USA Truck: Love letters to Cliff

I started my trucking career with USA Truck in 1992. Since then I've happily taken over a million dollars of their money in what I think of as my weekly certificates of achievement. It hasn't been easy but then nobody ever said it would be. Truckin' ain't for sissies. I'd much prefer being at home playing with my grandson but my wife keeps harping on me about needing luxury items like food, clothing and shelter so it's off to work I go. Hi ho.
I was pretty happy with the arrangement until a few months ago when I discovered this forum and started reading about all the horrible things that USA Truck does to their drivers. What a fool I've been. Here I've been taking dirty money from a company that, from what I read, is scamming, cheating and lying to me on a daily basis. The HORROR! These guys here at USA Truck must be some really good actors to keep the wool pulled over my eyes all of these years. But, in spite of the awakening I've received here, I've decided to press on bravely and keep taking their money. I am going to sign my name and truck number to this though so those rip-off artists out there in Van Buren AR will know that I'm on to them now.
Truth is there isn't a single company with a training program that gets much good press here. And the reason for that is simply because the flake out rate for new drivers is ASTRONOMICAL. So of course these companies have a lot of ex employees and your ex employees aren't likely to have nice things to say about you. In fact some of them will actually make up stuff if they have to.
USA Truck is a good company with a lot of good folks, and a few dunderheads (like every other company), to work with.
Don't think I'm recruiting for USA Truck here though. I have written extensively both here and elsewhere on the web about the driver retention issue. I think the companies themselves are primarily responsible for driver turn over being as high as it is. A little over a decade ago they started the cannibalistic recruiting tactics that are still in vogue today. Actively luring even inexperienced drivers from other companies to keep their seats filled is, in my opinion, a bad business model.
The focus should instead be on developing and retaining the driving force you have and, if you do that effectively, they in turn will be a better recruiting tool than any sign on bonus you could possibly afford. So no I will not try to recruit you. In fact, whether you are a driver for USA Truck or somebody else I will try to convince you to stay with your company and work hard on developing a good working relationship with that company because they are likely a good company with good honest folks, reasonable policies and competitive pay and you just need to stick around long enough to figure that out. I know that occasionally some truly horrible things do happen to drivers in this business like the shameful way that Arrow Trucking went belly up Christmas before last leaving their drivers stranded all over the country. But they are the exception and not the rule.
Anyway I'm blathering on here. I've been trying to figure out why I'm still working for this company with a training program. I prefer calling them that rather a training company because in truckerspeak that means a company you go to for your training and then move on to a "real job" and obviously I haven't moved on. I've come up with three possibilities but maybe you have more :
1) I'm insane. I suppose this is possible because insane people probably don't know that they are insane.
2) I'm a brownnosing knee pad wearing company tool who probably spends most of his time writing love letters to the CEO.
3) I have a good job and don't see any reason to change.

What do you think?

Ralph Haile
USA Truck #T401

 

For starters I'd like to see driver pay come back in line. 10 years ago I felt that I was fairly compensated for the sacrifices that I and my family had to make for me to be an OTR driver. Adjusted for inflation I am making much less today than I did 10 years ago plus I've lost benefits so I can't say that's true today. Another thing that is different from 10 years ago is the huge increase in the number of drivers I talk to who can't wait to get another job when the economy improves and more non driving jobs become available. Companies need to get serious about the driver turn over issue now or I think they are going to be facing the Mack Daddy of all driver shortages here very soon. And since driver turn over is very costly that's where they can get the money for my long overdue pay raise.

 

Thank you for those kind words and for your concern But don't you worry about the good ol US of A. This past quarter has been horrible mainly due to the problems we've had implementing our new TMW operating system but we are now on the march again. I completely understand the "what have you done for me lately" sentiment you expressed. All the major carriers have been guilty of treating drivers like they are a dime a dozen. Trying to buy experienced loyal drivers with ever increasing sign on bonuses. But loyalty by it's very definition cannot be bought. But it can be developed by showing, not just saying, that you care about a drivers long term employment. I think that some of the carriers are becoming dimly aware of this. Only time will tell if they give it anything more than lip service.

 

Crap. Now I gotta go back and see what number 1 and 2 were. I think that everybody here understands that my experiences are just that: my experiences. But they are quite black and white and absolutely true. I've never been a good driver based on how effective my dispatcher is. That's the beauty of tenure. I don't have to work for a Bozo and I don't have to change jobs to get rid of one. My dispatcher works for me and not the other way around and if I don't get as good as I give I am quick to point this out.