[Malaki86]

i hear ya on the weekend bafoon fm's.takes a bit to get hold of them via tele but your qualcomm they must answer in a timely manner because its on record.your qualcomm must of been down?longest i waited was like 15 mins but never 45 mins.

The 45 minute wait was sitting on the telephone on hold. One afternoon I stopped for dinner. As soon as I sat down in the restaurant, I dialed the number. While sitting on hold: I ordered my meal, ate my salad, ate my dinner, ate my desert, and was half-way through my 2nd cigarette after eating before someone finally answered. That was about average for them. I've waited (literally) over 3hrs for a response over the qualcomm, and that's when the thing was working. It was actually the MobileMax, and it had both cell & satelite signals. With the 3hrs, I was sending messages every 15-30 minutes, usually with the last messages being along the lines of "hello.... was there a nuclear war? Am I the last person alive?"

but if theres ever going to be another try with usx for you let me give you a hint when you run into logistic problems:MACRO 55! send in one of them babies and sh!t gets done asap.

hahahahhaha - I love reading a good joke when I first wake up in the morning. I spoke directly to the mid-west regional coordinator & the terminal manager @ medway (in person). Nothing was attempted to be fixed until the day I handed them my keys.

why were you a rehire anyways?

Ya - rehired. Sadly, things were completely different the 2nd time around. They seemed to have lost control of almost everything in the 4 months I was gone.

[irishmoxy]

I started recently with US Xpress on the west coast regional. I've been through a lot, most of it negative. However, I am given to understand that the Colton, CA terminal is understaffed. The day I started was also my fleet managers first day. He would always tell me what I wanted to hear and then never follow up.

For instance, within 100 miles of LA on my first trip out, my truck broke down. I spent several days in a motel waiting for it to be fixed. I was told I would get breakdown pay for this and I never did (to this day). My fleet manager told me at the time that he was swamped and would get to it as soon as possible. Of course, he didn't.

Within a week in my second truck, I had to put it in the shop as well and borrow a day cab to get any miles. The truck I had and have now are/were both Freightliner Columbia's with automatic transmission. This being my first experience with auto's, I am not at all impressed. I've talked to several drivers who always have their trucks in the shop with alarming frequency. However, the folks with Volvo's don't seem to have the same problems. Volvo's are priority for teams, though. From what I understand, if you get one, you'll be lucky.

Two weeks later, I am going to have to put my truck in the shop again. I had a load from Eugene, OR., to Bishop, CA. GRV was 78,800, and I had a tough route....down the I5 to Weed, CA, then hang a left at the 89 s across the sierra nevada's to the 395, south through Reno, then back across the Sierra's near Tahoe and Mammoth Lake. The little engine that could was game, but toward the end, the check engine light came on. The next day, after I was empty, the check engine light no longer came on, but the engine sounded pretty bad, like a fuel injector is failing or something. The oil is the consistency of water, so perhaps fuel is leaking into the oil (that was one of the problems with my first truck, along with a burnt harness and an ECM that went haywire).

When I get back to the terminal, I will have to turn the truck into the shop yet again, with a normal wait of a day and half to even get it looked at.

In the past year before this, I didnt end up with any major problems at all, but I was driving a manual tranny Century for another company.

Doing most of my driving in California, Oregon, and Arizona, I have to deal with that 55 mph most of the time, which makes my hours less effective. I've driven 2800 miles this week and I only have 8 hours to drive until Monday morning at 1201 am.

On the positive side, my fleet manager recently quit and my new one has me workin hard, just how I like it. I don't like to sit out here. If I'm on the road, I like to be working. Hopefully, once I get this truck fixed (again), things will begin to take on a semblence of normalcy.

I do like the company. It may not sound like it, but when things go well, I can get home quickly and still make money.

I've had to be patient and not let things get to me up to this point, but isn't that par for the course in this business?

Anyone who can't roll with the punches usually doesn't last long in this biz in my experience.

[Malaki86]

I had a surprising call on Friday afternoon. One of the 'higher ups' from USX called me from Chatanooga and wanted to discuss all of the problems I'd had with them since I returned to work 2 months ago.

I explained everything, from the low miles (avg of 1,500 per week) to lack of communication, to management in general.

He offered my job back to me. I won't have to go through any 'orientation' time. Just go to Medway, get a truck and roll. He also said that he'd put me with a new fm, who has an extremely good record of getting drivers their miles. I'll also be in contact with a driver liason at least once per week for 2 months to be sure that I'm actually getting the miles I'm supposed to.

I called them back after a few hours of thinking it over. I spoke with my new fm. She said that the truck I was in (the recovery truck) was still there and they'd hold it for me. I told her not until it was at least legal to drive. She asked me about that. When I explained that I had recovered the truck (an abandonment) and was seated in it perm and expected to run, it was basically the icing on the cake for me leaving.

She's going to speak to the terminal manager & equipment coordinator Monday morning about getting another truck which has been through the shop, has been cleaned and is ready to roll, legally (she added a laugh at the end of that).

So, I now have until Monday around noon to decide for sure if it's what I want to do. USX is a good company. I worked for them before and never had any major issues.

Originally Posted by Malaki86

I had a surprising call on Friday afternoon. One of the 'higher ups' from USX called me from Chatanooga and wanted to discuss all of the problems I'd had with them since I returned to work 2 months ago.

I explained everything, from the low miles (avg of 1,500 per week) to lack of communication, to management in general.

He offered my job back to me. I won't have to go through any 'orientation' time. Just go to Medway, get a truck and roll. He also said that he'd put me with a new fm, who has an extremely good record of getting drivers their miles. I'll also be in contact with a driver liason at least once per week for 2 months to be sure that I'm actually getting the miles I'm supposed to.

I called them back after a few hours of thinking it over. I spoke with my new fm. She said that the truck I was in (the recovery truck) was still there and they'd hold it for me. I told her not until it was at least legal to drive. She asked me about that. When I explained that I had recovered the truck (an abandonment) and was seated in it perm and expected to run, it was basically the icing on the cake for me leaving.

She's going to speak to the terminal manager & equipment coordinator Monday morning about getting another truck which has been through the shop, has been cleaned and is ready to roll, legally (she added a laugh at the end of that).

So, I now have until Monday around noon to decide for sure if it's what I want to do. USX is a good company. I worked for them before and never had any major issues.

Well either you want to be OTR or not. I think you do, why, you are unsure of the decision you have made.

Have them pay for the rental car home, get you back to the terminal, and run 30 days, things aren't better, walk away and don't look back. Heck what 30 days in the scheme of things.

[Malaki86]

I never thought of the rental car home... hmmm ;-)

[Colin]

Malaki's post about the call back reminds me of when I was let go at JB Hunt.

Let go at about 10:00 and and promptly started cleaning out the truck. Some guy walks over mid cleanout and asks if I'm cleaning out for a long weekend. I say no, I was fired. He asks what my driver ID is and then walks away yapping on his phone. Comes back and says he Kirk Thompson, COO and he can get me my job back if I go with a trainer for 3 weeks. I say no thanks and he's cool with it. Still not sure why the COO was in that little tiny podunk yard in Nashville, TN, but he was there...

[fireman932003]

Hey Colin, Jb Hunt told me they have a drop yard here in Evansville Indiana but I do not know of any drop yard here. Do you happen to know where it is?

[Colin]

Originally Posted by fireman932003

Hey Colin, Jb Hunt told me they have a drop yard here in Evansville Indiana but I do not know of any drop yard here. Do you happen to know where it is?

I don't know for sure. Sorry.

I recall running barefoot on snow and ice from I-24 all the way north on Breathitt Parkway to get to Mt. Vernon and deliver. This was the first night I had my XM, so it wasn't all bad... After delivery I went to a paper mill across the border back into Kentucky near Owensboro I think?

[Malaki86]

Well, I talked to USX both yesterday and this morning. It's definite, I'm heading back. I'll ride the bus to Medway (arrive at 1am) and be assigned my truck tomorrow. My new dispatch seems (so far) to be more on top of things, so hopefully things will get straightened out this time around.

Talk to everyone later - will be home next weekend.

[SlowMotion]

Well Malaki86 I'm glad to see your coming back over to the dark side. But I can honestly say I know how you feel. I have been through alot of the same stuff you went through. I've been here for 1 year and my FM and I have just recently got on the same page. I am getting better miles and always preplanned. But I went through 3 dispatchers before I got her, so hopefully your new one will get you what you need. USX is a good company, not the best by any means but I don't think I've ever heard of a company that is perfect on everything. Good luck on your return and be safe out there.