My 16 Week Experience with TRANSAM

I can't believe that you do not get teary eyed watching convoy. What's up w/that?
Truthfully i have no idea whether i do or not as i can't remember.perhaps I'll find it on VHS tape somewhere and buy it.I will let you know if i tear up-

 

My husband has been driving as a company driver for transam about 2 months now. He started out making very small weekly pay checks and he sure did his share of sitting waiting for loads. He did a lot of small runs and swaps but in the last couple of weeks since he got a new dispatcher he's been doing pretty well. last week he made almost $900.00 and this week $600.00. He's got a good run going now, so next weeks check should be decent.
Hopefully if you can just hang in there get better runs and pay. And hopefully this hasn't been just a fluke and my husband continues being treated like a person.

 

Bingo! I could not of said it better myself.

You have just described every big trucking company's attitude.

That's exactly how it works.

 

You forgot to add how the newest driving restriction limit a drivers ability to make full use of the pay per mile system.

It is IMO that the old system was better for safety and all they needed to add was the restart. The new system is so inflexible it almost invites a driver to violate the law or risk being labeled a chump by their carrier and not being able provide for their family.

 

Yes this is true. DO NOT go thru a trucking company for schooling where you have to do a certain amount of time for a company or you will have to pay for schooling. I applied for a hope scholarship that paid for my 3k dollar schooling (went to a college and took a 8 week course). I paid for tuition and even got my 100 dollar reimbursement on my books. Check local areas around you and talk to colleges about ways to get it paid for. G/L to you guys out there, and drive safe. Be smart, alert, and make the right decisions. Oh btw if you get some hot head thinking he owns the road behind you, let him pass, dont speed up and get the speeding ticket which he deserves lol.

 

Thanks for the info ! I almost went to TransAm & like you I have also been talking to other drivers. What you said is similiar to what I have been told. Too many drivers have told me how great trucking was, which is one reason I was interested in driving,. However, in the current economy, the drivers are generally saying that the industry is taking advantage of the newbies. I wish you nothing but success & happiness.

 

Ok... 9 months ago got my CDL. Like others, my profession got outsourced to India. I was a computer programmer/systems analyst/project manager for 20 years. In 2002, I noticed the 3-4 calls a week from headhunters went to 0. 3 months later I was laid off. 3 years later I got a call from a headhunter that previously placed me. He said it was the first programming job he had in 3 years, but couldn't place me because I had been out of the computer work force too long. In the time frame between being laid off and starting trucking, I went back to college, got a bachelors and Masters degree. I ended up majoring in liberal studies, too k classes in everything from science to history, international relations, philosophy, etc. I learned how the world works and has worked. Got straight A's, but as you can see, working now as a trucker, the degree has done nothing for me as far as advancing my career. America is in deep doo doo folks. Anyhow, now for the Trans Am experience.

Started 9 months ago, worked 3 months as a company driver. Things were picking up, my last two checks as a company driver were almost $800. My driver manager talked me into going lease, and the first couple weeks were great. I had a $1200 and then $1500 check, I was rolling. Took 4 days off. Then I had some breakdowns, I wasn't preplanned. A Werner driver hit my truck in the middle of the night, and I had to take a week off without pay. Iong story short, I have averaged about $300 a week in the 5 1/2 months of my lease. Last Thursday, they gave me a 500 mile run, to pick up Friday and deliver 11:00 Saturday morning. I drove 400 miles, stopped at 22:00 100 miles away. Start out 08:00 Saturday for 10:00 delivery 1 hour early. 08:15 I get a message to Deliver 06:00 Monday. Receiver wasn't receiving at 11:00 on Saturday. Sat all weekend, it is Tuesday and I'm waiting to pick up a load by 17:00. By Weds morning delivery I will have 1000 miles. Another negative week. This is a total ripoff. Figure it this way...

a new Kenworth goes for $120,000.
Trans Am owns a dealership so probably pays $100,000.
$600 a week just for the lease is $31,200/yr
$40,000 to buy the truck after 4 years.
Just by keeping a body in the truck, they make $60,000 on the truck over
4 years, because the driver pays for everything not warranteed.
$15,000 a year profit * 500 trucks is $7,500,000. This does not include what they make off of your loads.
This is a scam, and unfortunately the drivers will not come together to strike or we could get fair wages or put them out of business in one day. They call this "The Race to the Bottom". Good luck America!

 

You know SorryTransAmLeaseOp,my story is the 180 of yours.After 7 almost 8 (I really got wild while at UGA) years of college,an A.A. and a B.S.,I got in a truck and pretty much stayed.Then about 3+/- years ago,starting w/my dad being killed by his doctor via POLYPHARMACY(please google this term people and heed that which you read) and then the onset of dementia/alzheimer's with my mom,I took time off to catch up,reflect and regroup. I took the opportunity to use my education to attempt a different career path.I have been out of school so long that basically,my diplomas are not worth enough to get my foot in the door.
That is fine as i realize that trucking is that which i really enjoy and if you don't enjoy what you do,you WILL BE a miserable individual 24/7.Ironic how with time things change yet they remain the same and after that time one learns how he should spend that time.
If you have not done so already,give trucking another chance.
Best of luck regardless.
You are correct though and i'll reiterate -Good luck America! as our current administration seems intent on changing the coarse for us and it ain't looking good.

 

Sorry to hear about your father. Polypharmacy I'm quite sure is very common, as most doctors are aligned with the pharm companies and receive "gifts" from their sales reps. I have actually thought about getting into natural/alternative medicine. I got into trucking pretty much for one reason, to work for couple years, save cash for a small house, and then move onto what ever endeavor is next. I am making nowhere near the Trans Am claim of new drivers earning $45,000/yr. I have gone 5 weeks with a negative check in a row, and then maybe make $800 for a week. This is not going to get me to my goal of buying/building a small house. Trucking with Trans Am has been an interesting experience, there is some freedom, you see some things you normally wouldn't, but overall, there is not much intellectual challenge (somtimes backing into a doc is interesting but usually not in a good way), and the 24/7 of time in a little box smaller than a jail cell I think is a miserable way to live. I an applying to other trucking companies, but I had a small accident (bumped a car in front of me because I wasn't pressing the brake hard enough, it was night and I was entering the next load address into the gps). I think basically after my lease is over in 2 weeks, my trucking career is screwed.
Ive given it a shot, maybe a better company will hire me, but I have my doubts. I am getting ready for the end of this, because at $300 a week, 24/7 no hometime living in shoebox, I am not resigning a lease, and Trans Am rarely takes a lease driver back company. I believe the reason for this is because they don't want company drivers talking to former lease drivers where things did not work out. If they did, this would be 95 percent of the case. We are similar ages, good luck in the future, but from everything I've studied, the entire world is heading back to most being peasants and slaves, with just a few Kings and Pharoes. The New World Order is real..