Would Like To Hear From U.S. Xpress Drivers

If i was a newbie just starting out. these are the top 5 companies from best to worst I would try for.

Old Dominion
Heartland Express
Roehl
Schneider
Trans-am

now some drivers will disagree with this list. but nobody's gonna like every company.
one of these companies could make your first year go allot smoother than some of the others out there such as US Express,England,Swift, and Stevens.
I work for OD now and if you land a job with them you won't be going anywhere else.
I did however start out with Roehl for my first 2 years.

 

us express has a good offer. but
1) no more than 2 moving violations in the last 3 years
2) recent grad or verifiable experience.
3) auto shifts ?
let me say I would have went with us express but had too many tickets.

I think auto shifts are the new best things, but if your looking for experience and a starter company then why would you goto us express ?

I interviewed at Schafer trucking and they want a squeaky clean driving record for recent grads 0 moving violations in 3 years and at least of a 90% in school.

I have 1 ticket a year for 5 years going 10 and under so I did not qualify, I asked how long would I have to put in somewhere and he said at least a year. I asked about us express and the auto shifts ( cause I herd that most companies won't hire you as an experienced driver coming from us express)
his reply is they don't automatically disqualify you because you drove auto shifts recently, but they give you a driving teats and if you can't shift without problems then you don't qualify.

so I have to say this if you go with us express and for whatever reason you don't like it then the next company will probably send you with a trainer, and start you off with 0 experience (pay wise)

but now I understand why people go to the big companies that don't pay real well but will hire you, work for a year then go somewhere and make more money.

 

when my wife and I teamed for them we went through two dispatchers and were promised the world, and they pretty much failed to deliver. We went from a company that could never get us home to always sitting at some us xpress terminal fighting for an empty trailer, or sitting on some runway with 30 other trailers waiting our turn to get loaded. The auto shifts are a traffic jam miracle invention. They have really funky problems, like no departments talk to each other, you may be on a tight schedule to get some where. and you pull into a usxpress yard, for a new light or whatever, and to get out of the yard you have to have 3 stamps on a gate pass to leave. One stamp from maint. saying that your truck isn't over due for a maint, one from the dispatch saying that you have the right equipment and trailer, and the final one from the guard stating that your seal hasn't been tampered with. All this sounds reasonable right? except that they couldn't care less if you're late for a pick up or delivery. Now you have to get on the phone and tell your dispatcher why you can't get out of the yard. someone else may take your load. then you call dispatch for a trailer, they assign you one and when you go to get it, it's gone... somehow with all the security this trailer walked right out of the yard! Now your waiting for a miracle empty to arrive or a new load or the sweet release that sudden death will bring. When we were there 3 years ago the trucks had this goofy vorad system installed, (it senses your forward proximity to other vehicles) and with out even knowing it will subtly kick your cruise control down, after a while of listening to the radio you notice that you are cruising at the breakneck speed of 53 mph. I went back and checked my w-2's against our time their and we averaged about 480 a week each. For a team operation that's an insult. We complained and were cleaning out the truck to quit and some dispatch manager comes out to offer us a different dispatcher and to give them another chance, so we did for another 2 weeks and thing just got progressively worse. I really wonder how these places stay in business when the customers and drivers are treated like this

 

Heartland Express only hires drivers with atleast 1 year OTR........

 

These companies won't hire you if you're coming from US Express, but they'll hire a new grad right out of school. Some companies' hiring policies make absolutely no sense. If a guy has come from USEx with no problems, at least he's proven himself. It'd take maybe a week to get him up to speed on shifting a manual. Going with a freshie is much riskier, in my opinion. A green driver has yet to prove himself, and shifting is only a small portion of the "driving picture" when evaluating a new candidate. Don't know what they're thinking.

 

Yea, wait till that new hire at usx gets one of those standby loads at the airport on a Sunday and they sit around from 9am till 10pm and then have to drive to Virgina from Ohio for a am delivery but they got no sleep because they were sitting on the runway in front of a portable ramp all day getting 1 or 2 pallets loaded a hour. Man I miss that, NOT.

Autoshifts are not new. I was driving one back in 98. Not having the clutch is recent but autos have been around for awhile. I agree you should learn to shift first. Chances are you will not stay at USX for your whole carrier and if you go local, chances are they are not going to want to have to train you to drive a stick when they got 20 applicants who don't need it. When you go to a trucking company as a experienced driver that does not mean experienced but I can;t shift a truck without grinding have the life out of the tranny.

 

Express Global a division of US Express

They pay by the hour for a four state area IL, IN, KY, WI hauling carpet and wood flooring products. Some overnights.

Customer's are Lowe's and Home Depot.

Anyone know anything on them?

 

Hey Smurf

You're on the right track. I talked to my CDL intructor and school recruiter . They told me roughly the same thing and that they really don't advise newbie's to go there. Pre-hire letter and then when the rubber meets the road it disappears. Or the mileage is low for some dedicated accounts but then again, it is dedicated. Doing your homework is very important and I agree that talking to several drivers is another good idea.

 

LOL

You want information? well then use the search function and type in usx or us express...

I have read tons of info on this company... matter of fact I have worked for them... You are not hired till you get the keys..... You will not get paid for layover, detention ext.... you will have to argue with them over and over and over and over to get paid for such things....
Want more? then do the search...

By the way once your told you are not hired then you have no room to stay in that night nor do you have a ride... it's all out of your pocket from that point...

 

Do the hourly OTR drivers in the Xpress Global division get the same
treatment as the US Express OTR guys?

I have read up plenty and would have stayed at Schneider Bulk if I wanted more of that.

Xpress Global sounded like paid for all hours worked no matter what.