Terminal Rats

Its good to hear both sides of every company. Im guessing that your not working for them anymore. By the way what company are you working or driving for now? I hope there not as bad as USA T, and I hope you find a good company> Later

 

When I was fired by USA Truck back in August 2011 I got a job with WSE out of Elm Springs Arkansas. My two largest complaints with WSE is their equipment is in horrible shape followed by these long mind numbing waits at the food warehouses. Yesterday I spent almost 5 hours at Americold in Foglesville Pa. I had an 8AM appointment and got out a little past noon. This made me late for my next PU. USA Truck in the generic sense is not a bad company. It has a good nucleus, it's just the current management is driving it into the ground. I heard a rumor last night that USA Truck is either on the verge of or has already lost a major customer, I understand the customer is one of their paper mill accounts. When you consider anywhere from 15% to 25% of all USA Truck loads are paper, if true this is not good.

 

If you dont mind me asking, what was the reason behind your termination? Just curious if this is something we have to be aware of. And I heard at the terminal today that supposedly one of the dedicated runs would not be running anymore due to loosing the account. This was from a driver on that dedicated account.

 

The reason told me by FM that day was because I did not know how to operate the equipment. However we have spoken several times since. He told me the main reason was my refusal to take a load to Nashville out of Roanoke just after getting there on the bus. My tractor had broken down and was in Beckley WV with most of my personal belongings. They sent me on the bus to get another truck in Roanoke. I had on me at the time 1 pillow, 1 sheet, a shirt, underwear, my shaving kit, my GPS and this laptop. It's all I could get into that small bag I had. I was told by chris in operations to get my butt to nashville and stop at a walmart and buy some clothes and bedding. This was around 7PM I was tired anyway, I told Chris I was staying in Roanoke, I checked in the hotel and spoke to FM the next morning. Also I told off someone in the main office in Van Buren about that POS APU, my FM said his boss and Jim Shafer had a brief meeting and it was decided to let me go. My record with safety is good there, my FM and a gal in recruiting got me cleared to return, it's just right now I rather wait.

 

hey bear i seem to agree with RetiredSarge you seem like you know what your talking about and although some people want to say there 2 cents you dont get mad about it you just ignore it i start school 12 mar in springfeild mo and my orentation will be at Van Buren i look forward to getting somebody to help me out that knows what there talking about like you

 

Well other than orientation, today is the only other time I have spent in the terminals. I am in vandalia today waiting to make my delivery tomorrow, and these people in here bi t ch and whine and complain worse than anyone I have ever met. HOLY SH I T!!! Really?? If you are that unhappy, LEAVE!!! I mean everyone has a choice in life, it may not be the best choice, but you have a choice. Get a life, get another job or find another company. Complain to the people you are supposed to complain to. This place is worse than a sewing circle

 

I hope when you get your tractor assignment said tractor is perfect. I hope it runs good and you never have to deal with chronic problems. I hope you always get good runs and never get stuck sitting at a terminal waiting for anything. Some people however are not this lucky. As I have stated in many places here on these forums I suffered from several chronic problems with mine while there, and these problems resulted with me sitting in terminals. When you watch week after week go by and you see your paychecks get smaller and smaller you get frustrated. USA Truck has a serious problem with their shops. In most cases they are under staffed and in almost every case are staffed with some mechanics that don't know their butts from a hole in the ground. In a lot of cases these drivers have justifiable complaints and are just blowing off tension arising from these bad situations.

This is not the first time you have expressed annoyance about something and you have not been in these peoples shoes. I HAVE! Some of these drivers can't leave because they are stuck by their contracts to stay a year. Don't get me wrong here, people that have a USA Truck can do nothing right attitude, and no matter what the topic put the company down are people I rather not hear or be around and in several situations I have told them to take that crap some place else because I don't want to hear it. My phase 2 trainer did this at vandalia one night. You said this ( Complain to the people you are supposed to complain to.) This also applies to you, why not simply tell these drivers right on the spot how you feel because you solve nothing by bringing this in here. While we are on the subject of complaining who do you complain to? Your FM, payroll, safety or the men over the shops? Nobody will listen to you. This actually is another thing that frustrated me while there, and is the reason I took a caustic attitude to several people at Van Buren.

 

We're pulling for ya Sarge.

 

I wasn't talking about new guys under contract. I was talking about guys whose ID badges came over on the mayflower. And I did tell them personally. I am not an internet rambo.

 

RetiredSarge I hope you understand I am not now or have made any personal attacks on you. If USA Truck is to succeed the company will need drivers whom are committed to their jobs. Drivers that can roll with the punches and in general can handle themselves in the day by day performance of the job. It is my sincere hope you can become one of these drivers. Your defense of USA Truck is noted by me and I believe at this point it is a sincere defense. I have tried to make the point that basically USA Truck is a good company. It does have the nucleus of one. So you keep on trucking, and as Klatu said, I am pulling for you.