TransAm Trucking, Inc. - Olathe, Ks.?

ive been driving for while and just left ptl cause of the nightmares they put me through was with them for a year been driving for 2 years . olathe ks isnt but a 4 hour drive from my house so figured id give transam a shot and see how things go. I'm going to stay for at lest a year with them seeing i dont like jumping from company to company but like all others transam has their downfalls like all others. this time ive been thinking of leasing, already talked to the recruiter about it i know the payments are pretty high wife and i talked about it and did alot of figuring on it mainly the math part. prettymuch with what their paying l/p o/o's i see about 5 to 600 week in take home after all the expenses. not a lot in most peoples eyes but seeing befor i started driving my wife and i both lived off of less then 17k a year for 6 years and have 2 wonderful daughtersthat we supported, so 500 a week isnt to bad. thought about just being company but i hate driving a truck that never gets worked on cause the company feel as long as you can drive from point a to point b nd make the company money theres no need to get that truck into somewere to get it fixed. well im the type of driver that likes to drive trucks that meets dot's inspection. ( AND IF SOMEONE ASKS WHAT MEETS DOT'S INSPECTIONS DONT EVEN REPLAY YOU SOHULDNT EVEN BE DRIVING IF YOU DONT KNOW THAT!!) so me leasing for what ever leases they have i get to make sure my trucks worked on and is tip top. trailers theres ways to get by on that for the mot part my mothers been driving for 15years and my father for 10 so im always asking for ways to get around certain things that involve the trailer but hoping this company at lest take care of their stuff for the most part.my question is whats everyones out look on this company and their lease programs. and please leave real replies not they stole my cat and took my dog to the pound after i left a truck on the side of the road.just out right real is all im asking for. i know theres bad with every company so please dont strain on the bad i started out working for CRST so transam cant be any worse then them and i kinda liked it there and woulda stayed if they were solo on their dry van. so please be just be real. ty

 

Swift is in the works of buying out transam!!

 

well i guess ill find out once i get there next week hopefully jct calls me and offers me a job their just down the street from my parents in tulsa and i hear they have a #### good l/p but if not then i guess ill light the fire and hope for the best and save all i can working for ta for 6months at the lest

 

Interesting posts recently. Here are a few of my random thoughts:

At the core, as a rule, I think TransAm is made up of good and decent people. Midwest, Kansas jayhawkers with good character and values.

The exception to that rule comes when recruiting lease drivers. NO you will not make money on the fuel surcharge. If anyone tell you that you will … they are lying. The lease recruiters will tell you that you AVERAGE a discount of .26 per gallon on the pump price. Since I am not a lease driver and I don't know what lease drivers pay for fuel. I can only speculate on that claim, but I have doubts about its truthfulness. I think they also misrepresent, to the point of acting in bad faith, the lease and how it works when they summarize it to new drivers.

TransAm is NOT going to back you in any case, under any circumstance when it comes to shippers, receivers, aka customers. Any problem it will be the driver's fault. Drivers can sit and wait, unpaid during any delay no matter whose fault, no matter how long. Shut up and take it.

In most any case for that matter, if there is any problem that will cause time, delay or extra driving. The driver will eat it right along with TransAm. Meaning, delays cost TransAm money in loss of equipment use, cost of fuel in some cases if extra driving is required to fix a problem, etc. and the driver is hand-in-hand going to also take a loss. The problem in this hand-in-hand approach … when things go well … the driver is not going to share in the profit. So it is one sided, share the loss, not the profit.

TransAm, if you have your receipts in line, does pay in full and on time.

My trucks have always been maintained very well, if ever an issue, TransAm has never hesitated to get anything fixed. 100% of the time and I have never had to ask twice.

TransAm does not sweat the small stuff. I have never been bothered about mistakes like being out of route, using toll roads, etc. If you drive your miles, get your loads delivered on time, TransAm will leave you alone to do the job.

 

I'm sorry, gubber, I saw your question on here in the early hours but didn't answer because I felt it would be better for some of the lease drivers to give you the answers that you needed. I am the wife of a former company driver. I believe that you will be required to lease since you are an experienced driver. I wouldn't have the numbers for you on what a lease costs ....but if you look back through this thread I think at June or July you will find a discussion about the true costs and a copy of Pete's settlement one week. That should give you a better idea of some of the things that you pay for on a lease. We also compared average weekly take home pay between lease and company over a period of about six months. I think you would average a bit more than what you had figured. Our experience as a company driver was that we never had to worry about the truck or the trailer being maintained or repaired .....the worry was always in the down time while the repairs were made. I just wanted to acknowledge your questions and let you know that we weren't ignoring you.....I am sure the drivers will chime in later on and give you better answers to your questions.

 

Irishlad, I am so truly sorry for all that happened to you. I have heard some terrible stories about Neal and was told that you had the same driver manager. I am guessing that TransAm did not honor your 2 week notice because you abandoned the truck and that is what some of these charges are. Is there any way to work something out so that you won't have the abandonment on your record? This may be naive on my part but I think I would try to sit down with all of my records and settlements, look at all of the times I was left sitting and any pay or reimbursements that I was entitled to and never received and see if I could work something out before they put this on your DAC. My impression of Jack is that he is a harsh task master but also willing to be fair when he understands the true scope of things.

 

I have to say I'm really getting a little worried. If there is a company driver here can you let me know what you average about a week. My stomach is starting to feel I may be in trouble and need to look for another place. Thanx