USA Truck; no joy!

steve... you just posting the same thing in all the threads?

 

drove for usa for 8months,short hauls,expect u to run illegal,treated like crap,wont fix it unless it prevents trk from rolling,wont wash it or re imburse for washing.

 

I absolutely agree. If a person has 16 years experience & he/she still looking for a job from trashy truck stop newspapers... He/she doesn't have a sense...

 

usa is doing the same thing to me. If i could go back i would have never signed up with them. they extort you with a one year contract and a 6,000$ charge if you quit before one year. the school (c-1 truck school) was a joke imo. They will make sure you get a CDL, teaching you what you are doing is on you. They will bus you to your truck which is more than likely dogged out and filthy. They will run you all over and when you are supposed to go home they will ask you to stay out and just keep giving you runs. I decided to just bobtail home after a drop and got talked to by my FM who said i cant just decide when its time to go home. OH well, live and you learn, usually the hard way. i could go on but wont.

 

Same sad story. Did they not tell you in C-1 training about the $6,000 price tag and that you had to serve a year with the company as an indentured servant, or you owe them six big ones back? I'll bet that you signed the contract, and that is what it is, a contract. If you did not like the terms, walk away.
Taking the grey bus to your assigned vehicle is pretty much protocol for training companies. Were you expecting them to possibly charter a Lear Jet for you?
They run you all over, huh? Probably somewhere along the line you should have picked up on the fact that most newbees there probably will run the 48. Also when it was time to go home did you take the bait and stay out to make the money, or tell them that you want to go home? Usually if you start to message your FM 3-4 days prior to your hometime about you going home, most companies, yes including USA, will get you home pretty close to your request. Most of the time a driver becomes their own worst enemy because instead of hometime the company throws a California or high mileage trip at the driver and the drivers takes it. Lets them know for you, miles are more important than home.
Lucky you didn't get fired for the bobtail to the house. You must live close to your last drop.
Sounds like you have almost graduated from the school of hard knocks. Good luck on your future driving and advanced education.

 

I just hired on with USA. Went thru C-1 and then thru there training program. I signed the contract the same as everyone else, and knowing I have a year to serve. A bus from where you live to where your truck is, is cheap. They're not sending an expensive cab, limo, or as you said lear jet...lol

I've seen some of the things people complain about, just thru the training phase, but I don't see nothing worth crying and complaining about(yet), that wasn't explained in the beginning. They tell you, we're sending you, on a bus, to your truck. But everyone leaves out the part where USA is paying you miles from your house to the truck...Mean USA trucks, paying for us to ride a bus, by the mile. They spoke to us, and may be truthful or not, but they say they want to send workers out to the trucks in the future and clean them up, and find out if they need repairs. That way drivers don't pick them up with nasty rubbers, and a piss bucket full, in TX 107 deg. summers...We'll see, but I've seen nothing yet that wasn't explained before it happened...

 

At least your honest and told the whole story. Obviously I am at USA too, its an entry level job. The best you can hope for is to have the fortitude to complete the contract. I have 4 months in, ceratinly not alot of time, but enough to understand the "game" here. Why would anyone with ANY experience make such a choice? Work history I suspect or something where most companies bypass you. I see these post on here all the time from guys who state 1/2 the story, what USA or whatever company did to them, the part they leave out is why the company did it to them, if they did anything at all!

My FM has been very up front with me, has had the opportunity to lie to me but has not, which I do understand and appreciate it as it is not the normal M.O. here. I run alot of NE states, short runs, not sliding scale since I am new they got me with the .25 to start, I just went to .26. after 12 months I will be at .34. Bottom line is this, I knew the terms and so did everyone else who walks in the door. The question is not why do we do it, its do we have the balls to stand up to our decision, complete our obligation, learn something and then hopefully be in a position after 12 months to better our situation?

Certainly I see guys here after 2 weeks, apply to other companies and get hired, I always wonder what happens to them once the road test is over and the real work starts and these same guys are lookin again? Sometimes the companies are are as guilty as the drivers in terms of jumping ship, being to quick to fill the seat.

Im green to this industry but not life. At 42 my goal is simple, in January 2012 be in a position where I can make my own choice, based on whats best for me. To do that I have to do the right thing and keep my nose (and my license) clean. I refuse to let USA or anyone cause me to do anything that will harm me or my future.

You can make fun of me for being green and choosing USA, however, I did it with the full knowledge of what I was doing.....and so does the rest of these so called "drivers" that ##### about USA when they want to run out on their obligation, because at the end of the day, USA does not loose, they (quitters) do!

btw: the home time thing.....they try to get you to stay out with long runs and such, just tell them...NO! I do it all the time, they dont like it, but thats how it is!

 

i do agree with the people saying that complaining is useless because you signed up for this. my earlier point is that they (industry) paint a picture of what trucking will be like before you sign up. its not until you sign up with a company do you realize what youve done and how long a year on the road feels. The impression i got was that school would be very thorough, it wasnt imo. Your pay rate is hit if you take per diem and driver legal plan, and the 45$ a week for school. a lot of expenses on the road, scale tickets, food, DOT violations (hope not) ect. (you will get reimbursed for scale tickets) after a couple weeks. My good paychecks are around 400.00 a week, however the industry IS tough, im not complaining. USA truck tries to do what they can. My fleet manager is a nice guy and USA is full of really good people.

I have had a little more experience with this process since my last post, and can say its not for everyone. if you like being home, its not for you. ... if you like eating well, its not for you. if you like struggling with landing gear and rusty tandems.. if you like risky intersections, and traffic it IS for you. if you like driving around all day looking for places... if you like sleeping in a hard to find truck stop with little spaces left to choose from its for you. if you like using dirty toilets, and showering in truck stops its for you. if you like to work lot for a little bit of money, its for you...
.... and if you can balance all the BS and get through it, its for you. Im not complaining in fact im saying USA is a good company, just dont get into trucking without actually talking to about 20 drivers, i didnt and would have benefited from their perspectives. do your research, and good luck out there be safe.

 

Well I've been out on the road for 3 weeks. First week I got 3200mi.
2nd week just over 2,000 but I had to go home for a family deal, which was easy. I told FM I needed to go home for death in family, and there was never a question about it. I was home for the funeral, and back on the road Wednesday. I am happy so far, and hope it stays good.

 

Why people with 18yrs of experience still bounce around trucking companies? Maybe its not the carrier , its the driver. Sometime you have to suck it up and drive on.