The short story:

First, lets get the negatives out of the way:

Werner is a "training company"... There are quite a few folks out there that "wanabe" a truck driver, but just aren't cut out for it. Those folks usually leave or get fired and have nothing good to say. Since Werner is also one of the largest companies, there is a lot of negative feedback out there.

Positives:

I'm solo driver on a dedicated run averageing about $1200 a week, (in a good week I can make $1500), I do a 34 hr reset at home every week, I got a new Peterbuilt 387 with an APU, refrigerator, TV, microwave... what more can I say? Not bad for a man who's had his CDL only since November 2008!

The longer story:

I have a history of being a hard-working, loyal employee. I worked for the same company for 23 years before the economy went south and I found myself looking for a new career. Truck driving sorta runs in my family, and I had about five and a half years experience at that, (over 23 years ago..), so I decided to get my CDL.

First I searched around for the highest paying company I could find that would take students and applied to Crete Carrier. After fooling arround with my application for weeks, they came back and said "no" because failed to disclose 2 tickets I had received 3-5 years ago on the application. I had told the recruiter that I only had a 39 month MVR and did not have specific information older than that and was told not to worry about it (my record is clean for 39 months). Well anyway - I wound up going to work for Werner and am very pleased overall with the experience.

My first trainer was one of Werners Million-Mile Drivers, (Werner has more of those than any other company, that tell you anything?) - and the guy was great! (Once I was assinged a student manager I asked for an experienced trainer, and said I'd prefer a MMD..)

I knocked out 200 of my 300 training hours before Christmas and took paid time off for the holidays, came back and was assigned a trainer on a dedicated run like the one I eventually got assigned to.

After completing my training, I was assigned to the western 11 regional division at -get this- 21 cents a mile... you heard right... 21 cents! It's supposed to be a "sliding scale" where you make 34 cents for shorter runs and 21 for long runs, (but the short runs were virtually non-existant). But here's the thing - I'd get a 1000 mile run and they'd give me three days to get there and I'd get there in a day and a half, and my dispatcher kept throwing these "performance bonuses" on to my paycheck, so I was making about $750 a week running 2500 - 3000 miles - not bad for a driver right out of training. (This division pays fuel, milage and some other montly bonuses too, but I did not stick arround long enough to get any of those or my pay would have probably been higher).

During my training I had the opportunity to meet a manager for the division im working in now, I let him know at that time I'd like to come to work for him and got his phone number and called him once a week to check on openings, (I really liked the "home every week part"). About 3-4 weeks later I got the call and now have the job I wanted.

Im not gona kid you here, its very hard work - on this dedicated run I have to unload 53 foot trailers... and the first week doing it by myself I wasn't sure if I was gona be able to handle it - I was sore! But you know what? I've gone form 270 lbs, (not really that fat, I'm a big guy), to 235 and the work has gotten a lot easier, (and my wife is not complaining about my changing phisique either! hehe!). The hard work has been good for me.

Any way, all in all, I'm making good money, I got a real nice truck... and I'm happy.

Every day I ask God to keep me safe, and thank Him for His help in all this.

Be Safe

Hey Mugzy........... Perfect timing. Werner is on my short list, Schneider and Swift being the other two.

Of course that being said, I keep noticing all the input on the forum about smaller companies, and I don't presume to know the future.

I look forward to learning more about Werner.

Good story. What is "MMD"? Also, what freight did you have to hand unload?

Congrats on your success. That .21 per mile seems criminally low.

__________________

MMD = Million Mile Driver (I was just abreviating from the previous sentence). Its supposedly means that the driver has driven a million miles without running over or hitting anything, ie "accident free". I figure that in reality it should really be "NSMDI" (Nobody Seen Me Do It!)

I had one driver tell me "I only got another 100,000 to go! (whisper: as long as noone reports that stop sign I flattened yesterday!)"

With regards to the freight, its just general merchandise, everything from clothing to grocery items.

That's what I thought too, at first... But when you figure in the performance, mileage, fuel and I think saftey bonuses, they're all paid as an increase on top of that, so 21 is just the base. Like I say, I did not stick arround in that division to figure it all out or to even get paid any of the monthly bonuses.

Good point on the incentives, I am just all about 'base pay' I suppose. That way they can't cheat you as easily.

Congrats on the dedicated gig though, that sounds pretty sweet.

__________________

you on family dollar?

Smart man, you looked for the best niche for you and jumped into it. When I came to Knight in '04 I looked around and saw that the IKEA dedicated drivers got more miles, more consistently with plenty of hometime. I proved/begged my way into that fleet and been lovin' it ever since.

Like Werner, I'd say more Knight drivers are unhappy than happy. It's really not about the company as a whole so much as finding the portal in the storm at that company.

I'm going to guess that is what he is on. I'm on the same account. It is very physical but the pay is pretty good for a newb like myself and the op. Home time is nice to. On the flip side the stress of this account is out of this world. Backing into these FD stores gets down right ridiculous at times. Obstacles EVERYWHERE! Very easy to loose your job on this account. You do get paid well but it is definitely EARNED!