Steer clear of USA
 

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!!!

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".

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!

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!

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.

Trucking in general
 

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.

Re: Trucking in general
 

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.

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!!!!

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

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

Re: Steer clear of USA
 

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.

Re: Steer clear of USA
 

: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.

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.

Re: Steer clear of USA
 

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:

Re: Steer clear of USA
 

Really? I see alot of them in the desert areas of El Centro and Yuma with their windows rolled up. If thats true, those guys are tougher than I am.

having looked at all the replies on this topic I find myself somewhat heartened by it!!! I am just one of those people who look real pessimistic at these things for a short while then weigh things up and find its not so bad after all. At least I know that I am not alone in my experiences as a newbie. I guess that's how most companies are to newbies. I certainly plan to stick with it as I have rather too mych riding on it, and I guess my dispatchers really arent so bad by putting me up in hotels as clearly some others have had problems in that area!!!!

Thanks for all your comments!!!!

Talking about truck problems.....I went into my current company with some experience but was still started off in an old junker....I ended up being passed around from truck to truck and in 7 months I went through9 trucks and 3 break downs before i finaly got a nice new 2006 model that is cold and clean on the inside. I feel your pain on the truck issues....just look at it this way, if they give you the worst they have to offer right from the begining....then it can only get better :lol:

Re: Steer clear of USA
 

If they're operating in the US, chances are they have a newer trucks with AC. But if you travel in Mexico, you'll see drivers operating older trucks with their windows rolled down and sleeper vents open. I've seen them parked, waiting to load/unload with their sleeper doors open while lying down.

For every Mexican operator running a brand new Volvo or Scania tractor, you'll find one running an old KenMex W900 or DINA 861. 8)
http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pi...in_trailer.jpg

You know, that looks hot and uncomfortable but dang if that doesn't look mean as can be!!

It needs a Brahma bull on the side and some big old horns on the hood. And chrome rims.

Let's be honest here , if you have ever driven much , you will notice that USA Truck has about the worst trucks out there for a large fleet . Loos as though all there trucks have to be 3 to 6 years old .

:D Yeah, they're real strippos, too!! They've got air conditioning and cruise control and that's it!! They don't even have jakes and I thought it was a DOT regulation that all big trucks be equipped with jakes. :shock:

There's no DOT regulation that trucks be equipped with jake brakes. I drove when Stevens didn't run jake brakes and I had no problems. People moaned and groaned at me going slow down hills but I did get some satisfaction when I came across a few of those hotshots who were parked with smoking brakes when their jake brake went out. :twisted:

I thought parking it with smoking brakes is the worst thing you can do?

I wouldn't know, I never smoked mine. ;)

When I started
 

I remember when I started driving I had started with Burlington Motor Carriers and I went out with my trainer who had a frieghtliner century class. We got to talking and he was saying I would more than likely start in a FLD, but once I got out of training they gave me my truck number and told me it was out on the yard. Then did the same for another rookie that I went to oreintation with. So we went out into the yard and started looking for our trucks, we found his first and he got a good looking FLD. Which got my hopes up on my truck since his truck number was 1972 and mine was 1968, thinking that since we are only 4 numbers apart I am getting a hood. once we find mine it was a ugly frieghtshaker cabover with a 350 detroit and a 8 speed tranny. God was it ever a ugly truck the couling on the back of the truck was falling off the truck, the step on the right side of the ride was hanging on by 1 bolt. But once I got all the problems fixed on the truck it turned out to be one of the best trucks that I drove. The ride sucked through Louisana and Arkansas, but it pulled good and it was only in the shop for maintence like oil changes and the like. I was never in the shop for any major problems for the year that I drove it. So see sometimes you just got to find the diamond on the rough.

USA Truck does not play fair
 

Let me tell you about my experience with USA! In the beginning, they gave me good miles. But they never got me home on time. Not once. Whats worse, they are vindictive. When the day would come that I was scheduled to be home, and planned in advance with them for 14 days, they would end up making me sit anywhere from 8 hours to a whole day waiting to pass a load on to someone else. I never caused any trouble, always delivered on time. I have spent 1-2 days a week sitting, waiting for instructions about my drop or for the next load assignment. Thats 1-2 days a week I'M NOT GETTING PAID. Then when after waiting 14 days to go home for two days, they give me a load on the way home that required delivery 24 hours after my time was scheduled off. Its like WTF? EVERYTIME this has happened to me. They are the most disorganized people I have ever dealt with. IF THAT is not enough, get this, the showers at the terminal at HEADQUARTERS in Van Buren, Arkansas have been broke for the last 3 weeks. The showers at the Van Dalia, Ohio COMPANY TERMINAL have been broke for at least 6 months! They will tell you that you will make $40K your first year. I'll be lucky to make $30K with the way this company operates. Stay-away-from-USA!

Just think, we could all be doing telemarketing instead. Hmm...now that I think of it - why did I pay for truck driving school? Smile and Dial.