USA Truck ( Never Go Home )

I just wanted to give everyone my experience at USA Truck.
I worked there from August 2010 and Quit in May 2011

I worked at 1 Other Company before them.

1. For The most part my bring home pay was around 350 Dollars per week.
Sometimes more but not many. A lot of times less. I am single with no
children so they taxed me more , but for the most part expect no more
than 350 per week.

2. My truck was governed at 59Mph.

3. After you stay out over the road for 14 days , You have to Beg to go home after this. I know a lot of drivers will say that before the 14th day you need to try to get them to send you toward the house , but it does not work. They will tell you that they have you for 14 days... and then they are required to get you home after that. So NEVER EVER believe you are going to be home on the 14th day. You will be out over the road for probably around 18 days or more! You will never see your family.

4. I was never late for any load. Lot's of driver's are so they will lie to you on the qualcomm and give you pickup and delivery times that are ( For the most part ) always early. One time I had a load and was told by the qualcomm that it picked up at 10 A.M. Central , but it actually picked up around 3 p.m! This happened frequently! So when I would arrive that early.. the customer would be angry because lot's of other USA Drivers arrived early also. When I asked for extra pay for sitting all day ... they told me and I quote ( Let's see how your miles are at the end of the week)
I found that answer unacceptable.

5. I was close to home one time and had been out on the road for around 22 days and had been begging to go home since the 14th day! I was dispatched on a load to New York and was told to drive to a Truck Stop and another driver would be waiting. The truck stop was way out of route and I asked over and over " Are you sure I should drive all the way this way... to relay the load ? " My dispatcher said " Yes " ...
I drove all the way to the truck stop and ... to my suprise... no one was there. I called and they told me I had to drive the load to New York that there was never a relay set in the system. They told me over the qualcomm to do this though. They said they didnt care.. I had to deliver the load! Now Remember what I am about to say...
I CALLED SAFETY AND TOLD THEM I WAS SO MAD THAT I WAS THINKING ABOUT WRECKING THEIR TRUCK ON PURPOSE! I also told them that they lied to me on purpose and I was sick of their lies. But they told me I had to deliver the load and could not go home.

Anyway.. I worked with them the whole time and they never said anything other than for me to calm down. I was not fired or anything. I never had any accidents or anything at this company! I worked with them for almost 1 year before I decided to quit.

I quit them in May... and came home. I could not find another job and was down to the point that I called Usa Truck back and asked them if I could come back! They said Yes! They kept in touch with me and ... made sure I was coming. They ensured me I would not be sent home unless I did something horrible like fail a drug screen or something.

Well once I got to the company.. I passed the drug screen and everything was going great... but they told me that I could not be rehired and they payed for me to come back home. I was angry and all I could find out was that they said it was because of some issues from before... but I had to call 5 different people to get that information.

I will say some more bad things about them quickly.
1. I had to spend the night at a pilot from 2p.m. to 11 a.m. the next morning because they did not want to pay for a hotel while my truck was in the shop. I had to immediately run afterwards.

2. If your a/c goes out in the truck .. they make you sleep in the truck until your service is due... usually around 15- 20,000 miles or so.

3. They try to get you to run with a flat tire if you are within 200 miles or so from their terminal. I had to threaten to take the truck to the weigh station if they didn't fix it.

4. There are many more issues but I will stop at this.

So please look at that info and take it for what it is worth before you go with them.

I will say a few good things about them for those who are going to work with them.

1. Their running areas are pretty cool. I stayed in the south a lot and went to Laredo 1 or 2 times per month. I did do North East but not a whole lot.

2. They did make sure u ran legal and u got a lot of rest. Sometimes you sit more than u really wanted to though.

3. If you have a issue ... they do try to talk to people but it never works out the way you want it to.

4. They do know you by name but it is because their system is set up to where they know who is calling and what truck number. This is good and bad in ways because if you are asking to go home.. they will ignore your phone calls.

All In All here is what to expect... from my point of view

1. Your paychecks will not be big at all. A good week there for me was 800 dollars or less and I would bring home around 550 or so. This was a GOOD Week. I only saw these 1 time per month. I usually brought home around 350 or so. I never expected any more than this.

2. Never expect to go home.. PERIOD! I worked there for 11 months and I made 7 doctors appointments and had to cancel all 7 of them because I was not going to make it. And Yes... I made it clear to everyone in the company I had an appointment. I even called safety and asked them If I could make my appointment and they said that they would talk to my fleet manager... but when they do... he will get mad at you for calling them.

3. If you stay in there truck... and live in it.. and never go home.. and never have ANYTHING going on... it seems to be okay. For example.. I went 1 month in the truck the whole time and they really liked that and that month my fleet manager was really good to me and told me that I was a great driver. SO IF YOU ARE STARTING AT USA AND WANT THEM TO BE NICE TO YOU ... Or you are just trying to make a 1st impression.. you probably want to try to stay over the road for 2 months or so... then they will put you on a list of dependable drivers! Let me make something else clear... REALLY CLEAR...

IF YOU ARE PUT ON A LIST OF DEPENDABLE DRIVERS.. AND THIS LIST DOES EXIST because my fleet manager showed it to me... YOU WILL BE PUT ON REALLY TIGHT SHORT RUNS THAT DELIVER At times like 4 A.M. and sometimes 1 A.M. So I found this list was not the place I wanted to be on. I ran 6 loads one week and every one of them combined were like..
1700 miles and.. that was all I got payed for the week! I called and asked them if I could have extra pay because I did everything I was supposed to do and worked all week long never denying a load... and they told me
" I am just not going to give you my money for free " And this is a direct quote!

Just remember also that it is almost impossible to get payed any breakdown or detention pay. I got 1 day's worth of breakdown pay because I made them feel sorry for me. I had to tell them that I was hungry and starving and the bills were not being payed. So after all of this I got detention pay. I was really not starving.. i was just trying to get the pay.

Also remember that they can look on your comdata card and see how much money you have on it. So if u need money for something... an advance for oil ... or even a toll that they don't pay.. ( They usually pay all of them but there is 1 that they don't pay ) they can look at your comdata card and see if you have any money on it... They don't tell you that they do this.... but they do! I know they do! If you need an advance for something and have money on your comdata card.. YOU WILL NOT GET IT.. but if you don't... they will give it to you.

Just know that at USA Truck you will not support a family... PERIOD.
If you are single without any kids... you will make enough to pay for your cell phone... and maybe a used car payment but u wont make enough to live on your own. You will have to live out of the truck.

I am not kidding you! You can take this for what it is worth!
I am sure some of their drivers will reply and disagree so...
Just take what I am saying for what it is worth.

If you go to USA ... GOOD LUCK! I mean that. If it is your start just make sure you try to leave after u pay them off or whatever. You don't want to retire with this company.

 

Yes, If you want to work hard but the system is set up there where you can't run a lot of miles. After a certain amount of miles I was cut off. I was working really hard one week for a 3,000 mile week and I was shut off at 2600 miles.

They did this a lot to me!

I am thinking about giving up trucking completely. I worked for Swift for almost 2 years and Usa Truck for almost 1 year and it has been a disaster. To be away from home for 7 days straight and only bring home around 350 or close to 400 dollars is crazy! My friends were laughing at me because we were comparing paychecks.. and one of my friends was a Stock person at Food City and he was almost making my pay and he was home every night.

I do believe trucking is a good industry but ... Man...
Ohh Man... I can't do that anymore because they pay is not good at all.
I was making 35 cents per mile. But I would rather go home.. And Work In Construction. Construction workers make more than truck drivers or close to the same. My friends in the coal mines are bringing home over 700 per week and home every single night. I was working at Usa for 7 Straight days and away from home and bringing home 350 - 400 a week average! The stress ... Time Away From Home... And everything else combined is just not worth it to me.

I just turned 30 years old and a good part of my 20's to trucking... I will not lose my 30's to it. If i could bring home 500 dollars a week... every week for 7 days of work.. I would be happy... but You just can't do it with the reputable companies like Usa Truck or Swift.

 

The only good thing I noticed about these companies is that ...
If you live out of the truck and never go home .. and do not have any bills...
Then it is okay and you can SAVE MONEY!!! But you will never really Make any good money. The only way I could get any kind of money is to save the little bit I was making.

For example... While working at Usa ... If I wanted to have a Cell Phone and make a used car payment... I could not live anywhere but the truck. You just do not make enough money to live in a house as a truck driver working for Usa Truck or Swift.
I don't know about the others.

I am really disgusted with the Trucking Industry right now.
I am under the impression that as a truck driver.. you can NEVER EVER be married and have a family. As a matter of fact...

If You Are A Truck Driver...
You will never have a family. You can't meet any girls or anything.
Even if you did.. You can not afford to rent a house. If you do so happen to rent a house.. it's all you can do. You can only make your rent and eat a little bit and that's it.

To Eat on the truck for 1 month... costs so much money that you could pay your rent where I live. For Example.. For Me Just to rent a Single Wide Trailer costs 400 dollars a month...

At Usa I was bringing home around 1600 dollars per month...

Take 400 for rent....
200 for your car payment...
80 for insurance...
almost 100 for your house phone...
Then Add the money you pay for food on the road and at home...

Your finished... You will never have anything or ever get enough money to even
buy anything else. I could not even go to the store because I had my budget strictly fixed and every day in the truck.. My stomach never felt... " Full "
I couldn't afford for it to be. I had to always feel hungry just to make it.

You should not have to do this at any job.

 

Nope! My Dac wasnt messed with! I don't have any preventable's or anything.
My dac shows that I am re hirable!

I know I was wrong by saying that though. But I did not want to work for that company after making what I was making and taking the chances that you take. If anything goes wrong you could be charged.

I did want to work there again just because I needed a job. That was the only reason. But bringing home 400 dollars per week to NEVER EVER GO HOME is enough to quit!

Now I understand why Truck Drivers look the way they do! Most of them look like they are homeless! They can't afford anything! They just live out of the truck... eat... and sleep... and have a cell phone and that's about it. They don't make enough money to have anything.

Maybe I am wrong.. but if u work for Usa Truck... or Swift...
You are broke! Period! You Probably do not have a wife! You probably look like #### because of your health!

It is very sad!

 

Thanks Ronin..

But Trucking is probably not the route I will take anymore. I have the up most respect for the Truck Drivers out there. I did it for almost 3 years and I don't see how they did it. I was miserable my whole 3 years! Never made any more than 31,000 per year...

There are SOO many more jobs that you can do that pay more than any of the trucking companies and be home also. My friends who quit school were making almost double my pay in the Coal Mines and home every night and weekend.

They were doubling my pay working 5 days per week and home every night.
I was working 18 straight days and still making around half of their pay!

What a shame!

 

Well They told me that if I became a truck driver that I would make a lot of money also.

Not saying anything toward you but... I have almost gave up in trucking completely.

In 3 years of trucking I have never made more than 33k Per Year. This is working with the Reputable Companies like Swift and Usa Truck.