All American Xpress (AAX) in Calhoun, GA

All american xpress is garbage. William perry and robert farley are two of the most disrespectfull people i have ever come accross in my life. William reminds his employees everyday that he will fire them and let all his "woman" that he gives money to come in and run the company. This man is the "president" of the company. His way of getting his point accross is cussing the "f" word in everu sentence. I have never seen this form of unprofessionalism in all my like. Robert farley the "vice president" is no different. Do not work for this company. You will get stuck out there with no fuel, they give you the load then push you to have it delivered on time. Publix and coca cola is their bread and butter. Not because the foot ball player name is there perry and farley running the show and they are ### holes. When you are hired as a dispatcher they tell you 8am to 5pm monday to friday. After a week you are told 8am to whenever they say plus you must be available 24/7. For the amout they are paying its crazy. Stay away from this company. Work for them i promise you, you will regret it. They are ok with the people in the office talking to the drivers like crap. William perry and robert farley are the worst. If you want to be in a enviroment where the president and vice president cannot have a conversation with anyone without cussing or they treat their drivers like crap, then this is the company for you. If not stay away from all american xpress.

 

William Perry was let go today. The past few weeks have had several instances of AAX having trouble covering their fuel bill and drivers being told to stop using a particular card or wait until a certain amount of time had passed before fueling. Then today there was a payroll problem. A Qcom message acknowleged a 24 hour delay for drivers getting pay on their cards, and a 48 hour delay for those getting direct deposit. Then a statement that all employees will get a $50 bonus next week for their troubles - signed Jamal Lewis. Maybe he is finally taking control?

 

thought I'd add my experience here even though I have another thread that includes them.
First, they have closed the Calhoun terminal.
Second, the Lakeland terminal is now where all trucks are base plated and maintenance is done.
Third, a new drop lot has been opened off I-85 in Duluth, GA.
HQ is downtown ATL.
Pay is 32cpm for solos, (23cpm pay, 9 cpm per diem)
Runs are mostly Coca-cola (orange juice product) going to the NW (Safeway, Walmart, etc) and returning produce from central WA to Publix grocery in Lakeland.
Equipment is old. 2006 leased Volvos, maintenance is "wait til it totally breaks", no tire program so they run them bald.
They have elogs and as far as my experience, they give you loads you can't make as a solo, but you just tell them it won't be done and they arrange a repower, typically with a team. They have over 100 trucks, so you figure they have about 10 trucks a day running in each direction. Not sure the percentage of solo vs team. West bound coke loads are no problem - I run 5 full days and take a 34 hour restart on day 2 in Chattanooga. Take another restart out west before loading produce but typically have had to have load repowered by my 3rd day as they are scheduled as 4 day runs for 3000 miles. Usually I am picking up a team's load which they are running a day or two ahead on, so it fits my solo schedule fine. 3 out of 4 times I can stop for another overnight in Chattanooga then make my final days ride the next day.
Lakeland has local drivers who deliver loads off the yard to Publix so if prearranged, you can make sure they finish your trip (I have been arriving at 8pm but load is usually due at 4am).
First few times, they told me to use elog line 5 - off duty driving - to deliver load while off duty. Illegal and after the first two times I refused and have not been "forced" to do it again. Once it was pushed back to 7am, and once to 10am.
The two women who 'manage' the loads east and west bound, complain when you can't make a scheduled appt, but then handle it. They want to pressure the driver, they want to blame the driver, they want to act like its your fault you cant do 3000 miles in 4 days, but push come to shove, and you HAVE to shove, they cave and arrange either a reschedule or a repower. There is now a new guy running interference for Coke and Publix for loads that wont deliver on time.
AAX boasts 97% on time delivery, but i have a hard time believing it.
They have a sweet contract with Coke and Publix, make a ton off them, and pay nothing to the driver or back into the equipment.
But, as I'm finding, even at a measly 32cpm, 3200 steady miles a week with only a couple of warehouse appointments on either end of the run is a pretty nice gig.
Hoping with today's development maybe Mr Lewis is stepping to the plate and will tidy things up in regard to pay, trucks and giving drivers more respect.

 

15 years experience,

gets you 32 cents a mile.............

and 9 of that is per diem ??????


Nice Gig !!!!

 

23 cpm and hauling heavy coke loads---other than that it sounds good
now if it were around 42 cpm it might be worth while

 

yeah, I dont like it, but looking around, many companies are down in the mid to low 30's for pay. Those that are up in the 40 range require a lot of east coast and midwest driving, short length of haul, and pretty much daily interaction (waiting) at warehouses.
I'm getting used to the per diem also - it is not taxed so makes my paycheck pretty big (getting about $850 net each week) - I just won't get a big refund at tax time - BUT, listing my actual salary as 23cpm or about 25 grand a year means I'm also in a lower taxation bracket then if I was grossing 50k, so it kind of balances out.
One big drawback has been pointed out - if I want to apply for credit, I may gross 50k a year, but the credit companies only see me as earning 25k.

 

haven't had any issues with the weight - scale out fine and the Volvos have the 500hp Cummins which handles the grades pretty well.
I'd be in heaven if they actually did pay 42cpm (which is what is fraudulently advertised on thier website) - would love to take home $1200 a week for what is basically a gravy job (load, often pre-loaded, drive 5 days, no driver touch unload, take 34 restart, spend day getting produce at 2-4 stops in WA/ORE then 4 days east and 3-5 hours no driver touch unload in Lakeland, FL.
The people who work there are VERY frustrating to deal with, but the job is great.

 

bbmyls2go does AAX hire drivers fresh from school or require a yr or 2 experience? I am really looking for a coast to coast OTR company and I'm from Chattanooga so AAX seems like a pretty good choice for me.

 

They are not hiring now but are still accepting applications. I really dont know the requirements. It actually is not a great place to work if you are Chatt based. They closed the Calhoun terminal so you now have to go to ATL to interview, park your personal vehicle in the small Duluth, GA yard (xt 105 off I-85 I think), and time off is usually under load traveling thru Chatt one way or the other IF there is time for a stop. I've been here almost 3 months now and have yet to actually get a day off away from the truck. Also, "time off" is one day per round trip (about once every 11 days) as you will have another "day off" taking your 34 hour restart out west.
I have only recommended this job to those that are based near Lakeland, FL and can accept the low pay and can deal with the fact that your actual paid salary reported to the govt is only 23cpm (meaning credit bureaus and banks will only recognize that you earn about 25k per year, even if with high miles and the 9cpm per diem, you actually take home around 40).

 

Thanks for that info man, i really appreciate it. I still have a few more months left until I retire and have been doing lots of research. I would really like to get on with a coast to coast company and I'm not worried about hometime at all so no worries there. I do understand that most coast to coast companies require at least a yr of OTR experience but I'm gonna keep trying and who knows, I might just end up at AAX. Anyway, thanks again and be safe out there.