Watkins Shepard 30 day training as experienced by Warpdrvr

I thought I’d start another thread detailing my experiences with the Watkins Shepard 30 day training. A couple of preliminary things - I am not the longest winded person in the world, so my posts may seem abbreviated by some standards here. Also, I’ll try to get most of the details, but I sometimes suffer from “senior moments” as it were...so here we go.

I have a fairly diverse background in what I’ve done for work: I’ve done custodial, gardening, security guard work among other things in my distant past. For the last 9 1/2 years, I was employed by a major telecommunications company that has the initials of AT&T. I was a DSL tech when I started, and finished up as a glorified desk jockey, doing all sorts of stuff, but mostly dispatch for DSL techs.

My (now former) employer has a knack for moving people all over the state, and then after moving them, to either eliminate the jobs, or move them out of state, since it’s cheaper for them to have someone do the same job in say, Texas or Missouri rather than California, since we have one of the highest cost of living in the country. So, they offered what they call ESRO, which is basically a way for them to trim headcount via a nice sized severance package. My wife and I decided that it was the right time to move on, after a lot of discussion, asking of advice from family/friends, and prayer.

So, there I was, gainfully UNemployed at 47....what to do? I had always wanted to be a truck driver, and had mentioned that to my wife, so we thought this would be a nice time to try it, since I needed work anyways. I had always seen those nice shiny CR England trucks, so I checked out their website and looked into schooling. Turns out their Mira Loma, CA facility provides training, and it’s only about 30 minutes from my house. Cool, I thought, I can sleep in my own bed while training.

I then did some research online and was lucky enough to find this site. Thank God! I could have been out there, stuck with CRE if I had not found this site and the wealth of info on how badly they treated their drivers. Back to square one...

I then researched some driving schools in my area besides CRE, and found one that only charges $1495! Great, I thought, let me go see them, cost being important to me at that time. After speaking with the recruiter for 15 minutes and getting a 2 mnute walk around of the campus, I realized this place was not for me. 2 or 3 days classroom, then 7 days driving (the class size I saw was 10 or 15, so you can figure out how much time you would actually have driving), then they shipped you off to CRST. They were what I later learned is a “CDL Mill”, just getting people their licenses and not really teaching them the business of driving.

After much more research (and a few headaches along the way), I found Watkins Shepard. I did my due diligence and researched them as much as possible, and found them to be a decent company. It’s hard to find bad things about them on this particular site, and other trucking forums as well. I’m sure they aren’t all sunshine and puppies, as ALL companies have good and bad, but I’m going to focus on the good. As I have no prior truck driving experience or a current CDL, I will be attending the 30 day program, which in my opinion is one of the best, since they teach winter time operations and chaining up.

I finally bit the bullet and submitted an application to them. I was called back promptly by Roxy in the recruiting department after 2 days, just like the application promised. She answered all of my questions (there were many), any time I had them. All I had to do was pick up the phone and call, or email her. She eventually emailed me the information package for newbies with everything pertaining to training. The big thing was they no longer paid you back for the tuition amount, and did not offer any type of financing. That was no big deal to me as I was going to have to pay about the same amount for training here in Southern California.

She emailed me the DOT physical form, which I was concerned with, since I have very borderline high blood pressure. I made an appointment with my doctor and got it done. I passed everything (thankfully). I held on to the papers for a few days, and finally called Roxy and asked her if I should get that to them, or wait until I have my permit and MVR. She said to get it to her asap.

So, I had my wife fax it to her one morning, and within 2 hours, I got a phone call from the Risk Director Dave and he said he had a few questions for me that would take 5 minutes or so...he asked 4 or 5 questions, and said have a good day, someone will be contacting you. Within 15 minutes, Roxy called me back to congratulate me, pending passing the HPE and drug screen, I have been approved for hire by Watkins Shepard.

She said I could come to the first available class, but I have to postpone it until February, due to surgery my wife is having and I need to be here with her.

So, as it stands currently, I still have my permit tests to take next week. I have been studying hard for them and am doing well with the online tests, so I am fairly confident I can pass. I did find out there is no requirement for hazmat, but will try for it anyways, since I want all the endorsements I can get that will make me a better employee for WS.

I have found much good information here on these threads posted by other WS employees and/or students, and I can only hope someone can benefit from my posting of my experiences with WS.

I will post here and let you all know of how things go during the process as well as the training. Hopefully I can post a few times a week. As I said at the beginning, I may miss some details. If there is a question about something I left out, don’t hesitate to ask me... I may be able to access the detail in question out of my “senior” memory.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

See you all out there...

 

Thanks for the heads up....I have been studying for it today and boy is there a lot of stuff!! Maybe I should just concentrate on the basics for now and save the hazmat for another time as I should be able to add it when I want to, I suppose.

I wasn't planning on getting my doubles/triples. I have no desire to pull the wiggle wagons unless I absolutely have to and work for Fedex or something LOL

I already have my passport, so I should be good to go there. They suggested I have it and already did due to prior travel, but I recall reading somewhere that the same rules apply for border crossing as does for the doubles, unless your home terminal is a border state, that you don't have to.

Thanks again for the info. I'm always looking for info on WS that I can't get anywhere but the drivers. How often do you make it into SoCal? I should think by your location that your home terminal is Sayerville, right? Do you spend a lot of time here in the western part of the country, or do they keep you back east? I know Roxy told me that there are a lot of drivers that don't want to go east, but I'll go anywhere they want me to as long as I'm getting miles...

 

I'll try to remember to ask them about it. I'm pretty sure they DO have it, as I read about it somewhere...I know it's 2 weeks out and 1 week off so only 2 people are on the truck at once...

I'll try to fit in the Socal weather in my bag, but it's already gonna be pretty full, although if I bring the warm weather, I won't get the winter weather driving I need, kind of a trade off, I'd say.

 

No worries...this thread is for everyone to learn all they can about WS training and/or employment. I'm just as excited to be able to tell you about my training as well