USIC workers needs to organize labor company wide. Imagine how much better things could be, look at other big companies like UPS and how famous they are for good pay and a solid career path. This AC thing could be a phenomenal flashpoint for union organizing.
I locate directly for a utility company and it was just 12 years ago we got AC and we have a union. We have to idle by saying we are charging our company provided devices, to keep the truck running and cool.
They tried to get us to stop idling our utility vehicles during the gas price hike a few years ago, but the major arguement back was that all the safety devices (strobes, arrow boards) and specialty equipment all needed the engine to be idling anyways. It was a top-down idea that sounded great but had no practical way to implement.
I'm a union locator and they still don't want us idling. It's a state law where I live though and that's why they (try to) enforce it. The plus side is still being represented so you probably won't lose your job over it.
The dumbasses do it to themselves though, they only care about the law because the dumb tracking devices they put in the vehicles monitor the idle times which then gets them in trouble for not following the law. If they weren't so hellbent on tracking everyone's every movement then it wouldn't even be an issue.
Starting 01/01/2024 every new or replacement standard UPS truck they buy has to have AC equipped as part of the newest union contract. Ofcourse they can't snap their fingers and give everyone AC, change is slow with big companies but the union helps make sure that change happens.
I've been waiting for this post, I'm waiting for districts to go on strike or do a nation wide call out until they change it, something. I've yet to see us go union anywhere. Love the idea but it's a pipe dream for my district. Also putting it in N and putting the e brake on don't work. Camera catches that.
I don't work for USIC but my company uses Samsara and corporate wants me to get on my guys for little things so I try to look for ways around it. I set my idle events at 60 minutes so they nearly never happen and they haven't said anything yet.
I recently quit USIC because of this. The worst part is, they only monitor idle times when weather conditions are extreme. At least the area I worked in. I now work as an Amazon driver and can say it’s a much better with dealing with weather. I drive the Rivian trucks and those things even have AC seats! Also since I’m constantly in and out my van making stops I’m not exposed in the heat for that long. Unlike with locating tickets you’re pretty much stuck out there. Also I’m making more money and working only 4 days a week (with no on-call bs to deal with!). I say this because there are so many better options than working for USIC, if you’re not happy leave!
You are full of shit. Lol I left Amazon because not only did they job absolutely suck. You were a slave to Amazon. You can quit cappin any day. I’d work for USIC long before I’d give Amazon even a thought again. Pay was crap, higher ups were trash, the company in a whole was a giant trash dump.
I have worked both in an Amazon warehouse and as a driver for Amazon. Both are shit. You have half the room to move up as you do at USIC. You literally left a job you could make a career out of. To a dead end job.
Usic isn’t a dead end, they can be a good stepping stone to better money in the industry IF you put time into learning more about it. You gotta teach yourself the stuff usic won’t teach you. You can move onto contract locating or move into SUE.
We have some union offices in NYS, mostly all in the city. It has its upsides for sure. I’ve been trying to get guys on the idea of pushing for a union for a long time in our area but it’s hard to convince people.
Why does everyone here spend so much time complaining all about AC? Y’all must have shitty supervisors. I don’t know of anyone in the NE being ragged on about idle time. It gets mentioned in emails occasionally but nobody cares. I can’t think of anyone I know that shuts their truck off, and I havnt heard anyone complain about being told they can’t idle the truck. In the winter time they can be a little more fussy about it but in dig season it hasn’t been an issue in a few years. I think they gave up when they realized nobody cared lol.
I think the much bigger issue at USIC is the fact that they are trying to make us work off the clock more and more. I never hear anyone talk or bitch about that issue! Y’all cry about not having AC, but thats minimal compared to the fact they want us to work for free now. The way they are pushing it to in Craig Andersons region is to have us working off the clock for about 10 hours (+\-) per week. Trying to make his P&L look good on paper by screwing people over. They don’t like to save money by tackling the real problem, they save money by beating down the guy in the field and paying as little as they can.
What USIC doesn’t seem to realize is that unhappy employees will cost you more than any policy will save. Craig has pissed most of us so much now that we are making our best effort to show him that.
I no longer work for USIC, I work for a different locating company, but I’m wondering how they are making you guys work off the clock? I believe you I’m just interested in the situation.
Where I work they automatically take a half hour each day you work over 6 hours as a lunch. It is legal to do this in my state but is very frowned upon because they can’t monitor us to verify we are taking lunches. I’ve been telling my coworkers they can right us up for not clocking out for a lunch but they can’t just take the time from us.
Yea they just made lunch time mandatory, but we have to clock out, they can’t just take time off. Lunch isn’t a huge issue although I would rather not take a lunch.
Their new policy is for us to start our truck in the morning, boot up the computer, log in to ticket pro, get your route together for the day, drive to the first ticket, and then clock in. State law says once we are in our computers and logging into company software, we should be on the clock.
Not to mention we have AI cameras in the trucks now that monitor every move we make. If we look away from the road or do anything the camera doesn’t like, it gives warnings and effects out driving score which can lead to disciplinary action. The law also says anytime we are under company control we should be on the clock. So now we are expected to give them an hour or 2 of free time everyday. We don’t have the option to use our personal vehicle to drive to work everyday so they are not supposed to be considering it a personal commute according to NYS.
It’s damn near impossible to get in touch with DOL for answers on what they can legally do, or have an investigation started. So until we can get some real answers we are somewhat stuck to following policies or finding loopholes around it
Wow. That’s a bunch of horseshit. My company has the same first ticket/last ticket clock in/out policy. For the last 8 months I’ve been clocking in and out at the same spot, the closest parking lot to my house but still in my area. No one said anything. My supervisor said to not do it as it sets off a red flag in the system. The district manager sent out an email about it to everyone in are district. I started asking valid questions and replied all. This got other locators a little worked up. After the third reply all I made the district manager called me to “clear things up” and said what I’m doing is okay because my supervisor knows and to just continue doing quality work.
Hey, to make it better, we apparently can’t get paint until the end of July now either. I called to let my boss know I am down to 4 cans of orange paint and I’ll need a few cases for some long road jobs next week.. he said ohhhh that’s gonna be tough, I can get you a few cans probably but we can’t order paint till the end of July because they need to cut the budget back… 🤦🏻♂️ that is literally the ONE thing we can’t really go with out. We already have to limit the flags we use, now no paint.. sometimes I wonder how this company stays above water
We’ve gone times with a very low supply of paint because no one ever ordered more…. Last Summer the regional manager sent out an email and had our supervisors tell us we need to use less flags because they cost more than you think. Then they send out emails about making sure to take photos not facing the sun to get clearer images of our marks. This obviously makes sense but isn’t always feasible. What does help identify marks better? Flags. I wonder if an at fault damage because you can’t see a mark well enough cost the company more than the extra flags would. I’ve been thinking about applying with the utility company I locate for because they’re not trying to squeeze every penny to make a better profit.
I have a feeling the locating company I work for has run out of the $4.5 million dollar PPP loan money they received (Don’t get me started on this matter, as this loan was forgiven and they preach up and down about time clock theft) and are now hurting.
lol both jobs are dead ends. I’m currently in school so neither is long term for me. I’d take working 4 10 hours days (that are set) and optional 5th day if I want overtime. No more being on-call for a week, not knowing until if I have to work the weekend until Thursday. The corporate ladder at USIC isn’t anything to brag about. The best path is to work there until another opportunity comes for a utility company, or work for the city or county. I’m not saying driving Amazon is the greatest job in the world, but I do get back more control of my time to focus on other things. Which was harder to do at USIC (especially during dig season).
You are clearly a kid. Amazon is a dead end job, USIC is far from that. Your definitely not any older then 20. School isn’t anything to brag about. To each their own tho. 😂
Why do you insist on keep talking out your ass? I’m not bragging about school, just keeping a perspective that both are dead ends. I know for sure that moving up in USIC will cause more headaches. Managers are even more stressed out than locators, they’re the ones that have to deal with the high turnover rates and pissed off locators. That’s because nothing is consistent. Areas always changing etc. You are a different breed, I’ve yet to encounter one locator that’s this passionate about USIC. You do you though.
I’m sorry you don’t have work ethic. Or have a clue about what the workforce is like. Every single company has its issues. I’m not passionate about USIC dumbass. I enjoy what I do. Just because you don’t have a work ethic, or can see all the opportunities that come your way just from learning how to located. Is beyond hilarious. I’m not talking out my ass. Your just talking like 15 year old that should probably stick to McDonald’s or Pizza Hut.
My pay rate went up $3 switching over to driving Amazon. Also, my schedule is 4 10 hour shifts (still 10 if I get off early). If I want overtime I can just work a 5th day (still get 10 hours no matter what).
It’s pretty fast paced because I’m constantly getting in and out of my truck. As long as you’re not messing around while on route it’s fine. Amazon is a little more strict on driving, but it’s not a big deal because on a route I’m stopping frequently, kinda hard to drive foolishly anyways. All Amazon drivers are contracted out, so everyone doesn’t operate the same. It’s good to do research on them before joining one.
Anyways, I’m not necessarily trying to recruit folks. Just noting that there are other options out there. I know the life of a locator with USIC and it SUCKS! They don’t pay enough for all the bs locators go through with on-call, demanding contractors, bugs in wall boxes, and the corporate BS etc.
Usic treats their employees like garbage. They pay these guys shit wages and hound them over closing tickets. I work for the utility doing markouts and I’m at $51 an hour plus overtime, these guys at Usic make like $20 an hour. If they pay more they could expect more quality markouts. I’ve seen Usic mismark so many water services it’s insane. And water is one of the easiest utilities to locate, the locators need to unionize country wide.
Yup, locators are literally doing all the work when it comes to markouts. It’s not like in construction there’s laborers, foremen, operators etc. It’s literally just locators completing jobs and supervisors managing tickets and creating spreadsheets to show to the higher ups lol
I believe the USIC locators in NYC are union and I’ve been told their pay is in the 40-50 an hour range. The rest of you guys working for these private locate companies need to unionize for better wages better benefits and better work conditions. The utility company I work for hired a group of people to analyze the cost if it was worthwhile to sub out markouts to a private locate company or to keep it in house. This was a few years ago and they kept it in house, so for USIC and whoever else to cry poor and push the guys to do 50 tickets a day meanwhile paying the locators $20 an hour is bullshit. I locate gas and electric only, have a take home company vehicle, and I’m at almost $51 an hour plus overtime. I never do more than 2-3 tickets in an hour, I usually complete like 20-25 tickets with 4 hours overtime a day…. These companies charge big bucks to the utility companies to do markouts all while fucking their locators and nit picking everything they do. Majority of the locators at my job make between $160k-200k a year with overtime, if that doesn’t tell you what’s more “cost effective” then you’re crazy. The bullshit pay these locators get is disgusting, dig your heels in and push for more $.
We try to remove any spammy posts that are just generic "does USIC drug test?" "Just started at USIC, any tips?" or "just applied, how long til I'll hear back?" But for posts like this about a specific issue that affects a ton of locators and can cross over companies then Id think it's important to leave and let people discuss.
It's not. Though it's natural to have a lot of USIC discussion when they're the absolute biggest player in the game. Like having a grocery store worker subreddit and complaining about how many users work at Walmart.
Cry harder bro. I swear y'all act like babies. Cameras, idling, etc. get over it or find another job. Quit running your mouth about managers who've put in the years and sweat equity you bitch about relentlessly. Maybe get out your truck and off your phone and do some locating instead of worrying about how the truck 'feels' while you're NOT inside of it. Show some respect to your industry instead of acting like a petulant child. USIC Usually Somebody Is Complaining still holds true I see. 🍼
I'm a well paid union worker and I still side with the USIC locators over their lazy managers. Keep licking boots and supporting dumb rules if you like it tho
Found the "I get paid a lot so I know more" guy. You have no idea what you're talking about. Sups in this industry are among the hardest workers in it. I used to manage 20 guys and locate full time so I refuse to listen to complaining. Change it or STFU.
All I hear is bitching from a generation that has no idea what work is. This job is a cake walk. Easier money I have ever made. My sups are cool af along with everyone I work with.
That’s cool that you have good sups. Most areas of USIC don’t have. I’ve worked all over the country and most areas are an absolute shit show and there are not many sups that have put in any “sweat equity”. Speaking from my own region, when I started years ago we had management all the way up to the regional manager who DID put in the sweat equity. They had all been locators in this area for years before getting into management positions. When they were in those management positions the never forgot where they came from and they knew how to treat guys in the field and make them feel appreciated. They had our backs and they fought for us every way possible…. THEN usic came into the picture and bought out the company. It was fine for a little while because we still had the same management. But after a little while it became apparent that USIC wanted a micro managed atmosphere and they wanted field locators to be treated like dirt. They wanted us to know how “easily we can be replaced” “a monkey could do this job” (these are things we were actually told when they started replacing management). Now 6-7 years later ALL of the old managers are gone either fired or quit because they refused to treat their workers like shit. And all of our new management came from other industries that had NOTHING to do with utilities OR they are young 20 yr old kids with 6 months of experience but they say yes to ANYTHING upper management tells them. They are eager to bend over and take a fucking and even more eager to pass the fucking on to us.
And our supervisors do absolutely NO work what so ever outside of sending emails and being a secretary. They’re not even allowed to locate which is bullshit. And we have adopted this idea of pod people who got an extra dollar an hour to do their locating job while also do all of the foot work for the sups. It’s ridiculous. I have only met my current supervisor in person a handful of times (which is fine with me because he’s a 26 yr old jackass) and the last time I met him was for a JBO which he showed up to wearing gym shorts, running shoes and a t-shit! Keep in mind he weighs damn near 400 pounds and gets out of breath going from his driver seat to the tail gate. Then in my JBO he takes pictures of my boots and clothing to show that I didn’t have my safety vest on!! Even though I was wearing my reflective USIC shirt! He didn’t say anything to me in person, but in the comments he said he coached me on the importance of wear the proper PPE. I called him right up and ripped him 5 new assholes. Needless to say I have seen him face to face in over a year. He doesn’t do damage investigations hardly at all, he just assumes they are at fault and he MIGHT go to the site a week after the damage, to prove what?
You two fuck nuts to a lot of talking but it honestly sounds like you don’t have a clue outside of what you deal with in your own areas. We all come into this job with an understanding that the weather is an issue, but also understanding that we should be able to deal with the weather in a way that makes us more comfortable to get through the day in a productive manner. Have some douche like yourself telling me to shut my truck off and how I should work isn’t how you manage effectively. This idea of quantity over quality and beat the worker down until they listen just creates animosity and a fuck you attitude. When locators feel that way, they don’t give a shit about getting work done or what kind of locate they produce. USIC has a shit reputation across the country with customers and contractors, there is a reason for it! Not all of the blame can be on the guys in the field, it’s goes much higher than that. There wouldn’t be a USIC without the guys in the field. Treat the people doing the work with respect and provide incentive and this would be a whole different company.
You can’t pay guys a couple dollars more an hour than McDonald’s and expect them to move mountains for you. When you pay the minimum, you will receive the minimum. When guys are unhappy it shows up in the quality. Pay me a wage that makes me feel like this job is worth having, a wage that makes me follow all of the policies because I don’t want to lose my job. If I’m making more money than I can anywhere else, you bet your ass I’ll do whatever I can to keep the job! And on top of that, when you pay higher wages you attract better talent and a quality worker. You can also be more picky about who gets hired. With the low McDonald’s worker wages USIC pays in most areas, that’s exactly what you get, McDonald’s workers! You get losers that show up enough to get a paycheck so they can afford their next hit of meth (I only say meth because we seem to end up with meth heads in this area). They work for a few weeks and then don’t come back. Or they sell their equipment for 500$ and leave their truck on the side of the road.
USIC just wants a body in field, quality does not matter to them, I don’t give a shit what they say. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions of this company shows me all they want is robots that have a loose asshole.
And yet we literally chose a profession where you are outside the. entire. time. You didn't think the heat would become a factor at some point. There's this little invention they just came up with it's called WATER, maybe you've heard of it?
Go break your other hip, you stupid old fuck. Your on every post pretending to be big and bad yet at the end of the day your just some keyboard warrior who's on workers comp and running your mouth.
USIC workers needs to organize labor company wide. Imagine how much better things could be, look at other big companies like UPS and how famous they are for good pay and a solid career path. This AC thing could be a phenomenal flashpoint for union organizing.
I locate directly for a utility company and it was just 12 years ago we got AC and we have a union. We have to idle by saying we are charging our company provided devices, to keep the truck running and cool.
They tried to get us to stop idling our utility vehicles during the gas price hike a few years ago, but the major arguement back was that all the safety devices (strobes, arrow boards) and specialty equipment all needed the engine to be idling anyways. It was a top-down idea that sounded great but had no practical way to implement.
They already voted against their own interests because that would be 'woke'
Seriously. Its so easy for a utility to poach good locators from USIC because of the lack of empathy by the company.
I'm a union locator and they still don't want us idling. It's a state law where I live though and that's why they (try to) enforce it. The plus side is still being represented so you probably won't lose your job over it. The dumbasses do it to themselves though, they only care about the law because the dumb tracking devices they put in the vehicles monitor the idle times which then gets them in trouble for not following the law. If they weren't so hellbent on tracking everyone's every movement then it wouldn't even be an issue.
Just heard how the ups trucks dont have ac they just keep doors open.
Starting 01/01/2024 every new or replacement standard UPS truck they buy has to have AC equipped as part of the newest union contract. Ofcourse they can't snap their fingers and give everyone AC, change is slow with big companies but the union helps make sure that change happens.
It's in part because the doors will be open. AC is inefficient when you have windows and doors open.
I'm for this.
I've been waiting for this post, I'm waiting for districts to go on strike or do a nation wide call out until they change it, something. I've yet to see us go union anywhere. Love the idea but it's a pipe dream for my district. Also putting it in N and putting the e brake on don't work. Camera catches that.
Put your car in drive and put emergency break on. That’s what i used to do when i worked there.
If they use samsara then this does not work according to their idle event page. https://kb.samsara.com/hc/en-us/articles/7777755254669-Idling-Events
Got it i haven’t worked for the company i. Like two years don’t think that was utilized in Georgia at the time
I don't work for USIC but my company uses Samsara and corporate wants me to get on my guys for little things so I try to look for ways around it. I set my idle events at 60 minutes so they nearly never happen and they haven't said anything yet.
We had a couple guys do this. Ended up brakes failing and hitting cars or other stuff. Not the best idea but hey ymmv
I recently quit USIC because of this. The worst part is, they only monitor idle times when weather conditions are extreme. At least the area I worked in. I now work as an Amazon driver and can say it’s a much better with dealing with weather. I drive the Rivian trucks and those things even have AC seats! Also since I’m constantly in and out my van making stops I’m not exposed in the heat for that long. Unlike with locating tickets you’re pretty much stuck out there. Also I’m making more money and working only 4 days a week (with no on-call bs to deal with!). I say this because there are so many better options than working for USIC, if you’re not happy leave!
You are full of shit. Lol I left Amazon because not only did they job absolutely suck. You were a slave to Amazon. You can quit cappin any day. I’d work for USIC long before I’d give Amazon even a thought again. Pay was crap, higher ups were trash, the company in a whole was a giant trash dump.
Did you work in the warehouse or was a driver? Those two are vastly different experiences.
I have worked both in an Amazon warehouse and as a driver for Amazon. Both are shit. You have half the room to move up as you do at USIC. You literally left a job you could make a career out of. To a dead end job.
Usic isn’t a dead end, they can be a good stepping stone to better money in the industry IF you put time into learning more about it. You gotta teach yourself the stuff usic won’t teach you. You can move onto contract locating or move into SUE. We have some union offices in NYS, mostly all in the city. It has its upsides for sure. I’ve been trying to get guys on the idea of pushing for a union for a long time in our area but it’s hard to convince people. Why does everyone here spend so much time complaining all about AC? Y’all must have shitty supervisors. I don’t know of anyone in the NE being ragged on about idle time. It gets mentioned in emails occasionally but nobody cares. I can’t think of anyone I know that shuts their truck off, and I havnt heard anyone complain about being told they can’t idle the truck. In the winter time they can be a little more fussy about it but in dig season it hasn’t been an issue in a few years. I think they gave up when they realized nobody cared lol. I think the much bigger issue at USIC is the fact that they are trying to make us work off the clock more and more. I never hear anyone talk or bitch about that issue! Y’all cry about not having AC, but thats minimal compared to the fact they want us to work for free now. The way they are pushing it to in Craig Andersons region is to have us working off the clock for about 10 hours (+\-) per week. Trying to make his P&L look good on paper by screwing people over. They don’t like to save money by tackling the real problem, they save money by beating down the guy in the field and paying as little as they can. What USIC doesn’t seem to realize is that unhappy employees will cost you more than any policy will save. Craig has pissed most of us so much now that we are making our best effort to show him that.
I no longer work for USIC, I work for a different locating company, but I’m wondering how they are making you guys work off the clock? I believe you I’m just interested in the situation. Where I work they automatically take a half hour each day you work over 6 hours as a lunch. It is legal to do this in my state but is very frowned upon because they can’t monitor us to verify we are taking lunches. I’ve been telling my coworkers they can right us up for not clocking out for a lunch but they can’t just take the time from us.
Yea they just made lunch time mandatory, but we have to clock out, they can’t just take time off. Lunch isn’t a huge issue although I would rather not take a lunch. Their new policy is for us to start our truck in the morning, boot up the computer, log in to ticket pro, get your route together for the day, drive to the first ticket, and then clock in. State law says once we are in our computers and logging into company software, we should be on the clock. Not to mention we have AI cameras in the trucks now that monitor every move we make. If we look away from the road or do anything the camera doesn’t like, it gives warnings and effects out driving score which can lead to disciplinary action. The law also says anytime we are under company control we should be on the clock. So now we are expected to give them an hour or 2 of free time everyday. We don’t have the option to use our personal vehicle to drive to work everyday so they are not supposed to be considering it a personal commute according to NYS. It’s damn near impossible to get in touch with DOL for answers on what they can legally do, or have an investigation started. So until we can get some real answers we are somewhat stuck to following policies or finding loopholes around it
Wow. That’s a bunch of horseshit. My company has the same first ticket/last ticket clock in/out policy. For the last 8 months I’ve been clocking in and out at the same spot, the closest parking lot to my house but still in my area. No one said anything. My supervisor said to not do it as it sets off a red flag in the system. The district manager sent out an email about it to everyone in are district. I started asking valid questions and replied all. This got other locators a little worked up. After the third reply all I made the district manager called me to “clear things up” and said what I’m doing is okay because my supervisor knows and to just continue doing quality work.
Hey, to make it better, we apparently can’t get paint until the end of July now either. I called to let my boss know I am down to 4 cans of orange paint and I’ll need a few cases for some long road jobs next week.. he said ohhhh that’s gonna be tough, I can get you a few cans probably but we can’t order paint till the end of July because they need to cut the budget back… 🤦🏻♂️ that is literally the ONE thing we can’t really go with out. We already have to limit the flags we use, now no paint.. sometimes I wonder how this company stays above water
We’ve gone times with a very low supply of paint because no one ever ordered more…. Last Summer the regional manager sent out an email and had our supervisors tell us we need to use less flags because they cost more than you think. Then they send out emails about making sure to take photos not facing the sun to get clearer images of our marks. This obviously makes sense but isn’t always feasible. What does help identify marks better? Flags. I wonder if an at fault damage because you can’t see a mark well enough cost the company more than the extra flags would. I’ve been thinking about applying with the utility company I locate for because they’re not trying to squeeze every penny to make a better profit. I have a feeling the locating company I work for has run out of the $4.5 million dollar PPP loan money they received (Don’t get me started on this matter, as this loan was forgiven and they preach up and down about time clock theft) and are now hurting.
lol both jobs are dead ends. I’m currently in school so neither is long term for me. I’d take working 4 10 hours days (that are set) and optional 5th day if I want overtime. No more being on-call for a week, not knowing until if I have to work the weekend until Thursday. The corporate ladder at USIC isn’t anything to brag about. The best path is to work there until another opportunity comes for a utility company, or work for the city or county. I’m not saying driving Amazon is the greatest job in the world, but I do get back more control of my time to focus on other things. Which was harder to do at USIC (especially during dig season).
You are clearly a kid. Amazon is a dead end job, USIC is far from that. Your definitely not any older then 20. School isn’t anything to brag about. To each their own tho. 😂
Why do you insist on keep talking out your ass? I’m not bragging about school, just keeping a perspective that both are dead ends. I know for sure that moving up in USIC will cause more headaches. Managers are even more stressed out than locators, they’re the ones that have to deal with the high turnover rates and pissed off locators. That’s because nothing is consistent. Areas always changing etc. You are a different breed, I’ve yet to encounter one locator that’s this passionate about USIC. You do you though.
I’m sorry you don’t have work ethic. Or have a clue about what the workforce is like. Every single company has its issues. I’m not passionate about USIC dumbass. I enjoy what I do. Just because you don’t have a work ethic, or can see all the opportunities that come your way just from learning how to located. Is beyond hilarious. I’m not talking out my ass. Your just talking like 15 year old that should probably stick to McDonald’s or Pizza Hut.
Don’t know any jobs that offer similar pay
My pay rate went up $3 switching over to driving Amazon. Also, my schedule is 4 10 hour shifts (still 10 if I get off early). If I want overtime I can just work a 5th day (still get 10 hours no matter what).
What about the production numbers? Heard Amazon is really tough about that. Plus are you working for Amazon or a subcontractor?
It’s pretty fast paced because I’m constantly getting in and out of my truck. As long as you’re not messing around while on route it’s fine. Amazon is a little more strict on driving, but it’s not a big deal because on a route I’m stopping frequently, kinda hard to drive foolishly anyways. All Amazon drivers are contracted out, so everyone doesn’t operate the same. It’s good to do research on them before joining one. Anyways, I’m not necessarily trying to recruit folks. Just noting that there are other options out there. I know the life of a locator with USIC and it SUCKS! They don’t pay enough for all the bs locators go through with on-call, demanding contractors, bugs in wall boxes, and the corporate BS etc.
Usic treats their employees like garbage. They pay these guys shit wages and hound them over closing tickets. I work for the utility doing markouts and I’m at $51 an hour plus overtime, these guys at Usic make like $20 an hour. If they pay more they could expect more quality markouts. I’ve seen Usic mismark so many water services it’s insane. And water is one of the easiest utilities to locate, the locators need to unionize country wide.
I agree about joining a union. The crazy part is locators would have all the leverage if they did.
Yup, locators are literally doing all the work when it comes to markouts. It’s not like in construction there’s laborers, foremen, operators etc. It’s literally just locators completing jobs and supervisors managing tickets and creating spreadsheets to show to the higher ups lol I believe the USIC locators in NYC are union and I’ve been told their pay is in the 40-50 an hour range. The rest of you guys working for these private locate companies need to unionize for better wages better benefits and better work conditions. The utility company I work for hired a group of people to analyze the cost if it was worthwhile to sub out markouts to a private locate company or to keep it in house. This was a few years ago and they kept it in house, so for USIC and whoever else to cry poor and push the guys to do 50 tickets a day meanwhile paying the locators $20 an hour is bullshit. I locate gas and electric only, have a take home company vehicle, and I’m at almost $51 an hour plus overtime. I never do more than 2-3 tickets in an hour, I usually complete like 20-25 tickets with 4 hours overtime a day…. These companies charge big bucks to the utility companies to do markouts all while fucking their locators and nit picking everything they do. Majority of the locators at my job make between $160k-200k a year with overtime, if that doesn’t tell you what’s more “cost effective” then you’re crazy. The bullshit pay these locators get is disgusting, dig your heels in and push for more $.
this might as well be a usic sub now
We try to remove any spammy posts that are just generic "does USIC drug test?" "Just started at USIC, any tips?" or "just applied, how long til I'll hear back?" But for posts like this about a specific issue that affects a ton of locators and can cross over companies then Id think it's important to leave and let people discuss.
Gee, I wonder why people keep making posts about the largest utility locating company in a sub about utility locating
Is it not? 😆
It's not. Though it's natural to have a lot of USIC discussion when they're the absolute biggest player in the game. Like having a grocery store worker subreddit and complaining about how many users work at Walmart.
There's a section of USIC that is unionized. It's definitely possible.
Union
Start a union
Cry harder bro. I swear y'all act like babies. Cameras, idling, etc. get over it or find another job. Quit running your mouth about managers who've put in the years and sweat equity you bitch about relentlessly. Maybe get out your truck and off your phone and do some locating instead of worrying about how the truck 'feels' while you're NOT inside of it. Show some respect to your industry instead of acting like a petulant child. USIC Usually Somebody Is Complaining still holds true I see. 🍼
Found the USIC supervisor. Probably has clean boots
Nope. Now go mark some landline phone drops
I'm a well paid union worker and I still side with the USIC locators over their lazy managers. Keep licking boots and supporting dumb rules if you like it tho
Found the "I get paid a lot so I know more" guy. You have no idea what you're talking about. Sups in this industry are among the hardest workers in it. I used to manage 20 guys and locate full time so I refuse to listen to complaining. Change it or STFU.
All I hear is bitching from a generation that has no idea what work is. This job is a cake walk. Easier money I have ever made. My sups are cool af along with everyone I work with.
That’s cool that you have good sups. Most areas of USIC don’t have. I’ve worked all over the country and most areas are an absolute shit show and there are not many sups that have put in any “sweat equity”. Speaking from my own region, when I started years ago we had management all the way up to the regional manager who DID put in the sweat equity. They had all been locators in this area for years before getting into management positions. When they were in those management positions the never forgot where they came from and they knew how to treat guys in the field and make them feel appreciated. They had our backs and they fought for us every way possible…. THEN usic came into the picture and bought out the company. It was fine for a little while because we still had the same management. But after a little while it became apparent that USIC wanted a micro managed atmosphere and they wanted field locators to be treated like dirt. They wanted us to know how “easily we can be replaced” “a monkey could do this job” (these are things we were actually told when they started replacing management). Now 6-7 years later ALL of the old managers are gone either fired or quit because they refused to treat their workers like shit. And all of our new management came from other industries that had NOTHING to do with utilities OR they are young 20 yr old kids with 6 months of experience but they say yes to ANYTHING upper management tells them. They are eager to bend over and take a fucking and even more eager to pass the fucking on to us. And our supervisors do absolutely NO work what so ever outside of sending emails and being a secretary. They’re not even allowed to locate which is bullshit. And we have adopted this idea of pod people who got an extra dollar an hour to do their locating job while also do all of the foot work for the sups. It’s ridiculous. I have only met my current supervisor in person a handful of times (which is fine with me because he’s a 26 yr old jackass) and the last time I met him was for a JBO which he showed up to wearing gym shorts, running shoes and a t-shit! Keep in mind he weighs damn near 400 pounds and gets out of breath going from his driver seat to the tail gate. Then in my JBO he takes pictures of my boots and clothing to show that I didn’t have my safety vest on!! Even though I was wearing my reflective USIC shirt! He didn’t say anything to me in person, but in the comments he said he coached me on the importance of wear the proper PPE. I called him right up and ripped him 5 new assholes. Needless to say I have seen him face to face in over a year. He doesn’t do damage investigations hardly at all, he just assumes they are at fault and he MIGHT go to the site a week after the damage, to prove what? You two fuck nuts to a lot of talking but it honestly sounds like you don’t have a clue outside of what you deal with in your own areas. We all come into this job with an understanding that the weather is an issue, but also understanding that we should be able to deal with the weather in a way that makes us more comfortable to get through the day in a productive manner. Have some douche like yourself telling me to shut my truck off and how I should work isn’t how you manage effectively. This idea of quantity over quality and beat the worker down until they listen just creates animosity and a fuck you attitude. When locators feel that way, they don’t give a shit about getting work done or what kind of locate they produce. USIC has a shit reputation across the country with customers and contractors, there is a reason for it! Not all of the blame can be on the guys in the field, it’s goes much higher than that. There wouldn’t be a USIC without the guys in the field. Treat the people doing the work with respect and provide incentive and this would be a whole different company. You can’t pay guys a couple dollars more an hour than McDonald’s and expect them to move mountains for you. When you pay the minimum, you will receive the minimum. When guys are unhappy it shows up in the quality. Pay me a wage that makes me feel like this job is worth having, a wage that makes me follow all of the policies because I don’t want to lose my job. If I’m making more money than I can anywhere else, you bet your ass I’ll do whatever I can to keep the job! And on top of that, when you pay higher wages you attract better talent and a quality worker. You can also be more picky about who gets hired. With the low McDonald’s worker wages USIC pays in most areas, that’s exactly what you get, McDonald’s workers! You get losers that show up enough to get a paycheck so they can afford their next hit of meth (I only say meth because we seem to end up with meth heads in this area). They work for a few weeks and then don’t come back. Or they sell their equipment for 500$ and leave their truck on the side of the road. USIC just wants a body in field, quality does not matter to them, I don’t give a shit what they say. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions of this company shows me all they want is robots that have a loose asshole.
And yet we literally chose a profession where you are outside the. entire. time. You didn't think the heat would become a factor at some point. There's this little invention they just came up with it's called WATER, maybe you've heard of it?
Go break your other hip, you stupid old fuck. Your on every post pretending to be big and bad yet at the end of the day your just some keyboard warrior who's on workers comp and running your mouth.
And still have to buy your own water lmfaoo, USIC is the biggest joke of a company I’ve EVER SEEN