My 16 Week Experience with TRANSAM

Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by Old Guy 56, Feb 19, 2009.

  1. Drivingguy

    Drivingguy Bobtail Member

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    Some people see those shiney trucks going down the highway, and yes like everyone young and with new families need a decent job, or there dad drove a truck when he was young, they do like to drive. But in the end its not what you thought it would be. But in truth all jobs are a let down after the flash of the new, we all hope for the best, and do our best to take care of our families. The drivers seem to be the salt of the earth mostly all great people, where I work they are 140 drivers, I cant say Ive met them all, we all start at different times, but say the 110 that I have met are super nice and just good people all around, yea there are a few who seem to hate everyone and them selves, everyones different. The drivers are the only good thing about this whole industry literally hands down, most have alot of common sence and are down to earth type people, actually more then I have ever seen in any trade, and Ive been in alot of trades, drivers are the best, now I have to fiqure out why this would be, it seems everywhere I go, dosent matter where, it seems like the people you deal with all hate the truck drivers, its like we make a fortune driving these large beasts around, nothing could be farther from the truth. every once in a while someone will ask,"do you make good money", Well lets see last week I cleared 157.56 for almost 65 hours of work, there jaw hits the floor. And they say why do you do it?

    And thats the question I love to answer.... I dont need the money, I have enough money, and to much time, so I cant and wont give away the money, but I can give away my time. So I became a trucker. I just feel sad for all the young people with families waiting at home for them, and if there were being treated fairly by the companies there were working for, then its there choice, but to be treated like less then human and earning less then megar wages, and having to listen to lie after lie, just isnt right. The only sad thing Ive witnessed by fellow drivers, while waiting with maybe 10 other drivers to get loaded, a driver had a heart attack, the drivers behind him just though he was sleeping, so they hurried and pulled around him, not one got out to wake him up you know " hey wake up dude it your time", who knows if someone would have, maybe he could of been saved in time, but he died waiting to be loaded, he was 37 with 4 young children, sad.
    Take the time, he was a human as you are, a driver like you are.
    Drivingguy
     
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  3. Old Guy 56

    Old Guy 56 Light Load Member

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    Perhaps when drivers are not treated as if they are animals or in some way sub human they will act like concerned caring human beings. I am not lumping all drivers into the bad behavior category, but my trainer tried to teach me to pee in fuel islands and in parking lots instead of going to a restroom on the premise that this was a requirement of the job in order to make money. In other words, if you took an extra 5 minutes for your human needs your job performance would suffer and you were somehow a failure if you did not behave as if you were an animal. I do not know how widespread this sort of attitude is among long term drivers. I have talked to quite a few who had the same attitude as my trainer. I have seen the poor behavior of drivers in truck stops; cutting off other drivers, parking in places that block other drivers, leaving their truck in fuel islands while they do whatever they want to for 30 minutes or more, and generally behaving as if no one else in the world matters. A little common courtesy would go a long way to making this profession better. I myself reject the premise that a driver has to be discourteous to make a living. I think it comes from the low wages and the pressure put on drivers by the companies that employ them. In the long run, no time saved by a driver will make any difference in their pocketbook. The driver is not the person (as long as they do what is expected of them) who will determine his own income. The company will waste so much of his time that he is totally at their mercy and will not make a dime more than the company will allow him to. It is in the company's best interest to have too many drivers for their business volume (as long as the driver is paid by the mile) and is part of their business model. The company wants a lot of drivers spread out all over the country and ready when needed to haul freight at the company's discretion. The driver is the disposable element in the trucking company business model. His success is a matter of disinterest to a trucking company no matter what they might say. To a trucking company it does not matter which individual is in the drivers seat; only that some one's body is. I think it is unfortunate, but I believe that drivers think that other drivers are part of the reason they are not making much money. It is the system itself, not the other people struggling within it to make a living that is the problem.
     
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  4. Thumper

    Thumper Medium Load Member

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    all i can say is the times where in right now you better take what you can get and make the most of it.
    All these guys pickin and choosing you can make money at transam I did you just have to work it like a biz only reason I left is to get back into car hauling I like it and always have.
    I think before someone can badmouth a company they should have a few years in when you got a year or less you dont have enough time on the road to know what to expect or what truckin is even about how do you know what it takes to be a truck driver? What other compaines have you been with to compare it to?
     
  5. Panhandle flash

    Panhandle flash Road Train Member

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    Its true that a little commen courtesy in this business would go a loong way to making things somewhat better. Unfortunately, this is now the "me" generation and commen courtesy was either not taught to them by their parents or it just didn't take. Not sure that I can blame them for their attitudes either since this is the way the world has become. We learn alot by watching and their are just very few good examples of how to live. This starts with our politicians and rolls down from there. Thats a shame since this country will never be great again until something as simple as manners and courtesy are taught once again.
     
  6. dr5169

    dr5169 Medium Load Member

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    Great Post!!!
     
  7. Old Guy 56

    Old Guy 56 Light Load Member

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    Thumper,
    If you read my posts and the title of this thread you will find that they all talk about my experience with TransAm. I have said that some people say they make money at TransAm; I did not. I have not badmouthed them or compared them to any other company; merely related my experience working for them. If we cannot tell the truth here, why have this site at all? I have run my own and other peoples businesses for over 30 years. I know why companies do what they do. I know what management practices are common in companies sized from single proprietor to multi-billion dollar international conglomerates. I drove my own truck for 6 years delivering my own products all over the southeastern US until I sold my company to The Home Depot in 2007. I have only driven OTR for a trucking company for 16 weeks (as you might deduce from the title of this thread). I know what I was taught in CDL school and by TransAm as the way to make money driving a truck. I made every pickup and delivery on time and did not hit anything or get any tickets and found out that my efforts did not matter if I did not get dispatched on enough miles to make a decent living. I #####ed and moaned and did all I could do within TransAm to get more miles and ran into a brick wall with their management system. I have also said that I have no interest in driving a truck in the future. I thought trucking was about getting paid for working hard. I found it was about being paid very little for working very hard and not being able to effect a change in my circumstances. I have made it very clear in my posts that whatever I express is my opinion formed from my experiences. If you disagree with any conclusion I have reached about "Trucking" in general please post whatever you have to say in a cogent argument and refrain from attacking me. I am just the messenger.
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2009
  8. losttrucker

    losttrucker Road Train Member

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    That's one problem right there, people with no experience come in thinking what they are told at CDL mills "Drive big trucks, Make big bucks!" You kinda have to pay your dues before you get a GREAT trucking job, I'm still paying my dues but I know as long as i keep my driving record clean it will pay off.
     
  9. Old Guy 56

    Old Guy 56 Light Load Member

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    I wish I could share your optimism. I am of the opinion that if I were younger and did not have a family, I would stick through this period that you call paying your dues. I think of it as more of a train yourself because the schools and the companies aren't going to train you for the job. However, I am afraid that what I would end up with would not be worth the time and effort expended to achieve it. The problem with driving for a living is not that the work is complicated or overly hard and the starting pay low. The problem with it is the danger and liability one assumes when one gets behind the wheel. The return is not (to me) commensurate with the risk. In the woodworking business, there was a possibility of cutting off some part of your body, wrecking your back, ruining your knees and other injuries. I made $35 per hour while assuming these risks. In a truck, you assume the possibility of death and incarceration for less than $12 per hour (if you are lucky) and do not live at home. I can see how some people would enjoy driving a truck for the freedom it affords but I had even more freedom running my own business. If the economic atmosphere of the country was not so lousy right now, most of the desperate people flooding the CDL schools and training companies would be doing something else. I have decided that, for me, driving a truck is not the answer to my money problems. Driving only added to my poverty and has strained my 27 year marriage. You may tell me that I have not given it enough time (paid my dues) but I did not think that ruining all other aspects of my life was worth figuring out how to make a dismal living while risking my life and freedom living in a moving broom closet.
     
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  10. Tran Man

    Tran Man Light Load Member

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    ....You must be my lost brother, from another mother..

    "You may tell me that I have not given it enough time (paid my dues) but I did not think that ruining all other aspects of my life was worth figuring out how to make a dismal living while risking my life and freedom living in a moving broom closet."
     
  11. losttrucker

    losttrucker Road Train Member

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    Not trying to be butthole, but what do people expect? That you can start a new career and be on the top of the pay scale with the best companies??? I started my OTR work with Trans Am and only left to work for Estes Express pulling doubles(even though I got laid off due to the economy) it only took a year of a starter company to get one of those "gravy" jobs. I guess what I am trying to say is some people just start driving a truck because their other career fails for whatever reason and then get mad and bad mouth it because they couldn't handle it.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2009
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