Well I first started driving a big truck back in winter of 2003. I had been layed off from my driving job using a van delivering to some local printing companies and was able to get my CDL training paid for because of that. I went through a course that my local Community College was running. After graduating and looking at all the "starter" companies I decided Werner was the best choice for me. I came to this decision based on the following: 1. The company color was my favorite color and looked good. 2. The idea of an electronic logging system sounded excellent as filling out those paper ones in school was no fun at all. The real deal maker was probably electronic logging as most of the companies had similar horror stories/pay issues that I heard about. Now to me coming into trucking in my early 20's and a fan of technology I thought this was a big plus and couldn't imagine why Werner was the only company to implement this. Especially when my instructors told stories about how companies always wanting them to run illegal. So off to my adventure with Werner...
I went for orientation and started training around November/December 03...long time ago I know...You've probably all heard how boring this training is. And it is. So after the paper-shuffling and waiting(few days) I finally got a trainer! YAY!! However this would not work out for the long term...as fate would have it, I was given a trainer whom I had absolutely NOTHING in common with. I mean I'm talking age, racial issues, hygiene, musical taste, dress, you name it! He was a...good ole' boy, I guess the best way I could put it. So after about a week of bad smells and ridiculous rules/preferences I asked to get off that truck asap. And waited a couple days for another trainer. Much better fit that time around and I can't stress how important this is to you newbies...Don't be afraid to ask for a different trainer. Another thing about training...It was ROUGH...I have never felt more in danger in my life behind the wheel to this date as I did during that period of time. Trying to sleep in a moving truck rolling along at 65mph and never mind the exiting/turning going on from time to time. Although I had pulled over and shut down a few times whenever I felt myself getting too sleepy at the wheel, it wasn't a problem and had the blessing(sorta) of my trainer. So after 300 or so hours later I finally got my own truck! The real adventure begins...
I signed on to run the Northeast Regional division which at that time payed good and on a (35cpm+)sliding scale depending on length of haul. My trainer had been on that and I liked the familiarity/pay scale of the NE. I had some good dispatchers and relatively few "serious" issues if any. Most of the time it was concerning pay not being in this check and then having to wait for it in the next one. Occasionally being delayed on my hometime request by a day or so. I had probably switched trucks about 4 or 5 times in the 2.5 years I worked there. Shop time ALWAYS sucked as it usually took days to get done. Allentown terminal (home for me) was not one of their shining stars as far as terminals go. Few times I had late lds due to weather/HOS/delays at cust but I think only 1 that was ever "charged" to me as a late load cuz I overslept due to power going off on the inverter running my alarm clock. No problems with those as long as you communicated with the dispatch and sent appropriate macros. So after having run on the NE division for 2.5 years, I decided to call it quits and move on in May/June of 2006 due to a "better oppurtunity" or so I thought...
Schneider National
...I'll post more on them another time as this is a Werner thread...Before quitting my dispatcher offered to find me a simliar pay/position within the company be4 I made my final decision and gave my 2 weeks notice...Unfortunately they had no such position available but offered to let me come back with full seniority within 30 days(standard I'm sure) So my adventure with Werner comes to end...or does it??
After the Thing that happened with Schneider National I decided I was done with trucking and proceeded to have a meltdown and ended up not working for awhile and living abroad in another country...Which I'll post more about in a Schneider thread and maybe my Meltdown related thread elsewhere. But alas, I ended up back here in the states and ended up putting an application in with Werner in Mid-April of 08. I was told my starting CPM would be 29 cents with my experience...
...ugh, but I had not driven or been employed for a year and a half almost two years and this was my ONLY trucking company experience so I went with what I knew. I was going to be a "co-driver" for 70 hrs with a trainer be4 getting my own truck. Orientation, I soon found out, was just as boring as be4. Some things never change I guess...My trainer 1st time around was cool and I was his first student. He had less than 1 year experience and admitted maybe he should be learning from me instead of the other way around. After my first day back behind the wheel which felt just a lil' odd, I was back in the swing of things and rolling like I had never left. I figured a week and I would be done. 11 drive hrs. logged per day x6 days=66hrs which I figured to be max being some of the 70 had to be taken up by fueling/other macros. Perfect as my trainer was due home in 7 or 8 days for 3-4 days of hometime. Well, I figured since I was experienced Werner would see me get ALMOST the full 70hrs driving in 6 days and instead of wasting money on motel for my trainers hometime, just let me get my truck and keep on truckin'! WRONG! I ended up logging like 65.25 drive hours be4 my trainer was due home...but still got to check in to a LOVELY hotel to wait til he came back out and got me and ended up doing 82 hrs total for another day or three be4 getting into a terminal and testing out...Got my truck 3? days after I got there...05 I think Classic with ONLY 350,000 miles on it. Course it needed to go into the shop for a few things but after waiting just a day I said screw it and went out on the road. Who needs AC and better yet instead of ac, heat blowing from the bunk vent...So now I've been on the road driving solo since 5/4/08...Some issues with this dispatcher and hometime but nothing too bad. So here's the kinda miles I've been getting so far if anyone is interested which I'll just count in 7-day periods...5/4-5/10=2919 miles...5/11-5/15=1457 miles...Hmtm from 5/15-5/19...5/19-5/25=2720 miles...5/26-6/2=2951 miles...6/3-6/9=1920 miles which also includes shop/down time from 6/4-6/7 after which they gave me a nice load to MT of 1300+ miles...6/10-6/16=2932 miles...6/17-6/23=2294 miles...6/24-6/30=2922 miles...7/1-Right now=718 mile load just delivered and currently under 900+ mile load on my way up to NE area for my hmtm on friday after having just delivered a 1300 mile load down to TX one week be4 I'm due home...talk about stretching the hours...ugh...So there ya have it...An actual Werner driver who track his trips and writes down everything so he doesn't get jipped a cent! So you see, none of these big companies are ideal/perfect, but if you can find one that suits your needs and isn't out to really screw you and your not a lazy/bad driver then all may be well or just okay...That's all I have to say for now about this company.....
Truthfully,
Current Werner Driver
07.02.2008
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