Leaving Pam Transport

I’ve been driving for Pam for about 9 months and both my team driver and I decided to leave. Im sure Pam is s great company but we’ve had the worst luck with them. The pay is horrible (I get it it’s a started company and they pay for your cdl), we did just get a raise but it’s still just ok. For the first three months after upgrading we got put into a truck that was filthy. We cleaned it out but couldn’t get the roaches out. Yup, roaches. I complained endlessly to our dms but nothing was done till this truck got into the shop and we had to wait 2 1/2 weeks for it to be fixed. Still wasn’t fixed, still had roaches. Only for paid 250 dollars. Long story short, anyone have any tips or advice on what to say and do when leaving? Planned on cleaning out the truck and calling/sending a message through the Qualcomm. I do feel like I’m missing something though.

I’ve been driving for Pam for about 9 months and both my team driver and I decided to leave. Im sure Pam is s great company but we’ve had the worst luck with them. The pay is horrible (I get it it’s a started company and they pay for your cdl), we did just get a raise but it’s still just ok. For the first three months after upgrading we got put into a truck that was filthy. We cleaned it out but couldn’t get the roaches out. Yup, roaches. I complained endlessly to our dms but nothing was done till this tuck got into the shop and we had to wait 2 1/2 weeks for it to be fixed. Still wasn’t fixed, still had roaches. Only for paid 250 dollars. Long story short, anyone have any tips or advice on what to say and do when leaving? Planned on cleaning out the truck and calling/sending a message through the Qualcomm. I do feel like I’m missing something though.

Things may seem bad now but I or anyone else on here can't stress this enough, stick with PAM until you have your first year done. That way you won't be on the hook for any money that you would owe them for not completing your contract. Plus with a full year behind ya you will look a lot more desirable to another company. Also have you tried to go up the chain of command there about your concerns you may have? If your DM isn't getting things done, go up to the ops mgr and keep goin up til you get resolution. I am sure Brett or OS or some of the other Moderators will chime in here and give you some great advice. Stick with it and hang in there. Things will get better. 😁

Roaches are a safety and health issue. i would write to the division operations head or the DM supervisor. express concern regarding bug bites and food safety.

If the above advice doen't work, here's my $0.02. For the roaches, get max force or similar gel bait. A small dot in every corner and crevice you can find. If you feel the need to leave before 1 year, give them a notice, leave on good terms, turn the truck in where they tell you to and get something in writing that you did. Find another company before leaving Pam. You can give CFI a call. They hire many people with only 9 months expierence.

stick with PAM until you have your first year done

Chanel, I agree with this wholeheartedly. I even did a podcast on this topic - listen to this if you would:

Episode 4: Why Stick With Your First Company One Full Year?

You're so close already. Get to that one year mark.

I do have to ask you about this:

nothing was done till this truck got into the shop and we had to wait 2 1/2 weeks for it to be fixed

Are you telling me you guys put the truck in the shop and they put you in a hotel for a full 2 1/2 weeks? I have to be honest - In 25 years in trucking I've never heard of a company letting a team sit for 2 1/2 weeks waiting on a truck repair. I once sat for 10 days waiting on a repair in Albuquerque because the dealership kept promising my company the parts were on the way. Finally we gave up on the idea and they sent me for another truck. So I know a prolonged wait can happen, but it's rare, and 2 1/2 weeks is unheard of in my book.

Here's something very important I want you to understand about trucking. You're going to face problems no matter where you go. Right now it's a truck with roaches. Down the road it will be all kinds of problems at one time or another:

• You have a family emergency and you need to get home
• You've had too many short runs in a row and your miles are suffering
• You have an older truck that keeps breaking down
• You have a dispatcher who isn't getting you the miles you feel you deserve
• You're in a division you don't like and you'd like to move to something else

There are always going to be problems to work through. It's incredibly important for new drivers to learn how to work through the process of getting problems solved. Quitting your job may solve the problems you're having now, but you're only going to wind up exchanging one set of problems for another. Join a new company today and within two weeks you'll be able to list a new set of problems you're facing. Two months after that it will be yet another new set.

I have an awesome story that happened to me. I was fired one time for arriving too early to a customer. I was supposed to be given special information about this customer but my dispatcher never relayed it to me. My company assumed I had the information but chose to ignore it, so they fired me. I had to go through a long day of interviews with several different levels of management explaining my side of the story before they agreed to give me my job back. It was an extremely important lesson for me not only in trucking, but in life. Learning how to work with people and work through tough circumstances is critical if you want to keep your life moving forward. Here's the podcast I did on that story - give it a listen:

Episode 12: How I Handled Being Fired For Arriving Early

Stick it out with PAM at least until the one year mark and see if you can make progress with the challenges you're facing. Work your way up the chain in management, handle yourself like a professional, and see if you can get some people to take action on your behalf. You don't have to stay at PAM the rest of your career, but stay a little longer and try to learn the process of getting problems solved. That will help you countless times in your career. People step on their own toes in this industry all the time because they aren't willing or able to work with people to get problems solved. Learn that skill and you'll be so much better off throughout your entire life.