Transam trucking-no good

tcole, read read read everything you can on this forum. There is a ton of info here, some good, bad, and ugly, so sort through what you can use. You have some time to do the research which should increase your chances of making a better choice.

I did a lot of reading when I got "kicked to the curb" by AA after they bought out TWA and it was my belief from reading these forums that you HAD to go OTR to get a job local. NOT ALWAYS SO.

I got what you could call a prehire from a concrete company before I went to truck school (Community College). Hired on in the mixer, after 2 years moved to the rock bucket, and now with a company that hauls concrete pipe. Its mostly local with a occasional out of town trip.

We have 12 drivers and about half of us have never drove OTR. Maybe its just being in the right place at the right time. Anyway, do your home work, it will pay off in the end.

 

TCole99,
Transam sent me 3 cards trying to get me to come back after they medically terminated me in Oct.08. I got ill while on the road & was diagnosed with cancer. TA terminated me while I was in the hospital, before I even got the diagnosis. After getting those 3 cards from them, & getting into remission, I decided to call them about going back. They told me they only want lease drivers. NO COMPANY drivers. So, if you want to pay for a truck at 700 a week, not including all maintenance, tires, and insurance, then good luck. And they might or might not give you enough miles to pay for all of this. I met lots of guys leasing for TA while driving & these guys were having a tough time making it. Said they couldn't get enough miles. One guy had a brand new truck & it broke down twice. While getting repairs, he had to pay for his motel, which he didn't have the money. So your severance isn't going to last you very long if you go to work for them. Another guy went through his entire savings while leasing from TA. My team driver & I had to do 2 truck recoveries while driving for them. That was in less than a month time span. If that doesn't tell you something, then you might want to talk to more ex-TA drivers. Of course they told me I could come back once I got well. They lied. As you have read here, they will not take me back, unless I go into their lease program. Since being terminated, my credit score is probably the worse it has ever been, as I have been unable to work, hence cannot pay my credit card bills. Having said that, I will probably not be able to find a job anywhere with my credit score. Guess I might be able to go into fast food or something like that, at minimum wage... Thanks alot Transam.
Dewfrogg

 

I was driving out of pelahatchie,ms. sunday,headed east, and saw several trans am drivers headed west.I asked them on the citizens band transceiver if any were on the truckers report forum.NO comebacks.I then proceeded to start an argument by discussing the bad rap that trans am is getting on here.NO replies/rebuttals.
I had no idea what to think when none would even key up and respond.left me speechless for once.

 

I worked for Transscam for a year and a half when I started the miles where great the training sucked and my trainer was incompentent but the miles where great and I was a company driver. I met Johnny twice and he was always great but he has stepped away from the day to day running of the company and that has resulted in lack of concern for drivers. As my time went on with TransAm my mile kept getting less and less and that in turn ment less home time cause I couldn't afford to take time off from work so!! But most of the stuff you read about TransAm on here is true like sitting at a meat house all day and then being told to drive all night to ensure ontime delivery, once and awhile thats ok but not every trip. Over all I see TransAm as an ok to get your foot in the door but you have to keep your head on a swivel and always be on the look out cause they will screw you if they get the chance.

 

Could be they were running on a different channel. At our company we always run on 29 if two or more trucks are running together. That way we can BS all we want and not bother anyone else.

 

Thanks for all the feed back. Since I have not started my schooling yet, I know as much about driving a truck as I do flying an airplain lol. I am looking forward for the chance to learn and think I will enjoy driving. Being new to this, leasing a truck or owning a truck is not even a option that I would even consider. Everyone keeps telling me if I can get the first year in then I will have options. At the moment that is my goal, to get my first year in and then see how things are and go from there.

 

With so many experienced people out of work, it's more like get the first 3 years in.

Large companies are self-insured. Small company insurance was requiring 2-years minimum when I started. Since it's an employers market now (upside down since last year,) it will probably be awhile before you're being considered for local positions.

 

You will find that the driving the truck bit is the easy part, it everything else that comes with it that you will need to learn and that comes with time and experience and most drivers will tell you that no matter how long they have been driving, they learn something new all the time.

 

trans am is a joke. i started leasing back in january, biggest mistake I ever made. the mileage was great the first month, no complaints. then all the sudden my loads got shorter and shorter, i began to sit around alot more. its gotten to where i'm in the negative quite often, im barely keeping my head above water. they have really pissed me off the last few days, they have me deadhead further than neccessary for a load, i drove 160 miles to get a load yesterday, sat for 7 hrs for my load then they cancel it on me, night dispatch doesn't do #### about it. then i get another load this morning, had to deadhead another 140 miles and ive been sitting here for 7 hrs waiting for this load, its getting rediculous. my dispatcher i thought was good but now it's all just coming together...i have a buddy thats COMPANY!! and is getting a ####load of miles, u will rarely here a company guy complain. The lease is a joke and now I have a buddy waiting for a truck and they are forcing everyone to lease now, if they don't then they go home. Trans Am is just a big scam, all ur doing is making the truck payment. I would never recommend anyone to these guys. ive got 700 miles for the week, how am I gonna make it?? my biggest check in the last 5 weeks was a little over $200

 

dude, be glad u didn't go through, they have run out of company trucks and are now forcing drivers to lease or go home. I have a buddy there now and he chose lease but has waited a month for a truck. trans am is a joke and this lease purchase was the biggest mistake of my life not to mention one of the lowest paying lease programs ive seen yet