My sig other has been around the industry all his life and finally took the plunge to get his class A and start doing what he has always thought he wanted to do. He began his training with USA and after 2 and a half weeks with a trainer, went team. Hes been solo for about 2 months and loves driving. What he is not loving is that they have found reasons every paycheck to deduct things so that he has not made one red dime and is in fact in the hole because of driving. Ive had to send him money to survive on the road. This weeks paycheck was $24 - they charged comchecks to his account as advances. Last weeks line of BS was they charged him the lumpers fees instead of reimbursing him. I dont understand all of what has been taken out but I know we are worse off now than we were before he started driving. Do they cheat drivers on their miles? His first FM was an egomanic and was impossible to work with. He had Chris sitting more than he was driving. He told him things that were not correct, like not logging his PTI. Chris finally fired him and was assigned to another fleet and a FM who was at least easier to work with but seems just as innept. Night and weekend dispatch have been incompetent bafoons....they tried to dispatch him to pick up a load in Texas from Connecticut.
He dropped a load at a shipper and was told to pick up a loaded trailer (#54). He walked the line of trailers with the security guard, and found trailer 54. Security checked the load against the paperwork and said it was the right trailer, sealed it and sent chris on his way. He was working his way south so he could come home for some much needed down time. He got halfway to Georgia (where he was supposed to deliver the load) and night dispatch called him with the news that he had the wrong trailer. Chris asked what they wanted him to do with the trailer and they told him to keep going while they tried to figure out a relay. He got to the Pilot in Georgia and the message waiting for him on his QC was that there was no one who could relay it and that the reciever was in Virginia, and he had to take it himself. He was flat broke and had no food in the truck, but that didnt matter to them. He took the load and delivered it ontime, and started working his way south again. He had a load that delivered in Texas and from there, they would give him something to either Mississippi or Louisiana. Enroute to Texas, dispatch told him that he would not be paid for the 800 miles to Virginia, and an additional 536 miles to a terminal for something else (that he was told to do). He dropped the texas load and contacted his FM and said he was coming home, and he was told to stand by....they were looking for a load. They came up with one going to Ohio.....he refused. He finally talked to his FM's supervisor and told him that the truck would not move until they told him how they were getting him home. Finally he got a load (address sent) going to Louisiana. He reported to the shipper yesterday morning and there was no one there. He was in constant contact with dispatch and 5 hours later they asked him the address he was at, and he told them. They said he was at the wrong address.....it was the one on the QC that they told him to report to. 7 hours later, he loaded and was on the road, but he ran out of hours. Hes fed up, disgusted and disillusioned with USA. All he has asked for is a paycheck (which he has earned, driving a minimum of 1000 miles a week), and 3 days off for every 14 days he works. I realize this is a starter company but do they do all their green horns this way? He'd like to hang in and get his 6 months done so he can go with a better company, but at what price? So far the job has been a nightmare. He would like to quit this company but is afraid of what might go on his DAC. How does one quit a company and not have it adversely affect ones history.
USA - is it supposed to be this way?
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Girltrucker, Sep 4, 2011.
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First concern would be did he sign one of USA's famous 1 year contracts? If so that will make things much harder.
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USA SUCKS. Try to hang a year. If ya can ! If not do the best job ya can for the aho!$&... an find another job. You,ll be ok with 6 months exp.Not great but youll make $$$$ to live an pay bills etc. I wouldent stay long enough for them to fab a reason to fire you. Get out asap. Swift,FFE, Stevens,Western express,Werner,England. The list goes on an on.PM me if need be. Good luck It Gets better. I went to USA with 20 yrs an got the boot last day of orentation.No reason given.Escorted off proptery.WTF. Hey they paid my bus ride home.
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1,000 miles a week? Is that all USA offers? No idea how they can stay in business.
Industry standard for home time is one day for one week. If he stays out two weeks, he should get two days. Getting home every two weeks might be a bit of a push. I don't think there are very many new drivers who can honestly say they get home every two weeks like clockwork. It's not how this industry operates.
But 1,000 miles/week?? Seriously? That's only two days worth of work. -
OK...breathe a sec.
First of all....the deductions are normal pending documentation of the expense. For example, if I pay an item with a comcheck, but the receipt doesn't get in during the same pay period, it will show against the driver as a deduction, with the reimbursement coming the next cycle (or so it SHOULD be).
As far as the rest of the scenario....I'm sorry you're going through this. They'd #### well pay me for any dispatched miles, erroneous or otherwise.
I'm in no way defending USA Truck. I just remember being a newbie and not fully understanding the whole deduction/reimbursement thing.JimBad, Tazz, fancypants and 1 other person Thank this. -
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I could be wrong about the miles thing....I seem to remember him saying he was doing @400 miles a day. But, the main thing is that when he was hired (no contract....got his license from an independent school) their agreement was that he would be out for 2 weeks and home for 2 days until they go regional and then out for one week, home on the weekends. Dispatchers are idiots, FM seems ok but his mouth keeps writing checks that he cant back up. The first week he was out, he got a whopping 400 miles, total - the dispatcher wouldnt send him loads. How does one correctly get out of a driving job when he is in the probationary period? Can it be done without adversely affecting his DAC?? Will 2 weeks notice with delivering the truck to where the company wants it be sufficient?
Todays idiocy was the dispatcher asking why the load was going to be late tomorrow since he "picked it up at 10 PM on friday night". No, he informed her, he reported to the shipper at 10PM friday night, but the address they sent him was wrong, and he didnt get the correct one until saturday afternoon. He would have called the shipper for the correct address but they didnt provide him with a telephone number, and isnt that the dispatchers job, anyway???? And, as he informed them on thursday, he was out of hours as of saturday afternoon, and it still takes 32 hours to do a reset and that wont be done until 32 hours after he started it. Rocket science and they aint rocket scientists. -
The deductions are puzzling, but he figured it out pretty quickly, and anything the shipper or receiver gives him, lumpers bills, com checks, etc, he sends in as soon as he arrives at a Pilot or wherever they have a machine to send such things in. He doesnt have the best filing system but he does keep everything for future reference. He was told that he didnt have to send the lumpers bills in, and so he didnt and then they told him (after his check was issued) that they were charging them to him. He faxed those bills in quick, fast, and in a hurry, and they were supposed to be reimbursed in this check....doesnt seem to have happened.
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