Do not drive for anyone

It is always guaranteed that someone will chime in on how "when they were at (insert company here)", they loved it. They made lots of money, were treated well, never sat, etc.

Then they go on to say that the reason they had to leave was family reasons, or medical reasons.

But if they ever went back OTR, they would go back to_________, in a heartbeat.

These threads are so predictable, you have to laugh at it.

 

There is a LOT more money to be made if have your own authority if you do it right. You are removing a lot of extra fingers from your pie. But you will have a lot more hassles. You have to do everything yourself or pay someone to do it. Drug screening, fuel taxes, billing. And the big down side is cash flow. You will not always get paid when you want to, if at all. And if you use a factoring company, you just put a big finger in your pie, might as well go back to leasing to a carrier.

 

Driving is like any other career. There are good jobs, so so jobs, and #### jobs. Bouncing from Swift to Werner to England to Prime is like going from the drive thru at McDonald's to Burger King to Taco Bell. If you are an OTR driver with a clean record and 5 years experience and you are making less than $55,000 a year, you are doing something wrong.

 

I believe those guys though. They probably had a fleet manager, that started off as a driver and moved to where he is now. Think about it, if you were a FM, you would know how to treat your drivers, and what they were going through, because you had been there before.

 

And it is usually drivers that are new to the company or industry.

But what usually happens is when your cents per mile goes up your treatment by the company gets worse.

The company's for the most part do not have consistency anymore. If you work for a company that has high turnover you are naturally going to get screwed sooner or later because you have a bunch of newbies making squat that they can exploit while they ease you out the door without incurring any unenjoyment grief.

 

Can't speak for any of the other companies but, at USA, I've come to the conclusion some time ago that your FM can make or break your whole experience here. I've found that the guys who complain the most often are usually the ones with horrible dispatchers and/or a horrible work ethic. Maybe that's why I don't complain much; I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty good relationship with the two FM's I've had thus far. These guys have kept me rolling a pretty decent amount so I can't complain unless it's absolutely justified.

The way I look at it: we have about 120 or so million milers in the company at last count. If this place was so stinkin' bad, why the hell did they end up staying for so long?

 

You run 10 of thousands of people through any company eventually you will end up with 5% willing to hang out for a million. Some people do not like change and will stay with the same outfit no matter what.

USA like many OTR carriers are paying wages I was making a decade ago when everything was cheaper and they brag about being one of the top payers according to some survey.

 

Not going to argue with that; but, then again, IMHO the entire industry is underpaid considering the BS we go through just doing our jobs. Didn't know USA was claiming to be a top paying employer; that's pretty interesting to hear (I wonder what numbers they're using to justify that statement?)

 

Most of these "crybabies" have plenty to pizz and moan about. A good majority of them are complaining about making 400 bucks a week and staying out for a month at a time. More than likely their crying to you and not the company anyways. USA Truck is nothing more than a bottom feeder. Instead of crying about the crybabies, which will never be gone btw, you could go find a real company to work for and let USA keep doing what they do which is destroy an industry by driving wages down to pathetic levels. Like one guy was saying above "USA pays today what I was making ten years ago." Pathetic and their trucks are beat up and filthy. Nothing says "proud professional" like a beat up truck rolling down the road pulling a dog tracking trailer down the shoulder.

 

They are complaining about 400 bucks a week when they signed an agreement of their own free will to work for whatever the cents per mile rate is in exchange for experience, partial paid tuition and a start I in an industry that's tough to break into to. I don't feel sorry for them and yes they complain to dispatchers and anyone else who will listen. Are they mad? Who cares, they wanna be mad be mad themselves for being ignorant.

USA is not without its problems, so are most companies. But I've never, in 25 years working, seen such a collection of people who, with no experience, expect a journeymans wage and treatment. Then they have the marbles to say how poorly they are treated, when they are late, can't follow directions our understand the simple concept.........DRIVE AND GET PAID.

Bottom feeder or not, there's money here. I earn it everyday, I appreciate the chance to get my experience, fulfill my obligation and control my destiny when its over. 8 outta 10 knuckle heads that come here don't have the sense or ingenuity to figure that out and male out work.