Profile For Jason T. (JT)

sorry Ryan, Florida. Leaving Monday morning. See ya on the road when they teach me how to drive something without a stick! LOL

TransAm will push leasing HARD. Drivers with whom I have spoken talked about seeing an orientation class of 20 guys with only a couple really thinking of going lease at the beginning, then seeing more than half the class decide to go lease by the end of the week of training. The TransAm drivers with whom I have spoken told me that the presentation on leasing is designed to make drivers feel like you can't make money unless you lease. TransAm is forced dispatch, even going to NYC, including Hunts Point. They will run you as much as you want to run. Short turn arounds, tight windows, etc. If you can handle it, TransAm dispatchers will keep feeding you.

Be on top of your earning settlement sheets. If you don't think something looks right, ask about it and get a clear explanation. Even with the best of companies, mistakes are made because its people doing the payroll work. I work for a solid company, and once in a while I catch something that needs to be pointed out for the payroll department to fix. TransAm drivers have told me that their payroll department maybe needs a little closer inspection sometimes. They have told me that when discrepancies are found, there's not an issue getting them fixed, so it's not like TransAm is intentionally shorting pay.

I had thought of going with TransAm way back when I first got my CDL, but I decided to go with a company that has a terminal closer to home. It was my genuine interest in TransAm that had me doing the homework on them that I have.

Which terminal are you going to for orientation and training?

Thanks Pack and Ryan. Yup I saw the pay. The tuition reimbursement kind of sold me. I wanna do well for the company and I hope they push for employees too as they say they do. I'm NOT leasing so I guess I may be in trouble. I'll do anything they ask of me. Happy to have an actual job and get some experience. I know it's gonna be a little tight in the beginning. Hopefully when they see my work ethic and drive, they'll wanna keep me with them as a Company man. We'll soon see. My job is to make you guys ALL, proud of me. I would have never obtained the BERRIES if I didn't learn from my Friends and Fellow Drivers on TRUCKINGTRUTH ! I wish us all luck with now not being such a great time to be a Trucker. God Bless us all !

TransAm will push leasing HARD. Drivers with whom I have spoken talked about seeing an orientation class of 20 guys with only a couple really thinking of going lease at the beginning, then seeing more than half the class decide to go lease by the end of the week of training. The TransAm drivers with whom I have spoken told me that the presentation on leasing is designed to make drivers feel like you can't make money unless you lease. TransAm is forced dispatch, even going to NYC, including Hunts Point. They will run you as much as you want to run. Short turn arounds, tight windows, etc. If you can handle it, TransAm dispatchers will keep feeding you.

Be on top of your earning settlement sheets. If you don't think something looks right, ask about it and get a clear explanation. Even with the best of companies, mistakes are made because its people doing the payroll work. I work for a solid company, and once in a while I catch something that needs to be pointed out for the payroll department to fix. TransAm drivers have told me that their payroll department maybe needs a little closer inspection sometimes. They have told me that when discrepancies are found, there's not an issue getting them fixed, so it's not like TransAm is intentionally shorting pay.

I had thought of going with TransAm way back when I first got my CDL, but I decided to go with a company that has a terminal closer to home. It was my genuine interest in TransAm that had me doing the homework on them that I have.

Which terminal are you going to for orientation and training?

Thank you BK and Bobcat. I will make you guys proud! And Bobcat, you guys on here taught me better! We know all about what these companies try. Got it ! And thanks you guys. God Bless

Good luck, Jason

Make us all proud of you!

Hi everyone. OTR it is and I'm taking you all with me. Signed up with TAm. I'll be at orientation by Tuesday. Just telling you because you probably won't see me babbling on TT for a bit. I'm nervous, excited, and all those fun feelings. I wanna thank everyone of you for making it clear to me, and all the new guys that you're not just gonna jump out of CDL school and find a good driving job, locally, No Sir ! Lord knows I've tried to defy the odds. Ain't happenin'. Anyhow I hope to be as safe and as good as you all are out there. Hope to see any of you on the road. If I can get wifi, I'll keep you posted with my progress. Thanks again TruckingTruth, HERE WE GO ! Jason T

Hi Jacob, I'm new going OTR soon too. I'm looking into CB's too. I'm waiting to see some answers to your question by our Professional Friends on TT. Anyway, being a carpenter most of my life, I'm not new to the back fire. I got this pretty thin cushion at walmart, not the fat ones, this one's like maybe 1-1/2" thick and it does wonders for long sits. It's contoured to the shape of your bottom. Try it. Jason

Hey guys and gals!

So new into OTR life been local/regional for 5 years. Looking for a good CB setup wanting to know what yall run. I'm looking to get some good distance. Going to have my company shop install it for me and get it running.

Also, Seat cushions. After a long day near bottom of spine/top of but crack is on fire! I'm built like a 2x4 so i have no cushion lol. What do yall use to keep your rears from falling off due to pain.

I know a little about that Brian. In New York, Class C license, (14) passenger, I'm trying to think back cause I did have to take a roadtest like driving a class B with people. You definitely have to stop at ALL RR crossings, have a first aid kit, and know how and when to evacuate people and keep them away from the vehicle in emergencies. I'm sure it's the same throughout the states. It's still commercial.

Question. I have a Class A CDL in California. I went to DMV and took the passenger endorsement exam. Other than doing the PTI, manuevers and road test at DMV, is there anything additional needed? The local truck driving school told me i needed to do an online class through JJ Keller to be able to test at DMV for passenger.

Thanks

Great job Pianoman, I can't wait to start making .31 a mile at my new job ! LOL

So I still need to make a thread showing what I do but I'm lazy when I'm off work so I'll get to it eventually lol. Anyways, I've been working this job for a little over a year and I recently made a thread talking about how even now in our "busy" season we're not as busy as I would've expected and I complained to dispatch that I wanted more work. Literally later that week I saw my paycheck for the last pay period and realized I had been doing better than I thought. Well after that convo I've been helping out a different division doing the same thing but hauling for one of our oilfield customers and occasionally still doing loads for my regular dispatchers (it's been weird but I've been working with two different dispatch teams and half planning myself lol) and while it was great at first, I was again getting frustrated because there have been lots of days I'm only doing one load a day and ending my day with several hours still left on my clock. I haven't complained though and after doing some looking around I settled for the fact that I have a great job and unless I significantly change my lifestyle and go on the road I'm not going to do much better than where I'm at.

ANYWHO... to finally get to the point of this post... so far I've made it seem like I'm doing ok but not amazing right? That's how I felt. Until I looked at my YTD gross income so far this year and decided to figure out my average weekly gross income. I was shocked. Apparently I have averaged over $2k per week so far this year, which is great for the amount of work I do and the schedule I have and where I live. I fully expected my average to be around $1700 or so per week which still is pretty good. I'm well aware there are lots of people who make more than me so believe me, I'm not trying to brag. I was just very pleasantly surprised and realized that I tend ignore the good weeks where I've made alot and focused on the weeks where I didn't make as much. The other really nice thing is I have the best schedule and home life of any trucking job I've ever had. I have every Sunday and every other Saturday off (unless I choose to go in on one of my off Saturdays), we have great equipment, 100% employee benefits paid by the company, 401k, weekly guaranteed minimum pay, and most holidays off. It's pretty sweet.

Idk, I guess the grass isn't always greener on the other side lol

True Lucas. I'm kinda in the same boat as ya. I'm watching and listening to all my new Friends on here. Thank's for asking the questions. Good luck to you and I'll see you out there buddy.

And I only ask because I know if it is causing me concern, it may be concerning for others looking to make a career move. So if I ask it here, others can benefit from the answers, whether they are reassuring or confirm the concerns.

Thanks Lucus

Steve, Yea. There's nothing here or at my school. New York is hiring but every company wants experience. I guess there are a lot of people who do not drive so well after school. All I can say is HOLY, this is gonna be an EXPERIENCE !

I'm a little confused. If you graduated a truck driving school, did they not have recruiters come in? Most private schools have relationships with recruiters for multiple companies. What companies did your school recommend?

I seriously doubt Schneider (or any company) would disqualify you because you learned on a manual transmission instead of autoshift; usually it's the other way around.

You may live in an area that many companies don't hire from. But I'd still be surprised if there's no companies your school recommends. When I went to private school, we had all chosen our companies by graduation day. Why wait?

BK, I was just getting down the list. Thank you too. You did make that hit home, literally. That was another question. How many miles could a rookie driver actually do? You put it into reality. And yea, that pay stinks. But I thought that's what everyone had to do in the beginning? Work hard for pennies, just to get out there and get experience

One thing to remember is that bonus pay may be dependent on having a perfect driving record. When I drove at Schneider, there was a quarterly bonus for fuel economy and several other things. But one citation or preventable incident, no matter how small, would cancel the bonus for the entire quarter. I don’t know if this policy is common among companies.

My point is that counting on bonus or accessory pay can be iffy.

And .31 CPM for 2500 miles a week is only $775. Can a rookie average 2500 miles a week? Maybe, maybe not. If that amount of income for a 70 hour week is ok, then go for it. My math says it amounts to $11.07 per hour.