My honest, no BS, opinion of P.A.M.

to be honest if you can go with another company like WSE or CRST or any one besides pam or usa i would go with them. thats my opion like everyone else i spent 4 hours waiting on 2 trailer tires last night just because they would not let us drop the trailer in the lil rock yard and let them fix it today and get it delivered by monday at 1800. what a waist of time.
i have found a different company to work for that suits my taste alot better then pam so i am leaving them. and very happy about it.

 

Sorry to see you go bluechevyv. Hope everything turns out well for you. I just got back home from my orientation at Tontitown last week. Had to get to the house to pick up the hard copy of my CDL. It was here waiting on me so I sent a scan of it to Jennifer in the office. Hopefully she will get a trainer to pick me up in the next day or so for my two week refresher training. I enjoyed the orientation. Trucking has changed alot since I last drove, so I intend to pour over the materials they gave me while I wait for the trainer.
The bus ride to and from Tontitown sucked. Grayhound has gone downhill since I last left the driving to them. I got in to Rogers, AR. about twelve hours later than should have because the driver on my leg to St. Louis was new to the route and wasted over an hour trying to find the stops he had. I wound up missing my connection and had an extra 5 hour layover. Of course, that messed up the rest of the connections. I stayed at the motel in Springdale the first night, but since I got in at 2:30 AM, it was a short nights sleep. The other 4 nights I spent at the "barracks" at the terminal. There were a few things I didn't like about staying there, but I've stayed in worse places. The orientation itself consisted of safety films, logging and routing exercises, along with company proceedures. I also got a mini road test with the Fleet trainer. Driving the auto shift was not as tricky a I thought it would be. Out of reflex, I kept reaching for the nonexistant shift knob, but I think I can adapt to autos with no problem. The last day I filled out a mountain of paperwork. There were so many papers to sign, that I barely had time to scan the things before going to the next one. I've no doubt that my **s belongs to PAM Transport now. lol.
I'll post again when I get on my trainer's truck. See ya on the road. Stay safe.

 

well i kept asking for 5 loads a week because i was hired by cex but it all changed over at the 1st of the year. we were getting 3 or 4 then 3 then 4 then 3 then 4 and it just dont pay enough. i got a family to feed and keep a roof over there heads.
well i am more suited for the truck and company i work for now.

 

The majority of the trucks are autoshifts, but they took delivery of a bunch of new trucks that are 10 speed manuals. Not sure how to get them as of yet though. I know anyone that wants to be a trainer is being offered a 2010 with a 10spd man. And yeah, the trucks are very bare bone.

 

I have to say after 4 weeks and 5 days with my trainer (a GREAT guy BTW!) and now after 3 days in my own truck (a 500+ mile '06 Century Class) that PAM is both better (trainer) and about as I expected truck wise.

Let me go on record here as HATING Optidle. If you ask it to do a decent temp all the stop and start it does sux. And if you ask it to do something impossible like 68 degrees it sits there doing 1200 RPM.

Gets down the road good though. Has a freaking caset player radio though, in '06 even.

Thought I'd HATE autoshift but it's pretty nice for the most part. Stop and go on hills is the worst. Get caught coasting (which happens a lot) and it slams into gear.

So far I spent better than one hour waiting on a PO to buy two load locks needed for my first solo run.

Have made two others and finally have a weekend off!

Not EVEN ready to trash the company yet....

 

Glad you are doing well Dave. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, I'm still waiting for a trainer to pick me up here in Newnan, GA. Maybe I will get one today. The only problem I have with waiting is that I don't have any money comming in, so the few bucks I have are running out, and bills are comming due. In retrospect, I wish I had stayed in Tontitown, and had the hard copy of my CDL mailed there instead of comming home to get it. At least I would have a couple of free meals a day. Evidently there is either a shortage of trainers, or freight to the Atlanta area has dryed up. One thing is for sure; I have packed, re-packed, and re-packed again while I have been waiting, so I wont forget anything that I will need on the road. I also have been going over the orientation matierials that I was issued so that my two week refreasher wont need to be extended because of not being familiar with Company proceedures.
I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences as a driver for PAM and keeping up with this, and other forums.

 

Thanks Nomad! Things were not ALL that different for me before I got picked up. Hope like heck you get a trainer like mine! No yelling or screaming, just a lot of good info!

Today I'm gonna get at least a cheap Sirius/XM to combat the cassette player, and a cheap CB (for use at shippers and to find out why traffic stopped). Also gonna get a metal log book clipboard.

And then start personalizing my truck.

 

I just got off the phone with T-town. They said I could get a trainer by close of business today or no later than Monday. They also confirmed that there is still a big waiting list, but I'm right near the top.
Funny you mentioned the cassette player. I could loan you some of mine. I have about 300 of 'em sitting around. LOL. Got about 20 CDs. I'll probably get a Sirius radio when I upgrade, too. I have a Cobra 19 in my PU truck that I will transfer until I can afford to get my Grant XL fixed. I'm glad I held on to some of the stuff I had from when I drove before. Only things I don't have right now is a TV, and cooler. They're only 20,000 miles down the road though.

 

We've been discussing what I'll be taking with me. The XM I got has issues that MAY be taken care of with a cassette adapter. Otherwise it's a fight with Wal-Mart.

Cheap Cobra CB got a radio check. Stick on master clock - check.

TV may not happen for a while. Did get a USB wireless adapter for my laptop so I'll be checking in more often.

Hasn't been a cassette in the house in YEARS. I have a BUNCH of CDs including some disks with all great (in my opinion) songs. I guess I COULD get a portable player to use with the cassette adapter.

Got a Coleman cooler from a buddy. It's a little bigger than the one my trainer had. I'm gonna carry it somewhere besides right over the exhaust pipe though.

Found a HUGE storage under the bed. Can see my sleeping bag and Lord knows what else living under there.

 

Had a trainer lined up for Friday evening. Turned out that He was a non-smoker. Both of us agreed that a mistake was made somewhere. Now I go back to the waiting game. I'll call in when the office opens tomorrow and go from there. Meanwhile...I haven't got a pay check in three weeks. Aundray (the non-smoking trainer) went out of his way to tell me that PAM is a good company, and not to take this personally. I don't, but I need them to get me on the road, Pronto.
I've used my bonus time this weekend to convert a hundred or so songs off my cassettes into MP3's. If I have time tomorrow, I'll burn some disks. I'll wait to get me a cooler after I get my own truck (and a couple of decent checks). Going to take a while to get caught up with bills. Take care.