I was kinda in the same boat as you I left CR England after 1 yr OTR and went too the Lincon, NE location and was told that we can't hire you at this time and was never given a reason why

This excuse of lack of "RECENT" experience is a real pain isn't it. I too have been encountering some of the same rhetoric, and it is really beginning to aggravate me.

It seems that some of these comanies are looking for ways to keep out someone with experience, or even someone over the age of 25.

I suspect that somewhere along the line one or more of these companies is going to have to defend themselves against a discrimination suit, and it can't come soon enough.

We just have to keep plugging and eventually we will find a spot. May not be the best one but if we stick with it for six months or a year, we'll be back in the fold.

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Being retired is cool if you're ready for it ... I'm not

Curiosity: how does this make them different from any other truck company in existence?

OK.. going way back from the beginning of this thread, in May 07 you left the company.. and in this post almost a year to the day, you talk of getting back to an automatic.. are you back with US Xpress ??

US Xpress is one of 3 companies I have pre-hire for.. The whole DAC section for USX really doesn't help me make a decision at all... the automatic thing is nice, but it really doesn't phase me to go or not go with a standard transmission (course I'll probably change my mind first time I have to go down Cajon or the grapevine)... I was put off Werner (another pre-hire) by their training pay, but now find that USX's is even less (although about half as long training) ... I suppose the question is, is there better money to be made at USX after training than Werner ?

I will probably talk to the recruiter tommorow to see what my options are.. am on the west coast, and one of the posts here said something about teams, which is not the way I want to go.

No I am not back with USX. Had family obligations to take care of, so driving local route for Falcon Transportation (they dont hire the west coast).

Their training is shorter, true, and you do pay for it. The trainers (I used to be one) dont usually teach the drivers about manually shifting the Automatic, or how to effectively use the jake brakes, or a host of other issues. Also, since they have this new inboard navigation system, they also probly dont teach about map reading skills, or route/trip planning. They do have a pretty intensive upgrade program (where you go from a student, to a driver), but its all a bunch of BS paperwork in my honest opinion.

Another company I would recomend you try out would be Interstate Carriers. They did have a new training program a short time ago. I dont know if they still have it or not. Althou I have never worked for the company. I have talked to every driver that I have run across in a truck stop parking lot, or fuel island. I have NEVER heard one of their drivers complain about anything about the company (I did hear one complaint about turning down their trucks, but with fuel prices, thats to be expected). They have a website website.

I would probly avoid Werner as a new hire driver. One of the key things you need to learn as a Prof. Driver is how to log. With paperless log books, uhm, thats kinda hard. They also, last week, retired 500 trucks early because of the current economic situation. Now whether or not thats a good or bad thing, I dont know. But it doesnt sound promising to me.

Any other questions, dont hesitate to ask. There are alot of guys on this board that can give you lots of information, Including me .

__________________
Brian - Carpe Diem!
I dont have to love my president, or any god, to love my country!

Well in reverse order but you will not meet or hear from more r-tard managers with dillusions of grandure than USX. They are all Beavis buddies and once you get on one's bad side, they all defend each other, screw you on trips and it's an all out war to Oust You !

Yeah the equipment we used is nice and the selection is great (they even install inverters, CBr if you ask real nice), automatics are a dream in traffic and in general city driving. But Automatics Roll on hills, No Idle power, so beware. All nice and good IF they got you the Miles !!! I think I saw 2 guys fired from Swift down here in CA.

I was OTR and it took 2 months to get me out of CA, I was even doing stupid local deliveries in town under 100mi.. Now the Microsoft XP onboard PC is a tool of pure evil designed for managers. The GPS stays 5min. behind you so forget about using it. I WAS the reason they removed General Messages, the only way to message now is direct to manager or departments (departments = we have them so we can shuffle you around instead of helping with your problem).
They bait and switch preplans on you using the PC and if you refuse they forge your acceptance (which is an electronic signature basically) under the guise of "you're a company driver, you HAVE to do that trip". Guess what YOU DO NOT, you're a Contractor for the company who is renting the truck and pays for all else in Lieu of Higher Pay. You ARE responsible for your own profit thus Have the right to reject Any trip. They won't give you two weeks notice or a letter of termination because YOU are NOT a salaried Employee.
Then the policy of "home time need" for other drivers, where you lose time and miles to swap the load, but when You need it, nobody has anything for you. Waiting 5 days in Cheyenne WY, after delivering to Walmart there, even after me suggesting to route me down to Denver hopefully something comes out of there (only 10mon. exp. at the time). Guess what, after 5 days they took my suggestion and 1 day later I had a pickup, then stuck in Albuquerque NM another 3 days with no load. Got me home about 3 weeks from the scheduled date. Last plan sent I saw nothing on screen untill I got to terminal, I think someone's fingers' been too busy. They expect you to be on your cell phone 24/7 except if You need Them for something. They expect you to stop the truck and call them, anytime, anywhere. Beavis heads all around, Do Stay Away.

I have to disect this reply some, because it refers to what I was talking about on my last post.

On the automatics rolling on hills, this is because you werent trained on it properly, or how to use proper gear management using gears other than D.

I had a Volvo 780, running the grape vine, with a FEMA load, and I was WAY OVER WEIGHT (just under 98k). Little peice of paper in the window said I could, so I did, and with a student. Went down the grape vine at 28 mph, jake screaming all the way at about 1900 RPM 4 ways blinking like theres no tomorow. Never onced touched the brakes all the way down.

On the rest of his post, I could only understand certain bits of it, so I am leaving it alone.

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Brian - Carpe Diem!
I dont have to love my president, or any god, to love my country!

" I dont have to love my president, or any god, to love my country! "
That's well said LaPurr, I have to say well put because not many people have clear sights.

Volvo 780 was heavy duty enough to go down grapevine with 98K and jakes only ???
I am impressed !!! you sure ? down grapevine ? Maybe it was 28K and 98mph ?
Anyways, no I had no automatic training and many times I had to manu-switch, because of the bad PC sending transmission the wrong timing, most hills I put it on semi-manual and it did much better. I had a Freightliner Century. I got only a 5.5mpg out of it overall, which kind of shocked me, but hey I was a company driver.
They could improve automatics by introducing a full gyroscope and a weight listing input device, thus performing by itself better than humans, but that is way costly.
To all others, give it some gas standing still.... or switch up gears ? what'll be instructor ?
Oh yeah, I meant a correction - Roll from stand still on a non-flat road - 1st or 2nd gears.

Interstate does not hire students anymore.
They are a great company to drive for.

Automatics are really nice. If you ever feel like your gaining speed too fast just brake down to 1000 put it in manual and down shift. Works on ever grade no matter how heavy you are.

Volvo's Jake doesn't seam as strong as the freightliners . Seams usxpress is running allot of new Peet's .

I have heard mixed results about usxpress so good luck to any one who goes there.

Trucking is what you make of it. Don't stress too much about money and miles and role with the punches.

USX has recently expanded there fleet from being just Volvo's and FreighShakers. They also have Petes, KW's, internationals, and a rumor of some Macks.

On the volvo's Cumminsjake, I find it depends on how it was ordered. My 01 Volvo with the first gen ISX had a jake that would make alot of noise, but not much else, that is until it hit about 2000 RPM. Then the jake would work extremely well. But with the RPMs screaming away like that, it doesnt give much leway for changing gears while trying to prevent over-rev. My 04 Volvo ISX had a jake brake that actaully scared me when I first drove it. had about 32000 in the box, not loaded out, but still a decent load. Dry pavement, jakes on, in low gear, the traction control light came on going down the ramp from the jakes grabbing more than the tires had traction for.

Its kinda hit or miss if it was ordered properly. The Volvo with the VED12 engine, I have not driven, but my last student got one directly after being upgraded from me. He said the jake was noisey, with very little effect.

USX also bought another company out 2 weeks ago. But I cant remember the name of it.

__________________
Brian - Carpe Diem!
I dont have to love my president, or any god, to love my country!