Transport america orientation-"thank alot!!"

Depends on the power etc of the engine. Don't think I'd even consider it in a 4 cylinder. I'd be careful in a 6.. In my old Polara, you NEVER started up with your foot on the gas - you could hit 15mph in first without ever touching the accelerator (yes, tuned/choked, etc correctly).

Man, I miss that car almost as much as I miss my RoadRunner

 

I STILL find myself putting my hand up towards the jake brake switch for a slight decel.....in my F-150 !

 

to ptrblt, if u r going to complain this much from the get go, i hate to tell u this but u r not going to be happy anywhere u go. ive been out here almost 12 yrs and so far ive been with transport america for 1 yr. ive done the job hopping thing over the years. yeah transport has its own crap just like other companies but so far they have been better than most. the only way ull be able to avoid the crap is to get ur own authority and go independent.

 

To the OP. Dude, sucks to be you. I joined TA as an experienced driver, drove one of the two vans that went to Scottsburg from N. Jackson, OH. They gave us two vans (one company and one rental) because we had about nine people going, and TA didn't want us "packed in like rats." As far as food, breakfast was hotel continental. Not bad. Lunch was catered at the facility, homecooked and ###### good! Dinner was Marietta's and $7.50 covered a pretty decent meal as long as you brought enough to cover the tip. Oh, and after orientation? TA rented me a new Mercury Grand Marquis to drive myself, and just myself all the way to the Kansas City, MO service center to pick up my truck. Everbody else got stuffed into company vans or rented SUVs as groups to pick up their trucks or head home to wait for trainers, depending on the situation. Never had a company care that much about driver comfort before.

 

any 1 know how good a company transport America is?im looking to go with them after cdl traing.

 

I have 26 yrs and took a gray hound 2 weeks ago for a different co. The guy needs to get over himself or he will never make it in the trucking industry.

 

I need to see more comments like yours. My BF wants to be a trucker at age 49. His position at hos company was terminated. He thinks that this is going to be his road to glory. I have friends that have been driving for years and have told him he IS NOT trucker material. Being able to drive is one thing. He can do that. He thinks if he drives for a company and his rig breaks down, they are going to be there right away to have things fixed. The people I know have been trying to tell him different and to go back to school to build on the skills he has (24 years ir IT systems networking, writing software, and database development). He has had the same job for that long. He could be done in less than a year and walk into a job making 50K+ a year. He thinks that if he is a trucker it is 11 hours of solitude with no one breathing down your back. I have tried to explain that the 11 hours of driving is his JOB and the truck is his office. They haven't given him a free place to live. He is given a place to rest at the office. He has a home and that is here with me and his parents. He isn't able to make that distinction. He thinks because he was able to drive a 24ft box truck for the last couple years for 3-4 weeks at a time, that he has found his calling. There are other factors that come into play. Personal issues that he thinks will go away if he drives away. It doesn't work that way. These are things that he can't run from. I'm the bad guy for laying every card face up and telling him the truth and that IF this is really the route he wants to take, he has to have a clear mindset and all of the toxic thoughts need to be gone. It will take a small trigger from a dispatcher or trucker in a nasty mood that day to set off a full blown panic attack or meltdown and they last for days. If that happens he will lose his job and have one heck of a time finding another. I want the best for him. I love this guy. I have stayed with him through the meltdown that started 6/2013 and hasn't ended because I have been where he is at. It's rough. He is very passive and has never learned to stand up for himself. I appreciate your response and I need to post so others can respond and try and help me through what isn't going to be pretty. He is emotionally numb and is really depressed right now. That isn't the mindset to enter into this industry. If a group of nasty bullies came up to him and demanded the food he had with him, he would give them everything he had instead of fighting. He wouldn't report it and would call it "earning his stripes." Word will spread and he will put up with this for a little while until he has a meltdown. That means he can't drive, whatever he is carrying is stuck, he will be unable to care for himself. I have asked him to drive local. He refuses. He hasn't started school or anything yet so there is hope. Thanks. Sorry for the rant.

 

Sorry, but you wrote a personal account, and you're getting a personal reply back to you. The BF is a veteran? He has meltdowns? He feels he has to 'earn his stripes'? Well, maybe he earned them already the hard way, by taking all kinds of abuse in the military. You may not know the half of it. My advice, woman to woman, is do yourself a favor. Cut your losses and scram away from the bad news you see is ahead. Your eyes are open.

 

lilqueen you will probably get more response by starting a new thread, but from what you say, he would be better off honing the skills he already has. You are right there are a few days of 11 hours of solitude, but more often solitude is not the norm.He will most likely do what he is gonna do, but he at least needs to join TTR and read the threads in here. Good info in here and some not so good, but he will at least get the idea of what goes on out here and it's not all calm and solitude. It can be hectic and nerve racking at times. It can be rewarding, but you have to work at it and earning your stripes the way he is talking about is not the way to go. I wish you both the best and I hope he really thinks things through in whatever he decides.

 

I would be looking for a new gf
if she was on here trying to tell me what I should do