My DS, C1,and USA Truck experience

Its ALWAYS the drivers choice whether to run illegal or not.The driver is the captain of the ship so to speak.If you have log books to prove it you have commited a crime.If you are ever in a serious accident they will audit all your logs and if they find out you ran illegal in the past they can add charges.I would never admit to something on such a public forum such as the internet

 

I was never asked to run illegal, they did however say be here or there at a specific time & date but I would always respond via QC that it couldn't be done and gave them my legal ETA. About 60% of the time the would get the load rescheduled for me and about 50% of that 60% they would tell me that it was rescheduled with a new time.

Luckily a lot of places have open appointments...

I got lucky one time carrying a load of TV's in Cali... another driver picked it up for me because I was stuck at Target. Waited at the specified lot they told me we would swap, no driver... finally figured out where the other driver dropped it, got to it and wasn't able to deliver on time. Told dispatch and they never responded back, I get to the delivery as soon as i legally could and they told me it wasn't scheduled for another day.. but to go in the dispatch office and see if they'll take me early, i pulled right into a dock and didn't have to wait like some others were already haha .

 

From where I stand I don't see how you can use you're logbooks as proof the company did anything wrong. As Thomas just said if you have turned in logbooks that show HOS violations it's YOU that will get counseled/Fired by Safety. It's you that will have problems in the event of a bad accident. I have heard war stories of some of the Fleet managers pushing the drivers. However I have no way to confirm if any of these stories are true. I do know that currently the Safety Dept is ruling there with an iron hand. I was told a story by Gary the Safety man in vandalia, he said he actually listened on the phone as the safety manager screamed and cussed a FM whom pushed a driver to drive illegally. With all the changes over the past year or so I find you're story to not be plausible. I think you misunderstood.

 

Dang the poor fella just wants to talk about some home cooking and the next thing you know it's frickin raining crap on his head. You seem like good people KCMOFIRE and I hope you have a great career there at Swift. They're a good company. Most companies are good but every one of them will have former drivers relating horror stories somewhere on this forum. Especially the companies with training programs. You are going to have to deal with some Peckerwoods there at Swift though. Not because of Swift but because Peckerwoods are such a common bird. Sort of like Crows. You just need to decide that your job is more important than any Peckerwood's and outlast 'em. This is a great thread you've started and you've been a real good sport about the comments. You can see that people feel strongly about these different companies pro and con. I hope that someday you can come on here and want to defend your company because you love your job so much. Best of luck my friend. Tenure = Power

 

I read the thread and was not attacking anyone, just a generalization of what I seen while at USIT, in terms of some drivers attitudes. So please accept my apology for any preceived ill-will.

I enjoyed my time at USA......and that's not to say there were not problems, my fleet manager did a good job with me. I have been tending to my family for the past 90 days or so and now it would appear that I have things in order to return to driving, something that I love.

USA is going to be my first call, just dont know yet who to contact. Perhaps my FM via email......

Bottom line, its not a bad place, however, it does have some questionable folks, but so do most places.

 

I have a couple USA Truck questions...are you all still on paper logs and are there any plans to go to e-logs there anytime soon?

Also, with the move to a more regional company are you given a choice of OTR or regional when you hire on at orientation?

Thanks!

 

have not heard anything regarding e logs,and i do believe you have the option whether you want to run regional or otr

 

Still on paper logs. Personally, I do my logs on my laptop; it's 100% legal per FMCSA regs, as long as you have a way to print out a physical copy of the last 7 days, which my HP All-In-One does just fine. I've been through 3 level III's and a level I with it and none of the DOT officers seemed to have an issue with it. If you decide to go that route then I strongly suggest backing up your logs on a USB thumbdrive or portable HDD, as well as keeping a blank logbook in the truck (because computers can and eventually do fail; the second this happens, and you have no backup plan to keep logging, you are now suddenly not legal!)

Funny thing about that OTR/Regional business: the way I understood it, the FM was supposed to contact you to see whether you wanted to stay OTR or go regional. I never received that call, but I've been running OTR loads from Day 1. Not that it matters; if I'd been asked I would've stayed OTR anyway, so no big deal there.

 

Thanks for the info. I have no problem keeping a log book. My logs were always meticulous as I figured the cleaner they are the less questions the DOT would ask. It seemed to prove true. I was told by some instructors at drivning school that sloppy log books are an invite for heavier scrutiny into your logs and your truck.

Do you use a certain program on your laptop or do you use a spread sheet layout of some kind to keep logs on the laptop?

 

For what I've experienced, you were told right. Sloppy logbooks are a DOT magnet.

I use a program called "Eclipse Logbook"; their website can easily be found via Google. It's a free download, and there is a free 30-day trial with no strings attached. The bad news was that USA Truck has one and only one logbook form they want you to use; it's even got a barcode, so no making up your own spreadsheets or using a generic logbook (which is what Eclipse prints out).

The good news is that, if you buy the program, you can see if the company has your carrier "on file". If they do then this means, instead of printing out a generic logbook form, the software will print out your company's particular logbook form. Not all companies are on file, but it only takes one driver to send in a blank logbook page to the company to get his carrier on file. I've already done that for USA Truck, so no problems there in anyone else wants to use that software.

There are other logbook programs out there, but this one I've found to be the least pain in the you-know-what to learn to use. It will tell you if you're about to bust your 11-, 14-, or 70-hour rule and even does your recaps for you. Most DOT cops, once they see my laptop, won't even bother with my logbook; they know they won't find an error.