Ping and Traceroute

I was reviewing some notes on ping and trace results and how to analyse them. I got confussed with TTL. It seems that the TTL (Time to Life) is set at 255 and is decreased by one for each node is passes through. However, when I do a ping/trace at the company I now work for, it seems to start at 128? is there anything else someone can tell me about ping and trace routes?