Haven't been on here for awhile. I quit USXpress. Tired of lies, low home time. I guess i'm not cut out for being away from home. I'v always heard it takes a special kind of person to be a trucker and it does. All my respect goes out to the men and women that supplies the Great USA with the products we all use and need.
Warning: If you don't like and cannot stay away from home for long periods of time, then don't waste your money on truck driving school. Average price here is between $3500.00 and $5500.00. A lot of money to (waste) if you don't believe you can stay out for long periods of time.
A list of things that happened to us on the road: No chains on truck,(said they didn't have any, but load had to go anyway) Drove on 8" of snow for approx 600 miles, always stuck somewhere waiting on next load, nowhere near a nice hot shower. Family emergency at home, (family member had stroke), don't believe USX when they say they'll get you home in case of family emergency. They won't. Could not hardly ever get our supervisor on the phone. Got bad/wrong directions to many times.
I could go on and on but i believe you all get the message.
Don't beieve the recruiters: Don't know about everywhere else but here in east Tn. Truck driving was glamourized and was painted as a pretty picture.
I know at my age i should have known better. Just all beware of this company.

Why not try a company that gets you home on weekends?

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

Sorry to hear that you have decided to give it up. You know there are other companies out there? Some are better than others but it does take alot of converstaions with different companies to find one that "fits you."

That said you may have a tough time in the current economy of finding a more suitable job. Many carriers are closing down altogether and others are downsizing their driver force as well as their office staffs.

Trucking is a great career but it does have alot of head aches to go along with it at times. For me as long as the good out weighs the bad I will stay in it.

Just remember if you do not keep employed driving a truck in the next 2 to 3 years you may need to pay more money for a refresher course if you decide to give it another try later on.

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Knowledge is Power

You could always try to find something in a regional(flatbed) or a local job. I drive buckets and I leave for work at 6:00 am and I am home at 5:00 pm every night. I also do not work weekends. After being OTR, you can sure appreciate the change. I agree with you that the OTR guys deserve alot of respect for the job they do, it's not always an easy one. Good luck.

"Why not try a company that gets you home on weekends?"

you beat me to it. there are plenty of companies in the southeast, RUNNING the southeast (little snow) where you would be home weekends and maybe get by the house during the week, instead of being out weeks or months at a time. not EVERY company is like usxpress.

Thanks to all who read and listened. Most everone here is more intelligent than the folks i had to deal with. Just wanted to warn newbies or anyone out there to beware before they spend their hard earned money.
One other thing i done some calculating and i was working 125 hours a week the way USX was scheduling us. This amounted to $7.68 per hour. Had 15hrs sleep in 10 days. I sure do hope this is not true for all truckers. Still looking at flatbed tho. Later.

Whatever you decide, LD, good luck to you.