Trans Am Still

Cranky Yankee, who do you drive for?

 

**7/31 - 8/04 the DOT along with 15 State Agencies is running an inspection blitz focusing on fatigued driving. Slow down. Update logs. Wear seatbelt!

 

I have only requested two days of hometime in my 14 months or so with TransAm (I take long leaves of absents every six months instead). I requested it to see my nephews in school events, I was comfortably able to make both events, no issues with the time being approved, etc.

 

Is TA ok with long leaves of absence ? How long can you go. Our house is in the Philippines and would like to go there during winter maybe , just curious.

 

As a pure money issue, I think company makes more sense. It is possible to make A LITTLE bit more money with a lease, after you get some experience, but you need a good strategy, good equipment and good luck. The risk of loss with a lease far outweighs the little bit more you could MAYBE make, IMHO.

Working out hometime and not money is a different issue. Honeybadger is a good example, she has a family at home, I do not. As HTQ pointed out, she came in with a TransAm driver as a husband, plus (with affection) she seems to be the right kind of crazy to get TransAm dispatch to do what she wants/needs.

 

Missouri D.O.T sitting at mm82 I-44 looking EB just B4 U.S.65

 

35W in North Fort Worth will be completely closed starting Friday, 8/1 at 9 pm til Monday, 8/4. This is already a traffic nightmare, so this will totally make traveling thru this area your worse dream! Avoid at all costs! It would be worth it to suffer the wrath of going out-of-route, to avoid hrs of delays. Northbound will be diverted to the service road at Basswood Blvd, Southbound will divert to Harmon Rd then down onto southbound 287 then on to 35W (involving 2 4-way stop signs! Just a heads up!

 

95 in sc very active dot northbound and southbound be careful

 

"I-80 eastbound shut down big truck wreck at mm 108 N ogo bkd up over 25 miles.

Sorry, couldn't get a state on this one ....so might not be any help.

Spending the day with my Mom so you are on your own .......please try to behave!

 

I did it twice with TransAm, both times I was off just short of four months. Both times I wrote to my DM, about three weeks in advance, that I wanted to take an "unpaid leave of absence" but it really worked out that both times I resigned my position as a company driver, then was later rehired. It worked out that I just had confirmation that I was in good standing to be rehired later.

I never ask how long was the max I could take off as I did not want the answer to come back as something like "90 days", that seems to be the industry standard for how long you can be out of the driver's seat before they want you to have some kind of refresher training. I did not want a hard line drawn on the max. Both times I requested time off for a little over 3 months, then extended it to closer to four, I did not want to create an established limit in case I wanted to push it out more.

Both times I worked with my original recruiter to come back. They go through some of the same pre-hire checks but it is much more informal and my recruiter was cool and took care of all of my needs without a hassle. I will give TransAm credit for that, my leaving and returning all worked out smooth and TransAm did right by me on that score.

I figure I lost any kind of seniority and vacation time credit when I left. I did get .31 per mile when I was rehired this last time.