More Transam stories
 

My husband finally finished his orientation, passed his tests and was given his truck. He was offered jobs with 4 companies and chose Transam for the money and the promise of a no older than 2 year old truck with automatic shift. Well, he (and just about everyone else) was given a much older truck with a super 10. First lie. Now they are definitely giving him the miles, but the expectations are insane. Dispatch wakes him up during his sleep time and he is stuck driving nights because his first run went out at night and he hasn't been able to flip himself back around. He is trying to do everything by the book, but their expectations are making that impossible. They say something must be delivered by a certain time, but to make it by that time you would have to drive during your off hours or sleep time. What can he do?

What To Do
 

Work legally. A dispatcher's or broker's screw up about a load having to be somewhere is not a driver's problem as long as he stays within the law. Remind a dispatcher. who wakes him during his sleeptime, the clock resets to get the full ten from the time of the contact. That oughta get someone's attention. Happened once to me during the time I was with my first company, never happened again. Dispatchers don't work under HOS regs.
Get a set of earplugs so the Qualcomm won't wake him when he's sleeping. Even legally, he may have to drive at night, it's part of the job. Another punch line that usually works is contacting the company safety bubbas that dispatch is wanting him to run illegally. Some company dispatchers pay is based on the miles their drivers run. How are TransAm's dispatchers paid? BOL

thanks for replying...
 

Thanks for the tip on the dispatcher waking him up. You sound very knowledgeable and I appreciate your input. My husband doesn't mind driving at night, it's just easier to see in the daylight. How do you recommend he deal with dispatch and are they all ass##!!? It sounds like they can make or break you out there.

Go straight to the president of Trans Am if operations start to mess with him.

Have him start keeping a notebook of all the stuff that is going on.

trans am update
 

Thanks again for the tips. I just called my husband and told him what y'all said. Do you think once he proves to dispatch he can manage his time they will cut him some slack? Is this an ongoing problem with the industry as a whole?

I dont know if its industry wide but alot of companies will push a new driver around because the new driver is afraid to say anything for fear of getting fired.
I dont know if thats the situation, but the best advice I got when I started driving was "dont let them push you around"
I've always worked by that statement

P.S.
 

Forgot to add. Don't give a dispatcher your cellphone number, and if they insist on bothering via Qualcomm when sleeping, get a small metal wastebasket that'll fit over the antenna, and don't forget to remove it during the pre-trip. BOL

Re: What To Do
 

A minor correction to one of your points, Sealord. Qualcomm communications do not bring about a reset of your ten hour break.

Sorry bout this but I must say, never under any circumstances cover the antenna with anything. This is a company truck, it could be grounds for firing. Companies are not stupid or nieve about this action. That qualcomm and truck are property of the company, dont mess with it.

A qualcomm is more than a dispatch device, it tracks location, truck perameters and a host of other uses, he should always be in contact with the company via the qualcomm.

The other advise is what he should be listening to. Stay within your HOS, advises dispatch you run legal, if you "force dispatch" me during the required breaks, I will be "forced" to restart the break. If he gives in to them now the dispatch will know this is a driver they can abuse.

All dispatch sees are numbers on his computer terminal, they really dont care much about the driver in the truck. In fact they usually refer it as a truck, not a truck and/or driver, just a truck.

Its up to your husband to set the HOS rules straight with dispatch NOW, and although they are aware of HOS rules, most dispatch could care less about them, as it is the driver that accepts loads and runs them illegal.

A driver who is good at time management, paired with a dispatcher that can assign loads within the HOS rules, can make just as good a living or better, than a driver running outside the HOS.