Looking to go to school

When you're broke you gotta do what you gotta do. PAM really sucks man so don't stay there to long.

 

MY HONEST NO BOLOGNA STORY WORKING FOR PAM

First, I am not here to put PAM down. They are a generally good company to work for, the people that are there will work with you, you just got to have a good attitude about it and deal with whatever blows that come at you as they come in a positive way. The "Nature of the Beast" of this type of work is going to present its "Beast" to you enough.

I came in last summer as a new hire, through their training program. At the time business was good for them. They have GM as their biggest source of income, the best I have figured too. It went down as most everybody knows. So the laid off a bunch of folks and cut back a whole lot. Fortunately, I was in there as a solo driver before the layoff happened. They didn't cut me even though I was a beginner, if they did, if would have been stuck with this high interest C1 training loan bill.

This job is not for people who think they will get by easy and make a lot of money. You will have to put up with a lot of stuff; sitting around for days, waiting for shippers and receivers to load and unload, weather, breakdowns, no parking, and the list goes on, not to mention irrational dispatchers and managers along the way. Don't get into this cause most likely what you don't expect is going to happen a lot.

If you have a family to support or say, you have more than $25k in bills to pay, then don't do it for this company. Once you sign this contract at the school, you are stuck. You can't find an extra part-time job on the road to make up the difference. I did less than 100k miles my first year and that translates to less than $30k before taxes. Very few people actually get the good miles they are expecting.

I did my year and 3 months more and tried to find a job at home. I went $4k into debt doing it. It would have been worse if I jumped out before the one year because I would have had to pay that school off with a high interest rate. Jobs are scarce near my home, locally for truck drivers. I ended up having to find a job OTR again, but I found one that pays 10 cents more per mile than I was getting with PAM. There are better paying companies out there. People quit them a lot because of the nature of the Beast. But they are there. PAM is in a lot of debt and they can't afford to pay well and they are basically a training company.

My opinion is that with all the mess a truck driver has to put up with, a truck driver should get paid well for doing it, at least $40k a year. You will rarely see that your first year, but stick to it, and if the economy doesn't fall too much more, which it will with this president we have, then you will do OK.

Basically, PAM is OK if you can maintain a positive attitude and be able to get by on maybe $25k in bills your first year. Just don't sign that contract till you are absolutely sure this is for you.

Peace!

 

Anybody that can't afford to pay for school can't afford to gamble on "free" training . Too many things can cause them to terminate you before the obligation is met and stick you with a training bill . They are not hiring because freight is picking up . Part of the reason they are hiring is because some drivers didn't make it through the first year .