I have be a solo driver with P.A.M for only 2 months. So far I have been averaging about 2,000 miles per week (about $500). My average would be higher but, between my truck breaking down and me going home every 2 weeks, its been hard to run up the miles. New drivers will get assigned older trucks at first. After you have been there a few months, you will get upgraded to a newer truck. My first breakdown was in Baltimore, MD. I sat there for 4 days waiting on my truck to get fixed. The second breakdown was in Chicago, IL again sat there for 5 days waiting on my truck to get fixed. P.A.M pays you a whooping $40/day layover pay and $60/day breakdown pay while youre in the shop. But out of that $100 you have to pay for your motel room, so you end up making only around $50/day.
I have one thing to say,tell them to put it in writing and tell you how many miles you will need to run and make 40,000. Bet they don't waste their ink or paper,and especially your time.
they should pay for the hotel. a good dm would do that since the problem is theirs not yours. that is wrong on your part by paying for it and theirs for making you pay for it. i never paid for a hotel with anybody. they have all paid for the hotel and got me a ride there too. i didn't ask about it i just suggested (told) them the deal in a nice way. niceness goes a long way in this business.
Well they are making some improvements, when I worked there all you got was 60 bucks max for a hotel and no other pay. Layover pay was only paid if you and your truck were available for work. Your situation with the truck breaking down is just a luck of the draw sort of thing. When I got my own truck there in Sept. '03 I was given a 2003 Freightliner with only 100,000 miles on it. By Feb. of 04 I was in a brand new Volvo. While it sucks you're in the situation you're in, it's not the norm.
so only getting $40 a day for layover. that sucks. if it comes out of my pocket then i'm paying for it. they should do it all.
I agree, 40 bucks for layover isn't enough. But honestly, what's a company to do. That truck sitting is costing them money. The driver in the truck deserves to be compensated, but honestly in what other industry does an employee receive payment for just sitting around doing nothing? You can make joking remarks about upper management and I'd laugh about it with ya, but that's not what I'm talking about here. Yes, we drivers deserve payment when through no fault of our own we are unable to do our jobs, but from a business perspective how can it be justified to pay 100 bucks or more to an employee who is not going to be doing any sort of productivity. Where is the company going to get that money from? Detention pay is paid for by the shippers or receivers. Layover comes straight out of a company's pocket.
i totally agree w/you onyour point. my point is every company i everr worked for called the hotel and paid for it and all i had to do is check in and i got break down pay. no money out of my pocket. guess i just got lucky or i said it the right way. it's all about driver/dm relationship i guess.
Hello everyone...haven't been on in a while but wanted to respond to this. Bob started driving for PAM a week or two back. He was assigned an '06 Freightliner w/134K miles. He was really happy with his truck. Made his first solo run and the truck had an oil leak. Been sitting for way too many days, but the parts are finally in (it was a recall issue so had to be dealt with at a Freightliner dealer) and his truck should be ready tonight or tomorrow. Hasn't made much money so far, just the $300 weekly while with the driver trainer, hopefully he can get on the road now and make some trips. He's aggravated at sitting....thinking he's made a mistake getting into trucking. But, I'm sure he'll be okay once he's driving again. Apparently Greensboro NC is not a good location for a forced "vacation". Oh well.....life goes on! Y'all be safe out there!! Nina
