Thoughts on TransAM?

too many people rush into leasing with out any knowledge of trucking and buisness sense
they are destined to failure
No one holds a gun to thier heads making them lease
there are guys becoming company drivers every week
when brand new drivers become L/O it is automatically Transam's fault
no one in America takes responsibility for thier own demise

 

Lemme see if I can remember it verbatim as this was probably 6-7 years ago when I went to orientation for them..."you are required to have showered within 12 hrs of arriving at the shipper or consignee because let's face it you truck drivers are some of the nastiest dirtiest people out there" again maybe he was having a bad day or whatever...I understand its stressful dealing with the idiots in this industry, I've been there as a dispatcher, load planner and ops manager but you don't talk to people like that, you just don't and people can defend him all they want but on that particular day he said what he said and it ran me off.

 

TransAm Pete: I do like the equipment TransAm runs and I have not completely written them off. May I ask, are you a company driver with them? What kind of miles per week do you get? What kind of miles do you think a new graduate driver can expect? Do you know anything about the TransAm Dallas Terminal?

FYI, I am currently at a Community College training for my CDL. I am in my 40s, I am educated and I plan on going full time OTR at the start of next year. I am realistic about what to expect. I don't expect the first company I drive with will be one big rose garden, I just don't want to be at a place that is way out of line unprofessional or some kind of scam.

 

I am a L/O all drivers get between 2800- 3200 a week avg
anyone not getting that isnt complaining enough to the driver manager OR not using thier HOS correctly to get the job done
and that is a very big OR with new drivers

the Dallas terminal is actually Rockwall Tx right off I30 mile south of the TA
much smaller then Olathe good place to get in and out for a quicky truck repair or PM while on the way somewhere

kinda like where your at now
waiting for the pigs to die is enough of Ottumwa for me


i am sure there are plenty of better companies and plenty of worse companies

I wouldnt fare well with a Chicago Co speaking Lithuanian and giving me an old freight shaker with 1.3 million miles
and 3 sets of logbooks and a 1099 in Janruary

 

My husband is a company driver with TransAm. For what it is worth he has been there for several years. When he was at orientation they talked with him about leasing....and it has come up no more than twice since he has been driving for them. He has told them no each time and never been pressured to change his mind. As with any other job it has it's ups and downs, you learn to travel the road you are given. He has always run within the limits of the law and so does TA.....that is a big plus, it is your license that is at stake. Up until recently he has never had any trouble with his mileage or his pay .....another big plus. Hometime, up until recently, has always been sacred. He has been home, to the door, when he was supposed to be. The trucks are nice, they don't complain about mileage and they take care of any problems. Now, for the problems ....you knew they were coming....TA does not pay when you get stuck waiting on a load until after 24 hours. That means you can sit there for 23 hours being held up and make nothing....And believe me you will do that alot. You may bust your butt to plan out a load and be ahead of schedule and they will swap your load off, then you get stuck with one that you have to either wait for hours to get to you or you have to switch from driving days to driving nights. Dispatch is EVERYTHING. If you have a bad dispatcher you have a bad job. Husband has had great dispatchers and he has had the bottom of the barrel ....TA has them all and has a tendency to get rid of anyone with any common sense. You will eventually get stuck with dispatchers that are rude, disrespectful and do nothing but lie to you. Do not ever expect to get dispatch on the phone when there is a problem. They will call you when you are sleeping after a 14 hour day. Recently, my husband has had to turn around and go back for 2 different swaps. They told him he would be paid for that mileage .....he was not. The more swaps the less money you make has been our experience. They will lie to you about when the other driver will be there and you will sit and wait ....and wait. It seems as if TransAm has a shake up in the office twice a year, so when you have a good dispatcher don't expect to keep them. The same can be said for the planners. Another drawback for new drivers is they let you make mistakes and then rake you over the coals, however it does make an impression and you won't repeat it ALWAYS ask for layover or detention pay, they WILL NOT tell you when you are entitled to it. Anyway, that has been our experience .....not all bad, not all good.

 

Brochure says they do automatics it may be good up front but what happens when other options crop up and you never mastered shifting ?

Just a thought

 

I have never been with TransAm, nor have I had any desire to do so. But I have come across a lot of them at locations I have delivered to. Since I am an O/O, we will usually get into discussions. I get the idea that as strictly a company driver, it is not a terrible company to work for, not great, not bad, just in the middle. From the Lease/Purchase side of things, it seems a whole lot different. I am sure that many of these guys that got into the LP game did not go into it with eyes wide open, but many of them are really having a tough time of it with TransAm. Seems like most of them have to basically live on the road months at a time to be able to bring home any kind of money that makes it worth it. Constant comments like "if I shut down and go home, I won't be able to cover the charges and such for the truck and still have any money left". That is sad. If you can't go home at least every 10 days, unless you just want to stay out, and make a living, you are with the wrong company or going about things all wrong.

I have been at this for over 3 decades. I have pulled lowboys, tanks, doubles/triples, vans, etc. I have watched how logistics operates for quite a while. Unless you chose to stay out, there is no reason a person cannot go home every 7-10 days max, and still make a living. If they cannot, then it is a sign of really poor planning in the operations department. And also a little to do with the driver not being proactive in making sure loads are booked ahead of time and a little selective on where they haul. And from the comments mentioned, TA has a lot of improvements to make to their ops department. That being said, it is a poor outfit that will have the driver be the one that has to deal with the sloppiness of a disorganized operation. And not being paid detention for being at appointment on time and sitting for 23 hrs? That will be the last load I ever haul for that customer at least. And if it was a regular occurrence, then that would mean it is time to move on to another carrier.

 

transam is a place for rookies
you cant compare true owner operators
with L/O and have a fair discussion
you learn and move on from transam
or get out and go back under the porch

 

I probably wouldn't go that far to say that there is no comparison. True, it is a different game plan doing the LP thing, but the principles remain the same on the business side of it. It all comes down to gross revenue, costs, and net income at the end of it all. The only main difference I see is that one of those that do the LP thing are going to have to really tweak things to keep their costs pretty low. And from what I have seen (except for one guy who was almost done with a LP thing at TA), is that most of those guys have no concept how to manage their time and maximize their fuel mileage, and that is the largest cost. Probably next in line is selecting the loads that keep them moving, and that takes time to learn the customer base. They primarily look at the miles on a run and not how much time is going to be wasted at either end or if they end up in an area where freight is weak and they sit around for a day.

Overall, TA has taken advantage of these folks not knowing the ropes and sucks them in with big gross revenue numbers. For someone that has a fair amount of business savvy and knows how things work, it might not be the worst way to go.