Trans Am Still

One time I was in Chicago done with delivery on a bad side of town. Waiting for my next load info. The sun was going down and started hearing gun shots. About 3-4 and when it seemed about a block or two away I figured I'd get out of there. Only time I've ever experienced that in OTR. L.A. has some seedy truck stops or used to. The TAs there have been cleaned up. Nashville TA was really seedy but they renovated it after a flood and it is much nicer now.

Never liked MS cause the lot lizards knock on my door all night there.

 

When I was with my coach he would always tell me this isn't a good place for a student to practice. I have been driving for almost two years now and my backing still sucks. Sometimes I can get a blind side really easy. Another day I will have a hard time getting a straight back.

 

No, he was only on paper logs for the first 9 months or so and then went to elogs......so he was on elogs for at least 2 1/2 years. It changed nothing for him because he still kept the driver's door shut, always planned ahead as much as possible, always was where he needed to be before his delivery time and was always available and ready for the next load. He made the same miles paper or elogs with TransAm.
The biggest thing is to learn the system and learn to make it profitable for you.....just as you did jaso.

 

The King had two coaches during his training. I actually think that was beneficial for him. It gave him two different perspectives, two different ways of doing things and you weren't stuck in the truck with the same person for days on end.
His first coach was a lease driver and second was a company driver. The lease driver had been with them a few months and quit, the company driver had been with them for a little over 3 years.
He learned backing tips and tricks from two experienced drivers in two totally different parts of the country....Texas and New York. I think that was so very helpful to a new driver.

 

The reasons that I rank TransAm a little bit higher than some of the other starter companies are -
1. They run legally ....and did even before the elogs. For a new driver learning the ropes, I think that is a priority for the obvious reasons.
2. They never question it if you say it is unsafe for you to drive. They may ask you when you feel it would be safe for you to continue, but they do not push for you to do so if you feel unsafe.
3. They had no problem sending a letter of confirmation stating that so long as the King showed up for and completed orientation he was guaranteed a truck .....company or lease.
4. I really can't think of anytime that he was flat out lied to. He may not have liked the way that things were done but you knew that was just the way they did business.
5. At the time he started with TransAm their cpm was competitive with other starter companies......and in some cases was higher.
I do think that they will have to raise their cpm in order to continue to attract drivers. I also think that they are waiting on some economic statistics and data on the industry before they do so. There are some indications of trouble ahead for the trucking industry.
6. When gamma fell out of his own truck on the very day he was turning it in to go to work for someone else, TransAm treated him more than fair. He drew Workmen's Comp and had all medical bills, including surgery, paid for during the 9 months that he was off of work. He also had his job back if he desired it at the end of that time.
7. The equipment was nice and well maintained. There are many companies out there that do not want to pay for things or drag their feet on paying bills when a truck breaks down. Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you ....the King had very few breakdowns caused by the tractor. We were also fortunate in
having a KW dealer near us so that minor issues could be fixed while he was on home time and therefore, didn't turn into major issues.

Those are a few of my reasons for feeling the way that I do. I also have a whole list of negatives .....some that are not going to change and some that we learned to work around.

 

Ya should have hollered when you went by.....I need to give you the King's number. Are you at the Petro in Joplin? He was there just a couple of hours ago.

 

I leaving in an hour. Trying to sleep but you can guess how that's going is I'm posting. LOL.

 

Very nice @dennisroc.. I am heading to that school in december. After graduation I will head to the company I will driver for to get my experience.. I have 5 pre-hire letters unfortunately I did find out that a couple of them are only that.. They do not do any thing except look at your online app and then when you set your date for orientation then they do the full check.. Nothing in my past to worry about but I sure would not want to be the person who thought that pre hire letter meant everything had been checked out get to orientation and then bam your hit with sorry but now that we checked you do not qualify.. Seems it would be in every bodies best interest to do that before..IMO.

I looked at Wel. There was some really good things I saw but also when I dug a little deeper saw that they have a lot of multiple stop loads not like 1 2 or 3 stops but 4 5 6 stop loads.... Down side I saw with henderson is 8 - 12 weeks with a trainer and the partnership they have with Prime.. while they still seem to be run independently as there own company but it seems like every few weeks that partnership adds another layer too the point that IMO they are becoming a Mini Prime and will eventually be owned by Prime.. However there school seems to be a very good program..

 

I noticed that with the .30 cpm. It sounded low to me but then being a pre school baby trucker I really wasn't sure if that was low. So I checked and saw 1 company that was offering .35 cpm for new grad but included in that .35 cpm was an .08 cpm per diem so I understand what per diem is in general and a basic understanding of what it is in trucking as non taxed money but not sure whether it is a good thing or not.. I saw another company that was offering a 1050.00 guarantee minimum weekly pay gross. So you would never make less then that regardless of miles you wont make less then 1050 but you can make more than that.. That sounded very interesting.

 

So I have a question for the TA vets either past or present. Is what I hear true as far as they start off drivers with good miles and then they gradually start going down once you hist a certain level? I am assuming that is with lease drivers with making sure they get the miles each week to make the truck payment but then declining? Also have read and heard that they are pretty good at taking money out of your settlement to where you are making minimal pay check and in some cases going into the negative and owing them money. Now I am not saying that it is something underhanded as far as cheating a driver out of money.. Simply asking if there is any validity to some of this stuff?

Thanks