Trans Am Still

There is always the chance that things have changed since any of us were there, but we will gladly share what our experience was. The training process was longer and based on driving hours when the King first started, he stayed with a trainer until he had completed a certain number of hours driving. That has changed and from what we understand you are lucky (or unlucky, depending on the trainer) if you get 11 days of training before you are put in your own truck. There is no real training for the trainer, that much is still the same. You may have the best or worst experience.....the King ended up with two trainers and 2 totally different experiences.The first trainer was horrible , the second trainer was a blessing. Even the bad trainer was a learning experience...in what NOT to do.
In our opinion, they don't spend enough time on any of the training.....but it is survivable and that is where we come in. We try to fill in the gaps to the best of our ability.
Have you read the first TransAm thread? II haven't tried it since they changed the format on the forum but I believe you can still do a search on each thread for info on a particular subject.
I'm going to let some of the drivers get on here and fill you in on training and I will be back online in a little while.

 

I just tried to search the TransAm threads only and didn't get it to work .....Pete, do you have any idea how to search just the TransAm Still and Transam Olathe threads and not the whole forum?

 

I have read most the first half of this thread before it moved here and some of this thread I've done a lot of research on this forum as well as videos with YouTube. And on truckingtruth.com. I have drove before about 7 years ago so it won't be a "cultural" shock for me. It is hard however to sift through the post and see what is true negatives or who is grinding axes. I try to take in what inread and consider it all and weed out that which seems too far fetched to be true. After all no company is perfect. That's what I like about this website. Like you said filling in the gaps of training and solo. This site as well as yalls posts are wealth of knowledge. Are you still with trams am? If so for how long now. How do you like them? Were (are) you treated well. I'm sure they are like most other companies it is what you put into it. Does the company ever ask you to run illegally

 

My husband was with TransAm for a little more than three and a half years and left 2 years ago. They are a training company and they do a lot of the northeast. We try to be upfront with our comments and give honest opinions. We all had good weeks and bad weeks with TransAm. My husband was a company driver and some on here were lease drivers....you will find that we are all united in our opinion of leasing a truck DON'T DO IT!. Dispatch can be frustrating ....each driver manager has way too many drivers to look after. Swaps can be a plus or a minus .....but to a small degree we figured out how to work them to our advantage.
Pete is correct ....it is a good place to restart your career and move on to a better situation.

 

I forgot to answer the most important question ....you will run legal....they do not ask you to run illegally. They will however, do swaps and switch your days and nights back and forth. If you feel it is unsafe for you to drive that is all you have to say .....the only question they may ask is when you expect to be rolling again.

 

Anyone know if a Facebook group for transam drivers?

 

The company has a couple of FB pages but I don't know of any that are just the drivers.

 

Hi, texashounddog! Welcome to the thread! My husband, George Torres, was the most recent of the bloggers to drive for Transam. He left about 3 weeks ago after working with them for a year. He would have chimed in by now, but he's been driving hard and is all tuckered out just now. He will tell you that he does not regret working for TA. He got a lot of practical experience with them and was treated well.
How long has it been since you were last in trucking? How long you train with a trainer is based on how long you've been driving and how recently. George had been driving a few months with another company prior to hiring on at TA, so he only had to do orientation. As Cranky and Hometime Queen said, you definitely want to avoid leasing right now. Many drivers who fall for that "get rich quick" line have ended up abandoning their trucks. It's just not worth it unless you know the ins/outs of trucking super well/or have a lot of money to back you up for slump times. Sounds like you're well prepared with your packing. You really don't need to worry about having many of the needed tools, etc. until you get your own truck and packing light is wise during training.
As to whether they keep you legal, yep....if you violate your DOT clock for drive time, you get written up. Good luck. I'm sure George will chime in sooner or later.

 

Man time gets away from a guy. I usually post on here with my iPad (dang fat fingers makes it rough from my phone) and when I grabbed it the other day to tell cranky to bite me cuz of the babysitter comment it said no SIM card installed. SO I think yet another iPad is cashed out. Anyways...

Finally on my way back to the house, takin my ten somewhere between the middle of and nowhere Nevada. Delivered on time in Hayward CA, drove back up to Lodi to grab a partial, while waiting for the load to be ready got my load changed and went right back past Hayward on my way to salinas for strawberries. Bought a box of ripe ones from some old dude out of the back of his suburban...best road snack ever! I told Sara to get ready to make some jam when I get home but that might be a pipe dream based on my consumption thus far.

Couple things to share....

- it's funny how a random remark from a five year old can pretty much make your whole month. I always tell Maggie (the five year old) where I am and what I'm hauling and what I'm seeing. This trip I hauled cheese out and strawberries comin back. So yesterday I get a call from my dad, who was hanging out with mags Sunday. Evidently she told him she was proud of her daddy cuz he was 'helping feed the world'. The mind of a five year old...kind of puts this whole deal in a different light. (And yeah cranky I know I'm not really feeding the world ya old curmudgeon.)

- my introduction to the world of reefer hauling was pretty fun. Three total picks to make the load, about 9 hours of wait time total...good times. Not complaining tho. I like to nap

- I am rusty on my log book skills. I probably spend an hour a day going over my logs, planning the next day, stressing over the details, trying to figure out what the heck recapping entails...I'll be glad when I have a few more runs under my belt so I can feel more comfortable doing my logs and planning out my days better.

- speaking of planning, note to self (and anyone else lol)...before going to produce picks find a good truckstop with a clean restroom and do your thing. All the coolers in salinas had portapottys that were pretty much unusable. And that's really saying something coming from me, I tend to be pretty shameless when it comes to throne time. Turns out reefer drivers are a nasty bunch.

Hope all y'all had a great 4th, and are happy and safe as summer continues. And txhounddog...good luck starting your new career man! Don't get overwhelmed, keep a smile on your face and song in your heart and allow yourself to see trucking like a five year old sees it: helping to feed, or clothe, or supply (or whatever) the world!

\m/
Scott