just completed 1 year with usa truck

Very Informative!

 

I very rarely have a week with less than 1500 miles. The few weeks that I do have less than 1500 miles are weeks in which I spend several days at home. I just dropped a load at the Laredo terminal and will have to sit until tomorrow morning to get my next load (I hear the Customs on the Mexican side is shut down for Flag Day or something, so no loads are coming in until tomorrow). That gives me about 3600-3700 miles for the week, though, so I'm not sweating getting the day off. Gives me time to do some laundry. Our payroll cutoff is midnight on Monday night/Tuesday morning, though, and 1700 of those miles are for a 2-stop load I picked up in Deming, NM on Friday with a stop in Salem, MO and final delivery in Matteson, IL on Tuesday morning - so a lot of those miles were run over last weekend.

A quick rundown of this pay week goes like this:

Friday, Feb 15:
Deadhead from the Wal Mart distribution center in Los Lunas, NM to Deming (I actually drove as far as the truckstop at exit 156 on I-25 Thursday after delivering). 5pm appointment pickup. Ew. I call the shipper at about 9:30am and ask if I can pickup early. They say "Come on in; we may have to put you on standby for an hour or so, but should be able to get you loaded out pretty quick."

I get there at about 1pm, bump the dock at 2pm. They start loading my trailer at 5:30pm. Yay. I get out of there around 7pm, just as darkness falls. The weather turns bad half an hour later (rain/snow mix, turning to snow), and I park at the rest area just west of Las Cruces. I decide to wait until morning to try the San Agustin pass on US 70 (taking US 70 to Clovis, then US 60 to just south of Amarillo, shaves about a hundred miles as opposed to going up I-25 to Albuquerque then turning east on I-40).

Saturday:
Get up, the weather has gotten much better. Fuel up in Las Cruces, hit US 70 through the pass, on across White Sands Missile Range, through Roswell, and so forth. Ended up spending the night at the Flying J in Sayre, OK.

Sunday:
Fueled up at Sayre, went on across to Oklahoma City, picked up I-44. Stopped in Big Cabin for a carton of cheap cigs and a Romeo y Julieta 1875 Churchill. A fine smoke. Showered and slept at the Flying J in Sullivan, MO.

Monday:
Headed on to Salem, dropped off first part of the load. Drove on to a truckstop in Tuscola, IL and it started snowing. Weather report said it would be high winds and snow till about 2am or so, so I spent the night there. It should be nice and clear when I leave way early in the morning.

Tuesday:
Got an early start and headed to Matteson. Got unloaded pretty quickly. Right after I sent my empty call, got a load assignment to pick up in Waukegan, IL and deliver in College Park, GA. Went, got loaded, headed out. Decided to take I-57 to I-24 to I-75 - right by the house Made it back as far as Effingham, parked for the night. The line for showers is way too long. Guess it'll have to wait until tomorrow. I like the showers at the Pilot in Oak Grove, KY better anyway - the one at exit 89, not exit 86.

Wednesday:
Fueled at Effingham, drove to Oak Grove, KY for a shower. Got back in the truck, made it to a truckstop close to the house just off I-75. Mrs. RedBeard brought me pot roast with potatoes and carrots, cornbread, okra and green beans. I have more hours I can drive, but decide to do the 10 hour break in Ringgold, since I was there for a couple of hours already eating dinner and enjoying the company of Mrs. RedBeard.

Thursday:
Delivered way early in the morning at College Park, GA. Sat waiting for next load assignment until I was told that I had to leave the premises where I unloaded. Headed up to the Petro off I-285. Ended up being parked at the Petro 5 hours - after 4 hours it costs $10 for parking unless you buy fuel or spend $25 in the store. My load assignment: Take my empty trailer to Norcross and drop it at a customer. 29 miles total. Just enough after taxes to pay for parking. I take the trailer to Norcross, and get a load assignment to pick up at a yard we use in Conley and deliver in Brundidge, AL at 1 minute after midnight. Can't be legally done, since my 14 is about out and it's rush hour in Atlanta. A quick exchange of Qualcomm messages later, I am told it's cool for me to pick up after a 10 hour break in Norcross and deliver as quick as I can get to Brundidge, as it's a D/H delivery. I sack out for the night.

Friday:
Get up at about 1am, bobtail to the yard, grab that trailer, and run like a scalded dog (at exactly 63 mph). 1 quick stop in Newnan for fuel and scale (it was a 46,000 pound load and the driver that picked it up didn't scale it before dropping it - I had to move the tandems back 2 holes to be legal) and I get to the consignee at 6am. I drop my trailer, grab an empty, and head to a place I know near there where I can park for a bit without being told to move. About an hour later, I get a load assignment to pick up a hazmat load in Mobile, AL and deliver to our terminal in Laredo. I get to the shipper, they take a little while to load me (not too long, about an hour and a half...just long enough to make sure I won't get as far as Gulfport today). It starts raining cats and dogs as I pull away from the dock. I run out, shut the doors, toss the placards on, and get totally drenched. Then I get back in the truck and it stops raining - DOH! I get to the T/A in Grand Bay and call it a day. Their showers are being remodelled, and all they have for showers and restrooms is these trailers out front. No thanks. I'll shower at the Flying J in Gulfport tomorrow.

Saturday:
I have to make some miles today to get to Laredo on time. I end up getting to the Flying J on the east side of San Antonio. That put 642 miles on the odometer - just short of 11 hours' driving time. I shut down with about 160 miles to go by 8am Sunday.

Sunday (today):
Up and gone long before the sun comes up, I head for Laredo. Pull in 30 minutes early, drop trailer, send empty call. Go inside to use the restroom - no toilet paper. Everything's locked up; no office personnel in the building on Sundays to unlock the supply closet. Talk briefly with another driver - he's been here since 5pm yesterday. I bobtail up to the Flying J, get a shower, and here I still am :-/

I guess I average about 2500 miles a week, give or take. That includes home time, BTW. Probably closer to 2800+ for a full week on the road. One of these days I'll add it all up and put it in a spreadsheet. I should do that anyway - it'll make things a lot easier when my wife and I sit down to do our budget every month, and tax time will be easier if I do that as well.

Sorry for the hugely long post...I get wordy when I sit for a while.

 

You were caught in a situation where so many new drivers find themselves, and you stuck it out professionaly. Now with one year experience you gain a little more "power" in being able to choose your next carrier to drive for.....don't know if I could have done what you did! Good Luck to ya'

 

You certainly don't need to apologize for "wordy-ness" as your words are very contructive and most helpful to us newer guys. I' starting orientation with them in May, and will take a printout of your posts with me as training material for the real world. (Don't worry, I will not distribute anything with your name on it.)

Thanks for the great info Readbeard. Look forward to seeing you one day.

Broadus

 

Post marked, very informative

 

Hey Paulcnc;
I'm going through the exact same thing with PAM right now. And I'm in this forum right now to find something better when April rolls around. Thing is, it seems like the words "stay away from this one!" are posted in every company I look at.
I agree with you. Makes no sense to spend that much money getting people trained and then watch them leave after 1 year. I'm not asking much. Just decent miles, benefits and leave me alone.
Anyway, good luck.

 

The thing I don't get is, they promise me all this hometime, but it seems like eveyone acts like the NorthEast might as well be West Germany. I'm sure it will be different when I get my own truck and don't have to be at the discretion of my training driver. But since they closed the Bethel PA terminal, the closest station to me is Vandalia OH.

22 hour one way bobtails? I think not.

Anyway, I got home for Chistmas, lets see if I can get back out before New Years.

 

Now that was good info for all drivers.

 

I have noticed the same thing. I have always found the best gauge of how good a company is is their turnover %. You can get an idea what this is if you ask the company recruiting dept how many drivers on average come to orientation then look at their CSA 2010 information on how many tractors they report having. While this is not in any way 100% it does give you an insight into a possible problem company. You can also look at this CSA 2010 information and see if the company is past it's threshold scores then look at the accident and DOT inspection data. There are some companies that don't have high scores and their roadside inspections are not real bad. These companies most likely don't have a real high turnover, and they are a lot more selective on who they hire.

 

I got my W-2. I made 29,600 gross. I worked the whole year with USA. He's right. They don't try to keep you around. It's not worth living in a truck for that scratch. I turned my truck in at the Denton, TX shop. I found a job just north of Sanger doing oil field driving. When you walk in the door, you punch in. When you leave, you punch out. You work 4 days on and get two off. 4 on 2 off. That way everyone gets same treatment. They work between 50 and 60 hours a week. I can groove on overtime. I'm glad to hear you stuck it out. Now go get something close to home. Don't go to Schneider. Don Schneider died. They are really screwed up right now. They are trying new quallcom system. If you think USA didn't answer the phone, wait till you get a dose of Schneider. I worked for them ten years ago. They were a nice company. They have really gone downhill.