Trans Am Still

I just found this, has anyone seen it?

http://www.sirosmithdickson.com/transam-truck-drivers-class-action-lawsuit/

I don't get the basis of the claim. It looks like they are suing do to not getting paid at least minimum wage... a law from which I thought trucking was exempt.

Are they just hoping for a settlement to avoid a trial?

 

After dropping my load at UPS in Dallas, got reloaded out of Air Vent crosstown and gone within 90 minutes of my delivery. Hit and run. I like it like that! Took this to Lowes in Adairsville GA (an hour NW of Atlanta) dropped Friday afternoon. Picked up at Delmonte Foods in Atlanta Saturday at 730 for a delivery at noon at Harris Teeter east of Charlotte. Then deadhead to the yard for minor repairs to the truck. Got a load home off the yard to Lowes in Garysburg NC. Got home at 9am. Good week. 2800 miles with Monday off. Back out on Tuesday.

 

Wish they'd run me with these walmart loads more often. Lots of miles, but they keep relaying my loads off and giving them to you lease operators out there that make up most of the company. Next time they try to make me relay for someone in the northeast I am quitting. I like to be mid-west. Like my current load I pick up monday from home is from lewisburg, tn to omaha, ne. Awesome load very light.

 

Yeah, thats the TransAm way, Rokue. Swaps are commonplace. Two reasons they swap so much is to insure on time delivery or to get a driver home for hometime. Perhaps a tertiary reason is to help a lease driver out with miles. I was a company driver there for a year. If you can manage to hang on for a year, the "higher echelon" companies will take your application much more seriously. Just a nickel's worth of advice. Good luck to you.

 

Are you pressured into going lease/purchase right away at TransAm is that like there big sales pitch? I have been told by many people to NOT do this.

 

For me there wasn't any pressure at all. I made it clear to my recruiter that I would not come at all if I had to lease. I knew I needed to learn how to drive the truck and learn how the industry works, learn your dispatcher, learn your shippers and receivers. Believe me, they (shippers/receivers) don't care if you have a lease payment to make or not. You have to have patience, flexibility, adaptability, and time management to survive your infancy in trucking. In my case, I had zero instincts in driving a truck. I had to develop them. I had to learn to watch my mirrors especially on turns and not to oversteer in backing. I know it sounds basic, but trucking school teaches you but so much in so little time. Many students take this for granted when signing onto a lease and TransAm paints you a pretty picture and they do have nice trucks, but first things first. After awhile in the industry, if you wanna lease, have at it. UNDERSTAND THIS. LEASING AND HOMETIME DON'T MIX. YOU GOTTA PAYMENT EVERY WEEK. YOU GOTTA DRIVE AT LEAST 2000 miles before you make CENT ONE. NEGATIVE PAYCHECKS ARE A REGULAR OCCURENCE. BREAKDOWNS, ON YOU. CALLING A WRECKER BECAUSE YOU GOT STUCK IN A SNOWSTORM, ON YOU. As a company driver, the company absorbs this. Learn on their dime, not YOURS. Truck in the shop? On the road? Need a hotel? As a lease driver, ON YOU!! Company, on them. I recovered five trucks all lease abandoned while my company truck was in the shop. People signed a lease and had gone into the red in a short period of time. TransAm will make leasing sound good and their trucks are really nice. But you have to know what you are doing AND have some good luck too. I enjoyed my time at TransAm as company driver. The people in the office are nice folks, not the monsters they are made out to be. It was really good experience at this starter/second chance company for me. I did my year but moved on to a better situation. Good luck.

 

Excellent answer, George! You have done well, grasshopper! This is exactly the answer that has made this thread worth doing. Thank you!
rokue, there are ways to lessen the chances of doing a swap. Some of them are inevitable for the reasons that George stated.....on time delivery and driver home time. I don't believe that they take miles away from a company driver to give to a lease driver .....because frankly, they don't give a rat's behind about a lease driver's paycheck. There are many good tips in this thread and our previous one. There are also some good tips on the old blog, you will find the web address for it listed on the bottom of my post. The key to TransAm is in learning their system. It will help your bottom line and make your experience there better. There will be times that you can't avoid ....truck troubles, weather. etc.. As far as the northeast runs ......ummmm .....that is a big part of TransAm freight.

 

Sorry I haven't been here for awhile....it has just been a little crazy since the holidays. Did I tell you someone broke into my car.....while it was sitting in my garage? The big dog heard them, thankfully, so nothing was stolen but I had some damage to my car.....ugh. Still have to order the parts to fix it right.

 

Well thats good information I just don't plan on staying for more than 3 months or until I am 23.

 

Good grief always somethin with you guys hey? I always said the back side of Springfield was a wild and wooly place so it don't surprise me