I'm not going to turn this into another argument about ATS lease deal. You and I both NEVER went behind, because we both worked our asses off and did what it took, but tell me you can't easily see how that could happen, and you'll be lying to the entire world.
I don't know that I argued with you or anyone else about the ATS Lease Program. It was, what it was for you and for me.
Picture a guy in the ATS program taking two weeks off to tend to say...a death in the family.
He's pretty much done for the rest of the year. You'd spend three months paying off those two weeks. Maybe my FM got crappy low paying loads (he was the newest one when I started, but there was at least one even worse when I left, her name was Kari...talked like a valley girl, probably totally hot like most of the skirts in The Granite Palace, but totally useless) and that's all I had to choose from, I don't know. But it seemed like every time I ran through home, and took ONE DAY off, the next three weeks were torture.
And most of the guys I talked to were like that. The program is based on you running all the time. Period. They all are. On;ly at the end when they were trying to get me to sign again was I treated with loads into and out of Wisconsin. OD from Manitowoc, and multi-stops from Balto ending in state. That didn't happen iuntil the last month I was there.
I had a good fleet manager, but I fired her after awhile. I got another, not as good, but not bad. The load planners are the ones that offered loads, not the fleet manager. The fleet managers responsibility was to ensure all your information was correct, load preference, whether you had a passport or twic, that kind of stuff. I hounded them until I knew the information was in the system. I had the planners number and would talk to him if I thought the fleet manager was screwing me over.
I routed myself through the house. If there were no loads, I went home. Once from South Carolina, once from Kansas, once from Montana, once from Minnesota and from Texas many times. Not because they couldn't get me home, but because they couldn't come up with a decent load. I was going to sit for only so long. When it was time to go home, I went home. I had the dogs to take care of and come hell or high water, I went home.
I was home like regular clockwork, every two weeks or less. I can count on one hand that I was out for more than two weeks. That was because I accepted a load to somewhere I want to go, like Alaska. Frequently, I was home several times during the week. ATS had a lot of loads in Texas that passed through the house. I selected these loads. I think I asked to go home once, right out of orientation. After that, I routed myself through load selection.
Like I said, I'm positive MY story is typical. Or worse. 60%+ don't make it. That's why.
ATS was my ONLY source of income. I didn't have a military pension, and my wife makes crap working with special needs kids in the school district. Maybe you didn't notice the highs and lows like my family did. But its not a program for family members, and it's not for someone who can live on wildly fluctuating amounts.
ATS was my only source of income. I was in the Military 13 years active and another 5 years reserve. I have no retirement, no benefits, whatsoever! I resigned my commission before I became eligible.
I was highly aggressive and didn't let them get away with anything. After I saw the results of a few decisions made my fleet manager that weren't so good for me and once I learned the system, I made my own decision. I just went off and did my own thing. It worked out for me!