My experience with USA truck and some general advice

As to the trainer issue the answer is actually very simple. The company will be forced to lower their standards and/or start paying much more money to them to stay. It is my understanding the wait times now for students waiting on trainers is in the weeks now. My information on this is very bad so I don't trust it. If however this is true the company had better get a handle on it before they start losing students before they even get hired.

 

My guess is Heartland Express. They just had one of their executives, Dave Hartline, spend a year with USA Truck and leave abruptly. I don't know what that was about. Heartland, although roughly the same size as USA, can easily pay cash for the company from Van Buren. It would be good for the USA drivers, i.e. instant pay increase

 

If I remember correctly David Hartline has had several management jobs since his time with Heartland and I suspect he will have many more after. I think he was brought in the help with the transition from being a primarily long haul carrier to Cliff Beckhams dream of a short haul/dedicated carrier. I don't have any proof but I suspect David Hartline got tired of beating his head against the wall with regard to Cliff Beckham's managerial incompetence, saw the handwriting on the wall and hauled butt out of there.

 

Frankthetank which Thomas are you referring to when you mention fudging logs? I dont believe i have ever mentioned that anywhere, feel free to correct me if im wrong, i went back through every post in this thread that i made a comment on and did not see that anywhere in my comments, hopefully your referring to another driver

 

Frank,

Student drivers get 50.00 a day, 350.00 a week gross. The 600 is called guaranteed pay and only for the first 60 days with the stipulation that you get 300.00 worth of miles and be available during that weeks pay. So if you make 550.00 in pay then they add 50.00 to it. If you have a home time week with less than 300.00 worth of miles you do not get it, this happened to my husband the week he got home time. We are happy with USA and my husband's paychecks have varied but they average out and that is what we need right now. Once his C1 contract is done and he gets the pay raises over the next year it can only get better.....................

 

I truly and genuinely hope that USA Truck can get completely out of debt along with both acquiring and retaining super good trainers for incoming inexperienced trucke drivers.

 

What does USA pay while training, and do they offer tuition reimbursement?

 

While you are hired after orientation and waiting on a trainer you get 50.00 a day gross/350.00 week. When you get your upgrade and are on the truck alone in the 1st 60 days you get your rpm/rate per mile. In order to get the 600.00 guaranteed gross during the 60 day period you must have a minimum of 300.00 in miles for the week in order to qualify. They do not do tuition reimbursement but you must stay the full 1st year for the promissory note you sign with Driver Solutions to be handled and USA to pick up the balance. In the 1st 6 months with USA you have 40.00 a week taken out of your paycheck. During the last 6 months you have 50.00 a week taken out of your paycheck. I can't explain it any more thorough than this and what I did in the previous part of this thread.

 

Actually Driver Solutions won't accept you into school till a company pre-hires you unless you are paying for the school out of your pocket. This is why so many students are sent home that first week. The company uncovers something or you fall below a company minimum medical standard and it's discovered on the physical and the company withdraws it's job offer. I have advised people for sometime now to be 100% honest with those Driver Solutions recruiters about your past, and fast the night before. Make sure both your blood pressure and blood sugar levels are good, if not STAY AT HOME till they are. It's not pleasant watching those guys pack up and go home but best I understand it every week somebody gets sent home!

 

tau4mind, dated 6-21-2008 stated: "Claiming the company can not force you to break the FMCSR is true, but they can make personal bets on how long it will be till you crash and burn, in the office, if you refuse to do what they demand. A license to kill is not a joke, over 5000 drivers die every year because the trucking industry is unregulated."




...."the trucking industry is unregulated." WHAT!