usually took them 3 weeks to get him back on the truck. He got sick of that and quit, went to Warner.

So here I am with a new truck, solo, and get on solo boards. I say boards because I was assigned a dispatcher, then another. Now I don't even have a dispatcher and they are ripping me a new one.

My average miles for the past 2 weeks is 900 miles. I've done their favors, i have been polite, i have tried to be on time or early if possible, but this is how PAM treats their solo's.

As a matter of fact, i'm shutdown right now and an autoload dispatcher is taking my load off of me. 1074 loaded miles, I've ran it down to 600 miles remaining, from Clarksville, TN to Laredo, Tx. This load was supposed to have me basically shuttle it to a drop yard for the Regional relay group.

I literally made $104 take home last week, and $164 this week. Additionally $25 for a shuttle. And $40 i havent gotten yet for layover.

Ive made the best out of what they've dealt me up until now.

I'm calling A Dispatcher tomorrow to see if she can get me on her board, because until i get a dispatcher I am going to keep getting taken advantage of. David finley or however his name is spelt is pure corporate. No help at all.

If i did something to deserve this, then it would be my own fault and i could justify it. But with me staying out 3 months at a time, rolling 600+ miles a day when I have the loads to permit it, and doing them their favors has left me getting used, and making less than min wage lately.

They, fortuantely cannot starve me out. After my year is up though, Im leaving. I already a
have a guaranteed position with a company 15 miles from my home town, that will pay me better, get me home every 2 weeks (wouldnt ever go ho
e that often tho) and it is a smaller company who VALUES their drivers... Something PAM does not do anymore.

I did not mean to hijack this thread, but wanted share my experience.

 

is that 32 cpm as team or solo b/c if you team with PAM its 17.5 cpm so that equals 35 cpm giving your co-driver will run the miles you will and with hazmat you get 19.5 cpm equaling 39 cpm with the same giving..... so i agree go with swift and make less be another one of their warm bodys behind a wheel they don't care about safety... PAM does they preach that all week at tontitown

 

why is the solo on the high end and team on the lower end

 

PAM only cares about safety in as much as, they will fire you for wrecking thier truck, they will suspend you for log violations. When you go out with a mentor, they are there to teach you PAMs paperwork only. By the way, (your mentor will have as little as 90days experience. That's right, to be a mentor with PAM you only need 90days with no accidents or log violations. They pay 90day mentors .26 per mile while a trainee is on the truck) You already have a CDL and are expected to know how to drive. When you get on your trainers truck you are considered a co-driver, not a trainee or student. Your mentor is expected to run as a team, whether the new driver can drive or not. You only have to spend 2 weeks on your mentors truck. If the truck is broke down or waiting for a load for a week during that 2 weeks it's ok because PAM only counts the days you are assigned to the truck, not your driving time to qualify for upgrading. After your first week in the truck, your mentor will receive messages over the qual-comm about when and where his student will upgrade. If the mentor says student is not ready, mentor will be badgered until he brings student in for ungrading. If the mentor still feels as though the student is not ready to be upgraded, someone from the student department will take the student out to the yard, let the student drive for a while around the yard, then will take the student back inside and upgrade them. Over riding anything the mentor has said. As a former 2 year PAM driver and mentor, I can no longer recommend PAM to any new driver. I, in the past, felt that PAM was a good company and always defended them. However, I have seen drivers get fired on thier first trip out because of an accident due to lack of training. I have seen drivers turned loose that cannot back a truck, follow a route, or plan a trip properly. I hate to rip on PAM because my 2 years with them was not bad, but they have changed, and not for the better. There are many good companies out there to start your career with PAM is no longer one of them!!! Check out Conway, Maverick, TMC, Boyd Brothers just to name a few. Good luck and be safe out there!!