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

I in fact did get raises in my first year. After 6 months I went to 26 cpm and after 8 months became a trainer. While I feel I did not have nearly enough experience at that time to be a trainer, and even doubt if I have enough now after 3 years, PAM's experience policy to be a trainer was 6 months. This is one aspect of the company that I strongly disagree with, but you can't blame a guy for wanting to be paid more (a 1cpm bonus paid for all miles dispatched while a student was on the truck, plus being paid for all miles the truck ran). As a trainer, I ran anywhere from 3500 to 5500 miles. After my first year I again was given a raise to 27 cpm and a month later the company gave a 3cpm across the board increase (Oct 2004). Once that across the board raise was given, I got out of training and ran a dedicated lane which got me home every weekend (every other weekend was a 3 day weekend) and once through the week. Hope this clarifies things for you all.

 

$40,000.00 that year? Is that strickly from running miles? Because an average of 2800 miles a week at $.24 a mile is $672.00 a week. Now if you mulitiply that by 52 weeks and we all know that noone drives 52 weeks with no time off that is only $34,944.00. I will stand by my penny a mile assessment of this company and will never encourage anyone to drive for them.

 

Good luck with your choice. I was unaware that Roehl didn't let some people bring their trucks home. My husband does. He drives van. We live here ijn Mo but he is dispatched out of Ga. Anyway best of luck with CFI.

 

Bobnme - Glad I could be of help. I think you're husband will do great with PAM. Just remind him to keep his head up. I'm sure you both are intelligent enough to realize that everything is not coming up roses in this industry, which is not unlike any other. There are times with PAM that freight will slow down and your husband could be fighting to get 2000 miles in a week. This typically happens twice a year and is usually around Christmas and during July when the automotive plants that PAM has the majority of its freight with goes on shut down. This is the time when a lot of people start complaining the most about PAM and find themselves talking to other drivers from other companies seeking that bigger, better deal. From a voice of experience, things are not always greener on the other side. There are companies that pay more, and may seem better than the company one is with at that moment; however, that does not mean that it will necessarily be better for that individual. One thing I really liked about PAM was if you took your truck home with you they didn't mind if you made a trip to your neighborhood Wal-Mart for supplies and save yourself the hassle of moving said supplies from your personal vehicle to your truck. I even remember using my truck to camp in on one occassion. Many companies (i.e. CFI) won't even let you drop your trailer so you can park the truck in your driveway, let alone run an errand or two. This was especially annoying for me since I had to walk about a mile to get to my house from where I had to park the truck. I talked with CFI about this on several occassions, pleading my case that I am single and live alone and wasn't about to call a friend at 4am to come pick me up or take me back to my truck. Everytime they would reply to me by saying they were empathetic to my problem but couldn't and wouldn't make an exception for me. Anyway, best of luck to your husband and I hope he finds PAM as enjoyable and rewarding as I did.

 

Hey Whispers,Roehl wont let me bring my truck home,and I dont want to bring it home.I am on their 7 on 7 off program,so when I am at home for 7 days someone else is driving the truck.I just got a call from my dispatcher who is in Marshfield WI.and the gal who is driving 3913 is going to the national fleet with it.So beginning this Sat.I will be assigned trk.no.7590.I dont know yet whether there is someone else assigned to it or not.will find out tomorrow when I call in to find out where I am headed on Sat.anywat 7590 is a newer trk.with only 33000 mi.on it.Tell your hubby to keep an eye out for it.will buy him a coffee.

 

If you will read the post right above this one that you made, you will see a breakdown of how I made $40k in my first year with PAM. This statement is NOT trucker b/s. I would happily mail you a copy of my W2 for 2004 if you'd like.

 

Thanks again Scarecrow for your "head on straight" reply (hope you understand MY lingo!!) My husband & I didn't get as old as we are by not realizing that life is not fair, nor does anyone owe us anything, and certainly the grass is not greener. It only looks that way!

Right now, he's feeling a bit frustrated. He took his driving test yesterday & failed. He'd been warned that the Hurst TX DL office is good about nit-picking. Sure enough, he failed for driving too slow on the interstate. So today (sitting on DL doorsteps at 4:30 a.m. in order to get an early exam slot for the second day in a row), he failed for scraping a curb with the trailer tire, not yielding quite good enough, and driving too slow on the interstate. He's going back tomorrow (same 4:30 a.m. routine) to try a third time. Keep him in your prayers that he passes this time.

Once he gets this part behind him, on the road with a training driver, and then on his own, I'm sure he will get along just fine with PAM. Main thing now is to just get out there!

Scarecrow, be safe out there and stay in touch!

Nina

 

I certainly will keep him in my prayers. Let's hope the 3rd time is indeed a charm for him.

Brian

 

Not necessary Scarecrow. Forgive me if you thought I was calling you a liar. I was wondering where we could have been losing money somewhere but apparently not. When my husband was with them he started out with .23 a mile and went up to .24. I see you became a trainer which would explain the additional revenue. Like I said I'm glad you didn't experience the same situation we did and it looks like maybe there were some improvements there. We counted this as a learning experience and went on from there.

 

Well bobnme is see you got an answer to your question about PAM. Too Bad I didn't see it before your husband made his decision I would have told you about my husband's (who is also a very good employee) experience with PAM. So all I'll say is when your husband decides to move on he should look into Crete or Roehl or some of the other great companies that have been posted on this forum. Good Luck.