Trans Am Still

That's why it's often referred to a life style not a job. You learn to adapt or you quit or get fired. I know how it is I had a rough beginning into this career as well as thousands of others have before me and will after. I've only been at this 3 years, not a rookie, but still green and learning.

It's a process and when you hit rough spots and start getting frustrated and you have shake it off and reevaluate what you've learned and figure out what the problem is and how to fix it.

trucking is a 24/7 365 day a year business. otr drivers usually won't have a set schedule and you have to sleep when you can. I for one cant just jump in the sleeper and go to sleep like some drivers I know. I have to walk around the truck stop or wally world and unwind even when Im dog tired. I guess it's a process that my body goes through before I can sleep.

I've always said I don't know how guys and gals with families go over the road, that's gotta be tough.

Dennis and anyone looking to get into driving what George is going through, a lot of people have that problem as well. We can all complain and say it should be this way and it should be that but the bottom line is, it is what it is. Unfortunately it's not changing anytime soon, however a good driver learns how to make things work to his advantage. There's a reason why most rookies don't make the first year, heck most dont make it 6 months.

Anyone who tells you there's a driver shortage is flat out lying to you. Mega carriers like Us Xpress have 100 students in oreintation every single monday. Im sure Swift and Schneider etc... do the same. Drivers are a dime a dozen.

However GOOD drivers are not only in demand, they are a rarity. That's where the shortage is at.

Have to give George credit though, even when things are bad he still posts it. Not everyone would do that.

 

Of course George is right. Of course him having to give up two days pay for being 90 mins late is excessive. The reason for the swap was likely that the load was running too close to late when George got it. Maybe George could have done some things better but he was not at the race track playing the ponies, drunk, at a movie, etc ... he was not grossly negligent in his duties. Given his experience and training, he made a good faith attempt to get the load to the receiver on time. He played the hand TransAm delt him and it was a looser.

I have never had it happen but if I picked a load up at a receiver on time, had the standard amount of time to make my delivery and I blew it, I was late all of my own doing, I would take the consequences and other to apologies, I would eat the loss and keep my mouth shut. This is not the case in George's situation.

Of course all of the preceding are moot points. Regardless of the circumstances, TransAm is not going to back you.

On loads that are too close to make it on time at the TransAm standard 52 mph. Swap loads or loads coming out late from the plant, I always document with a message to my DM that I will do the best I can but on-time delivery is a concern for reasons beyond my control. We have to send a 001 to keep the auto dispatch system happy but I always counter the 001 with a freehand message when called for. By doing this, you may be able to get some layover pay for a long wait like this. I would also DEMAND any past legitimate layovers that remain unpaid get paid RIGHT NOW.

I understand this post is counter to the options of other drivers. However, we do not share any of the profits when things go well, we share only the losses when things go bad. If that where ever to change, if we got something extra for all of our on-time deliveries, then I would be in full agreement that we have to eat the hit when things go bad, regardless of who is at fault.

I do tip my hat to George, he always does seem to keep a good attitude and keep posting. I think you will have to just eat this one and write it off as a learning experience. It does get better. Keep calm and drive on.

 

I think the reasoning behind all of the advice on timing was because George indicated that he thought it was time to move to another carrier. He will find the same situations with any large carrier, changing jobs is not the answer. George did wait to leave until HE felt the timing was better. It was a judgment call on his part and he has to take responsibility for that decision....not TransAm.
It's not that you did anything bad George ....it's just that you haven't had enough experience yet. The only way that you are going to get the right experience is to learn from things like this, not change jobs. Many times in the job hiring process I have heard recruiters say they turned down a person with 20 years experience because he got his experience 6 months at a time and really never progressed beyond that six month mark in maturity.
Pete, jaso and wulfman were all correct and gave great advice but I especially liked wulfman's last post.....

Anyone who tells you there's a driver shortage is flat out lying to you. Mega carriers like Us Xpress have 100 students in oreintation every single monday. Im sure Swift and Schneider etc... do the same. Drivers are a dime a dozen.

However GOOD drivers are not only in demand, they are a rarity. That's where the shortage is at.

This is the absolute truth and the only way to become a GOOD driver is time and experience. If you do not give yourself time and learn through your experience then you will never be more than a driver with 6 months experience....no matter how many years you have driven.

TransAm for all of their faults has never forced a driver to drive when they were unsafe to do so. If a driver is too tired to continue and not in any shape to drive, tell them, give them the opportunity to reschedule delivery. There may have been another driver sitting at the receiver that could have been taken ahead of his scheduled time and you could have had his. Or it could have been rescheduled at a better time than what you ended up with. No carrier likes to have their truck sitting for 2 days ....it is money out of their pocket also. If a truck averages 500 miles a day that is over $1,100 dollars a day, for a truck to sit 2 extra days is a potential loss of $2,200+ all the other expenses related to that truck. Many receivers also charge a fee for late delivery.

OTR is a difficult lifestyle, especially reefer....it will be no different at any other company. Switching days and nights is one of the worst parts of it....and hard no matter how long you have been doing this. Try to develop a routine that you do only when it is time to go to the sleeper. Keep the sleeper a little cooler than you normally would, etc. ......whatever works.

Cut yourself some slack, learn from it and go on. To do a good job you will always be on a learning curve. We live in an ever changing world and what you did last year may not work as well in the situations you drive in this year. But as Pete said, time management is always at the top of the list.

 

^ Yes, I agree TransAm is going to take a loss in this spot. George is going to take a loss. Fair enough if there is also a share when it is time to cut up the profits.

I have to admit, I did not carefully go back and read all of the details that lead up to George being late but it did not seem like gross misbehavior on his part. As company drivers we can not refuse loads. If TransAm handed him a good swap with plenty of time when George had a full clock, I would look at it different. From what I did read and understand, TransAm handed him a problem child, problems with the swap, problems with the clock and then cut him loose to all on his own. Others had a hand in the load being late, George could not refuse but George will now sit in that parking lot alone.

Companies continue to treat drivers like they are disposable with little worth, they will get drivers who have little worth. There is a reason the majority of posters in this thread have left to take better jobs. I like TransAm, I often write about the positives. However, The fact that they dump problem loads into driver's laps and then leave them unpaid, unsupported is a problem IMHO.

 

True, someone messed up on the swap. I have never known TransAm to refuse a driver layover pay when a dispatcher has been at fault or when another driver has not made it to the designated swap location and you had to go back to meet them. If that is what happened on this swap then I would talk to my regular DM about it, have them back track the mix up and request layover pay. We did have to do that twice over the years with a mix up made by night/weekend dispatch. When it was traced back to someone else's screw up the King's driver manager approved the pay. I think the real deal here is going to be how long did George wait after his 10 was up to start driving? If it was 90 minutes or more then the problem was his, if it was less than that then I would fight for the pay. You know I am a big advocate of putting in for layover/detention pay anytime the truck is sitting and it is not the driver's fault. But if it was George's responsibility then ya just gotta live and learn and not make the same mistake again.

 

George everyone here is only trying to help. We have all been there. This is part of the learning and the frustration in the beginning of this career. You have a great attitude and are very open and honest on here just keep at it and it will start to work out. None of us started out perfect and none of us are perfect now. The hardest part of this job is the hours and the fact that we do not have any set hours. You drive all night for a few weeks finally get used to sleeping through the day then have to get used to driving during the day. I bought one of those sunvisors in Wal-Mart and I have a cheap fleace that I hang down from the top bunk for when I sleep during the day. Both are very helpful for sleeping through the day. I would like to say that none of us drive tired but that would not be true it is just something we all have learned to deal with. I see Passports point and maybe you need to cover your butt with messages if you think it will be to close or might not make it on time send in freeform before a 1 saying so. I know it stinks when you are going home and to have a delay even more so than what it was already but in this case it would have been better for you. Everyone on here wants you to succeed and we are all trying to help in our own ways. You have a very supporting wife and that is very hard to find cause most get lonely and end up making this job much harder. Women like jungho and even our Queen make this job much easier on us cause we concentrate on what we have to do on the road instead of making sure they are comfortable with everything at home. So just take this as a learning experience and make sure you don't repeat it. You will be okay just need to keep that great attitude and everything will work out.

 

In December I was diagnosed with diabetes and I was just starting the medication. Just got one of the worst students off my truck. I couldn't sleep for more than an hour cause I was urinating so much. All this happened over the weekend I dropped my student off so I had no miles at this point. They gave me a load that I took on late Monday afternoon to Va. When I took my 30 minute break I overslept it by 1.5 hours but I still had enough time to get load there on time. Then on I-77 it was like whiteout conditions no problem just rolled a little slower but still had enough time. Then go to I-81 and it was shutdown cause of an accident well that had me being late for delivery by a lot so they had to reschedule my load (I can't remember if it was 1 or 2 days) and that luck followed me for the rest of the month if it wasn't for that bonus for driving over the holidays I would have been skunked most of December for a settlement. If I never allowed myself to sleep for more than 30 minutes during that break I probably would have been on time and maybe my December would have been different. George just trying to show you that we all make mistakes and we as drivers always ALWAYS pay the biggest price and that just plain out sucks but it comes with the job here or anywhere you decide on.

 

BTW who has the Pats losing by 20 this weekend. Have o take my shots now Cranky cause by the end of the season I know they will be on top again

 

I appreciate the feedback. I defend my decision not to run after the swap Thursday night. Should have started two to three hours earlier on Friday. Shower, breakfast, scale, add a gallon of coolant, fax a citation, fuel def and reefer and stop for a regen. CY for the record the other two lates were not my fault. They were given to me late to begin with. This one, though, is DEFINITELY MY FAULT. Enough. Done with this shiznet. (Malibu Most Wanted reference).