TransAm, Olathe KS - Looking Back

I learned enough in my first 4 months with them and said enough. I still go up there every now and then, but never to nyc the extra $100 my company pays isn't enough to go there with all them crazy 4 wheelers, and traffic.

 

This must have effected your income taxes quite a bit.

I HOPE you did NOT end up owing more money to either the IRS and /or the revenue department of your state of residence, (I believe you posted West Virginia). That could be or was quite a whopper of a tax bill. HOLY MOSES!

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

I was a company driver with TA 2012-2015. I think the OP did a good job describing working for TA.

It is difficult to recommend TA as so much comes down to who your Driver Manager is. The OP had a good one and had a good experience. My first DM was good but they changed her required hours so she left the company. Things went downhill quick.

As a company driver you get stuck doing unpaid/low paid work. Recovering loads, babysitting loads when another driver misses an appointment, etc. A lease driver can earn 1,000 miles of pay, load gets swapped out to you and you can earn 25 miles in pay to make the final delivery.

A good Driver Manager will limit the number of raw deals you get in a week. A poor DM will just stick bad load after load on you out of their convenience and think nothing of it.

It also depends on the truck you are assigned. Most cases you can sit 48 hours on a breakdown and be unpaid. $50 per day after. Hit a few breakdowns and your monthly average takes a nose dive.

On the upside for new drivers, they are forgiving of newbie mistakes. As my first driving job, I hit a curb with rear tandems, destroyed a tire, they sent road service to replace it, no one made a big deal about it. One of my orientation classmates got his tandems stuck in a ditch, TA got him towed out and did not make a problem about it.

Front and rear (driver) facing cams in all the trucks. My company truck was governed at 62mph, lease truck set at 65.

IMHO auto transmissions are the right tool for the job in OTR trucking. A few minor problems with them (backing on a rising grade) but overall ok.

I left TA for a small, family run refer outfit out of Omaha. I often make deliveries to the same receivers I did with TransAm, much the same job, without the bad swaps, unpaid work, etc and I make about 60% more than I did with TA.

 

per diem is .12

 

True, you need a good DM at any company. I would point out, TransAm's policy is to NOT change a DM based on a driver's complaints about the DM. I could not get a DM change even though there where documented problems.

TransAm has a high driver turnover rate. They also have a high DM turnover rate. Unlike some other companies who may try to change a match up to keep a driver, TM will back the DM and be fine with the driver walking away if they can't work it out together. Other drivers told me the same, it is also discussed in the long TransAm thread on this forum.

Even if a DM is following TransAm policy, it is not the best place for a driver. If you get stuck with a bad DM, you are screwed. IMHO.

If you have problems with your driving, criminal or work history you may have to role the dice with TransAm. If you have a clean record, I would recommend trying another company.

 

I been driving for TA for almost 2 years now and can tell you that was true. i had 2 DMs that I really liked 1 left early on and the other i think went to planning. my DM now is actually really good but i know they changed the way they are "graded" as a driver manager. they get issued points or something but lose points if their drivers quit because they cant manage them well. i dont know how it will work out but i like the idea that Transam is making their DMs care about their drivers.