Driving OTR with US Xpress

Interesting read.. Thanks all for sharing.. Really think I want to come over to USX after CRST releases me in 2 1/2 more months of slaving for pennies..

 

I am in the 8 mo contract.. I don't think anyone will touch me til the chains are free..

I had do to the refresher course..

 

thank you very much and again.. Thanks for taking the time to post..

 

Finally got a truck. Another small prostar, so no dice on hubby riding. Good that I only had to go 30 miles down the road to pick it up, though. Took them a week almost to get me back on the road. So, after 3 weeks at home, I can most certainly say that I did NOT want to get back out here. I'm sitting at the Lexington terminal right now seriously debating whether or not to just call my husband to come get me or deliver this load to FL.

A little backstory on this...When I picked up this truck, the monitor for the camera was missing. Called breakdown & set up to go to nearest terminal (Lexington), to fix & clean truck since previous occupant was a smoker & had a pet. Then breakdown said, no. take truck to a place that was near me to get done & put new mattress in. No problem. Drop truck off. Go home & have a couple beers with friends because it's Friday & I'm not heading out till Monday now. Well, a couple hours later I get a call from my FM saying my truck can't be cleaned there & I need to p/u a load on Saturday. And they will give me $ 50 to clean the thing. OK, well not really, but what are you gonna do, right? So, go get truck as soon as place opens, find camera monitor stuffed under the bunk, get it hooked back up, get my stuff loaded & head to my p/u.

Get there, forgot hard hat so had to shell out $ 10 to buy one there just to be on the drop lot. WTF? Really? Took forever to get out of there. So head down to Lexington because my FM was setting me up so I could get a new mattress & all that lovely paperworkwe need to get paid. Um, yeah... Call to get drop number from weekend dispatch, SURPRISE! She didn't set it up. They had no clue. Plus my fuel stops we're at the end of my route, so it looks like my mileage for this load is 1900! Way cool if I could actually drive that in two days.

So, back to my original thought...this truck smells like a greasy mechanic, no amount of bleach is going to get that smell out, no terminal seems to have any trucks for solo drivers to have riders (even autoshifts which I detest), the FMs are pretty much not in touch with reality (most of them, if you've got a good one, fight to keep them), and therein lies my dilemma. Will it ever get any better? Will I ever start getting the miles I see most people get? I've never gotten over 1800 miles in a week. Not even with my new FM. So, is it worth it to stay out here, away from my home & family for the peanuts that I could make at home & be in my own bed, next to my husband every night? I just don't know.

 

Tell them what you want RC. If they want you in a truck and working for them then tell them you want a truck that your hubby can go with you. Tell them they have been taking the money from your pay all this time and you have yet been able to do that. As for the nasty truck you have tell them to clean it, after all they have people that know how to do that well and get paid to do it too. Dont take their crap. I just read the national turn over rate is over 100%, there are other companies out there that you can work for.

Stand your ground sister.