ATS Lease Program?

Thinking about calling ATS. Would it matter if I have proof of O.D. experience as to what level I would start at?? And....Should I even consider calling now? You guys making any money?? Holler Back!!

 

Your rig or theirs? They havent hired a company driver in a year.

ATS isnt one of those companies thats going to hold your hand for you and lead you to water. They will hand you a bucket and a map and say, go find water.

You can make money, but YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT.

 

Triple Six... Thanks for the come back, I would be leasing one of their trucks. I just have a lot of questions that I wouldn't trust a Recruiter to answer, if you know what I mean!! Sounds like a pretty good outfit,
been followin the post on here an am hearing good and bad, so guss their 'bout like every one else. Just lookin for Honisty!!

 

The reason I applied at ATS was because of the drivers. I was in Ottumwa, Ia picking up a John Deere load when an Andy rolls in. Older fellow, been with ATS for 30 years. I was looking to jump ship and ATS sounded like an upgrade.

Picked up a 12'4 wide piece from John Deere and made my way to the Iowa 80. The company I was driving for didnt really know about OD frieght and I needed to know whether or not I could run through Illinois on Sunday. Met an Andy with a heavy 3, 30 year Andy, who looked through his book and told me that I could run farm equipment on Sunday through Illinois and that I could run all the way down to the Tennessee border before I had to shut down. I asked him about the company and he was a bladerunner.

I was sold.

Howling Wolf, I will be honest with you...I dont like their lease deal. I'd rather lease a truck from somewheres else and put it on ATS. I do not like the idea of leasing a truck from the person who has control of your money. If ATS and I part ways, my truck goes with me. If you do a lease, do the one year lease.

I would also tell anyone that is looking at ATS' van division to look elsewhere to be a doorslammer. ATS' van division suffered greatly last year, BUT IT WAS THE DRIVERS' faults. You guys cant blame ATS for the lack of van freight when it was you guys that caused ATS to lose its customers!

If you do lease a truck from them, remember this: you have to run constantly. You need 3 good loads a week. (1) weekend run about 1500-2000 mile, has to deliver on Monday (2) an overnighter...when you load, do not stop until it is delivered. (3) Hit a short load between Tuesday and Thurday and work in a restart. If you want to go home, you have to pad your accounts for the down time. That way, you dont get behind when your expenses still come through.

One more thing, do everything you can to be successful. Call shippers. Call receivers. Call your dispatcher and tell them YOUR plan of attack and what you need them to do. Alot of guys assume that the FM knows whats best AND THEY DONT! Its your truck and your business and you have to run it your way.

 

Agreed! I am on the same page as you are. I am looking to buy my own truck and when I do I'm going to look at ATS. I like the OD frieght that they pull. Even though I have no experience pulling OD freight, they seem to have a good stepping stone approach to moving a driver to more increasingly demanding loads as a driver attains that experience. I personnally have been saving and will not buy a truck until I can put it on the road with everything I need and still have 5-10K for maintenance/breakdowns in the bank. If it takes two years then that's how long it takes. Better than jumping the gun and getting upside down right out of the gate. I too am leary of any companies L/P program. Not to say that they are out to rip off a driver but they are not going to do it for free either.

 

You can buy one of their trucks for #$300 a week and set up a maintenance account. 06 Pete 379s, 9 speed tranny, 455HP, and set her up the way you want. get her converted over to a 13 speed and youre ready.

Comes with headache cabinet and rgn ramps.


I do well in trucking. Ive done well at ATS. My goal is to help as many of the guys as I can to do well too...especially in the area of load securement. The better we secure our loads, the less claims we take, the happier our customers will be. Happy customers = $$$$$$ fleetwide.

If and when you decide to jump aboard, you will go to the DaysInn in St Cloud,Mn. Get there on a Saturday and hang out in the lobby. It will look like an ATS truckstop by Sunday. Buttloads of 3 axles and 4 axle tractors will be in the parkinglot. Talk to the drivers. They will invite you to eat with them and they will hit the nearby restaurants in huge packs. They will start telling war stories.

I also want you to notice how they have their trucks set up. No vee-boards. Chains, binders, tarps, ladders, clevises,...etc. You never can tell what youre going to haul and we pull everything!

 

One more thing...if you are up in Cloud and you meet a driver whose been with the company for a while, and he's where you want to be, get his number.

If you meet a supertrucker ATS driver, dont bother speaking to him. The first thing that he will try to do is establish his superiority, either by driving experience or what class driver he is. Then he will whine and complain about ATS and tell you that you are going to fail because he is failing. The reason why he is failing is because he cant drive and so is looking for ways to make himself look better. This type driver will rat you out in a heartbeat. Just keep that in mind.

 

HaHaHaHaHa, Lite weight!

I, too, picked up that same load, same appointment time and everything. I am one of those 62 mile an hour drivers.

I stopped by the house, Austin, TX for my 10 hour break.

I took a different, shorter, route than you.

I arrived in Beaver, UT at 2230 on Sunday night. (Was told not to go to the Wind Site, they didn't like anyone to stay overnight.) I staged at the Flying J and waited for Jason's call the next morning.

I passed the two suppertruker O/O that loaded before me and left before I was loaded just west of Albuquerque on their 10 hour break. (They really weren't supertruckers, it, just, makes my story sound better! At least to me.)

All kidding aside, I am following your methodology. I don't follow some of your reasoning, or I haven't absorbed it yet. I have my own methods and I seem to be getting equivilent results, or close to the same results. I am open to any suggestion to make me more successful. Some differences are:

Although, I drive only 62 or there abouts, I do not stop for anything. On more occasions than I care to think about, I drive a straight 11 hours without stopping. Even when I'm slumming I drive pretty much without stopping. That does not mean if I see an opportunity to deliver my load and the difference is in my speed I will kick it up to 70. Rarely though, does it make a difference.

I pick loads based on where I want to go, especially, out West. I am on mileage so the longer miles make more sense. Even when you get paid less per mile. The accessorial pay (FSC, Tarp Pay, OD, Arbitration, etc.) makes up the difference. I don't care what I make per week, it is more important to me what I make when I average it out. I select loads that require the least amount of sitting, either at the shipper or consignee.

I have found short runs have more potential, you can sneak in an extra run, but they rarily live up to my expectations. Shippers take all day to load you, consignee takes the rest of the day to unload you and the planners take their sweet time finding you another load. On my long runs I make anywhere from $800.00 to $1,100.00 per day. (Before deductions.) The short runs, 399 miles or less, only pay $450.00, plus a minimal FSC and you are loading and unloading every day.

They advantages on a short haul are, less fuel expended, the chance to get by the house more often, and fewer scales to cross. (I'm talking Texas here.)

Even though we use different methods, I think we have in common our willingness to work and get the job done.

 

I think some of the differences in opinion is comming from which division a particular driver is/was in.

Flats, generally, drivers are happy.

Vans, have problems.

 

Triple Six, and every one else that responded to my post...Thanks!!!