Anderson trucking, what is oreintation like there?

Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by Fallinangel4851, Dec 25, 2018.

  1. Fallinangel4851

    Fallinangel4851 Bobtail Member

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    Anyone know anything about orientation at ats what do I got to look forward to
     
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  3. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    The one thing I learned from ATS is a battery of written multi choice questions. Example if you were two hours from consignee what will you do if your HOS is expired (70 or daily etc)

    Whatever answer you make is going to go against a set of pre-selected approved company answer and be returned to your Orientation manager with a powerful recommendation to hire or not hire or... question you carefully. My orientation manager questioned me during my road trip in NC. I told him what I thought right and defended myself with words my positions to the questions asked which was directly correlated to the battery of questions and related to a printout under my SSN and company response to question me.. a room that no one has access to. (They left the door open at lunch and I was exploring.)

    Just a little story that actually happened to me with ATS. No big deal.

    As far as the HOS expiring 2 hours from customer? Contact dispatch after finding a lawful place to park and get a morning appointment time if you have not already. Ive actually done just that a time or two.

    In the future whenever I got those kinds of batteries of tests for mental heath type questions in trucking I just mark everything C up and down and walk away from it. When questioned I let them know that the state of Maryland had the pleasure of analyzing me for 20 years of my life growing up. And it would be very well that I have no more use of them since that age. (And still don't) If a company wants to know me that way they can order records from the STate Archives. We can either proceed with orientation or send me home and stop wasting all of our time.
     
  4. kemosabi49

    kemosabi49 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    @Rooster1291979 runs for them, I think.
     
  5. brsims

    brsims Road Train Member

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    I ran with ATS for a couple of months a while back.

    Since I signed up as a company driver, I did my orientation at the Gary, IN terminal. Hotel was the Best Western on 179th St just a bit off Cline Ave. You'll find drivers for a couple different companies there, and the morning rush for breakfast and coffee can get a bit crushed at times.

    Hotel does breakfast, ATS feeds you lunch, and you get a voucher for the hotel restaurant for dinner. Food ain't bad.

    Flatbed (called Specialized) orientation takes a week, Van (called Pad Wrap) finishes up on Wednesday (I think, been a while). Standard stuff: Physical if you need one, drug test, company info, insurance info, video meeting with some higher ups and so on.

    Specialized gets a couple more days to cover ATS standards on load securement and to cover some of the more interesting freight they haul. Finishes up with a practical outside on the training trailer.

    On to the company itself.

    Bear in mind, I wasn't there for very long, so your experience may differ.

    ATS is very, very up front in being strictly an OTR carrier. They want a minimum of three weeks out, and seem to prefer six weeks or more. However, the trucks are extremely well set up and comfortable for a company spec. I had a Freightliner Cascadia (only about 18 months old, I believe) running a DD15/DT12 set up. Truck was governed at 65, but rode smoothly (better than any other Cascadia I've driven since).

    ATS specializes in nice long runs. PA to TX to MD to TX to NY to TX to MN type runs. They also have west coast runs for singles in the Specialized side. Down side is they pay a mileage rate (one of the reasons I left, but not bad if you prefer a mileage pay over percentage).

    In my experience, dispatch was easy to work with. For all its size, ATS does try to be a driver-oriented carrier. If you run into a problem, dispatch is there to help, not hinder. They are also VERY safety conscious and liability averse. If you have an issue, or don't feel something is safe, the situation will be discussed with you, and the company invariably comes down on the side of the driver (again, in my experience). The discussion between the driver and the carrier on said situation is mostly the carrier trying to pull as much info as possible to use in their discussion with the customer.

    As far as freight goes, it was really different for me. I'm a steel hauler, but ATS doesn't do a lot of steel. I only had one steel load in my brief time there, and that was a broker load to move the truck into another lane. Most of ATS's freight runs more towards equipment and finished product for projects. I pulled farm equipment to TX for export, rooftop AC units for commercial buildings, giant filter thingies for something dealing with natural gas, stuff like that. The biggest warning I could offer is this: Most of ATS's specialized freight is a bit...delicate. And easy to damage during securement if your an old steelhauler used to cranking down on your freight. So be mindful of how much force you apply to your freight.

    Overall, and in my opinion, Anderson was one of the better carriers I've worked with as a company driver. The mileage rate was a bit low (the pay package has apparently undergone a massive change since I left), but I racked up enough miles to still earn a more than decent paycheck every week. Dispatch was very easy to work with, and the freight was certainly interesting.

    As to why I left. As good as ATS was to work with, it simply was not a good fit for me at that time. First due to the long dispatch times (three to six weeks or more out) and second due to the pay structure (mileage vs percentage). There were, however, very easy to work with. And I did make a very good paycheck despite being on mileage pay. Furthermore, I separated with little to no notice and the company also worked with me on that as well. When the load we were using to bring the truck back into the Gary terminal cancelled, ATS decided to deadhead me (paid) from PA to Gary so I could get their truck turned in and checked in properly without missing my start date for my next job. Heck, they even paid me extra because I detailed my truck before I turned it in!
     
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  6. swny11

    swny11 Bobtail Member

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    s (three to six weeks or more out) and second due to the pay structure (mileage vs percentage). There were, howe
     
  7. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    Orientation gives you a choice. Van or Specialized.

    What I should have done was take specialized. A early form of flatbed among other possibility once I viewed the large trailer storage yard in HQ that included some big stuff.

    Van at that time was not bad. I was generally out months at a time. Hardly any conflict with dispatch other than fuel. I had a older tractor with one 145 gallon fuel tank trying to be OTR

    Dispatch is pretty good.

    Surely something would break. But nothing did. And if it did, they have a wonderful shop situation. You tell them whats the matter and they fix it. No ifs buts, hems, haws or maybies.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 31, 2018
    Reason for edit: Edited to remove non pertinent content...
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  8. Rooster1291979

    Rooster1291979 Road Train Member

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    Why use 30 to 40 words to effectively convey a point when you can use hundreds to make a point difficult to understand and tedious to read...
     
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  9. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    I am sorry you feel that way. English is not my strong suit. It is easier to have American Sign Language and convey this in about 3 words and a few moments. But.. I digress. When I write I try to build three things. First the Positive side then the middle and then the negative one way or another. Somewhere in there is a grain of something worth keeping.

    My suggestion to you Sir, if you think that I am too tedious or otherwise a pain select my handle in the left avatar box and then the popup will feature a word Ignore for you. Once you select that. Everything I write does NOT show up for you ever again on this forum.

    I have no problem with your thoughts and so on. Im just sorry that I am rather unique and am doing the best I can.
     
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  10. Rooster1291979

    Rooster1291979 Road Train Member

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    Couple of things to the OP.

    You don't really have a choice between van or flat during orientation. This is decided by you before orientation. Truck selection is done early on the 1st day and trucks are specific to division. It's not unheard of to switch, but it's a pain and there is a plethora of paperwork that has to happen in the back office since van and flat are ran as two separate companies.

    There is no multiple choice quiz you take. Your attitude, attention level and overall performance during orientation decide if you will be hired.

    I'm not saying other posters are wrong, it just may have been a while since he has been to orientation at ats.
     
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  11. REO6205

    REO6205 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Thanks for the post.. It's always good to get current, accurate, and reliable information.
    Things that happened ten years ago don't always have much bearing on what's happening now.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2018
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