Trans Am Still

The fact that TransAm does do a proper background check before you come to orientation is a positive. Especially for someone who has some issue in their back ground.

HTQ you bring up a lot of positive points about TA. TA good about paying for a hotel during your break down. They however, they don't like to compensate the driver for days that they could sit during a break down. You are still sitting hundreds of miles away from home, unpaid in a hotel, if you break down with TransAm.

TransAm does somethings better than other companies, somethings worse.

TransAm is a lease company, they really want new drivers to sign up for a lease. We all agree here, that is a bad idea.

Company drivers are stuck doing swaps. Swaps that can leave you making deliveries with very little paid miles. I have spent the better part or full days making $6 - $27 a day taking care of swaps lease drivers have dumped off.

Company drivers get stuck doing rescue or baby sitting loads. An addition to regular downtime due to waiting at a meat plant or slow back haul freight, TransAm will ask you to sit unpaid taking care of company business on a regular basis. If a load turns into a problem, a company driver will be dispatched to handle it, unpaid.​

TransAm's .30 cpm is on the low end of the industry's starting pay rate. Now that Swift has raised their rate, TA is one of the lowest. In this industry, you are going to have to put up with a lot of nonsense no matter what company you chose. You will do it at the lowest end of the pay scale if you put up with it at TA.

 

Dennis, yes, I would feel safe based on where I have been. I go to good lengths not to park at unsafe places. I park AWAY from metro areas. If I have an Atlanta drop, I stay 30-60 minutes out. Choosing to stay out of harms way is not an option for me. Even if I have to start my clock early and drive a little distance. I won't compromise, safety, health or hygiene.

 

Been there, Passport. Back in April, I had rescued a load in Columbia SC, a pork load in a nearly empty reefer. Fueled it 10 miles away and sat with it 30 hours before finally being unloaded. Got paid a whole ten miles. No detention. That was the beginning of the end. One more month and I completed a year, then I gave my two weeks notice. Took my vacation and got paid for it. And left the week after. Had to finish that year!

 

$ 6 to $ 27 a day taking care of the lease drivers loads so they can get the miles to pay for that truck.

Maybe it is best to lease , lol

I have checked on a couple company's that are not too bad after you get a year in but it sucks that TA treats the drivers so that they don't have a chance to make a nice paycheck , maybe some do.

I could put up with a few down days or low paying days but not for long !

 

The reason I like the pre hire at TA was because I had a speeding ticket in 2013 18 mph over and WEL trucking said they would not be able to hire me for 3 years but Henderson trucking offered me a job and I have been approved. They did the MVR , Background check and what ever else they check and said I was good to start their school and driving for them , but still holding on over here in Korea seeing what is going to happen with the new contract.

 

I agree that TransAm needs to raise their rates.......and I believe that eventually they will be forced to, just as Swift was. ( Reading some of the industry and economic reports on Swift told about their many problems in filling trucks.)
Never once did the King sit in a hotel without being compensated. The first 24 hours is always on the driver, which I do believe is wrong, but after that he never had any problem getting paid. They need to raise the detention pay as it is nominal. I also believe that they should have a daily minimum pay while you are in the truck....that would eliminate many of the complaints that the more experienced drivers have.
Your relationship with and the experience level of your DM is everything. If either of those things is off then your experience at TransAm will suck. We had an exceptionally unqualified DM for a 9 month period. Our income suffered a 30% loss for a time because of it. She was a nice lady but totally new to the job. Once the King learned to present her with a solution to the problem instead of letting her figure it out on her own things got better.....not great but better. He did look at leaving at that point in time. A recruiter for another company was in the mood to be honest....surprise, surprise. When he asked why the King was looking for a change and was told about the DM, the recruiter said, " While I really want you to sign on with us, I gotta tell ya, dispatchers are like drivers....they come and go."
Having friction with your dispatcher is a major mistake.....you will pay the price for it. I can honestly say that never once did the King sit on a load for a lease driver. He had some swaps and rescue's that he was not happy about but they were due to circumstances that were out of TransAm's control, ( late out of the shipper, poor driver planning, weather, etc.).
passport, I believe you and your last dispatcher had major personality issues that could not be worked out....up until that point you were reasonably content with TransAm. Also, because you rarely scheduled home time it became a matter of availability.....you were available to do the sucky jobs, so she handed them to you.
George, if I remember right, there was a reason that you got stuck sitting on that load.
I am not saying that TransAm is wonderful.....they are not.....but we all have to own our part in some of this. We made so many mistakes with TransAm that cost us so much money. It was really easy to blame the company for it at first because when you come from the normal working world into the trucking industry it is a hard adjustment to the way things work. Why should you have to request detention pay.....they know you are sitting there?.... and the list goes on and on.
These are the things that this thread is about ....learning to navigate those adjustments and save other drivers from making some of the same mistakes......because no matter what starter company you go with you have got to adjust your expectations and learn how to navigate around some of these very common problems within the industry.

 

dennisroc, the King had to pick up a load of aspirin, of all things, in Connecticut. He called ahead and asked about overnight parking. The girl in their office said that while they didn't have the space to park there was an empty lot one block away. He gets there, finds the lot ( no other trucks or cars), parks and 5 minutes later the police show up. The cop tells him that while it is perfectly legal for him to park there it is totally unsafe. If he decides to stay they will find him in the morning with a bullet in his head.
The officer was kind enough to lead him to an area where the parking was considered safer.

 

We have worked over a lot of these issues in the threads in the past. We agree it is good there is a company like TransAm to give drivers more choice. We only slightly disagree on what status we should place the TransAm choice. I think of them only as a substandard, second tier employer for new drivers, you place them a bit higher.

Over all, TA will clearly pay you less for the amount of work and miles you put in. However, they take new drivers other companies will not. TA is more forgiving of new driver mistakes. I look at it as TA taking some cpm and putting it in a pool. Much like an insurance actuary table. TA will train drivers less, accept less qualified or "problem" drivers, they will take a greater risk and use this pool of money held back, from what other companies would pay as additional driver compensation, and use it to cover this risk.

If you have a clean employment, driving and criminal history record, stay away from TransAm, take the money that TA puts into the higher risk pool and put it in your pocket.

If you have an issue with your employment, driving or criminal history. Great news, there is a place called TransAm trucking that can work with you. You will have to put up with some BS, but it is not all bad.

 

There are some places I park that are dicey. Yeah, I'm looking at you Newark, NJ. Last time I parked in Newark, I knew it was just wrong. I was in danger, should have moved, but too tired, did not want to drive the big truck in the tight streets of the area, did not want to face traffic to move back to make my pick up in the morning.

Dennis, I would not bring my kids to some of the places we go. As Jaso pointed out, they don't build the warehouses we go in the upscale neighborhoods. However, we can avoid it with trip planning. I could have done more research on Google earth view, read driver reviews of areas etc. I park in some so-so places but if I had my girl with me in the truck, I could avoid it.

 

HTQ one big difference from when the King drove at TA and the company drivers on here now is E-Logs. That changed the game for the company drivers. On paper logs drivers have a lot more freedoms.

I thought the training is too short for some drivers at TA. They should evaluate the students while at the terminal. If one has problems backing, getting around corners or handling the paperwork they should be out a little longer and with more experienced trainers.

Passed by your town today HTQ as I am in Joplin but I am so tight on hours and this run I couldn't stop at Hoods to try and bother you. One day I will.