I love when new ppl jump on here and post the same post all over the boards. Even threads that have not had a new post in them for a year and a half. Good grief!!!
USA Truck, Inc. - Van Buren, Ar.?
Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by mykel58, Aug 22, 2006.
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first, recruiters (drivers solutions) tell you how great trucking is and that school is paid for. (where do i sign!, wait for it...)
school is not school but a "virtual cliff notes" on what trucking is. drive your self out to the school which could be up to 1000 miles if you are like me on your dime.
At "school" will be told what the "answers" are at the dmv and to memorize them in order to get your cdl permit. this takes 4 days. then, you will be sent to the yard. depending on where you go (indiana, texas, or arkansas) your xperience will be different. (dont go to texas!)
the yard in texas is a mud pit/dirt field. you will be fighting with other students for a turn at "straitbacking" 45 degree backing, and the so called "usa truck course" a series of 90 backing, turning and stopping on an old hose meant to be a weigh station scale.
The hotel is a joke too....
2nd, the people at the school will be quick to sign you up into their USA contract, real quick. Dont ask any questions about the details, and yes your "recruiter" dosen't really know the details but cant wait to sign you up. After you sign up for a prison sentence of debt, you will go to the yard where you will be lucky to learn/grasp the basic fundamentals of being a truck driver before you are forced to "take the dmv test". I tested after about 2 hrs. total of driving a truck. you wont get time to "learn", instead you will be told like me that, "you are not here to become a great driver, all we promised you was a CDL." - (dwayne), gee great.
After being put through a virtual boot camp of hateful/militant instructors that really could care less, you will be sent home to wait for that CDL. mine took over a month to arrive, what USA doesn't tell you is that you can take your paper copy to orientation in order to begin the process. ( a constant theme with USA , "the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing").
Your "training" will vary based on your trainer. mine was not great. I was put through two phases. the first was otr general delivery, and the second was a dedicated route. together they took about 6 weeks to complete. I was paid 250$ a week. thats (50) a day (before taxes).
The first trainer would not even let me drive but on the interstate. I backed into one dock (in 2 weeks), and before i could finish he told me that he needed to do it. while he attempted the easy maneuver a driver from werner came over and asked me if i was a trainer, based on my actual trainers horrible 12 attempts at backing into a simple no problem dock, when i explained i was the trainee he laughed and told me he felt bad for me, i laughed and said" at least im learning what NOT to do".
The first trainer was more interested in me driving on the interstate than learning any skills at backing or city driving. that was a let down, but he told me that I would have time to learn those things in my second phase. not true. He also had road rage issues and would run old ladies off the road for cutting him off.
My second phase trainer picked me up and said, im out of hours you will be driving all night, ready?. i guess i said, as i was now driving all night 8pm-5am. those first few nights were stressful as i was tired and not great at shifting. He would wake up if i grinded a gear, Hey, HEY dont do that i would hear. I tried to float them as quietly as i could. not to mention sleeping in the daytime while a truck is bumping along down the highway is hard. We were on a "dedicated route" and I didnt have a lot of city driving, mostly interstate and highway. I got to back a trailer up about 5 times onto a yard. So, overall my 170 hrs of "training" was just on the interstate. in my opinion that was not enough skill training.
So, long story short, you will then be sent to ARK. to be put through "upgrade" this is just more classroom training that is needed and explains some more about operations. The road test you take is kinda a joke, they have already signed you up and dont care how well you drive. they are going to pass you almost no matter what. First a backing "test", then a few mile road test. after the 4 day upgrade you get to go home for a couple days. Then its off to work. They will bus you across a couple states to your truck which in my case was abandoned and neglected. The truck was an automatic, which im ok with, but the 08 prostar had a few problems. of course will all prostars, a major leak in the windshield, this caused a bad electrical short in the dash. I spent hours cleaning out the cigerette smell, tar and dirt. ok fine.
My experience so far is that USA will run you. the fleet managers are so so busy you will not have a good communication with them, or at best delayed. The equipment is sad, the trailors all have poor landing gear, you will spend 30 minutes raising and lowering them. The lights and tires will sometimes be bad. and the tandems are impossible to move on some of them, others are not so bad if your lucky.
You will also be expected to pay for scales and lumpers, but you need to ask your "FM" for comcheck express codes so they pay for them, and you scan the receipts to make sure they dont charge you.
The last thing is home time. So far i have been disappointed. on the day you are to be "home" you will be run all over until the end of your hours. and if you are out of hours they will expect you to shut down and deliver the load the next day, even though you were supposed to be home the previous day and expressed that over 2 weeks earlier. They will run you without any concern for your home time and dont even have consideration for your circumstance ie. lining up rides and plans with your family, too bad. just run the loads and get home when we say, and oh by the way you only get 48 hours. so if you are done at 3pm on friday, be back at work at 3pm on sunday. that sucks.
Overall you will be trapped in this situation, if you quit early they will not only charge you 2,000 $ for school they charge you 6,000$!!! and they hit you up for the food you are feed during orientation, as if i asked for the greasy fast food. They charge you for the courtesy of feeding you. If they would have told me that i would have just ate my own healthy food.
These are just my experiences with USA, yours could be completely different. so, Good Luck, youll need it. -
Can anyone that works for USA Truck explain to me why there is a shortage of trainers? I saw the power point slides during orientation that explained the benefits of being a trainer. I wasn't impressed with the figures displayed. There were 19 in my orientation. Out of that, there were roughly 10 or so inexperienced drivers. Of those 10, 2 got to go out with trainers and the rest were sent home to wait. I'm still waiting. One week so far. I called in yesterday and was told maybe after the 4th. Thanks.
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New to forum. I have since done that. Thanks for the input.
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Good luck to you !
Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds
Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.
Page 18 of 19