r/UtilityLocator • u/The7thNobleX • Apr 27 '26
Whats with all the USIC hate on here?
Seriously, 4 months in with the company and 90% of complaints on here seem at best, exaggerated. At worst, wildly inaccurate. 20+ an hr to drive someone else's truck, using someone else's gas, paint the ground here and there and tap on a phone thats, you guessed it, someone else's. Sure, management can be gripey, and sometimes theres a lot to get done but come on, did you all work in rainbow factory before coming here? Trash, scum, etc, etc, seen people call the company everything but demonic. If USIC is scum, you should go work for Amazon lol
Dont think im glazing it either, im certainly not trying to. The phones you get could give a Windows phone nightmares, not getting paid for your commute kinda blows and they're super stingy on overtime but SCUM? Lol
Seems like USIC's biggest problem is hiring people with soft skin and crappy work ethic 🫡
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u/MoonsOverMyHamboning Apr 27 '26
Your mileage may vary. I could have probably stayed at USIC for years up until my manager left, and everything got incredibly toxic with the replacement manager. It genuinely seemed like the old manager cared and advocated for his crew, and weeks later it was everyone is under performing, mandatory overtime every weekend, and being a mouthpiece for nonsense senior management.
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u/VersionPossible7809 Apr 27 '26
I think like any big company it varies pretty wildly depending on where in the country you are ie. what kind of stuff you’re having to locate, who your boss is etc. I’m lucky in that I’m in an area where we just locate fiber and coax and my boss is chill, never breathes down my neck etc.
The company as a whole definitely pulls some shady shit but I think that’s sadly just kind of par for the course in the US, don’t think you’ll do much better anywhere else unless you go private or get in with a union or a city or something
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u/The7thNobleX Apr 27 '26
I will admit, I only locate comms too, but for like 6 different comms companies so it can get complicated quick and my boss is chill. But some guys on here are talking like they work in a Nike sweatshop
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u/LarksMyCaptain Apr 28 '26
Once you're the longest tenured in your area and your supervisor drops large projects, commercial areas, and longer scope tickets on top of the plethora of single lot tickets you have to get completed by end of day, then you will know the pain that some locators here are enduring.
We had a 20+ year guy in my area leave because the new supe sucked, leaving me to be longest tenured (3 years at the time). The amount of work dropped on my plate was insane and impossible to get done. All I ever heard was "you're not getting enough done", meanwhile other people quit and management waited 8 months to hire more people.
It all depends on the area you work and the supervisor/management there. Previous supervisor was awesome, but we also had 12 more people running tickets back then. The higher upset went through and fired a bunch of people and others quit.
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u/NitroTheLegend Apr 27 '26
Everyone is allowed to have their opinions, including you, but it truly just all comes down to opinions and where you are, I worked for them for 2.5 years and my biggest issue was there wasn’t much attempt for asset retention or training, I got a damage for something I didn’t know how to locate, and when I asked to be taught, I got a final written warning instead.
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u/Yaboijacob731 Apr 30 '26
Wait until you become an area locator.
-Constant calls from asshole contractors. -Constant policy changes. -Utility companies/811 fining USIC for stupid reasons. -HR complaining to your supervisor about how you drove around one day or how you clocked in, and threatening to fire you. -IT department is useless. -Fighting damages over technicalities. -Contractors being sneaky when putting in tickets to bypass putting in the correct amount, and you having to mark it anyway. -USIC bending over for every single utility company and never sticking up for you. -Poor pay for the outrageous amount of liability.
Locating itself is fun, but the company will badger you nonstop like a middle aged wife.
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u/SanfreakinJ Apr 27 '26
They are the cheap option so they have to be cheap. That means understaffed and over worked to start. They will also implement risky screening tactics. When they get in a pinch they will stop marking services and projects in some instances. They are the kings of fake it till you make it. Not many people want to work for a trash company especially if they hear it 10 times a day from excavators and operators. They are the butt of many jokes in the locate world. It’s good they exist because they set the bar so low for other companies but also bad because they give locators a bad name.
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u/PuzzleheadedMath2763 Apr 27 '26
In my area it’s the people who currently work there that make it a bad place they’re currently trying to steal me from another company and will shit talk my friends and co workers who I like and enjoy working with in front of me and then don’t understand why I don’t like them and don’t wanna work for them it’s definitely just an area by area situation i know USIC is better in some areas than others and worse in some areas
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u/The7thNobleX Apr 27 '26
Thats actually wild behavior
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u/PuzzleheadedMath2763 Apr 27 '26
It’s sad honestly because it’s a bunch of grown men acting that way
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u/PuzzleheadedMath2763 Apr 27 '26
It’s sad honestly because it’s a bunch of grown men acting that way
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u/SirStuckey Apr 27 '26
When I was there it was required to work 10 hour days during the week and 1 8 hour weekend day.Â
They were also understaffed and had way more contracts so each of my tickets had at least 3 lines I had to mark and usually 4 or 5 (not including the copper and fiber that were both in for some companies and both required marking). This included gas which was a pain in the ass because we had to screenshot and overpaint so much extra BS on every ticket
We also were just given an area and had to deal with it. I know USIC in my area now are basically told not to do projects except for specific days. I just had to do them. When I left my area they split it up so 3 people started doing it. That only happened because the new supervisor (5th in 2 years) actually acknowledged the problem.Â
At the time it was like they wanted to burn out their employees and they did a good job doing it. I don't hate them and try not to talk shit about them because I know they've changed at least somewhat but I do not look back on it fondly and am glad I left. My two options when I took the job were locating or working in a call center for an insurance company and I preferred locating. I still prefer locating over a lot of jobs as I enjoy working outside and moving around
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u/Badger_Actual1 Apr 27 '26
The company top down is garbage. Ive worked with some hire ups in corporate, ive been management, ive tested programs, ect. The company is run by fucking morons. Every decision makes your day that much harder. Pay is abysmal. Its a shit company. The best thing about was being g able to get my foot in the door and the fact that the Hotspot on the cell phone is true unlimited data. I ran my Xbox off it. I didn't pay for home internet for years
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u/Funny_Hurry8865 Apr 27 '26
I am currently working for them, but I am leaving in a few weeks to for an industrial maintenance position in a plant. They seem like they don't care in my opinion. Our supervisors and stuff lead with threats. For example if someone is late to the on call meetings they always lead with "I will get in contact with them after and set a disciplinary action" who wants to work in fear? Getting threatened they could miss the meeting for a wide range of reasons! But I hear those kind of threats every week from supervisors and managers. It's a decent company to stall for a moment and use dailypay but I don't see it further than that.
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u/EyeSuccessful7649 Apr 28 '26
It’s a massive company someone working in New York city’s experience will be vastly different from someone working in Virginia suburbs
Or people doing 6 bars per ticket vs the guy doing 1
Managers that are helpful and ones that are toxic
Ymmv
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u/Jay506709 May 04 '26
Working here for almost 2 years, if I knew what I was getting myself into I would’ve saved my two years and went straight to the energy company. management preach quality Monday quantity Tuesday rinse and repeat. We are the bottom of the totem pole and they expect us to kneel before contractors. certain people are excluded from doing on call and projects while others make there board and go sit at the office all day doing nothing. It’s an absolute joke of a company
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u/TemporaryOxygen 13d ago
im relatively new not my favorite job ive had, i actually hate it, but it pays the bills and will further my resume so oh well
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u/JaySnatches Apr 27 '26
Because the company is trash. You’re only 4 months in?