Profile For Mike R.

I used to work for TransAm. TransAM bought out their operation a few years ago. Helwig waited a while, then started again fresh. They are a refrigerated outfit. They mostly take meat loads out of Texas up the the Northeast, backhaul with dry loads.

I have heard they want a year or more of experience, pay 40 cpm. Drivers I have talked to say it really comes down to who your driver manager is, if you will have a good experience with them or not. Can end up sitting a day or more waiting for a load at the meat plant, then a day or more waiting to get your backhaul assignment.

Props to the OP, that is a good idea to deal with the little scraps of paper receipts from getting jammed in the scanner.

However, I do also use the mobile app and that gets around the problem. If I have a trip with that kind of small receipt, I take it to a Love's, where they handle the paperwork and scan it in. Let them work it out.

If I had a daughter going out to be an OTR truck driver, I will tell her to start her driving day early and shut down early, when you can get a good parking spot, in a well viewed, well lit area. I would also have her keep a dash cam, plus a wider angle cam going at all times and post signs on the truck, making it clear everything around the truck was under video surveillance. Whistle on the key chain, cell phone in hand when walking around, truck stops or otherwise.

If she did that, and used basic common sense about security that all drivers should use, I would feel comfortable with her being out on the road.

I drove a KW 600, 680 and T-700 all with Eaton Autos for TransAm trucking. I have been all up and down steep grades, with all kinds of loads, the auto can handle it. An auto trans is like any piece of equipment, you just need to learn how to use it, how to use the accelerator to trigger the auto to shift for the smoothest performance. IMHO, it is the right tool for the job of OTR trucking.