USA Logistics of Wayne NJ, dont bother

Im out of Orlando, FL saw the add on craigslist for USA Logistics (terminal in Wayne, NJ).

Spoke to them the week before Christmas, emailed me company info etc >>

pay rate and frequency? Starting is $0.38 per mile, paid weakly

what is the policy on detention, layover, breakdown, vacation? If you are on time for pick up or delivery detention is paid after two 50% of what we get from the broker (usually you get around $20 per hour), same goes for layover you get 50% of what we get for layover, if we get $200 from the broker $100 goes to you and $100 towards the equipment( because we have fixed expenses, truck/trailer payments, insurance…), we can’t predict a breakdown but we will pay for a motel if the truck is in a shop for a day to be fixed…, for vacations just tell us couple of weeks in advance and that’s not a problem….

Truck parking location for home time? If you want to take the truck home you need to find a safe place to park the truck, like a truck stop…..

age of truck and trailers you run ? Few 2006 and 2007 truck but most are 2010 and newer, the trailers are 2009 and newer….

orientation length? Couple of hours

new DOT physical required or use existing ? Use existing if current

where do you fuel? comdata card or company credit card? Fleet One Fuel Card, you can fuel on any major truck stop….


Ezpass/prepass/sunpass? Ez-pass for the north-east and we give you cash on a fleet one if you have tolls in Florida…


paper logs or EOBR or elogs? Loose sleeves logs


qualcomm or call in dispatch? Call in dispatch

So i started on 1/1/14 they ran me through a so called orientation (2hrs) and rushed me out to get a load everything went ok
The next load was a CH Robinson broker load. Dispatch didnt have any info on the load so they gave me the brokers#. I called the broker prior to picking up the load to verify the load info and appt times at the shipper 7pm/receiver 5am-8pm. I picked up the load on time no issues and started heading down the road. The next morning 8-9am dispatch calls me saying the receiver closes at 4pm. I informed them (broker+dispatch) of the discrepancy between the information provided by the broker and the new information from dispatch as well as the fact that there was a major snow storm in the area.

In short, the broker asked me what time i would be at receiver, i told him 430pm he said he would make an appt and call me back. i relayed the info to dispatch as well and told them that i would be expecting layover pay if the load did not get off and i had to wait until morning. I pulled up at 430pm of course they were closed. i called the broker+dispatch and let them know and was instructed to wait until morning.

Dispatch advised me that unless the broker paid them layover they would not be paying me layover.
I spoke to the broker and was informed he was not paying layover because the load info that was sent to the company when they agreed to take the load noted 330pm delivery so we were technically late.
They wanted me to wait from 430pm until 10am (15.5hrs) unpaid because of misinformation provided on their part.
NEEDLESS TO SAY AT 3 DAYS WITH THE COMPANY... THIS WAS MY LAST LOAD

 

There was no legal way for me to show up at 330. If they would have given that info up front i would have told them i cant do the run. i live in orlando but im originally from NJ so i was up there for the holidays already i just coordinated with them to start on new years instead of heading back to FL. I took a load from NJ to MI delivered that with no issues. then they dispatched me OH to NC. Once in NC I informed them that if i was not paid for layover i would be terminating my employment and i would be happy to take their equipment and load back to NJ. They decided they would rather pay the layover and have me deliver the load (which i did). Once empty they wanted to dispatch me NC to IN and i told them i was resigning and i would bring the equipment back up to NJ. they decided they couldnt afford for me to deadhead back to NJ so they told me to leave the truck in NC at the truck stop. I called the local sheriff made a report (they verified the companies request) and **I have family in NC who came to pick me up** but none the less I do not go to orientation unless i know i have enough to make it home if things go south.

As far as waiting on a load unpaid when im not at fault... I firmly believe that if drivers didnt have themselves so deep in a jam at home they would be able to demand these companies pay for their time out here on the road or start looking for a warm body instead of a professional driver. Too many drivers allow this kind of non sense to go unchecked and we all wonder why the industry is going south.

 

I agree with you there, but from your profile im sure you know detention and a 15+ hour layover are 2 different things.. even with a 10hr break included your still losing 6 hrs of the next driving shift (showing pretrip and reasonable unload time) to me its unreasonable to give up that kind of time uncompensated through no fault of your own. and on the 2nd or 3rd day of a job i dont see that pattern improving. if im gonna sit in the truck stop for free i can sit online and put in more apps for free