Transport Corp. Of America - Eagan, Mn.?

i was in orientation on the 17th also. i got sent to iowa got truck,went to sleep and got a relay load right from the terminal,going to janesville.then picked up another relay going to atlanta for the weekend.i think this just might turn out to be the best trucking company ive ever worked for.im still having to get used to being treated like a human lol.i know theres a honeymoon period they all go through but from day one ive been treated with nothing but respect.

 

David, the driver student training manager is a real prick, be sure to stay away from him and stroke his ego when it's needed.

This company left me stranded 20 miles from my car outside a closed Greyhound station in downtown Iowa City, IA at 2am in freezing January weather. If it wasn't for the pity of another driver I would have been SOL.

My friend from orientation said he quit after being a month straight when he signed a paper saying he would get home for a minimum of 34 hours every weekend.

They also left a company wide message saying overall freight will be slower this year due to the economy. They eliminated their driver rewards program that allows good drivers to drive 68. The message also stated their support staff are working harder and more efficiently. This company isn't a big one, eastern half of the US, and they're being hit by the recession. Their orientation site is out in rural Indiana in a building that they share with a Mormon church. Their terminals aren't that great either.

I'm a lot happier with Schneider. I haven't encountered anyone who takes themselves too seriously, the terminals and maintainence are good, miles are good. Schneider also sent out a publication saying that they are absorbing business from smaller companies who are folding due to the recession. I also heard that Schneider was asked to bid on a huge Walmart contract in Missouri that Swift just lost due to their corruption.

Overall, I don't think they're as bad as a lot of companies out there, but they're not that great either. I also am not sure about their future. They don't seem very stable to me. They were almost bought out before, and have flipped from privately owned, to public, now back to private.

 

Nothing has changed. My trainer liked to only take 8-9 hour breaks, run long hours, so on. I wasn't okay with breaking HOS laws, driving fatigued, risking the lives of myself and others, so I was canned. I told them I wanted a new trainer for the above reasons, and they said that I was fired. This is where this company is. Now I'm with Schneider and a lot happier, and safer. And this I can all verify with the safety statistics. According to the feds safety statistics, TA drivers are more likely to kill people than Schneider drivers, than a lot of drivers.

 

i finished orientation on the 12 of jan. i have my own truck now. This company is not that bad. It's true frieght is a little slow right now. i'm stuck in OH waiting on something and have been here over 24 hrs. But with that said my lowest week so far has been 2750 miles. and my highest is 3200. That is all part of trucking. you have to take the good with the bad. biggest piece of advice i can give you is pack your own food to save money. They want you to fuel at the terminal as much as possible but i don't b/c you can get your advance and free showers at truckstops. As far as HOS go, There are a few tricks that save your hrs and can give you about another hr drive time that are still legal, you just can't abuse it. And if you run out of Hrs the DOT gives you leaway if you don't feel safe stopping where you are at. I use this all of the time, I will not park on an on ramp or in an area that i might get hurt.

 

How is it going, TGP? Haven't heard from you. They accepted my application but there are no openings on SER yet. So, they told me to wait. I would like to pick this co. My other options are Covenant and Werner. Someone told me to go to TA orientation and see if I could find a teammate there. But what if don't find anybody? So, I called Covenant to schedule orientation with them but they haven't returned my call yet. Keep us posted, ok?

 

So far I am not liking TA, they called me on my cell phone like 27 times in 2 days until I told them never to call me on my cellphone again unless they were going to pay my bill. They would send me a message on the Quallcom when I was driving and when I didn't answer them in like 5 mins they would call me, while I'm driving. Unlike 99% of the drivers I see, I don't talk on the phone when I am driving. I brought this up to them, explaining to them that they are violating there own company policy by calling me when I'm driving. There is also no need to call me that many times unless you are trying to rush me, and I don't rush. Every load they have tried to give me would require me to drive illegal to make it there on time. They had me run 180 mi one day that took me 14 hrs to do, 2 60 mi lds about 4 hrs apart and the time to deliver my 1st ld, then gave me a ld due at 0730 the next morning 400 mis away 13.5 hours into my day, which ended at 1745, and gave me an attitude when I said I couldn't make it on time. This is basically how every load they give me is. I am definitely not happy here, the dispatcher is a moron, the planner can't plan me a ld until I already deliever and sit for 3 hours, even though it took 2 days to get there. I thought Schneider was bad, this place is 10 times worse. I am already looking at someplace else. Is this how the industry is? I just want to move and make money, I understand that at times I have to sit. but out of 7 days I sit for 3 or 4, that can't be typical. I hope I can find a better company that is busier than this one. I run legal, if I can't run it legal I will let them know. I am not injuring or killing myself or others to make me or the company extra money, my life is worth more than that. Well, sorry for the long winded griping, if you are enjoying this company, god bless, I probably got the moron dispatcher and you got the good one. Good luck to all of you and Stay Safe Out There!

 

I would just say stick it out.They dispatch over the quallcom.So any trouble is right there for DOT to see.So they cant fire you for refusin to operate illegally.Just make sure you get ahold of dot,so they can verify the quallcom,before you quit if you quit,because of an illegal dispatch.That way they will be investigted,and they wont be able to fire you or give you a bad dac.Plus you dont want to many different jobs in the first year....

 

Sorry to hear it is bad man. I would stick it out and if you need too, call safety.

King

 

I would call your team leader. they are over the planners and fleet mgr. if your fleet mgr wont give you the team leaders name, you can call your recruiter and he will tell you everything you want to know. That is what i did one time. What ever you do as far a messages or conversation about lds with the fm do it over the qualcom. anyone in the company can read it. If the team leader can't fix it ask for a new fm. As for msg's while you are driving, they do that to me and i send them one saying the ld will be late if i have to keep stopping to read msg's on the qualcom. Well i hope this helps, stay safe outhere.