Vandilia OH Orientation

No terminals in pa or jersey. They closed the bethel,pa terminal a cpl of months ago. Never needed to use a yard around baltimore so not sure about drp yrds there.

 

When i got to orientation the first thing we all did was drive a couple miles with the inst. i guess to see if we could at least shift gears ect. and to get familiar with where stuff was located at on their trucks. The only backing that i did in orientation was straight line.
When i done upgrade in van buren it was a 7-10ml road test, roads and turns are very tight on that test you have to definitely pay attention to truck route signs and set up for your turns. The backing was a 45 degree alley dock and you have to pass a logging and trip planning exercise. If you have decent trainer they will take you through the course before upgrade, I did not have a decent trainer but passed no problem, it's no big deal if you use common sense and pay attention. I went through orientation first which in my mind made it easier on me and they said the other day in a class i took in vandalia that all trainees would now go through orientation first. Hope that helps.

 

C-1 students get dock backing test, the rest just get straight backing. Road test is fairly simple, shift smoothly, don't coast, don't stall, and for god's sake don't hit any curbs!

 

I just got home from my time with a trainer and my upgrade test. Don't worry about the upgrade test their test was easy but there were 4 guys that failed. right now they are giving orientation to everyone first. and they make you do 200 hrs with a trainer instead of the 175 that it was before. over all it has been good. my last week in the truck i ran 3800 miles. I get my own truck on monday and hit the road. usa has been good so far and I would choose them again. if you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

I live in the dreded NYC area and I think they've paid Greyhound more $$ then they've paid me at this point. The shipped me out to Vandalia OH for orientation, then back because they couldn't get a trainer before Thanksgiving. Then they took 2 weeks to get a trainer into the northeast. I was on the road for 3 weeks and had about 4-34's in that time. (is freight that slow? Or does dispatch just go home on friday? Not to mention the massive layoffs they apparently had in the 2nd week of Dec)

I was in Laredo TX 6 days before x-mas begging for ANY load east of the Missisippi because I didn't want to have yet ANOTHER 3 day weekend in a terminal. But to give them credit they DID get me to the Carolina's with a day to spare. Greyhound got me to D/C and I spent the weekend with my brother in law before going back to my Mother's in NYC on Monday.

Called propmtly at 9:30 am (Arkansas Time) to set up my level two trainer, and they STILL think I'm in Pensylvania. *sigh* Doesn't anyone put a note on the file?

Sure my paperwork, licence, mail and bills go to PA, but I shut that place down, winterized it and got ready for "life in the back of a 9400". These people deal with freight all over the country, why can they not understand I'm going to spend hometime with my familly and not in an empty hunting cabitn?

 

Hi i am thinking of usa and was wondering do they have apu?

 

All of the newer trucks do with the exception of trainer trucks. A few of the older ones do as well but not many.

 

after a year, I can tell you; USA sucks. If you like getting paid chump change, and sitting around for hours at a time (for free) waiting for a load, this is your company. If you want pay, go elsewhere