USX drivers...how's your day??

Yikes Craig and Anne, sounds like the tides (been watching too much news lately!!) of good fortune and misfortune are beginning to level out for you guys. I have to say though, that your upbeat positive attitude is both refreshing and inspiring.

I recall hearing experienced drivers say they wouldn't take a truck with less than 50K on it, hoping that by then all the bugs would have been worked out. So there it is: Put up with living in a stinky truck or putting up with 'gremlins' as co-drivers !! Either way I'm sure you both will end up with fabulous lemonade.

 

I would like some advice on usx, have job offer from them and I would like any input I can get.
Ben driving for 8 months with company out of michigan. outbound loads are normally office furniture out east, tight backing into downtown spots, if no dock then a full loaded parking lot. it can get frustrating too. Have hazmat and can do runs into canada where my company doesnt. usx offering me four cent more a mile and way cheaper health insurance. I am looking for a company that i can put in good miles ans stay few years. Is usx a good company to drive for?

 

I've been watching this as well, I also am from Michigan, hauling way to much freight around the east coast, nothing against it, but there are some other states to deliver to... I have a friend that works for Conway so I'm trying to decide between the two, I know US Express is a lot better then they used to be..

Keep up the post, they are very informative..

Stay safe...

 

OK, I will not lie for a company, and will probably catch some grief for this but here goes.
I have been with USX since Thanksgiving of 2008. I started company, then leased for a year, now am back to company.
First let me say that I do not have a house and I only take home time once every 2-3 months for Dr appts. Then usually only long enough to do a 34, so I am always available for loads. Incidently I have had ro resched 3 Dr appts. because they sent me to Minnesota and Montana 3 days before the appointment in Tennessee, with a promise of "I will take care of you".

Here is the short list with limited detail.

I was told there was a $750 sign on bonus. They scheduled me for orientation 2 weeks later. After completing the required time I asked about the bonus. They told me they stopped it a week before I was hired.

I have at least a dozen scale tickets that I have never been reimbursed for. All for loads over 38,000 on the BOL except 1. There was no weight on that BOL(US NAVY). I have contacted both, my FM's and driver liason at one poiint and still no reimbursement. I even had one where I drove 35 miles to RP a load. Driver had super-single blow 1 mile from del. When I got there to del, late, but they started before I even got inside, I was told that I needed mt and loaded scale tickets. No warning for me at all and it was 35 miles back to the nearest TS. I msgd disp and by the time I got an answer, I was MT. Then they told me to go back to TS(35 miles) and at least get MT weight. They said the other driver had no scale tickets on load. Since I was a lease driver at that time, I was not reimbursed for the extra miles or the scale ticket. Lease drivers are responsible for all scale tickets. Because of this I will typically refuse ALL RP.

They ask you to "help me out with this load, it has a back up load when you MT" So you do it and then before you MT, you get Load not available and you are stuck somewhere waiting for another load.

I was sent to pick up a load and was told by the shipper that the load I was after was picked up by another one of our trucks "2 weeks ago".

In early 2009 they started taking a penny a mile and holding it with the promise that it was not a cut in pay and would be given as a quarterly bonus if you had no chargeable accidents. I had none but never saw that penny/mile given.

I had hazmat and was promised 2-3 cpm for all hazmat loads, again on a quarterly bonus. Never saw any of that and had hazmat removed when I renewed my license.

I paid a $150 lumper fee when I first started as a company driver and was never reimbursed for it.

The miles are far from consistent. I have had way more 1,000-1900 mile weeks than 3,000+. Even as a lease driver the miles were not good and if you only have a 1,000 mile week, you can bet you owe the company about $300. I have never had a 3,000+ week as a company driver and only 2 as a lease driver.

AS a lease driver I have 1 load, a local delivery in Springfield, OH., that I was never paid the minimum on. I sat there for 2 1/2 hours waiting for a check to pay the lumper, even though I was MT in 15 min. The lumper service was almost as po'd as i was. I waited and made them wait even though I had the money to pay because of the prior problems with getting my money back for expenses. Incidentally this was after I had dropped the load on Thursday night that I had on that yard because it could not del til Monday. They said to drop it in Springfield so they could "keep me moving for the weekend". I sat in that terminal all weekend waiting for a load. I did enjoy the Air show in Dayton Sunday when I bob-tailed there for it. but would rather have been rolling with a load.

A month before the Springfield mes I ad a Family Dollar store delivery that took 3 days to del 4 stores and was never paid the unloading for putting all that freight on rollers in 104 degree heat in OK. I sent a macro 55(message to Max) after that one telling him " I hope that you are enjoying your new house since you paid for it with money stolen from drivers" The only time I ever got a reply from him(or his office). I was asked what the problem was, I explained and never heard anything more. Also never got paid for it.

The sliding scale for mileage pay, since I ended my lease, sucks. My driving time is worth just as much if I drive 100 or 1,000 miles on a trip. When I first started in 2008 I was not on a sliding scale.

The first truck they sent me after was 2 years past due for DOT insp. They screwed around for a week before I got to get it inspected then sent me in a rental car to Ca. to reseat another truck, after I waited to get the work done. They gave me a $150 advance for gas and motel to go to Ca. then took the advance out of my next pay check. I did, finally get the expenses reimbursed after repeated messages and phone calls for 3 months.

Most recently with the '08 Volvo that I am in now, since Dec I have been in 8 different shops, one of them twice, with the same problem. That is 9 breakdowns, from 2-8 days each (average 4 days) with only 7 days of breakdown pay, all for the same problem. I was wondering if there was a mechanic anywhere that could fix this truck. It seems they finally got it done. Oh and you do not get BD pay for Sundays, or if you are at house. One BD i had I took it to dealer in Nashville and stayed at my daughters house for 8 days waiting for truck to be done. At least it did not cost me a fortune to eat, since the BD pay I had been getting was only $25/day. The other 8 day BD I had was at a terminal in Ellenwood, Ga. where they at least let me run local in a day cab to make a little money while I was down. Finally a dealer Cinci fixed the truck. The mech told me it was a common issue with the D13 engine. Someone needs to tell all those other shops.

Like I said, this is a short list. And I have documentation of it all.

I have been asked to train or run team. I have declined both. I told them that they "do not want me talking to new hires", and as far as team goes, I stop them when I say, "that depends on what she looks like." LOL I do not team with any man and only did before with my then wife. I live in my truck and few will want to keep the schedule that I keep. It is not worth the hassle or the "extra pay".

Now the other question I get a lot is why are you still with the company?

I left lease in Oct and came back as a company driver because I am going to need eye surgery very soon. I have a cataract forming in my left eye and and it is not bad yet but I will need to get it taken care of. The Dr says I will be off for 4-6 weeks because he does not want me OTR in case there are complications. I left the lease so I would not be saddled with a lease payment while I was unable to work. It keeps getting delayed because of missed Dr appts. I go for my next appt on 3/21 and, come hell or high water I will be there to meet the surgeon. After I have the surgery, I do not plan to come back to to USX. That is IF I have a job since my posting this on here is a violation of company policy.

I have heard from other drivers that this company has gone downhill in the last 2 years. I picked the wrong time to leave JB Hunt and come here. When asked, I tell everyone that, if someone recommends this company, they are only after a referral bonus. But you decide what you want to do.

 

Wow, sorry it has been so tough for you.

According to you, USX would not pay a referral bonus anyway.

I love the company but I have nowhere near the time in you have put in. I have gotten paid for everything and every mile except two days of breakdown pay that have been promised on this Fridays check. I really think it all depends on your Fleet Manager.

I wish you the best of luck with the eye surgery

 

Dang, but it may be something simple. Screeching is often a belt. Fingers are crossed on that. My truck is fixed (I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope) We are at a Pilot in Grande Island NE picking up a load tomorrow and heading to Costco in Sumner WA. This works perfectly as Anne's birthday is Friday and she wanted seafood. Great seafood in Washington.