Orientation 02/29/12

I had to come home to take sleep apnea test, the only thing that held me back

 

There are some fantastic people that work in Van Buren. Just by removing Cliff (it's my way or the highway) Beckham and his lackeys the board can fix most of the problem. Get some good people in upper management and most of the other problems should get solved.

 

I don't know why it happens, but there always seems to be a (company) driver who will always defend USA Truck. It don't matter what the subject is, YOU are the one wrong because the (company) can do no wrong in their eyes. I guess they counterbalance against the ones who think the (company) can do nothing right. It's getting close to 10 months now since I left USA Truck, and I am slowly beginning to see they actually did me a favor by terminating me. USA Truck did not poison my DAK so I landed on my feet with my current company, and have done OK since. I harbor no ill will toward anybody at USA Truck Cliff Beckham included. HOWEVER I could not in good conscience advise anybody to enter their training program at this point! Drivers such as Retiredsarge are a case in point! Retiredsarge is trapped in his contract and having trouble keeping his truck out of the shop. Yes, he will get valuable experience at USA Truck, but what does he use to buy food and pay his bills till such a time he can exchange said experience into a better paying job? I have posted elsewhere that anybody thinking about working for this (company) needs to seek out current drivers and ask them about life at USA Truck before you sign those C1 contracts! Read these forum threads carefully and try as much as possible to ignore the pro and negative hyperbole you will find.

I have said many times before there are some awesome people that work for USA Truck. I know and still have contact with many of them. If you can somehow get a good running tractor and a decent FM you can make money there, drivers do it everyday. The problems come when your tractor develops chronic mechanical problems over time and/or you get a butthole for a FM. These problems cause drivers to quit when their contracts are up or in the case of experienced drivers when they can't stand it any longer. The unassigned tractor problem is so bad the (company) management has put intense pressure on the recruiting dept to get warm bodies in the trucks. As I write this it's almost 4 AM so I will stop now, but it breaks my heart to see so many good people fall into this trap, and no matter what is said they will not listen to the warnings to stay far away from USA Truck!

 

I saw a look on one of the employees at Van Buren last time I was there. We all know this person. " " That look of disgust was worth 10,000 words. I don't think they would be good words either.

 

I was at C1 in Fort Wayne 3 weeks ago and was contracted with USA, i took my physical that monday and they wanted me to take a sleep apnea test, and when i did i can go back but i wasnt impressed with my room bed were made but moldy food on dresser on fridge it stank to high heaven so i decided not to go back anyways, looks like ir may have been a blessing.

 

Well as far as the truck goes, I only have two recommendations, either stay away from terminals in the hope that if it breaks down you'll go to a dealer, or request a truck reassignment. As far as the LC's and FMs go with loads....I don't count on them to do anything. My FM tries to pull high mileage loads and drop and hooks for me as much as she can. I dont ask her for anything else on the load as it's usually easier and more reliable to do it myself. As soon as I get my load assignments I call the shipper and receiver and verify all the information on the messages including pick up/delivery appointments or windows, shipment or BOL numbers, and lumper information. I also take the time to ask if I can do early pickup or delivery (whichdispatch will almost always say you can't without verifying) and see if a lumper will be used, or in the case of a drop and hook whether or not my "preloaded" is ACTUALLY loaded yet and whether or not they have empties available at the final. If there is no number listed on the msg for the customer (or it's wrong) I will google it and call every number I find until somebody gets me to shipping and receiving.

All of these things could be argued are the LC's job. Well in a perfect world the LC would set up and verify everything. Since we don't live in said world, my loads are my moneyand I don't let anybody handle my money. It could be said that this is too much effort. Well... To that I say that ive had better luck handling things myself and waste less time.