USA Truck, Inc. - Van Buren, Ar.?

Hey Pat, since you switched companies I thought of something else that you need to add to your packing list. Aspirin!

 

got that covered bud!! aspirin and Aleve

 

I went to C-1 Driver Training school and signed a 1 year agreement to work for USA. If I could undo this I would. I don't get good miles (ave. 1500 a week, often less because I had over a dozen unpaid break down days since I started 6 months ago.) I recommend finding the tuition money somewhere to pay for school upfront, otherwise it will cost twice that amount when you leave your company before 1 year.

I know that not everyone has bad experiences, but mine has been such a huge disappointment.

 

Hi All,

Hope everyone is doing well! I'm home for the weekend... will be gone again on Tuesday morning. I was out for four weeks and might stay out that long next time too. They are running me harder and harder as I can handle the loads. There's an awful lot to learn the first few weeks of solo driving (mainly having to do with company policy and time management). I'm getting better at both, but it takes time.

Miles has increased each week. I'm hitting almost 2500 per week now and by talking to my FM, it seems he's willing to run me as hard as I can handle. There's really a lot of art and science in the management of your time, in order to run in excess of about 2200 hours per week. I'm learning!

I had a couple issues with breakdown. This took up quite a few hours one week and caused my miles to be lower. After mentioning this to the FM (dispatch), he had a lady from payroll call me. She wanted to know the exact hours I was in maintenance. I jotted these down and they paid me $15 per hour for these lost mile/hours. ...Seemed fair to me.

The same type issue happened a couple times with waiting for loads. They have a policy for a two hour window to be loaded (I found out later by talking to dispatch). They also have a policy for deliveries which allow you up to six hours padding for the ontime delivery (nice!). Anyway, after waiting for a couple loads beyond the window time, I called payroll and they paid $15 per hour for those hours as well (again, I'm ok with this).

Initially, I was going to be home after three weeks. I later found out that the FM (dispatch) was going to have me relay the load and go home. The way it actually worked, I (repeat.. I) drove right past my dropoff point (out of ignorance), so I was too far from home to make it home on time. In talking with the FM after the fact, he appologized and we arranged for me to come home a week later. The end result...? He gave me an extra half day of home time. Pretty cool, huh?

I seldom wait more than 20 or 30 minutes for my next load and daytime dispatch is very helpful. Nighttime and weekend dispatch is a little lame. I discussed this with my FM (daytime dispatcher) and since then, he's worked really hard to get me runs that keep me going through the night and/or the weekend. My FM is a great guy and I think this is a big deal.
Back at the beginning I talked to my FM's manager. He made it pretty clear that I should contact him if I had any issues with his people... so all in all, I think I have a pretty good support group!
I DO FIRMLY BELIEVE that you make your own success by openmindedly discussing these issues with everyone as you go through your daily activities. If any discussion turns into a confrontation, in any business, you'll end up going backwards. I've learned this over many years, in a few different industries.

I'm looking forward to the second month of solo... I can see a lot of ways to improve on my own time management to make more miles and money. Four weeks seems like a pretty long time to be out, but it makes a good 4 day stay for hometime. The FM has mentioned numberous times, he likes it when his drivers stay out for four or five weeks at a time. I'm not sure if I or my wife are ready for five weeks yet, but we'll see how that progresses.

Sorry, I've not been able to post more often, but I need to be home to use a computer. That may change eventually, but I can't afford a computer in the truck yet...


Hope you all are safe and doing well!

Mark

 

I had some dealings with NAVAJO stay away from them 100%.

 

boaterer:
My USA fm told me that I could only get breakdown pay if I was down over 24 hours. I was off the road 13 days with their broken down truck and only got 1 day of 8hr pay @$15. I have also sat for hours on end waiting for loads. Who is your fm? I have driven for almost 6 months and have many weeks of 1500 miles or less.

 

Hang in there for six months, I had verizon nationwide broadband and cell phone. Hide your inverter when truck goes in USA mecanical shop, they'll take it away.

 

I just quit USA (SW regional) this week after 19 months with them. First, the good points, which won't last too long. Big terminals, but about half the area is taken up by old trailers they have yet to trade in. Much of their equipment is fairly new--Great Dane trailers and late model International trucks (although you are governed at 62, so you will make everyone in the hammer lane PO'd at you if you have to get in it). Of course you won't get a new truck right away, but if it breaks down badly enough, they may upgrade you. Also, no frickin' cab extenders to inevitably get bent up making a tight U-turn at a facility--only company I know of that doesn't put them on.

Now the bad points (hope I don't run out of space!). If home time means anything to you, I hope you live close to one of their terminals. (An ABF terminal is not good enough, which I'll get to later.) I drove in Regional and they still screwed up getting me home in some way about every other week. They will often make you wait most of the weekend at a terminal for a load that you (and they) have no way of knowing when it's going to be there (and they won't tell you it's not there already unless you ask them). Then if you get home on Sunday, they may offer you Monday off, as if that makes up for your weekend being wasted. Their policy is you have to go home under a load, and your load may not go through where you live, so you could drive hundreds of miles out of your way to go home and hundreds of miles more to go back and make the delivery, and they do not pay any of those extra miles you have to drive. If the shipper rejects your empty or the consignee refuses your load, they will not pay you for any extra driving you have to do to remedy the situation. They will not alter the point A to point B dispatched miles. SO if you have extra stops that are scheduled stupidly, you only get paid the miles from the pickup point to the consignee as if that was what your route actually would be (just like when you go home). If they absolutely have to deadhead you home (again, conceivably hundreds of miles), they will not pay you any of those miles. Basically they can put you on any kind of crap load to "get you home" and they'll think they did their job, even though it's their fault they're making you drive for free and cutting into your hometime. And you have to examine your statements like a hawk. This company will screw you out of your money seven ways from Sunday if you let them. They will conveniently forget your empty miles pay, your short haul miles pay, your hazmat pay (expect to haul hazmat at least once a month), your extra stop pay, and anything else you may think you have resolved with your FM. Good luck trying to get your pay fixed. Funny how PR never errs in the driver's favor. Trying to get detention pay out of your FM is like pulling teeth. They give you no bonuses at all--no idle bonuses, no MPG bonus, no mileage bonus, no safety bonus. Trying to get a hold of dispatch or breakdown during lunch, at nights or on the weekends is often futile. If you call breakdown (at any time), you have to go through a stupid menu, then chances are nobody will pick up, which means it kicks you right back to the main menu again!!! It's a frickin' joke. This company is not worth the endless frustration you will have trying to deal with them. They are now refusing to pay my vacation pay because I didn't take it before I quit and they are also charging me 50 cpm (out of my escrow--they steal $500 from you right up-front) to get their truck back to Van Buren, AR even though I left it at their designated secure parking space in my home area (an ABF terminal), which they didn't tell me they were going to do until after I left it there, even though they knew the day before that I was going to. After all the money they've screwed me out of, they have some G.D. nerve. SCREW THEM!!!

 

I just left USA after 6 months. They still owe me money for a 4 day breakdown, and motel reimbursments during that time that they took out of my pay, and I can't get anyone to return my phone calls. I called Drivers Solutions to refinance my tuition at 12% rather than the 18% they advertised originally. I still say - stay away from USA.

I am hopeful my new company is better. At least the people are friendly every time I or my wife calls. I am on a regional midwest run, home every weekend, and am hardly ever standing still.

 

Hi All,
Just got into town yesterday. I'm having a great time with this company! Sorry you're not all having the same luck!

I was just out for six and a half weeks... the reason you've not seen me post for a while. I did get home for a few hours in the middle of this, and I've driven right through my home town a number of times. Guess I could have stopped by home a couple more times, but between my bad planning and driving through in the middle of the night, I only stopped at home once. All of this was my own choosing.

In looking through my pay stubs, they've been paying me right (including breakdown, relay, and Hazmat pays). My FM seems to be looking out for me pretty well. Most of my checks are around 7-8 hundred dollars a week now, so I'm not complaining yet.

I think most of the problems I've had have been due to a lack of communication. The dispatchers seems very busy and are unable to explain things in great detail. Training missed a lot of subject matter that they could have made more clear. I think that many times, drivers believe this is all on purpose to cheat the driver. Maybe this is true, maybe it isn't... I don't believe anyone is trying to cheat me. What I do know is that if you live and learn, then hold them accountable after you've learned, they work with you pretty well. You do need to be mature, cordial, and respectful in your communication methods. If you're going to yell at people, and cry all the time, they (like everyone else in the world) will shut you out, and your life will become hell.... and rightfully so (imho).

I've talked to a lot of drivers that have been with USA Truck for years, that are still pretty happy. And I've talked to a lot of drivers with other companies that are quite unhappy. I still believe it's all what you make of it.

I'm a little tired of hearing unhappy drivers that have a year or two experience and they want more, more, more. Doesn't anyone believe they have to work hard for many years to learn a system, then to achieve clout and respect? I was involved in my previous carreer for over 25 years. I spent the first ten years just learning. Kids come in and expect the same treatment as a veteran, then cry when they have to work hard... all while they are making a fair and descent wage. They are getting paid to learn and they complain about it?!?!?!?
... I say, if they don't like it, go back to college for about 4-6 years, see if you can find a high paying job, and then maybe watch it go over seas and leave you high and dry.
.. Been there, done that.
.. So... quit whining!

I like USA Truck. I like driving. I don't mind working hard. I don't mind making 800 bucks a week, driving about 8-9 hours a day. If you want something else, go find it and quit ########. Every company will have their own system and policies. You need to take the time to learn all of this.. then put it to work for you. Live and learn. Live and learn. Is this so hard to understand??

I go back out tuesday. That's 5 days off. I chose this too. I also chose when I'd come home on this holiday weekend. The FM made sure I got here... cause I work hard and don't piss and moan. He flat out told me this in my last Quall-comm message. It really is what you make of it.

I think when I go out again, I'll probably go for 4 or 5 weeks at a time from now on. I think that will work better for my lifestyle.

If anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them. Just post a message!

Will I ever quit USA and look for a better job? I'm looking all the time. If I get enough experience, and find a better job, I could leave... But I would first go to the owner of the company and ask if he'd like to match my new offer. I think that's fair. Ya never know, he might just make an offer I can't refuse! I've run into a few drivers that did just that... and they still work for USA <grin>.

Hope ya'all have a great weekend!!

Mark