My Experience with USX

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I don&#39;t know if USX is a bad company or not. I have met several drivers there that like it and have had good experiences with them. All I can report here is my experience.</p>
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I left McElroy to join USX about six weeks ago. The first red flag was when I reported for orientation on Monday and realized there were 70 others at Tunnel Hill for the same class and was told another class would be reporting on Wednesday. This is just one terminal, so how many drivers are brought in each week? I thought. During orientation we were all reminded that we were not hired yet. Orientation was over on Wednesday. There were about 50 of us left (after the culling) and none of us had been hired yet. We had to wait around doing nothing as one by one we were called in and hired. I was lucky because I was hired Thursday afternoon. Many were not hired until Friday afternoon.</p>
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During orientation we were told that none of us would be issued an automatic truck. Well, when I was hired, I was assigned a 2010 KW automatic that was in Olive Branch, MS. So, I had to get a rental car and drive to the terminal and pick up my truck. I talked (did not meet) to my fleet manager who seemed to be very nice. The first question he asked was if I needed to go home and get the rest of my stuff. I told him I did but I could wait another week, and so it was agreed. I was to go home the following Friday.</p>
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After only three days out, my truck started smoking. Before I could get it stopped and report it I was stopped by a state trooper about the smoke. I reported it and was sent to a local KW dealer. I got a room at a NASTY Super 8 and waited about 36 hours to get my truck fixed. It wasn&#39;t fixed. It was still smoking when I turned it in this past Saturday, just not as bad. It was now Thursday and I was supposed to be home Friday. I was dispatched to pick up a load Friday morning and take it close to my home. This was the load that was going to "get me home." I arrived at the shipper at 07:00 and the guard could not locate the pickup number. I called by FM. At 12:30 I was told that the load had been cancelled. This really bothered me because of the failure to communicate. It was obvious that the load was cancelled before I arrived and nobody let me or my FM (so he said) know. After some heated exchanges, I agreed to pick up another load and deliver it. The result was that I didn&#39;t make it home until Sunday morning.</p>
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Two weeks ago I picked up a load and was to deliver it to Kansas City. I had to have the loaded trailer repaired before I made the trip and, therefore, I couldn&#39;t make delivery on time. So, it was rescheduled to Monday morning. I arrived in KC on Saturday and did a restart. Sunday afternoon I was told to take my loaded trailer to the KC drop yard and pick up another loaded trailer that delivered in KC on Monday morning. I asked if I needed a code to the drop yard and told "no.". I arrived at the drop yard at 05:00 and found a secured lot that required a security code to get in. I got the code and dropped and hooked to my new load and sent in all the required macros on the computer. I waited and waited for the load assignment to arrive, but it didn&#39;t. I contacted my FM, who was on duty now because I had been waiting, and asked him to send me the assignment so I could deliver on time. The response I got back was: "Why did you drop your trailer and hook to another one? The one you had delivers this morning." After some sarcasm on my part about poor communication in Chattanooga, I got the assgnment and delivered on time.</p>
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Next, I got an assignement and a preplan at the same time. The assignment was to pick up and deliver at the rail yard in KC. The PP was to return to the same shipper and pick up a load going to College Park, GA. I asked if I needed an empty trailer to return to the shipper since I would not have one when I left the RR. I was told yes and they would work on it. I delivered the load to the RR at 07:30. I waited outside the RR another six hours without getting an empty. Finally, I decided to go to a truck stop and shut down for the day. I didn&#39;t get and assignemnt to pick up and empty for another 30 hours. Once again, this delay prevented me from delivering on time. Upon delivering in GA on Friday morning, I was supposed to go to Rome, GA and pick up a load to get me home by 18:00. When I delivered, there were no empty trailers to pick up. After waiting a couple of hours I was told to go to the terminal in Ellenwod and pick up and empty and head to Rome. The latest the shipper allows trucks in is 18:00 (my pick up time was 12:00). I arrived at 17:30, got loaded and left. But I was nearly out of time so I had to stop. I didn&#39;t get to Lexington, where I dropped the trailer, until 15:00 Saturday.</p>
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I then cleaned out my truck and turned in the keys. During the last couple of weeks I have repeatedly complained to my FM about the lack of communication and, as a result, low miles and low pay. The only response I have ever received was "I will get with the planners." I had also contacted my recruiter about my problems and he arranged for me to transfer to one of our agent companies this week. I&#39;m just not sure if it will be any better with any company associated with USX, although this other company has assured me they have their own dispatch and are completely separate from USX. I find that a little hard to believe since I would still be driving a USX truck and pulling USX trailers. I am also entertaing other companies at this time as well.</p>
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There is no doubt that I made a mistake leaving McElroy for USX. Ohhhh, that hindsight thing...</p>
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Please feel free to make any constructive comments or to share your story here. But, please refraing from the personal attacks that seem so pervasive here. I know all of my shortcommings and don&#39;t need them pointed out by people who know nothing about me.</p>
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I don't know. When I posted the message all the paragraphs were gone and it was just one big one. I edited it and put the paragraphs back in and when I posted it that's the way it looked.

 

I'm hoping that's the way my new job will be like.

I got a call yesterday at 18:30 from my FM. He asled if I was at the shipper or receiver. I told that I was at home waiting to leave out for my new company and reminded him that he told me to turn in my truck. It's amazing. Apparently he had dispatched me on a load yesterday morning, but it took him all day to realize that there had been no activity on my part.

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