2 Truck Driving Job Offers From TransAm And May Trucking?

What don't you like about it? Seems pretty standard to me

Wow...... There has been a run of "POTENTIAL" Truck Drivers posting here lately that know more about this Business than Brett, Old School, G Town, Errol and MANY OTHER Veterans on this Site.......COMBINED!!! I can only imagine with all of their knowledge, wisdom, and insight into this Industry, they could get together and start a Trucking Company that would run all of the rest out of business. I can't wait to work for that company. Rainbows and Unicorns Transportation. Has a nice ring to it.

Where do you live?

This is the main question.

TransAm is a major company, yes, but they don't have the amount of contracts and customers that a company like Prime or Swift does. They are a smaller fleet.

I live in Southern Missouri. It's a very rural area about an hour southeast of Springfield. Dispatch has a hard time getting me back off hometime because there is not a lot of freight moving around me. I usually end up going to Rogers Arkansas or back to the terminal in Olathe, both of which are fairly long deadheads. When I go home I have to deadhead no less than 160 miles every time. Those are unpaid miles too.

So dispatch may have a difficult time finding freight moving towards your house depending on where you live. Keep that in mind.

And I'd still like to see what you were talking about the 4 weeks of training. Please, prove me wrong. I would be so happy if they changed their training program. 11 days is not nearly enough training in my opinion.

Just a piece of advice, if I am right and your training is only 11 days, make your trainer let you do ALL THE BACKING!!!!! I didn't stand up to mine on that and I wish I had. I never bumped a dock in training and only did two backing maneuvers. The only thing training did for me was help me learn to drive in city traffic and take turns. We didn't cover trip planning, pre or post trips, paperwork, handling dispatch, backing, sliding tandems and balancing loads, or anything else. I've learned all of that stuff through TT, Twitter, Facebook and trial and error.

Wow...... There has been a run of "POTENTIAL" Truck Drivers posting here lately that know more about this Business than Brett, Old School, G Town, Errol and MANY OTHER Veterans on this Site.......COMBINED!!! I can only imagine with all of their knowledge, wisdom, and insight into this Industry, they could get together and start a Trucking Company that would run all of the rest out of business. I can't wait to work for that company. Rainbows and Unicorns Transportation. Has a nice ring to it.

That's why I am taking a break...between this guy and the dude the other day who thought trucking companies exploit their drivers, I just decided to read and be quiet for a day or two.

So as far as this thread goes? Contrary to my original suggestion, I think our friend should go to May. That is where his heart and head are. Regardless of my level of disagreement with his pretentious attitude, I don't want him to fail. He has already preprogrammed his failure at TransAm.

I do have a question though. For all of the support you (the OP) claim to have with your trucker family, why then did you ask for our advice?

And I'd still like to see what you were talking about the 4 weeks of training. Please, prove me wrong. I would be so happy if they changed their training program. 11 days is not nearly enough training in my opinion.

Just a piece of advice, if I am right and your training is only 11 days, make your trainer let you do ALL THE BACKING!!!!! I didn't stand up to mine on that and I wish I had. I never bumped a dock in training and only did two backing maneuvers. The only thing training did for me was help me learn to drive in city traffic and take turns. We didn't cover trip planning, pre or post trips, paperwork, handling dispatch, backing, sliding tandems and balancing loads, or anything else. I've learned all of that stuff through TT, Twitter, Facebook and trial and error.

Chickie, I specifically asked the question to them "After my 4 weeks of training and I am issued my own truck will I be able to go home and get items that I may need on the road?" My post to you earlier is what I got for a response. I was told initially months ago by a recruiter about the 4 weeks. Being that you are an actual driver for Trans Am I believe you that it's not 4 weeks. I also agree that 11 days is not enough to learn everything and I was fine with the 4 weeks they said it would be. Just after that long I'd like to see my children for a few days at least.

I appreciate your advice on what to have the trainer teach me. I was under the understanding that the trainer is supposed to "train" you on what you'll be going through. Trip planning, pre or post trips, paperwork, handling dispatch, backing, sliding tandems and balancing loads are very important to do the job efficiently and should be taught to new drivers in my point of view. I'll be sure to ask about all this.

So as far as this thread goes? Contrary to my original suggestion, I think our friend should go to May. That is where his heart and head are. Regardless of my level of disagreement with his pretentious attitude, I don't want him to fail. He has already preprogrammed his failure at TransAm.

I do have a question though. For all of the support you (the OP) claim to have with your trucker family, why then did you ask for our advice?

Contrary to what everyone believes about me being preprogrammed to fail at Trans Am, that is far from the truth. I put 100% into whatever I do and will do this with Trans Am. Yes I do like what I was offered by May but as I stated before I turned it down because I had already said yes to Trans Am. I do have a conscience and would not feel right about myself if I were to change up like that. It's taken me a lot to get an offer due to my 2014 speeding tickets. I've had to jump through hoops to have a chance to prove myself and that's exactly what I'm gonna do "prove myself"!

Yes, I take what my family has told me to heart concerning this industry but didn't think it would hurt to also have some "outside" thoughts on this situation.

With that said, maybe one day everyone here that thinks I will fail at this, just maybe we can meet and I will have proven that you're all wrong! I will put my heart and soul into this new career no matter what others may think.

Trip planning, pre or post trips, paperwork, handling dispatch, backing, sliding tandems and balancing loads are very important to do the job efficiently and should be taught to new drivers in my point of view. I'll be sure to ask about all this.

I just want to point out that your willingness to find fault with Trans Am or anybody else that gives you a start will probably be stoked the most during the training period. There are no perfect trainers and it is a huge mistake to determine what the company is like based on your experience with the trainer. I had a terrible trainer, but a great start to my career at Western Express.

Your initiative and commitment are the things that weigh heavily in your success out here. That trainer is more a buffer between your rookie self and the thousands of things that can go wrong in a big rig. Don't expect them to teach you everything - you'll have plenty of time to learn all the little details on your own. Do trust their guidance to keep you from a disastrous event that ruins your career before you even get the training wheels off.

Honestly, at the end of the day you have to do what's best for your family. All we can do here is offer advice and answer questions you may have. But ultimately it's your career and your choice to listen or not. I was lucky enough to find this Web site on accident and it helped tremendously. I knew roughly what to expect going in and knew not to over react. There are no unicorn companies out there, but there should be one that can take care of the needs of you and your family. Best of luck to you.

I just want to point out that your willingness to find fault with Trans Am or anybody else that gives you a start will probably be stoked the most during the training period. There are no perfect trainers and it is a huge mistake to determine what the company is like based on your experience with the trainer. I had a terrible trainer, but a great start to my career at Western Express.

Your initiative and commitment are the things that weigh heavily in your success out here. That trainer is more a buffer between your rookie self and the thousands of things that can go wrong in a big rig. Don't expect them to teach you everything - you'll have plenty of time to learn all the little details on your own. Do trust their guidance to keep you from a disastrous event that ruins your career before you even get the training wheels off.

My willingness to find fault with Trans Am or anybody else that gives you a start? At no time did I say I would find fault with any company. I did say " one slip up and I'll look elsewhere" which I guess I should have worded differently. I'm sorry y'all took it to heart that I would be looking for a fault. The way I see it, if a person isn't happy doing something, no matter what it is, then that means its time to go somewhere else. I don't want to be one of those miserable drivers out there always complaining about tje company they work for. If I have a complaint then I'll try to work through it before jumping ship like y'all are thinking I'm gonna do. If the same complaint keeps coming up then its only right to graciously leave and find something else.

I don't expect the trainer to teach me everything but I will be asking a lot of questions in hopes that ill have a better experience with the trainer than some. It may work to my advantage and it may not. No hurt in trying to learn all I can.

Honestly, at the end of the day you have to do what's best for your family. All we can do here is offer advice and answer questions you may have. But ultimately it's your career and your choice to listen or not. I was lucky enough to find this Web site on accident and it helped tremendously. I knew roughly what to expect going in and knew not to over react. There are no unicorn companies out there, but there should be one that can take care of the needs of you and your family. Best of luck to you.

Thank you CT!

That is my ultimate goal in pursuing this career, to provide for my children! I understand that with the right amount of effort I can make it work with any company. Now that I've learned from Chickie, an actual Trans Am driver, that I was given the wrong information concerning training I feel a bit relieved about the low training pay. Just gonna take me longer to get straight financially is all.