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chris_stfc
Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 17
Location: Bloomington,IL
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:17 am Post subject: Steer clear of USA |
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A little piece of advice for you.....steer well clear of USA Truck!!!!!!! For me it's been a catalog of disaster right from day 1. Went through orientation last week, picked my truck up immediately an engine warn light came on, truck went into shop for most of that day, got a 178m load (wow!!) delivered following day, was assigned another load in Nashville that wasnt there spent all day waiting on someone to get something sorted out had to take my ten hour break, during which I woke up sweating buckets to find that the a/c on my truck had quit was put in a hotel room overnight then got sent back to the same p/u the following morning only to find that still couldnt pick up sat around all day again got another load assignment at the same place that again didnt exist eventually got someone to agree to send me to terminal in W.Memphis where upon I was informed that the likelihood of anyone looking at it until Tuesday at the earliest was slim to say the least.
Also my experience is not an isolated one. Many of the guys in my orientation class had similar experiences with useless trucks, trucks that werent there didnt work or they had to be put on long bus rides to get them from salvage yards. Also several of my classmates from Driving School have had similar experiences.
Does anyone out there know if there are any companies that would buy out the one year contracts???????? I have sat around basically not earning a dime for over 3 days now!!!!!!!
Thanks and have a great day!!! |
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Snowman7
Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Posts: 1042
Location: the Buckeye
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:33 am Post subject: |
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| Chris its hard to get started and you started during a holiday week which makes it even worse. All trucks eventually break down, its happened to us all. I took a new job once and got a flat tire 30 miles down the road, sat for 4 hrs waiting for a repair on my first run. Most shippers and receivers are off holidays so had you been out longer you would just plan to be off because there ain't much you can do working. Most companies start you off with little runs. They want to see if you can handle something easy. USA ain't the greatest, but its a job and you didn't pay for anything so suck it up driver and learn the industry. Attitude is everything. If yours is good you'll be fine no matter where you work. You'll have awesome days that make you think "I cant believe they pay me to do this" and you'll have days that make you say "there's gotta be a better way to make a living". |
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Snowman7
Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Posts: 1042
Location: the Buckeye
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:37 am Post subject: |
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BTW
Every fleet has some crappy trucks laying around somewhere that need the to be recovered or cleaned up or have the rust knocked off. Who do you think has to do it? The guy thats been there a couple years or you? LOL :lol:
Put your game face on driver, show em what you got! |
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chris_stfc
Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 17
Location: Bloomington,IL
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:38 am Post subject: |
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you do have a point there......and believe I am trying my hardest to have a positive attitude!!!! just a little hard when you are sitting in a truck that is 100F!!!!!! I am trying belive me!!!
Have a great day! |
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chris_stfc
Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 17
Location: Bloomington,IL
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:39 am Post subject: |
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| thanks for your advice.....guess i'm just getting a little frustrated here!!! |
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Snowman7
Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Posts: 1042
Location: the Buckeye
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:41 am Post subject: |
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chris_stfc wrote: thanks for your advice.....guess i'm just getting a little frustrated here!!!
No problem, been there done that. Sometimes still have those days actually. |
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dollarshort
Joined: 16 Feb 2006
Posts: 528
Location: South Central PA
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:43 am Post subject: Trucking in general |
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| Welcome to the world of trucking...You have experienced the phrase "sweatshop on wheels" for real. You have signed up for being treated like a second class citizen for the next year of your life. Meanwhile your dispatchers are setting home with their feet propped up and thinking of everything but you. It's unfortunate but you are no different that those illegal aliens waiting on the street corner every morning looking for temporary work for the day. Only difference is you will be waiting in a truck to see what crap is dished out to you. |
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Snowman7
Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Posts: 1042
Location: the Buckeye
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:48 am Post subject: Re: Trucking in general |
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dollarshort wrote: Welcome to the world of trucking...You have experienced the phrase "sweatshop on wheels" for real. You have signed up for being treated like a second class citizen for the next year of your life. Meanwhile your dispatchers are setting home with their feet propped up and thinking of everything but you. It's unfortunate but you are no different that those illegal aliens waiting on the street corner every morning looking for temporary work for the day. Only difference is you will be waiting in a truck to see what crap is dished out to you.
So much for trying to make the guy feel better about his situation. :roll: He doesn't have alot of options right now so attitude is all hes got. He'll learn the rest in due time. |
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chris_stfc
Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 17
Location: Bloomington,IL
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 8:50 am Post subject: |
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| I have spoken or dealt with probably 6 different dispatchers on my problems this week. Of those 2 have actually seemed to want to help me. The others.....not so much, to be polite!!!! |
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SwervynMervyn
Joined: 05 Oct 2005
Posts: 86
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 9:45 am Post subject: |
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hey Chris.....Snowman is right
I've had days I say " can't believe they pay me to do this"
I've also had times when I spent the whole day looking for trailers that didn't exist in the locations they were suppose to be at
But, like Snowman has done for you, I've had drivers along the way give me kind but stern encouragement
It really helped clear my mind and be able to go on and make the best of even bad situations
Good luck and hang in there....you'll do alright |
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aintgotone
Joined: 21 May 2006
Posts: 89
Location: north carolina
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 10:26 am Post subject: |
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| Dont feel to bad it will all get better sooner or later then it will get bad again then good again. I spent three years with that company I got to know West Memphis pretty well Look at the bright side atleast you can sit in a locked yard and not at one of the truckstops with all of the lot lizards and drug dealers |
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ben45750
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 1759
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 10:41 am Post subject: Re: Steer clear of USA |
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chris_stfc wrote: I woke up sweating buckets to find that the a/c on my truck had quit was put in a hotel room overnight t
Your lucky, I had to spend a whole week in my truck when my A/C went out in the middle of August last year, they refused to let me take it to a T/A and rufused to put me up in a hotel. Talk about on long week, hardly slept at all. It's tough starting out but it really does get better.
I tried to find a company to buy out my contract, couldnt find anyone. |
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apache34
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 91
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: Steer clear of USA |
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[quote="chris_stfc"]A little piece of advice for you.....steer well clear of USA Truck!!!!!!! For me it's been a catalog of disaster right from day 1. Went through orientation last week, picked my truck up immediately an engine warn light came on, truck went into shop for most of that day, got a 178m load (wow!!) delivered following day, was assigned another load in Nashville that wasnt there spent all day waiting on someone to get something sorted out had to take my ten hour break, during which I woke up sweating buckets to find that the a/c on my truck had quit was put in a hotel room overnight then got sent back to the same p/u the following morning only to find that still couldnt pick up sat around all day again got another load assignment at the same place that again didnt exist eventually got someone to agree to send me to terminal in W.Memphis where upon I was informed that the likelihood of anyone looking at it until Tuesday at the earliest was slim to say the least.
Also my experience is not an isolated one. Many of the guys in my orientation class had similar experiences with useless trucks, trucks that werent there didnt work or they had to be put on long bus rides to get them from salvage yards. Also several of my classmates from Driving School have had similar experiences.
Does anyone out there know if there are any companies that would buy out the one year contracts???????? I have sat around basically not earning a dime for over 3 days now!!!!!!!
Thanks and have a great day!!![/quote]
:D welcome to USA TRUCK :lol: I use to drive for them. Hang in there it will get little better . give it another month or two and ask too get another truck. I dispatcher was Buddy not sure if he's still there. I was lucky my truck was right after class but others had go all get theirs. |
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movinit
Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 440
Location: Changes by the minute
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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Unfortunately you are seeing the real side of trucking right off the bat. Trucking comes with a lot of ups and downs, it was just your luck to get the down. Hang in there, it will get better. :lol: There are some days I swear up and down I am going to park this truck, then there are some that I laugh when I see that my paycheck is so large for very little done.
The truck you were assigned is about normal for newbies. Most companies don't want a newbie in a new truck for newbies have a tendency to run into things :shock: and they reward the drivers who hang with them by give them the new trucks.
There are some companies out there that will take over your contract, such as Interstate Distributor (not sure of the details) however you should give USA a chance for a few months. |
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PackRatTDI
Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 1004
Location: Las Cruces, NM
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| Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 1:45 pm Post subject: Re: Steer clear of USA |
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ben45750 wrote: chris_stfc wrote: I woke up sweating buckets to find that the a/c on my truck had quit was put in a hotel room overnight t
Your lucky, I had to spend a whole week in my truck when my A/C went out in the middle of August last year, they refused to let me take it to a T/A and rufused to put me up in a hotel. Talk about on long week, hardly slept at all. It's tough starting out but it really does get better.
I tried to find a company to buy out my contract, couldnt find anyone.
Damn. I once had my AC go out in my truck when I worked for Stevens. I was headed from Bakersfield, California to Atlanta, Georgia. I told my fleet manager there was no way I was headed to the deep south with no AC so he routed me back to Dallas to get it looked at. Ended up being a faulty relay.
Another time the sleeper AC got stuck in heat mode so I had to keep it shut off. Fortunately the front AC was enough to keep the temp in the whole truck tolerable, lol.
Still luckier than many truck drivers down in Mexico who don't have any AC in their trucks at all. :wink: |
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