US Xpress, Inc. - Chattanooga, Tn.?

Sounds SWEET, I've been driving for 31 years now. And have been looking at USX for the last 6 months. Talked to many of the drivers and have NOT heard one negative thing. I've read the post on this forum about them, But I guess u cant make all 7,700 drivers happy.
I do not have a home and will be taking my 48 off where ever my 70hr's runs out. My OLD company is SO BAD they cant even pay the trash bill. Thats why I'm leaving them. I'm hopeing this will be a great company where i can finish my last 15 years with them.

Taking the class on turkey week. Cya's on the road


Rooster

 

Well on my 1st post here i guess i was way off on the name of the new Satlite unit they are using i just saw the post that cybergal made in the news section so here is part of the new satlite system, I still dont have one yet but here is one of the features

10/27/2006
ALK Technologies said U.S. Xpress Inc. will deploy ALK’s CoPilot Truck GPS navigation system across its entire fleet of more than 5,000 power units, becoming the largest major motor carrier to provide its drivers with spoken, truck-specific, turn-by-turn directions.
Demonstrations of CoPilot Truck are available at ALK’s booth 1104, during the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition in Dallas, Texas, this Sunday through next Tuesday.
U.S. Xpress, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, recently decided to adopt CoPilot Truck company-wide.
CoPilot Truck is a comprehensive solution that gets drivers where they need to go while avoiding restricted roads, tunnels and bridges. This eases the frequently intense hassle of driving a large truck in unfamiliar territory. CoPilot Truck provides confidence for new drivers and peace of mind for veteran drivers who are now always aware of exactly where they are and how far it is to their next turn and destination.
CoPilot Truck combines ALK’s PC*MILER 20 routing and mapping with the real-time precision of GPS navigation to guide drivers turn by turn to virtually any street-level address in the U.S. and Canada. A driver is alerted to upcoming turns by voice from the speaker of the truck’s in-cab device. CoPilot Truck guides drivers around roads, bridges and tunnels with truck restrictions.
The ability of CoPilot Truck to automatically recalculate routes based on dynamic factors such as traffic, construction or accidents is a key benefit for drivers and carriers.
“Drivers should not have to stop to look at an atlas and redirect themselves,” said Jeff Seibenhener, vice president information technology for U.S. Xpress. “If they actually do get off route, for whatever reason, CoPilot Truck will determine a new route for the driver. Basically it should never allow them to get lost.”
Seibenhener said that U.S. Xpress staff personnel tested CoPilot extensively on business and personal trips before installing the application on company trucks. “We tried to get lost,” he said, “but so far no one has been able to.”
U.S. Xpress selected the ALK application for a number of reasons, including the fact that CoPilot Truck data resides on the onboard device. That differs from a competing system that delivers driving directions to the truck cab from the provider’s remote server.
“Competing systems require that whenever you want to detour or reroute, you incur the cost of the communication back to the host application,” Seibenhener said. “We felt CoPilot Truck’s more dynamic and cost effective functionality was a better fit for us.”
Also in contrast to the competition, ALK offers a CoPilot Truck software development kit that enables U.S. Xpress to customize views and functionality of CoPilot Truck. For example, points of interest including truckstops and tourist attractions are available in the CoPilot Truck database; but they can be blocked if the company so desires.
U.S. Xpress also has the ability to control CoPilot Truck options wirelessly. “We can automatically configure CoPilot on the truck remotely. When we haul a hazmat load, we can turn on hazmat routing on the fly. The same thing is possible with routing for high value products,” Seibenhener said.

 

USX can keep their fancy trucks. I don't wanna work for any company with such safety nazi's as them. They have the meanest safety team in the biz.

 

I hate to think of it.,but with all that's happening these days with terrorism, the hazmat rtes will be changed, new construction all over,I believe all the carriers will be forced to have them. Thankfully I will retire befor then. I do think that system would be great for inexperieced in the big cities with restricked roads and bridge weight limits and height restrictions. I believe it will help a new driver more at keeping his job.

 

I am glad to hear that USX will be installing the copilot system in their trucks. I run Copilot Truck on my laptop. It is a real good gps system. It has helped me from getting lost on a number of occasions. It also gives a fairly accurate ETA. It has really helped me.

 

I wonder if this new system is going to work as well as their right front fender cameras. When I did a truck recovery of a Columbia the camera did not work. I spoke with other drivers who said their cameras only worked for a short while and then the screen would go blank.

 

Remember when all you had was a paper map and an address?

 

Umm I'm starting this thread to give a run down of what options you have as being a Trainer at US Xpress, I will Start my 3 day class February 1, 2007 just like my other USX posts i will post the good and the bad.. as well as how that new Qualcomm thingy works and pictures later..

Well so far this is the information i have gotten from the training dept..
1. You cant train on the Wal-Mart Dedicated or Brunswick Boats account

2. You take a 3 day Class, and has a basic driving test, you go around the block and back into a space.. you are paid $175 for the 3 day class.

3. If you Choose to Train Women, You have to take a 4th day of classes for Sensitivity Training and Sexual Harassment classes
(There is a Huge negative i see to Training Women as a Male, i have encountered several Trainers who have told me that they had 1 or several women that they trained file Sexual harassment against them because they didn't get their way, and he said its always your word against theirs and that i'm better off not getting into that whole world of Trouble)

4. You are paid for everything the truck Does straight no splitting miles or anything like that.

5. i think you have to stay out with the student until he logs 140 hours behind the wheel if I'm wrong i will correct it

6. the truck is dispatched on Solo miles, and you are required to log every hour that the student is up driving as on duty not driving if you fail to do so you will be removed from Trainer Status

7. At the end of the students training he/she will have to take a written test and a Driving test and backing test
I. if he/she passes 1st time you receive $350.00 bonus
II. If he/she Passes 2nd time you receive $250.00 bonus
III. if he/she passes 3rd time you receive no bonus

8. You get a Bran New Truck after you Graduate your 1st student so I'm looking at a Nice 2007 Volvo with all the nifty stuff that comes with it

Thats all i can think of now i will update this post after i take my Training class and Pass in February..

 

Have an update to my previous Post,

1. For the $20.00 per day a student is on the Truck you wont be paid until the 3rd week of the month

2. After your Student upgrades you Receive a Bonus $0.01cpm for 6months up to 12,000 miles per month that the student drives, which is paid on the 3rd week of every month

3. the Bonus for Upgrading the Student has another stipulation i failed to mention, IF you get a Student Who already had a Trainer even for 10 hours of his training, Your Max Bonus for 1st time upgrade is only $250.00

4. U can Super Solo to maximize miles with your Student by driving 1st thing 3-4 hrs then hopping into the jump seat and logging on duty not driving behind your student

5. FREIGHT IS EXTREMELY SLIM THIS TIME OF YEAR My Buddy who just started being a Trainer is only getting about 900-2k miles a week

6. Also if you Train 100+ students a year you get a Bonus at the end of the year like 1k bucks or something

Something i noticed from talking to my buddy every day is that the Training Program offers a 15k a year Raise in pay (roughly 55k a year) but requires you to take a Pay cut they seem to be running the Training Program like a Pyramid Scheme,

The more Students you Pump out in a 6month period increases your bottom line basically you can put out a student in 3 weeks then when he/she starts driving you receive a penny per mile for all their miles every month for 6 months and there is no cap as to how many students your collecting from, except after their individual 6 months is up they fall off but once you get the rotation going that is where that extra 15k per year raise comes from....