TransAm Trucking.....MUST READ!!!! inside story

Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by Davetrucker818, Aug 17, 2018.

  1. Davetrucker818

    Davetrucker818 Bobtail Member

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    Here's the inside story on TransAm Trucking. First look at their business model. They are primarily a Leasing Company, period. How do they get lease drivers, they advertise and recruit COMPANY and lease. This draws them in. Virtually all their recruits want to go company but end up leasing. They bus in 80 to 120 newbie students every month from the CDL Mills. You are now a number in their system.


    You will be staying in a hotel during orientation. You will be staying in a hotel (after your 3 weeks on the road with a coach) while testing out. Orientation and Test-Out candidates do not stay at the same hotel. Why? Because during orientation you are thinking, "company driver". During test-out (if all goes well with their business plan) you are probably thinking about lease.


    First and foremost their goal is to weed out the anti-lease newbie's and be done with them. How do they do this? They must know what you are thinking. They will have a trusted spy at the orientation hotel. He will probably pose as a student testing out. He will mingle with all the newbie's and listen carefully. If you are identified as unlikely to lease and very unlikely to be sold on the lease program later on, get ready for a rough ride.


    You will be put with a coach whose goal is to "get you gone". This coach will do his best to get you to quit ASAP. Whether you quit TransAm or the trucking industry all-together they don't care, as long as you go away. They will try to accomplish this the first few days of road training because you have not yet been paid. (you will sign a letter during orientation stating that if you quit for any reason within 90 days you will pay for your transportation and hotel bills during orientation) If the "hatchet man" coach is effective you will be dropped at a truck stop and pay your own way home from there. And guess what? That first check they owe you… it goes to pay for your bus ticket to Olathe or Rockwall along with your hotel bill… and you are gone. Another busload of newbie's has already arrived to replace you.


    To avoid EOE hassles they do hire a small percentage of company drivers. These are newbie's who in their opinion can be sold on the lease program down the road. If that is not their opinion and you are still hired on as a company driver (again EOE comes into play) guess what? They are still within the 90-day window to lose you and re-coup some expenses from your final check. Another bus has already arrived.
     
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  3. Buckeye 60

    Buckeye 60 Road Train Member

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    well that's the new way of trucking an has been going on for awhile. ..... called disposable drivers
     
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  4. R0M3R0

    R0M3R0 Bobtail Member

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    Man, that's deep
     
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  5. Lonesome

    Lonesome Mr. Sarcasm

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  6. Buckeye 60

    Buckeye 60 Road Train Member

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    the company's are getting the lease thing down pretty good now . a few years ago there was a couple of programs that were not that bad I don't know of any today
     
  7. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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    I think the smartest move would be not to mess with that company in the first place! Seriously, there’s enough horror stories on this forum about that outfit that you could write a novel about!

    If any company tried to pressure me into a fleece purchase, I’d be prepared with some money so I can find my own way home and not worry about being stranded!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 17, 2018
    Reason for edit: skirting the profanity filter
  8. Anonymousproxy

    Anonymousproxy Road Train Member

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    It’s a shame.... they were a great small company back in the late 90’s with just a small terminal(it’s a small power equipment dealer at that site now), drivers could go in and see their dispatchers along with other people in the office at any time. They had great runs, and the driver’s pretty much had their own community going on. Hell the drivers were even known more by their “cb handle” back then.

    Then that started to change in late ‘99 right before the current abomination up the street was built. Attitudes started changing, and a sleaze bag named Russ McEliot started to assume more control of the company. Once the new place was built the company’s attitude changed completely. Drivers had to get permission to see their dispatcher at all, runs began to get shorter, and drivers facilities were kept in the shop building. It was enough back then to prompt me to leave for a short-lived attempt to get off the road for good. I blame that scumbag liar McEliot for ruining Trans Am and turning it into the bloated, greedy, meat grinder “fleece ‘em & sack ‘em” atrocity it is now.
     
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  9. ZVar

    ZVar Road Train Member

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    Tin foil hat much?
     
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  10. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    Ok.. I'll play along.

    Lesson one.

    Keep your mouth shut in a hotel situation, social situation etc. Anything to be said should be said in the orientation room FROM THE STAFF. You do NOT talk to them, they talk to you.

    YOU DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT when they finally on the last day of orientation, ok Kiddo, what it will be?

    ATS did that to me with tests to boot. (Custom scripted company tests to weed out those who for example will obey the logbook HOS to stop for 10 hours 2 hours before reaching a customer) And I chose Van. What I should have done was choose flatbed and specialized. But I was so stupid that year so young and knew nothing. Specialized would have been very profitable and ALOT of fun for me.

    And you wonder why I say things about hauling just a Van.

    Everything else about busloads etc. That's their problem. Not yours. You take a look for yourself. Mouth shut, eyes open, listen and then carefully decide your own future QUIETLY in your head. Do not give anything away by speaking to anyone until a staffer decides to ask you explicitly on the last day of your orientation which way you are going?
     
  11. Vic Firth

    Vic Firth Road Train Member

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    So what you’re saying is Trans Am isn’t a good place to work and that they can’t be trusted! Ok I promise not to work for them!
     
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