Trans Am Still

In Aurora, Co. at the J.

 

Welcome back, though briefly, HTQ!

 

Of course they do. They need trucks staged to serve their customers, trucks to pick up freight, truck to deliver freight, etc. I am not willing to do any of it for free.

At .30 per mile, TransAm is at the very low end of the pay scale for the industry. Their layover pay policy of allowing drivers to sit unpaid for up to 48 hours (if a driver has driven at least 200 miles the day before) is well below industry standard. It makes TransAm a second tier employer, I am documenting and letting other drivers know about the policy and that TransAm regularly uses it to pick up the slack and flexibility in the system. It is the reason they keep company drivers around.

If you are willing to semi regularly sit unpaid up to 48 hours, as long as you made $60 the day before, so you can have a chance to earn .30pm TransAm may be the place for you. To be fair, unless you are on breakdown, the wait is usually only 12, 24 or 36 hours at the upper end.

I did get somewhat bailed out from my 40 hour wait due to the kindness of a stranger. I was surprised a crew was working at the paper mill in Spring Grove on Thanksgiving day. I struck up a conversation that started by talking about the upcoming buck season and ended with my load getting put next in line to be loaded so I could move out yesterday. My load going to Kansas will get T-called in Olathe and then, according to my preplan, I will have a 24 hour wait in Olathe until my next load.

This will keep me moving enough, I will not kick up a fight about it. A 24 hour wait is better than 40 and I do understand there will be downtime sometimes that I will have to accept.

 

Yeah, I am on a countdown of less than 45 days until I leave. I will be fine. Thank you.

I hear you on the daily minimum pay. I am sure neither one of us is holding our breath for this to take place with TransAm. One thing that has always mystified me and I think other drivers is the lack of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" attitude with TransAm. They dole out raw deal swaps but then seem to have complete unconcern on what the next load will be for that driver.

Myself and I think other drivers would kick up less of a fight it after getting stuck with a minimum pay swap that they knew a prime or near prime load or loads would be in their future. I understand it would take more planning effort but it would make things more fair without TransAm having to shell out minimum daily pay. In my experience, if you get pushed out of flow with a bad swap, it is just the beginning of your problems. Some effort to address this would help.

 

How is Flying Jay doing in training?

 

Jay is doing well so far.

Passport you are right. This company is on the low end in pay and in their business practice. They manipulated me on Wednesday. Then they asked for another favor, yeah right let me jump all over that, so I will do nothing for free. I said I need $150 for that and I need it sent across the treq. I will do nothing here for free unless it is to my advantage. If you lease you need to be this way or they will run all over you. Why do something for free when they will pay you for it? They will have to make changes to their policies but not soon enough. Passport you are a good driver and will be wanted elsewhere and appreciated also. You just have to do your homework and find what you want

Be safe out there

 

I'm still home. I somehow talked my husband into going to Walmart last night and we got the bulk if the kids Christmas taken care of. I got the last of the Skylanders for WiiU for my son for $40 off! He will be thrilled. I've greatly enjoyed hometime and needed this break. Hubby finally grew a beard for me!!! Heading out a little later to do some more shopping. Monday I head to Olive Branch, MS and Tuesday I deliver in Marietta.

 

At the Beacon in line to get washout and maybe my truck washed too. Might be nice seeing the color again.

Picking up in Greeley then 3 stops last one in Boston. Should I have Jay drive Boston?