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Anyone here have any info on the reefer division ? My wife and I are interested.

 

I've tried to opt out of the US Xpress Per Diem. They make it very hard. They easily enroll you in it but give you the run around to get out. I thought I'd post the info here to save people in the future from having to go thru it.

You need them to email you a form that you must sign & fax to them. I have the form I can email you if you want. You must opt out of it before the start of every quarter.

Here is the fax# 423-510-6261

I was given a different fax # which I was told was where I needed to fax the per diem form but that number would never answer when I tried to fax it. Today I got the number above. If it doesn't work, I will call payroll & get a different number. I will post that #.


If you for whatever reason want to opt back into it.....all you have to do is send a mac 57

 

My favorite shipper to go to is Limited Brands in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. They have a huge facility. I can easily pull up and drop my empty. Park my bobtail. Walk over to their office and find out that the trailer is loaded and ready to go. No waiting, no delays ever of any kind. Another thing I like about them is that if you get there early....They'll let you park & catch up on sleep. Their facility is surrounded by a forest. So far we've seen deer, coyotes & the best part was as we're dropping our empty.....a skunk was 30 feet from my wife. Watching her almost ##### her pants was priceless. Lol.

UPS loads can take a long time to pick up. We get there a half hour early & are told its not ready. We drop our empty and have to wait on the street for a call when its ready. Another USX truck was waiting already. Talked to them & they told me they got there a half hour earlier than us. After 2 hours, I got the call. When we pull in, its a trucker free-for-all. I guess they called everyone who was waiting all at once. Its real tight to pull our trailer out so we let everyone go first. They called everyone except the other USX truck. Found out later that their trailer wasn't ready for several more hours. Ouch ! UPS facilties are extremely tight and overcrowded. The layout is very poor. Watch your mirrors at all time so you don't hit anything.

Tractor Supply in Hagerstown, MD is another favorite place to go. Nice big facility. Down the road from them....across from the pilot is a truck stop that sells really good home cooking. Highly recommend going there if your in the area. What I don't like is their actual stores. A lot of them are at places where its hard to get a 53' trailer into. Your skills will be tested.

Ford plants are another one of my least fav loads. Same thing as UPS. Tight & overcrowded. Plus, no one explains what to do. You kinda wander the plant trying to find the shipper/receiver office. Each plant has different rules. The last one I went to pick up a load from had different procedures at the guard shack when leaving for different plants. I pulled my truck up to the guard shack instead of parking & walking up to the guard shack. I got lectured for doing it the wrong way even though I was told by the shipping office to pull up.

Went to pick up a load once from Road Runner. Was told when we got there that it was canceled. The other USX drivers told me this happens a lot with Road Runner so be forewarned if you get this load. Might be your opportunity to catch up on some sleep.

 

Sent a message the other day to Phyllis Overla, Craig tells me she was the head of reefer when he worked at USX. I tried to call her but USX says I can't talk to her since she isn't my FM. I told Phyllis that my wife and I are interested in reefer and what it takes to get into that division. She responded back with "Ok". Lol. Never heard from her since. I called the driver liaison department. The guy I talked to said I qualified then transferred me to the guy in reefer. I forget his name. Reefer guy was excited & said all the good things I wanted to hear. He told me someone would be calling me shortly then nothing. That was about two weeks ago. My FM tells me they only take people with experience. I wish I could get to the bottom of this. USX is not good at making information public on things like this.

On the bright side, we got 4,600 miles last week. This week we should do hopefully 5,000 or more.

Anyone on here been to pick up a load from J Crew in Vicksburg, VA ? What a cluster. Its a UPS load. Hate those. We were doing a reset & only 53 miles away. USX msgs me in the morning & says trailer is ready so its cool if I go there early. Get there around 10am....appointment is for 11am. Guard tells me that load wont be ready till noon. Not sure why UPS wanted us there at 11. The way J Crew has us pick up the load is not very smart. They have several trucks scheduled for noon. We all have to wait down the street. They call us all to come into their tiny lot at noon. Drop the emptys at the end of the lot. Then we have to park our truck near the trailer that is getting loaded. Once its loaded, we have to hook then move the loaded trailer so we can hook up the empty then dock it. Once the empty is docked then we can hook up to the loaded trailer, get our paperwork then be on our way. All of the trucks are doing this at the same time. The whole thing has to be done within 20 minutes. You think they could call us in one at a time. Not very smart or safe. Delivered this to UPS in Salt Lake City, Utah. This place wasn't as bad as their other sites. It was due on the 4th of July so no one was there. Simple drop & hook. The empty we found there was in good condition. Nothing wrong with it. I was shocked.

Deadheading from Salt Lake City to Phoenix, AZ to pick up a Fed Ex load. Taking that to Nashville, TN. We will be taking my favorite Interstate(I-40). I like it because lots of good places to eat off of this. First time doing a Fed Ex load. Hope its easier than UPS.

Craig, whenever I'm in a city & I think about getting food from someplace.....I bust out my phone & open up my Yelp app. What do I always discover ? You've been there & reviewed it. Lol.

 

Wife and I are talking to Panther about possibly switching over to them. We don't go home so having a home on wheels is very appealing. Wife hates that we can't park the tractor trailer anywhere we want. She misses going to Target & all her other fav. stores. A couple showed us their truck a few days ago. They have a sink, microwave, full fridge and freezer. It was a 102 inch sleeper. Felt like a studio apartment my wife rented back in college.

Anyone have experience doing straight truck expedited ?

 

We're friends on Yelp