P.A.M. Transport, Inc. - Tonitown, Ar.?

This will probably get moved down one forum to the "motor carrier questions" section. We had a gent on here a while back named FastFossil who trained throuth them, and felt that he had gotten decent training out of it. He wasn't looking for a permanent home in the industry, but wanted a reasonable place to traina and work his first year. Haven't heard from him in a bit, but at last call he was happy and well on his way to gaining his experience.

 

P.A.M. has agreed to send me to school. I haven't signed any contracts yet and was thinking of paying my own way through ATDS driving school in Elm Mott, Tx.
I am not sure what to do. I have been approved for a loan for school and could go either way.

I am not sure about P.A.M. I have been recieving horror stories about mistreating drivers who are under contract. U.S. Express has a job for me if I graduate from a trucking school, USX does recruite from ATDS also. I have always been somewhat against having to wear a uniform, so SNI is not appealing to me.

What should I do? Anyone have any info on PAM?

 

Do you know what P.A.M. initials stand for? PENNY A MILE! That's what you can expect. Low pay and very low miles. Now granted when my husband contracted with them for his schooling that was in 1999. He started out at $.23 a miles and only averaged around 1800 miles. Do the math. After taxes and insurance plus his advancement for being on the road, he brought home almost nothing. In fact there were weeks when he would give us the $150.00 truck advancement and he would have nothing for the road. Hence he avoided toll roads when possible because they didn't have pre pass. Please find another company to go to school with.

 

If you can avoid contracting with a company for your training, do it. I have read many stories about PAM dismissing students for any reason at all, and the student still owes the tuition because they signed the agreement saying so. Read the loan agreement very carefully. If you are sure you will be able to keep up the payments then that would be the better of the two scenarios. Check with your local unemployment office to see if you qualify for WIA. It is a government program to help train people for jobs. It doesn't cost anything to check and they will pay all or part of the tuition costs to get your CDL. If you have to contract with a company for training, look into a more reputable company like Schneider or Roehl. From what I have read here and on other forums, they have excellent training programs with less [hassle]. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. Also, check your local community colleges. Many of them have excellent CDL training at a more reasonable cost.

keelady

 

I called about WIA already and they don't have any funds for trucking right now. They did say if I wanted to look into some other carreers at the college they could help me. Really sux, they are willing to put out over $8,000 a year per student for a college degree but not $3,700 for trucking school becuase the budget doesnt allow for it.

 

When I drove for Gainey in '96 I was paid .20 per mile the 6 or 7 months i had my truck. My average weekly check after taxes was about $450-$550. P.A.M. claims to start you at .28 per mile. Right now i am lucky to get $200 in a week. I am leary of going into another contract but don't mind making a little less for a while if I have to.

When I drove berfore I always fudged on the logs (it was the only way I new to do them as I recieved little training on them) and almost always got my loads to their destination early. I am not sure that would still work so good now and don't know about the average miles that most of their drivers get at P.A.M. When I drove before I had no family, so I didn't have to worry about living expenses and insurance and stuff.

Things will definately be different this time.

Did your husband stay through his contract or did he leave and pay for the schooling? If he left did the school work with him on repayment?

The recruiter told me that if I go throug their training I am free to leave if I find a better job at any time and would just have to contact the school to arrange for payment. Not sure if they used driver solutions for training back in 99 or if that is something new.

The local school is <$3,700 but if I get the loan it will be the same as PAM's school $6000 + there will be 18% interest on top of that. sounds like a ripoff to me so PAM is starting to look pretty good.

I know everyone likes Schnieder but, I don't like the idea of wearing those uniforms and driving those ugly orange trucks, lol. When I drove before SNI drivers were treated like dirt by other drivers; I am not sure if this has changed but by the looks of this forum they seem to be respected now. Is this so? Have things changed?

 

Its up to you but let me tell you something about getting your load to the receiver early. I was on the truck with my husband so I know all about what I am about to tell you. We had a load to be delivered to Detroit we got there early instead of getting there for 3 we got there at noon, I was in contact with the f/m the whole time and gave him plenty of notice of when we were going to get there. It was a Friday. They had plenty of time to find a load to get out of there. Instead we had to sit until Monday afternoon before we got a load. Like I said the miles were not there. As far as quiting before your contract is over, yeah you can do that if you want to pay for the schooling. We didn't have the extra 4,000.00 laying around so my husband had to stick it out but as soon as the contract was over he was out of there. 1800 miles at $.28 a mile is $504 before taxes and any truck advances you took out not to mention insurance. If you don't have a family I guess you could make it but if you do have love ones at home depending on your paycheck I would think about it.
Where are you at? Have you tried Roehl? They have a school and they are a good company. I don't know what they start someone out that went through their school but a friend of mine was pre-hired (he was declined because of his background) and they quoted him $.30 a mile to start. I am really leary of PAM to do you right and I would hate to see you go through what we went through.

 

Hello, a new trucker's wife here. He's 58, retired from the state and just starting a new career since I'm not making enough to support us in the style we've become accustomed to....3 meals a day & a roof over our heads! Anyway, he's chosen trucking and is in school in Ft Worth~Driver Solutions~going to work for P.A.M.

Can anyone here give any first hand information, etc about this company and what he/we can expect?

Thanks! Nina

 

Don't know much good about PAM. I have seen alot of happy drivers that retired from armed forces that work at schneider. When we look around at the truckstops,you see jb hunts all over, swifts,werners,you don't see alot of schneiders setting still or pams. Maybe that's a good sign,I don't know. He needs to start somewhere though,maybe he'll like it.