Newby Mixed Experiences: Transport America & SRT

My wife got her CDL in Novemeber when I started my training. She had applied and was acceted at Transport America. She uses a CPAP machine for sleeping. After 2 days or oreintation, they told her that they would need a doctors signoff on her sleep test and the machine. They sent her home to get the docotrs papers. She came home and got the papers. They called her 2 times that week. The last time was on Friday when she had the papers from the doctor. They told her to be there Sunday by 6pm. Which she did.

Then when she got there, they had no room for her. After getting a room (which they did pay for), she found out Monday morning, that they did not want to see the papers. They just told her they could not hire her. I have no complaint with them not wanting a driver with a CPAP machine. They are allowed to make the rules for who they hire and what they think may be a safety risk. My problem was she had 1200 unreimbursed miles over this. 1 round trip was in an ice storma nd very dangerous driving to get there. If they did not want her, the trips and time were a total waste. If they had decided between 3:30 pm Friday and 6pm sunday they did not want her, they could have called. They sure called enough times when they wanted her. They said they would pay for her drive 1 time one way. Buit, they never did.

She found all of this very discouraging. Because we had talked to drivers at truck stops, we decided to apply at Southern Refrigerated Transport. She called between Christmas and New Years. She started there Dec 31. Although she had the paperwork onthe sleep test and CPAP, they were not concerned about that. They wanted a note from the doctorabotu one of her medicines. They contacted the doctor and got eh paperwork faxed to them. At Transport, she had to do all the calls, etc. SRTs way of doing this made her feel much better. After the orientation, they put her with a trainer and added a dc outlet to her trainers truck for the CPAP machine.

After a short run from Dallas to Penn and a couple shorter trips, they had a load they needed hauled that would require them to drive as team for one trip. Since it was the same route they had taken she and her trainer agreed they could do that. They then took a secure hazmat load to Dallas from Virginia. Although she is in training and only earns 14cpm, they gave her the full hazmat bonus. Since we both have relatives on the west coast and want some runs there, she has been training a lot in the Rockies. Next week, she will be training on the East Coast corridor with a run across the northern states to the West coast at the end of the week. They called me about the truck they were getting ready for us. They are going to put a APU in it and do some things on the sleeper windows for her.

We are the same couple with the same conditions, but there sure is a big difference in treatment from the 2 companies. We are giving my home to our son and taking our "home time" at vaious places as we travel. We want to drive 5k to 6k per week. SRT wants to work with us and provide what we need. We had wanted a company which seemed to have better organized training programs. However, SRT seems to be doing a better than anticipated job at this.

This is one couples experieince with 2 companies. Others may have different experiences. We did chose Transport America first for various reasons which are still valid. But for us with some medical conditions, SRT sure makes a better match.

for what its worth,
Wayne

 

I hope I was careful to say this is one couples experience. I would hope no one judges a company solely on my comments. However, I think it is worth adding to any other information you can acquire.

Our truck for the first year will be a 2006 Columbia. SRT does seem to have some empty trucks setting there. And all of them seem to need some repair before new drivers can use them. I have no idea how normal this is in the industry.

My wife has been in training 4 weeks now. They seem to normally run her 3k to 4k a week in training with her trainer doing some of the driving. Twice tehy have had to lay over a day due to a problem at the shippers. The trainer has informed that this is unusual. Whether this may be due to unusual circumstances or a change in management there which someone mentioned, I do not yet know.

Right now, myw ife is unhappy. They were to have her here fora doctors appt tomorrow. They had an overweight load they had to take back to be reloaded. SRT then sent them to pick up another "loaded trailer" at another shipper Monday. The other trailer was not there and theirs was not loaded until today. This gets shipped to Chicago which is 150 miles from Peoria. But they cannot route her here because the next load will be a secured priority load that they cannot run here. I will be able ot meet her with her medicine so all will be well for now. However she had been told for 2 weeks she would be in Peoria tomorrow afternoon. I have no idea how this will work out long term. We will definitely keep it in mind and watch the future closely. All of the other drives from SRT they have met on the road have been very positive about the company. While everything has not been perfect, on the whole so far, it has been a good experience. SRT has given more miles and pay they said they would for her training. They have had a couple communication problems with the shippers which they were slow to resolve.

Since this topic was about Transport America and SRT, I want to include some about TA. A friend who went to the same class as my wife started there. He has completed his training and is driving there now. He said I could add his comments here. His training was completed in the time they said it woudl be. His first 2 weeks driving he had between 2500 and 2800 miles. He is hoping to get more. However he is happy with this to start. his main negative was that he was told he would be driving in all 48 states and his training never took him West of the Mississippi. He did want some training in the Rockies which did not happen. He did have a lot of time in the East coast corridor and is confident he can handle the coditions there.

Both Jeff (TA) and my wife (SRT) have found that the training excludes inclement weather conditions such as snow. Although my wife saw a little snow in the Rockies, her trainer usually drove then. The companiesy says that they try to keep new drivers away from those conditions for the first 2 years. Is this an industry wide practice? Does 2 years driving in good weather prepare a driver better than being trained in snow with an experienced person present to instruct them? In my CDL class, I did get some experience in snow, fog and even a tornado (ARGH!!) which I am sure my instructor would have preferred not to have been the case. But I did learn from those experiences and doing all my student driving at night. Although the state CDL test was in the daytime which was really nice for a change.