U.S. Xpress Strikes Again!!

I asked myself that as well. They were probably just lying to get me off the phone.

 

Teaforone,
Do you have any fact about your statement regarding the fact that USX is going out of business? Fact is good, rumor is not, in my opinion.

 

Never once in any of my posts did I say 100 percent that they were going out of business. I said I just heard from a recruiter that they were on a 6month to 1 year hiring freeze. Then I said it is "my opinion" and "I think" they are going out of business.

No where did I say someone told me they are going out of business

 

I currently work for USX I have been back at this company for a few months now Since the last time I was here. This is the same company I started my driving career with, I worked for them for about a yr before I left and went to Roehl Transport for 2 yrs. With that said I think I can put a stop to all of this specualtion about what is or isnt happening to USX.

The first thing I would like to address is the forcing of people to become team drivers. The answer is USX likes nay I say loves team drivers, the answer is simple it makes the company more profit to run a truck team. Team drivers at this company have and always will get special treatment, such as better freight, newer equipment, pampered in every way.

With that said the only people being forced to become team drivers are people that live in certain states as have been mentioned earlier in the post. The reason for that is what I stated in an earlier post but I will say it again. It is hard enough to get people home when they want to be, let alone having to deadhead someone hundreds of miles to get them there only to have to deadhead them hundreds of miles again when they come out of hometime.

So get over it already dang people act as if that is the most horrible thing a company could do to someone. Ask yourself this, is a trucking companies job not to run a cost effective operation? Sending people hundreds of miles at a cost to the company simply because there is no freight going close to where a person lives is not USX fault? The economy is tough for all companies right now and all companies are seeking ways to be more effecient. USX made a good business call and like it or not if I was running the company I would do the same thing!

Now lets move onto the other issue of USX going bankrupt. As most of you already know USX is not a small outfit. USX also owns or owns a great deal of alot of other companies such as Arnold, Total, Smith, Stevens, and others. Now it dont take a rocket scientist to figure out if a company is in bad shape they dont buy into other companies, or if they do own other parts of companies they start selling assest. And USX is not so that outta answer that question, until you read that USX has sold its stake in so and so company they aint going no where.

Lots of people like to think there is this pefect company you can work at and never have anything to complain about. The fact of the matter is that its a dream, its never going to happen. I have worked at 3 companies since I started driving 5 yrs ago local, Werener, USX, and Roehl. All of them have issues as every company does. The trick is to find one that you can put up with the issues, I believe alot of that is due to a drivers attitude. Whiners will always whine, hot heads will always be hot heads reguardless of the color of truck they drive.

I read and post on the forums from time to time and 99.8% of the gripes I read come from newer drivers. I remember when I first started in this job fresh outta driving school eyes full of dreams and hopes. I mean them recruiters coming in that school, begging for you to come work for them, spouting why their company is so great it makes feel like you are royalty dont it? It makes the new school drivers think the world revolves around them, and that they will treat me like gold or ill go work for so and so.

I was in that state of mind when I started too, ohh how so that dream is gone and reality sets in. Lets face facts here shall you good people want to.

Fact: All a trucking company has to sell is service, they have no widgits to sell. If a companies service to its customers is no good, said company will fail. So you all can gripe about company A or B all you want, the fact remains if they are still in business they are doing something right.

Fact: A companies service has alot more than just a driver getting from point A to point B on time. Can he do it safely? Can he do it in a clean truck? Can he be polite? Can he look nice and clean at a customer? Finally can he do it cheaper than company A B C D E F G?

Fact: Dispatchers are usually useless, they cant make or break you as a driver however. Suck up your foolish pride and go meet them face to face, be polite, go out of your way to be that guy that helps out in a bind, be that self suffiecient driver that he never hears from. I think if you have to rely on a dispatcher to get your job done you are always going to be dissapointed. What I mean by that is this what do you need them for? I mean really I dont even have to call a dispatcher but maybe once a month. If you find yourself calling them all the time you might need to take a long hard look as to why you are needing them so often to do a job that really doesnt involve them.

Fact: A company is always looking for ways to save money, I mean after all isnt that what they are supposed to do? Does that mean the driver may have to take a paycut in tough times? Does that mean drivers from certain states may be required to team with another from that same state? Does that make it wrong or mean? As far as miles go everyone knows that miles always fluctuate. As far as them letting you sit just because they dont like you? Are you that stupid? Each truck is ran like a single business, each has a cost, each has a profit. They dont "let" a truck sit nowhere if they can help it. Its just plain stupid to think otherwise. I mean really, my dispatcher hates me he made me sit in bummF___K Arkansas for 3 days. Sorry to inform you that your not that important if there is freight the truck will roll simple as that. If it doesnt you better believe someone is finding out why they paid $$xxxx out on the cost of the truck and didnt make any profit@##!!!!


KEEP ON TRUCKING PE@CE@##!!!!

 

GREAT POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yea thats why I tell solo drivers to stay away from this company. maybe then the solo's could make some money and feed their family's, instead of doing P&D and repowers for Teams.

Well I have run team, in fact it was at USX. And I would rather be skinned alive and tossed in the ocean before I did it again. So yes for me it would be quite horrible .

Well I for one was never in the boat of those who though they will go bankrupt. But they did have one of the highest debt to income ratios in the industry. But now I believe they are private so who knows what their financial situation is.

My theory is that all OTR company's are bad and that some are less bad then others. I know this is a pessimistic outlook but after almost 2 decades of driving and seeing the changes in the industry just since I started. I can't imagine USX is any better then it was for the 6.5 years I worked there.
I totally agree that a company needs to do what is right for them. But after leaving USX I can say without a doubt USX was the least driver friendly company's I have worked at as a solo driver in any fleet.

When you are at the top 5% of a company in longevity after 2 years like I was because of their high turnover. The reason has to be more then just whinny drivers.

The bottom line is that I would not still be driving a truck if I had to put up with the level of crap I put up with at USX for so long. I still want to bang my head on the wall for putting up with it as long as I did. But I'm German and stubborn, so what ya gonna do?

 

I agree 100%. I'm a newbee myself. I take advantage of all extra training that I can (road ready, backing classes). I listen closely to the stories of tragedies that occur due to distraction and driving too fast. I can't count how many trucks blow by me in snowy conditions, down steep grades with smoking brakes.
I may be a slow obstacle to many of these "super truckers" in my Swift 62 mph hotrod but I want to get home safely as well as the drivers around me. I can see that it's easy to get complacent, but getting ongoing training and staying alert with driving and vehicle inspections can combat that..

 

I totally agree with this part:

But that crapola about dispatchers? C'mon, you really aren't a driver or are a total noob. Or you've been limited to one or two dispatchers that were pretty good. Some of these guys are total butts. And often because DRIVERS act like total butts. Everyone should lighten up all around. But it's not probable.
And if you think a dispatcher can't break you, you haven't pulled for some of the outfits I did. There was NO 'personal meetings' with them or getting a replacement.

 

Well for those that say im a pencil pusher in the office your are misinformored. Its funny to me that almost every post I make on this site I get accused of this. Why is that? Is it because I am able to articulate? Is it because I seem smart? Or because I can spell? Its hilarious!

As far as dispatchers are concerned yeah I agree some are butts. But that doesnt make or break you as a driver. All dispatchers are is a link between drivers, planners, and customer service. They dont send you the loads to haul that comes from the planner. With that said how is it that they can break you? They are not the ones deciding who gets what load? All they are for is when you have a problem like I need more time for pickup or delivery, Im having issues with my truck, I need to be home on XXX day. Like I said before I dont even need a dispatcher so it matters not if they are butts I dont need there crappy directions, I dont need to ask if I can bobtail to walmart while my trailer is being loaded, I dont need to ask if its ok to run an alternate route. I am a grown man that knows how to do my job if you need a dispather to tell you how to do your job you are asking for nothing but trouble. Self relaiance that is the trick to this job!!!!

As far as defending a company that is screwing me? What do you mean by that? The planner sends me a load I review said load and decide if I can make pickup and delivery in the time it allowed. If so I accept said load and off I go driving for the agreed cpm rate I agreed to when I came to work at this company. As safely and courtously as I possible can. If there is no load to be hauled then I sit and wait till one comes up. I fail to see how that is screwing someone? Isnt that what a truck driver does?

Ill say this again too as it needs to be repeated. A company does not let a driver "sit" simply because a dispatcher or planner for that matter dont "like" a driver. Math simply dont make that possible, it doesnt matter how many trucks a company has nor the amount of drivers a company has. Each truck is treated like a single bussiness each truck has a cost and a profit. If a trucks cost is more than its profit you best believe some higher up is asking why. So saying a company is making a driver sit due to some personal conflict is simply not true. Business is business reguardless of the other so called conflict.

KEEP ON TRUCKING@###!!!!