Trans Am Still

^Oh, I also plan to spend this winter in the Philippines & Thailand. I have not notified TA yet, I don't have the exact dates yet. Since I am flexable, I will try to take advantage a sale and get low priced flights. It will leave mid December come back end of March, something like that.

 

Where do you go in the Philippines ? And Thailand ?

I will be going to the Philippines around Christmas and maybe Thailand , Cambodia , or Vietnam around November.

My house is way out in the Province. Baybay , Leyte , Philippines

 

^ I have been to Baybay. Took the SuperCat from Cebu, then a bus. This is before Cebu Pacific started flying into Tacloban. Nice place!

I have been all over both countries but I have it narrowed down spending my time in Camiguin in the Philippines and Koh Chang (Elephant Island) in Thailand. My girl wants to see Palawan in the Philippines, so I will likely spend some time there next trip.

 

That first statement is completely true in regards to company vs lease.

In regards to the second statement, I came in with almost 3 months of experience "managing" a TransAm lease truck. I already knew how to read the settlements, what the overhead was like, and how miles, fuel prices, time management ect all affected the paycheck in the end. So I had a distinct advantage over other new lease ops and information they don't give you in orientation. I had already seen reality and decided while I was still in school I wanted to lease. Before I got my CDL, I had already learned how to best manage time and appointments. After I got here I gradually learned what kind of stuff I could do and where I could put my foot down to get what I wanted the way I wanted it. I'm my own special kind of crazy that makes the lease work for me. And stubborn. I take the good with the bad and keep pushing forward and generally remain optimistic. I make my own room to be a butt hole by doing my job well. Dispatch knows they can expect consistent on time or early pickup or delivery with me. Performance talks. I doubt they would be as accommodating to my whims and demands if I was always late or having accidents and incidents. I had the benefit of starting this lease only being overwhelmed by the new driver aspect since I was proficient in the rest already. I used to literally set my husband's scheduke. I woukd tell him how many miles he was driving that day, where he was fueling, how much fuel to get, if he had a shower where he was shutting down or where he would stop end route to shower and how long he had to do so and still stay on my schedule. I kept him on certain routes.

That being said, I have a certain way of doing things. My DM knows how I operate and it works for us. Sometimes I put my foot down and do one thing and it ends up biting me in the butt. Rather than complain, I analyze my actions in relation to the bigger picture and the result and LEARN from it. Sometimes I choose a course of action knowing that it will have a negative effect on my settlement, but at that point I decide what my priorities are and if I choose one action or another, I have already accepted how it will affect my paycheck. That is a problem with a lot of lease ops. They look at things as only numbers and paychecks and when they aren't happy jump straight to purely blaming TransAm without first taking responsibility for what they have done that contributed to an unsatisfactory week.

Like this week for me. I started planning it LAST week. I set myself up to deliver in Longmont Friday morning and get to Grand Island, NE the same day to drop my empty, knowing drop dead was 1000 Sunday morning. I sent my 009 and requested load info then PCed to Loveland to wait. Requested load info again and then checked preplan to find it was pulled. Messaged dispatch and he told me planners were reworking the area and he was trying to get me something. I had post tripped and accepted I would likely be there for a 10. Received the exact preplan as before but now it was too late to get to Grand Island. I had intended to drop my empty Friday so that if it was ready Saturday I would have already done a 10 and could start running with a fresh clock and be ahead of schedule. This hiccup in my plan is TransAm's fault. Very early Saturday morning I leave for Grand Island, drop my empty and load isn't ready. I post trip and start a 10. This wait is nobody's fault as drop dead was 1000 Sunday and I had accepted these terms when I sent my load commitment. Three hours later I receive a phone call stating load is ready and I decide to finish a 10 and start fresh at midnight to run hard as I can still try to deliver 24 hours early. In hindsight, I could have chose to move with what was left on my 14 and could have had trailer repairs done at the expense of taking a proper 10 hour break. Just before midnight I PC to JBS and pick up my load to find the trailer in need of immediate repair. This is not TransAm's fault. Fault goes into the hands of the one who dropped it who should have had repairs made. The mud flap and bracket is possibly the fault of JBS. But the tire with the deeply gouged sidewall should have been reported by the last guy. This is not my fault, yet costs me nearly 9 hours of time. I have not yet started my clock for the day but woke up and have been active since 11pm the night before. I make it as far as St Joseph before I feel too fatigued to continue and shut down. This premature shutdown could negatively affect my settlement. I awake the next morning with minor chest pains and opt to stay in bed and rest until they go away rather than get behind the wheel... just in case. It costs me another 3.5 hours of time and now runs my load into the point it could be late. This is my fault, not TransAm's and I have to accept a potential service failure if I am not swapped. A swap is set up in KY and the driver is there. His load delivers the next morning and gets me a little more miles than my previous trip. I am satisfied and arrive for on time delivery. Receiver keeps me there for nearly 6 hours and eats up a lot of my 14 and nearly affects my next move. This is neither my fault nor TransAm's. This is just trucking. I deadhead to Montgomery and shut down where I am waiting for another swap to come in for my empty so he can go home. Received a load with only 750 miles left delivering Friday. Dispatch had the same oversight as my first impression and there was too much time on this load for me and what I needed to be able to salvage this week. Possibly TransAm's fault here, but I know my DM and this was oversight, not malicious intent or lack of concern. I run this hard as soon as my 10 is up knowing my DM is doing the best she can to get me a swap. I already know that there is the possibility no swap will be found. Sometimes it just doesn't happen. Still, 65 miles from my intended shut down point for the day I am pulled up short to wait for a swap coming around 1pm the next day. In relation to the end of the week Thursday night I can still take a long break, receive the swap, deliver it and start running on my next preplan and end up with a satisfactory week.

So overall this week, any negative effects have a little blame placed everywhere. Some of my actions were part of it, some of it was purely TransAm, and some of it was what neither myself nor the company could predict or do differently. There is no point getting red-faced with rage and pointing the finger straight at big evil TransAm because when you break down the bigger picture and have the balls and the insight to accept some of the blame you realize the company isn't purely out to get you.

And this, boys and girls, I'd a peek into the inner workings of a honeybadger mind. I'm an impulsive hothead, but there is still a very logical and rational being behind it. Breaking it down and analyzing everything is part of why I'm still happy and not completely insane.

 

I think Tacloban is getting a few more flights now but right after the Typhoon Yolanda hit not much flew in there. We usually go to Cebu Super cat to Ormoc then down the coast to Baybay. I love the view of that trip and enjoy it most on an old bus.

Been to Boracay , that's a nice place and we also plan on going to Palawan.

The ride from Tacloban over the mountains to Baybay is a lot better than it was a few years back. The roads are in a lot better shape.

 

Some good info. After reading, I see there is more logic behind your kind of crazy, I always thought it was just good fun!

TransAm does notice if you keep up your on-time delivery record, have no accidents, incidents or tickets.

When I have gotten stubborn and refused to do something, I normally end up talking to a supervisor. I don't know his name, he speaks with a southern accent (maybe Conrad), he reads out loud as he looks at a computer screen. I can hear him scanning my record and he notes on-time delivery, no accidents, etc. and I have for the most part been able to get something better worked out over what I was refusing.

 

Yeah, that is the trip I took, SuperCat to Ormoc, then an old, old bus, the kind you expect to see chickens and pigs on board with the passengers. Took like two hours and cost maybe $1. I also enjoy the rural bus rides, some great views and you can really get to know or at least see some of the day-to-day the life of the locals.

I rode across the whole of Thailand, North to South on a 125cc motor bike, saw a lot of great stuff doing that.

I hope for the best for Tacloban, I know they still have a very long way to go before fully recovered.

I have been to Boracay and Bohol. Nice places and I would recommend to anyone who has never been to the Philippines before. I just like to find places a bit less overrun with tourists. I think it would have been better to visit Palawan a few years ago, seems like it is now the hot tourist spot in the Philippines but Ms. Passport wants to go, so I will go and enjoy.

 

Oh there's plenty of fun mixed in there Passport. But it's usually when I have my own motives mixed in. Like when I spent two weeks running with a friend. I spent like 4 days in Olathe hanging out and told my DM not to dispatch me because I decided I was "on vacation". Then only wanted to go to Cali because my friend was going to Cali and I know for a fact Cali loads come out of Olathe, Emporia, Holcomb and Dakota City on Thursdays and Fridays and I was in a reasonable location to get one. Or next time I deliver in Bedford I will tell them not to reload me until the next day because I intend to spend the night in Altoona to visit a friend. I know all of this affect my weekly miles but I weight my actions against how many miles I have already, what day of the week it is, how many miles I can possibly get the rest of the week and how many miles I can reasonably expect to run after my playtime before I decide if my fun is worth the hit my paycheck will take. Then I decide of my fun is worth it. Y'all know my first priority is to survive and buy the truck and a paycheck is just icing on the cake. But if I can't enjoy my time buying the truck a little bit, why bother?

I look at my time with TransAm like a game of Survivor. I'm out here with a lot of other fish and the lease is my time on the island. I could do something bad and get voted off/sent home or something could happen to me and I get sent home. But if I play the game right and manipulate properly along the way, I could have a helluva time and win the million dollar prize ((being the truck title)) though the prize doesn't come without hardship along the way. Others have played the same game and won and own their trucks. I'm vying to win this one. Outwit, outplay, outlast.

 

^ Yes, plenty vote themselves off of a lease. Out of 15 lease drivers in my class, I know that about 6 quit before the end of their lease term. I don't know all of the details of all of them as my friend and contact from that group left after four months. I know two who finished out a 6 month lease but they did it begrudgingly. They stuck it out but curse TransAm, call them "Transcam", etc.

Some do get voted off by TransAm. By being a nosy busy body, I could read old messages on the box from the previous driver on my last recovery. He was still signed in because I don't think he knew he was leaving "his" truck. He did not turn it in, TransAm sent a tow truck and snatched it.

I hope you do win, just keep your clothes on and remember to pay your taxes.