My 16 Week Experience with TRANSAM

I only know or actually know of that which i read and some of what i read may or may not be applicable to each individual driver as each individual driver's situation is different and what each can handle,accept,etc. is indeed different.
My point to you is support your husband 150% and do not allow your fears to cripple him before he gets started well w/in this GREAT industry.It is apparent that he needs to do something and quickly so there is stress prevelent on him as I type this.Please do not amplify that stress even though you do not mean to.Allow him the opportunity to mesh w/trucking from the get go and that will help ensure a better beginning and transition from newbie to seasoned and the seasoned driver can and will make the kind of money you need as a family.
I never had to go to a driving school.I would be very hesitent to venture out into the world of trucking and transportation in this day and time simply becasue it is this day and time.My point is he is about to tackle a brand new phase in not only his life but his families life.Success can be had and it can be had early on i imagine but going into this with the weight of evertything that your husband already has on him has got to be tremendous.
Yeah i rambled and probably put my pinochio nose in something I know nothing of and that is the responsibility of a wife and kids.I do not have that so my perspective may be skewed.But i do know that he is going to need your support and none of your fear sharing because he has enough of that fear from trekking into a completely new phase in his life which is enhanced by the mere fact that he has a family and the inherent obligations and has to succeed.
I can only ask that you keep your fears,negative feelings,etc. in check for his benefit as he will be sharing his fears and all w/you on a daily basis.
I am hoping that some of the newbies will chime in and share how they got thru the transitional period and hopefully you can learn from them what it will take from you to help ensure your husbands bright future in trucking.
Trucking is not a negative industry.it is an industry that is vital to our economy.The negatives are derived from the bad luck stories,the p.o.s. companies that help produce that bad luck,and on and on.Trans am may be a good fit for your husband.It apparently has been for many a driver.If it is not,let him get the experience he needs there and then move on.A paycheck is a paycheck sometimes and that paycheck will just be enough to get you and your family thru this time in which America has stagnated economically.

 

I've have tried to be fair with posting about TA and giving botht the good and the bad. Here's some more of the bad.
Got a call last night from one of the dispatchers, that a load had fallen thru the cracks and would I please help out. Did a whopping 100 mile run for them to keep their 98.2% ontime delivery and pick up intact. My thanks from them, another run totaling 420 miles that doesn't pick up till the 6th between 0700 and 2130. Am told that is the only load available at this time. Will make # $135 on that load plus another $100 for having to sit 2 days and thats the reality of being a new trucker, having to start out with a starter company. Doubt any of the others will be any better to start out with either from reading the boards. Good thing I'm single and have no bills.

 

Don't be surprised if they find you something about 1 hour before your layover pay kicks in Happened all the time to us. Oh yeah, Bill had a 41 mile run once too. From the Olathe yard to Harrisonville MO with a Walmart produce load they forgot about til an hour before it had to be there. He was not smiling at the time but we laugh about it now.

 

You were actually able to deliever early? I try to do that all the time and am very seldom successful at it. Have had it happen a couple of times tho so keep trying. Had a 1800 delievery yesterday and tried to call the number they gave me the day before, went straight to voice mail and never got a response back. Pulled into their yard at 0445 and they actually let me sit there all day till I was finally able to get in about 1900. All that waiting and it only took 25 min. to unload me and get out of there. Ahhhhhh, the life of a trucker, just gotta love eh.

 

Ok folks. At the request of Panhandle here is some info. Tran-Am has a little clause in the "contract" that says you will have to pay back expenses if you leave before the 90 days is up. This is garbage. There are no terms listed in this contract and therefore it is non-enforceable. I had a copy of it looked over by an attorney friend of mine that is licensed in NY, PA, Washington and KS as well as others. He was 100% sure that these trucking companies cannot enforce these contracts. It makes me mad because I am sure many people have paid back thousands that they didn't have to.

Another thing, do you all know that TA gets an average of 10 grand from the Government to train people? Guess when the second and last payment is made. Yep!! At the 90 day mark. They are using scare tactics to make you stay so they get the money.

This company is now no different than the others. They are bringing drivers as company drivers when they have no trucks. They get a cheap team and then you test out. From there they will attempt to starve the desperate ones in to a lease. If the lease isn't taken, you sit. If you leave, they try to convince you that you owe all sorts of money.

I personally think we need to start scouring the internet and truck stops to get a class action lawsuit in place against Trans-Am for the underhanded practices and perhaps we should even be contacting the Feds and letting them know Trans-Am is taking the money for training students that they don't even have trucks for. They are supposed to put them to work, not force them in to a lease that leaves them broke and unemployed after 4 months.

 

Oh yeah. Don't buy into the miles thing. My trainer got enough miles to cover the truck and little more. He showed me his ledger where he tracked his earnings. That poor ####### hadn't made over $150 dollars in 15 weeks. Many of those weeks ended aT under $100 with three of them being negative. You will get miles as a lease driver until they have a new crop of lease drivers to take care of. By then Trans-Am has your escrow account pretty well funded so they don't care if you walk away from the lease. They just get their truck back and your escrow, maintenance account, and whatever other money they are holding for you. After that, they just lease the truck to another misinformed or desperate driver that thinks he has no choice. Plus, does anyone know who owns the dealership that all those trucks come from? LOL Johnny Jacobson's wife. That's who.

DON'T LET TRANS-AM SCREW YOU ANYMORE!!!!! TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND OTHER DRIVERS WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

 

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Have him take the factory job . He won't make half that money driving . How much do you think you would see him if he was on the road 4 or 5 weeks at a time ? These carriers chew newbies up and spit them out . One little mistake and he can be terminated with a bad DAC report that will end his driving career .
Don't think of him being 5 hours away on the other job . Think of driving less than 3 hours for weekend meetings somewhere in between .

 

How can they keep your escrow, and maint. fund? That is your money and if you are not leaving in the hole they have to return that money.

Sounds like you TA guys and gals really need to get an attourney involved with these shady practices.

Glad I only worked there a week about 3 or 4 yrs ago. I quit when they tried to force me in to nyc i left got my last well only check no problems. Of course its on my dac no rehire but nothing negative. Guess i got lucky huh?