U.S. Xpress Strikes Again!!

This is wild, i just wonder how many will take them up on the offer. I am glad you turned them down, And I wish you luck on your job hunt, If you need a tip on a job. Our company is alway's hiring. if your interested shoot me a PM and I'll try and answer your Question's.Tom

 

PawPaw,

You are right, I should have phrased that a little better regarding the newbies. Sorry if I offended any of you new guys.

But, from what I was told in my orientation, the guys with experience are in high demand at Schneider. I do not know about the rest of the outfits. Should have said that better too. Schneider is looking at the bottom line, and that is why they are looking for experienced company and independent drivers. They have run the numbers, and found that drivers that know what is going on make them more money.

But, not all experienced drivers are good drivers. Been there, done that.

Mike

 

What terminal were you from? I am still a solo driver and have not been requested to drive to a terminal.

 

Ok what the newest rummor I just heard, USX file Chapter 11? Tunel hill filled with empty trucks? I am getting this from a USX driver.

 

If the original rumor regarding team or leave is true, they may just be on the verge of going tits up. But, you never know, it is all rumors at this point. And allot will depend upon their ability to secure credit, and how much do they have in the bank. The fuel prices alone over the past year have done in many a trucking company. And now the lack of credit all the way around the block, trucking, shippers, brokers, etc... All are suffering right now and only the strong will survive, ie., bukoo cash on hand. That is what sank me, no bukooo cash on hand and rates in the toilet. Thank God my equipment is paid for.

Mike

 

Don't know if that is true. I googled them and chapter 11 and the most recent news I came up with is from Bloomberg dated today:

"U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc., a trucking company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has lower margins and less liquidity than anticipated when it was taken private last September. As a consequence, it also has a one-notch lower corporate rating from Moody's Investors Service at B3.
One way or another, the margins and liquidity are the result of fuel prices, Moody's says.
Revenue in 2007 was $1.6 billion, Moody's reports."

No word of them filing chap 11 but there is an interesting list of companies in that report that have.

 

This is the latest article that I can find, it is out of the Chattanooga Times Free Press this past Tue Nov 25, 2008. No mention of them going bankrupt(they are saying otherwise) So I would pretty much chalk bankruptcy as just that-a rumor- at least for the time being. Also, they purchased a minority(47%) stake in Smith Transport of Roaring Springs, PA as of Oct 2, 2008, I cant see them getting an approval to do that if they were trying to stave off bankruptcy. Anyhow here is the article:

Trucking company U.S. Xpress has cut 35 seasonal jobs and plans to reduce the salaries of its highest paid executives while freezing pay for most of its workers, according to an internal company memo.
Max Fuller, co-chairman of U.S. Xpress, said the industry is headed into its fourth year of a freight recession, and in the last four weeks freight volume has seen a significant decline.
"We are just trying to be proactive here, and being prudent at our size is extremely important," said Mr. Fuller of the Chattanooga-based company.
Executive managers will have their salaries cut by 7 percent with the Dec. 26 payroll, vice presidents' salaries will be trimmed 5 percent, and directors' salaries will be down 3 percent. Managers and employees making over $70,000 will see their salaries drop by 2 percent, according to the memo sent late last week.
Managers earning under $70,000 and all other employees will see no pay reductions or increases for 2009, according to the company.
The company, which has 850 trucks and 11,000 employees nationwide, also has implemented a hiring freeze for the next six months, said Mr. Fuller.
"We decided to tighten our belt and go into what appears to be a soft quarter," he said.
Cost cutting has been ushered in, in part, because the company is nervous about freight demands in the first quarter of the year. Usually, freight drops around 15 percent in January after the Christmas retail season, he said.
However, with the struggling economy, the retail sector is expected to perform poorly this Christmas, having a negative effect on trucking companies such as U.S. Xpress, he said.
"We are really focusing on costs moving forward," said Mr. Fuller. "We are still profitable at this point, but if freight drops as dramatically as it usually does in the first quarter then we need to be ahead of the curve."
U.S. Xpress is not the only trucking company challenged by the economy, said Greg Thompson, a spokesman for the trucking firm.
Around 8,000 trucking companies have filed bankruptcy this year, pushed over the edge by lagging freight and rising fuel costs, he said.
Mr. Fuller said times are tough for the trucking industry, but if officials at U.S. Xpress are smart they can come out on top in the end.
"I think I am going to be hiring in the next six months," he said. "When this thing turns there will be a lot less truckers in the marketplace and we will be one of the beneficiaries from it."

 

I don't chime in too much but the part about Tunnell Hill is correct. I am from Dalton Georgia and travel home from B'ham to Dalton almost every week and pass right by the Tunnell Hill terminal, I also use to work there (as a security guard) right after high school prior to moving to B'ham for mortuary school. There is row upon row of tractors parked there, I would estimate close to a hundred. I won't pretend to know what might be the reason for this but one thing I have learned from this board is it is not usually a good thing to see this at a terminal.

I did see several new Prostars there and saw three more moving bobtail down I-75 South in USX colors so I'm assuming that is where they were heading. Weird to be parking trucks and taking deliveries on new ones.

 

Lot of companies taking delivery on new TRACTORS ( deals were done on these months ago ) while having to park trucks as there is less work than when they ordered the new trucks.

It is the ECONOMY that causes this not some sinister thing that the mean people in the head office just thought up.

 

Well here we still go with the specualtions! Like I have said in my previous posts I currently work for USX so I am not specualting I have the facts.

Im not sure why people on here seek to see USX fail as a company but apparently the facts I post are not going to make this rumor mill stop. Honestly I dont know why I even bother to try to quell these rumors but nevertheless here I go again.

Fact 1 USX is a huge company in itself, not counting the other companies USX has minority stock in such as Aronold, Smith, Abiline, Total and others I am sure. With that being the case stands to reason to me that if they were in such financial trouble they would either be selling off assests in some of these other companies and would not be buying into them?

Fact 2 USX is only "asking" drivers about teaming in states that have low freight rates, such as Florida and western states. This is beacause there is not enough freight going to those areas to get drivers home without having to deadhead them hundreds of miles and that costs the company money that they wouldnt have to spend otherwise. While this may seem harsh to some of you, it makes perfect sense to me.

Fact 3 USX does have a hiring freeze on student drivers and experienced drivers that live in certain states. This is due to that fact that they have a shortage of trainers and students are having to wait "weeks" for trainers. There shortage is due to several reasons, they dont pay trainers enough to make it worth it and drivers are starting to realize that all they are doing is shorting themselves in the long run. What I mean by that is this, if you have 2 drivers in any given area and you can pay one .26cpm and the other .43cpm who do you think will get the dispatch?

Fact 4 USX does have alot of "empty" trucks at all of their terminals. But this is not due do what the other poster suggested. This is due to one reason only, they are trade trucks. USX leases trucks for 3 years or 500,000 miles, whichever comes first. Look at the time of year it is, its coming up on 2009 which means all of the 2005 trucks have to be traded by January first. Which means they have been calling drivers in to trade there 2005 trucks out for newer trucks. I know this because just 3 weeks ago I was called in to trade my 2005 freightliner for a 2008 volvo.

Now I hope this once and for all stops this rumor mill from generating more posts on this subject, although Im sure it wont. Personally I like working for USX some may not like them or the comapny may not suit thier needs. But there is absolutly no reason to start rumors that are fasle simply because you didnt like working there. The driver that started this post failed to mention what state he lives in didnt he? See I bet he lives in one of those states that has a freight problem, I guarentee he was told this is the reason he had to team, lease, or quit. I have no doubt he was not "forced" to quit he just chose that because they told him he wouldnt be able to get home until they had freight to take hime home.


Keep On Trucking ##!!!