USX Dedicated Wal-Mart - Gordonsville, VA. Yea or nay?

Discussion in 'US Xpress' started by CaptainKirk, Jul 14, 2014.

  1. CaptainKirk

    CaptainKirk Light Load Member

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    Dec 8, 2012
    Virginia
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    Ok I finally broke down and responded to one of the hundred million USX craigslist ads. This one was a little different. It's a dedicated WalMart account in Gordonsville, VA. Promises home daily with OCCASIONAL overnight. Recruiter was really nice and answered all my questions without sounding like he wanted to hurry up and get off the phone. He had me prehired in 40 minutes.

    I was OTR last year and left because of insanely long (unpaid) dock layovers, old equipment, and horrible backhauls. I'm thinking if it's dedicated WalMart that it's fairly quick in/out at DC and stores as well.

    Am I missing something that I should be running from? It looks pretty straight up to me. I've seen others say this kind of work is boring, but I don't want to 'see the country'. I want the same origin with basically the same few destinations every day with shortest possible dock times so I can get done and get home! I don't mind the occasional overnight.

    I had about 6 months/42,000 miles last year and haven't driven since last September. Should I be concerned about anything at orientation?

    Is most of the work done in the overnight or early am to afternoon?

    Are there any odd backhauls that USX adds in coming back from the WalMart drops or is it truly 100% dedicated?

    I feel pretty good about this job right now. If I still feel good about it Thursday, I'll call to confirm my spot at Shippensburg, PA orientation.

    Thankful for any additional comments/guidance.
     
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  3. bigNATURE

    bigNATURE Medium Load Member

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    May 5, 2013
    Texas city, tx
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    Being dedicated to walmart means you go dispatch from the DC to store, then from store depending on their needs, you go to their nearest source of product for a back haul, that could be anything, cambels soup, ozark water, any of the great value products etc, and let me tell you Walmart can be a headache. Their back hauls especially water can be upwards of 46,000lbs which puts u in the position of having to constantly refuse loads, or avoid scales.

    They will use up every #### bit of your clock lol. I ran out of Palestine, tx dedicated, Landstar, they also had Tango over there and etc, but we went into DFW area, Houston, and all thru the country side East Texas. I did this for quite a few months. I threw in the towel and moved on eventually, I didn't feel like the compensation was fair enough for the work done, and wasn't enough for an owner operator. I mean it wasn't bad pay, but as I said these back hauls could be pushing 46,000lbs and when I'm using back roads or stuck in DFW traffic that would equal me burning a good deal of fuel.

    but as a company driver, I don't know. You will find that a lot of walmart stores have only one dock, meaning when u pull up, u will drop your trailer in the parking lot, go pull the one out the dock, move it out the way and drop it, go pick your load back up, back it into the dock, drop it, then go back a pick your empty up. Lol. All for free.

    So, if the pay looks right, and it fits your life schedule, I'd say go for it, but try to get on direct with walmart, as these different companies tend to out bid each other and lose walmart accounts. Now, my experience was with their dry freight, their grocery/reefer side is a little different, u will be going inside the Walmarts and do piece counts with them etc..

    be prepared to wait on hold with walmart dispatchers because u will be at their mercy, and be prepared to wait around at the DC's for dispatch for up to hours sometimes. Don't expect a lot of miles because of all the different points I listed above.

    But it could, work for you. This is just a glimpse into walmart dedicated. Hope this helps
     
  4. CaptainKirk

    CaptainKirk Light Load Member

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    Dec 8, 2012
    Virginia
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    Thanks. I'm about 45 minutes from the DC so maybe I'll head over to one of the nearby truckstops and try to catch a USX driver....or I'll stake out the local Wal-Mart and wait for one to pull in.

    I stressed to the recruiter that waiting for loads and waiting to be unloaded were the main reasons I left my last employer and he said it's very unlikely that I'll experience that with Wal-Mart.

    Everything I hauled last year was 44-46K so I know the drill. Recruiter says I'll mostly be slipseating a day cab, and I think they've gone with the doublewide single tires, so that should help keep me legal.

    I'm ok with using up my 11/14 as long as they stick to it and give me my 10 at home most of the time.

    I looked at going direct, but I don't have the xp yet. I am a bit concerned about the bidding issue as I think that USX is fairly new to this DC for that reason. I guess worst case scenario is that by the time they lose it, I'll have enough xp to go direct.

    Thanks for your time and knowledge bigNATURE.
     
  5. bigNATURE

    bigNATURE Medium Load Member

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    May 5, 2013
    Texas city, tx
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    No problem, and man, gordonsville will probably be serving the DC area, Richmond, Roanoke etc, but what would concern me is that DC area, DC to Fredericksburg by itself is SUCH a jam, one of the worst in the country. Lol. But like I said, it might work for you, if the pay is right I'd say go for it.
     
  6. CaptainKirk

    CaptainKirk Light Load Member

    91
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    Dec 8, 2012
    Virginia
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    Yeah I'm thinking it's the main hub to the DC stores, although there is a DC in Williamsport, MD that hopefully does the heavy lifting. Surely the logistics folks pay attention to that clusterF that is DC-Fredericksburg and route it correctly with early early or late night runs. There's another DC in Mt. Crawford that probably supplies Roanoke, so I'm hoping a lot of my work would be down towards Richmond/Petersburg and across to South Boston & Danville. That's a nice little area.

    I've been driving around in MD/Del/Philly/Jersey a good bit, so cutting that down to even 50% would be a dream.
     
  7. bigNATURE

    bigNATURE Medium Load Member

    304
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    May 5, 2013
    Texas city, tx
    0
  8. TruckerNewbie91

    TruckerNewbie91 Bobtail Member

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    May 30, 2013
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    This account hauls groceries, dry and perishable. The Mt. Crawford, Willamsport MD and Sutherland buildings all handle general merchandise. Most of the time, the DC stores are hauled by Walmart Drivers. You will be going to MD, parts of NC, PA, and all over VA. Some of the dry loads are drop and hook but all perishable loads are live unload. You have to be inside the store when they unload.
     
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