[okie]

Whats the word on Transwood Carriers? Search did not turn up anything. Never see them in truck stops, etc. Been off sick, so have not had CB to talk to driver. Just noticed their add every other week in paper. Its one of those, "it ain't talked about on this board" so they must be a good outfit ~ but in the paper every other week "must be bad head for the hills things. Thanks

[robertt]

I talked to the terminal manager a couple of years ago down in Ada about being an O/Op. The company guys, out of that terminal anyway were doing alot of OKC and back to Ada. They were pulling pnuematics and stayed pretty busy. Alot of concrete stuff. I know they do pull tanks but I don't know for sure what they haul. I think their main place is in Nebraska, not positive. The equipment at the Ada terminal was junk, but I see some OTR tankers going through OKC here and they look pretty new and well kept. Not much info but maybe it's a start. Getting tired of the dedicated stuff? Seemed like that was a pretty sweet deal while I was there.

[Fredog]

they haul a lot of caustic and alum in their tankers, most loads are out and back home most nights

[okie]

Thanks for the input. The dedicated overall is a good deal. Just looking for something with some sick days and better insurance. They want to run you to death everyday. 2 times in 2 years I have gave plenty of notice that their is something I need to be home for. One was my daughters Heart Dr. appt. I have a wife that is stay at home and she is wonderful. She handles sick kids, routine Dr. appts, etc. So I am able to dedicate all myself to Crete. I am not calling in saying "can't work today kid is sick, kid has Dr. appt, can't find sitter, etc". But a Heart Doctor I think is different and I wanted to be there for that. I gave over a months notice and reminded several times. Got stuck out on road (home most every day) on Mon night appt is early Wed morn. Take 10 hr. rdy to roll tues afternoon. Get trip info for 3 of the farthest out stores we have in our radius, plus still have 2 hours to drive to get back to DC. I remind on QCom hey need to be back for Dr. appt remember. Then my Fleet Mgr sends lengthy message back saying we will get you back for the appt. but you need to run today. Well I roll in at 5 am appts at 10;30 so I was there allright in body, but I was there. Then another similar incident. Then the month off for surgery and recovery with no pay. Since Short term pay does not start for 30 days, etc. So yes the WalMart dedicated part is great but the Crete part is, well.... "The honeymoon is over." Just starting to look at options, the two years exp. mark is is coming up in June. Thanks again for the input.

[Orangetxguy]

Originally Posted by okie

Thanks for the input. The dedicated overall is a good deal. Just looking for something with some sick days and better insurance. They want to run you to death everyday. 2 times in 2 years I have gave plenty of notice that their is something I need to be home for. One was my daughters Heart Dr. appt. I have a wife that is stay at home and she is wonderful. She handles sick kids, routine Dr. appts, etc. So I am able to dedicate all myself to Crete. I am not calling in saying "can't work today kid is sick, kid has Dr. appt, can't find sitter, etc". But a Heart Doctor I think is different and I wanted to be there for that. I gave over a months notice and reminded several times. Got stuck out on road (home most every day) on Mon night appt is early Wed morn. Take 10 hr. rdy to roll tues afternoon. Get trip info for 3 of the farthest out stores we have in our radius, plus still have 2 hours to drive to get back to DC. I remind on QCom hey need to be back for Dr. appt remember. Then my Fleet Mgr sends lengthy message back saying we will get you back for the appt. but you need to run today. Well I roll in at 5 am appts at 10;30 so I was there allright in body, but I was there. Then another similar incident. Then the month off for surgery and recovery with no pay. Since Short term pay does not start for 30 days, etc. So yes the WalMart dedicated part is great but the Crete part is, well.... "The honeymoon is over." Just starting to look at options, the two years exp. mark is is coming up in June. Thanks again for the input.

Originally Posted by okie

Whats the word on Transwood Carriers? Search did not turn up anything. Never see them in truck stops, etc. Been off sick, so have not had CB to talk to driver. Just noticed their add every other week in paper. Its one of those, "it ain't talked about on this board" so they must be a good outfit ~ but in the paper every other week "must be bad head for the hills things. Thanks

What your going to find at Transwood, is going to be similar to every other tanker company. Right now, tankers are just as spotty for work as any other trailer.

Transwood itself is based out of Omaha NE. They have terminals through out the midwest. Their busiest terminals seem to be Houston, St. Gabrial LA, and Memphis. Those 3 all haul Sodium Tetrachloride, which is hauled in the same style trailer as Helium, only painted white instead of orange.

Sodium Tet is an extreme inhalation hazard, so all those trucks are routed, are all team driven, and all the stops must be properly noted.

Transwood also has a huge amount of dedicated account work. That means that your empty 50% of the miles. The last time I checked their pay, it was 39 cpm loaded and 27 cpm empty. On a dedicated load, your looking at 33 cpm, plus whatever accessorial Transwood pays.

Their main road truck fleet is Freightliner Columbia's, with 70 XT-midroof sleepers. Their trailer fleet is pretty old. mid 80's mostly. Some older trailers, some newer trailers. Very few air rides. They pull liquid bulk, pneumatic's, some ISO's and some Totes on flatbeds.

I don't know anything about their bennies, because I didn't listen after doing the math on the loaded/empty driving wage.

Things may be different now. I talked with them in 2005.

[okie]

hoping for better info on that. The different pay for different duties seems unfair. I don't like the old pay to drive loaded vs. empty either. Not my fault its empty. Well thanks for the info. Will keep looking around I guess.

[Phreddo]

I worked for the Transwood terminal out of Cottage Grove, WI for about 6 months. They guys were good, the work was there, we pulled lots of waste stuff for Hydrite.

However, I started to get a bit tired of the very erratic scheduling, as they shared me with the system runs as well, so I would be out 1-6 days. They also seem to let Hydrite push them around a bit, so we would sometimes have to, well, make up the difference in any delays.

I pulled a lot of Buckman loads, which was water treatment and paper stuff, so it was all pretty easy to deal with. I had one load to a place in OK, and up until then, I still had a goatee (my boss never said anything). Well, they wouldn't let me on the lot, so I finally dropped it at the local TW terminal in Tulsa and got the hell out.

My big issue was that they always seemed to be playing catch-up or prevent defense on dispatch, so there would be a good share of false starts and cancelled loads. Not a lot, but more than I'd seen with other companies. I remember I had to pick up something at Chanhannon(sp?) bound for Mahoopany, PA. Well, since I couldn't have my phone on there, it wasn't until after I was loaded that I got the message that the load had been pushed back by 2 weeks. So after an hour or so, they routed me to drop it in STL. I got paid either way.

Other bits of tanker started to wear on me too. I liked the work, but there was so much hassle with loading, lab stuff, tank washes, and just down-time in general. At the end, I was doing regular van loads to East Chicago for a 6AM delivery. That's when I took a different job hauling mail. I felt bad leaving them, but I had been looking elsewhere for a while.

One point in particular is that each terminal seems to have a lot of autonomy, so your experiences may vary depending on where you hire. But for the most part, just about everyone I ever dealt with was pretty nice.

Of course, my current job, the work is easy, but the people are so-so. This is a union mail-contractor, and they all seem a bit grumpy. :/

[Trucking4life]

I've been with TransWood for 10 years out of one of their Nebraska terminals. My time there has been good. For the most part TransWood stays under the radar. They don't have the top of the line trucks or trailers, but the pay is good and so are the people.

TransWood seems to be really trying to become a more dominate company. Just in the past 5 years they bought a whole bunch of new trucks and trailers. As a newbie you probably won't get one of their top line trucks, but even the used ones are decent. I told my son-in-law to apply to TransWood a few weeks ago but he was hesitant after reading some bad online reviews. Most of these reviews seem rather outdated and a little extreme. I think the job really varies by terminal (they are a huge company with terminals across the country), but it's important to remember that they turn a lot of people away. They really care about their safety and don't hire someone who has DUI's or lots of speeding tickets. This seems to irritate a lot of truckers, but at least it's not like Werner who hires 80% past convicts. My advice is to give TransWood a try. I've made a lot of money by working with them and receive full benefits. I'm looking to retire in just a few years.

[VPIDarkAngel]

Originally Posted by Trucking4life

This seems to irritate a lot of truckers, but at least it's not like Werner who hires 80% past convicts.

Would you care to explain how you found this out?

[DADof3]

I have been stalking Transwood, through my cousin who drives here, for the past year. Came over here 3 weeks ago. One VERY IMPORTANT detail, find which terminal you would be out of and talk to those drivers. As with most every other tanker company, each terminal seems like its own separate company. They each generally run things the way they want, and have their own fright. One terminal might have crappy equipment, while my terminal has well maintained equipment.

My truck is an 08 Prostar sleeper with over 700,000 miles on it, but I would feel more confident driving this truck all over the country (though I am home everyday) than some other carrier's non-maintained 2 year old piece of junk. Same with our trailers. The one I am pulling right now is a 1994 tank, and this thing is in top shape. Everything I have hauled here, I would not fear a DOT inspection.

Now this is my terminal and the way we maintain our stuff. Like I said, each terminal is different. I am glad I came over here, but I cannot say that your terminal would be this good. You just have to do your homework.