Trans Am Still

I really hope they don't have me get on any more buses other than maybe a bus or van from the Hotel to the terminal

 

Unfortunately, jdmredneck, there are no guarantees on that. George did several truck rescues, where (for whatever reason) a driver abandoned their truck. Depending on where you or the truck are, you may have to ride a bus. One time TA did fly him to a rescue. Usually rescues happen when your truck is in the shop being repaired or such. At least TA does try to keep you moving when your truck is down. ..sometimes. Good luck, jdmredneck. You'll do fine.

 

I don't remember who it was or how they Said it but someone on here Had a really Good answer/ reason for Trans am on why they didn't want to lease or why they weren't going to lease when they were asked to lease I think it was HTQ you shared what your husband said

 

The King just told them that he felt as if he had too much to learn to consider leasing right out of orientation.....that it was something he would think about and look at six months down the road. It really was simply the truth and they had no argument with that. They did ask him about 6 months later if he would like to lease. He told them that he was happy being a company driver, once again the simple truth. They accepted that answer and never asked him to lease again.

 

I'm going to use that

 

Jaso made good dough leasing. He knew how to run a truck. Learn the ropes first.

 

Hoo boy you don't want the lad starting out by letting anyone know he knows ya

 

The only time the King ever rode a bus with TransAm was when he went to orientation. He never had to go on a recovery for an abandoned truck.....but he was rarely shut down because of repairs. He was always meticulous in taking care of his truck and usually could catch any issues before they became a problem. There is a KW dealer and a ThermoKing not far from the house, so he always scheduled any work to be done while he was on home time. TransAm never once told him that he couldn't take his truck in to have it looked at. That is something that we haven't really talked about .....taking care of your truck.....even if it's a company truck and they pay for the repairs. Your truck is money in your pocket just like your time clock. Take care of it and it will take care of you.
I can count on one hand the number of times that the King did not get home for his scheduled and approved home time. Stuff happens ....the load is late getting out of the meat house, the swap driver is late, etc.. ....but TransAm always made up the time. Yes, it happens that when you request home time you may not get approval for the first dates that you put in for. Try a day before or a day later. If you still don't get it approved then talk to your DM to see what's going on. Do your part on your trip planning, make on time deliveries and 90% of the time you will be home in your driveway on or before your scheduled home time.
I think we had one Thanksgiving, one Christmas, and one New Years with him home. Freight still moves on the holidays, a driver's job is to move the freight to where it needs to be when it needs to be there.

If I remember right, Pete, we compared paycheck to paycheck, tax return to tax return and as a company driver the King made the same money as you did, but we had health insurance, vacation pay and far more time off than you did. If the King had stayed out 3 weeks at a time instead of two, I think we would have made more. Actually when you really look at it, we made more because he worked far less for about the same amount of money.
I don't know how many times Pete and I have to say it ......but DO NOT LEASE and do not listen to anyone that tells you that leasing a truck from a starter company is a good thing to do.