Myself and two friends are in the process of getting our class A's. We live in Sacramento CA and decided to go with Western Truck School. We are probably going to start school this April, buying ourselves some time to save up some cash. The recruiter is trying to get us in the door with Werner once we graduate school. Anyways after reading a few posts on here about Western Truck School and Werner which happened to be mostly negative posts. These posts were made by people that dont have one positive post to there name, complaining about how old or ugly the equipment looks LOL. To me thats all petty BS, I understand that I have to start somewhere and have no problem starting from the bottom like Im sure most people in here did at one time.What im getting at is Id like to know if anyone with experience has any information or advice about either Western Truck School or Werner. If the look of the trucks used durring training and how many earings an instructor has are the biggest complaints I can find Id say thats not too bad. If theres something Im missing please fill me in.

You'll find the majority of drivers here think Werner sucks. They have there supporters too, but the overall consensus is that they are a meat grinder. All recruiters are going to promise you more than they will probably ever deliver, but Werner, JB Hunt, CR England, and a few others are just out to screw new drivers. Don't buy into the BS that in as little as 6 weeks you can be your own boss with their lease programs. Once again , another way to screw uneducated truck drivers into making THE COMPANY rich. Don' have any info on school. Sure others here do. Good luck to you.

You haven't done your research then. I have a lot of positive posts and authored a negative one about Western Truck school...there are good and bad things about them but I still don't think they were worth the $5000.

They push Werner because Werner will give them trucks to train on if they send them enough recruits. You can do enough research on Werner on this site to make your own decision but if you think they are good because Western recommends them think again.

As far as the school itself, they will get you your CDL. Just don't expect to learn more than you need to know to pass the test. You'll quickly discover that you learn NO MORE than needed to pass that test and you'll be frustrated and the small amount of time you'll have behind the wheel learning to do your job (if your class is full). It's a CDL mill and an expensive one when you consider that you don't learn much beyond how to pass the DMV. You won't experience a long trailer, you'll train on a 28 footer...unless you're going local you'll need to know how to pull a 53', BIG difference! You won't learn anything about mountain driving, you're just be given an answer that you'll regurjitate to DMV which is NOT what you do in the real world. You will not be told how to handle different weights of a load on different grades in different weather conditions. You will not be taught how to trip plan and what they teach you about logging is far from what you will really do (although different companies have different expectations as far as logs)...

Hopefully that helps, I don't really regret going to Western Truck school but just know going in what to expect and you won't feel let down like I was. Maybe I just expected wayyyyyy too much from them.

Keep in mind too that there are a lot of companies out there that you can get hired on but everyone seems to want to latch onto the first one the recruiters push on you. Just be patient and you'll find the right company for you.

The positive post above needs some correction. Western Truck School trains on 28, 43, and 48' foot trailers. They don't train on skid pads or in snowy conditions, but then that's what the company training is for in the OTR training. The OTR training is specific to the exact equipment the driver will be using. Don't expect Western to train on automatics or teach electronic logbooks, etc. Western's 160 hour program is accredited and respected by all companies, such as Interstate, Werner, etc., and after training, the driver is not an indentured servant to the truck company as would one be if signing up for CDL training with CREngland, Schneider, etc. If the driver experience with the employer is poor, then he/she can switch to another employer with help of the school. The school provides placement services for starting drivers which should weed out the worst employers at least. Yes, the tuition costs are significant, but you get what you pay for. Take the tuition and divide by 160 hours to see what you are really paying for. The teacher and institution should get slightly more than the average trucker's per hour wage. Don't you think?

I don't know what school you trained for but Western Truck in W. Sacramento only trained on the 28' trailers. they have a 48' but no one in my class, the class before or the class after every took it out.
I agree it's always better than going to a company CDL school since there is no contract though. Also the instructors at Western get paid $14 an hour, I asked one who was very open about it. He also agreed that they leave alot to be desired for the money they charge. At one time Western Truck used to take students on day trips up to Tahoe so they can get some mountain training, they stopped due to the equipment not being able to handle it. Also the only backing you do at Western is exactly what you need to know at DMV. How about teaching students how to do modified 45's and teaching them how to do 90 degree backs? THAT is what you'll need to know in the real world.

It's a CDL mill and it's as simple and obvious as that. If that is what you know and expect going in, you won't be disappointed. I was personally led to believe it would be more than that.

Thanks for the input about Western Truck School. I am currently in orientation at the Stockton site, and we just filled out a DMV form that states we have experience on the trailer lengths I stated. So, I will be sure to speak up about this if the instructor decides to bypass the longest length trailer. The class is not full of dummies, but I can tell that some people will take longer to learn than me. I asked about skid pads and snow chains, and the response implied that teaching this is simply too dangerous, at least for insurance purposes. So, the program seems largely appropriate. Having worked within education, the $14- p/hr figure sounds correct, unfair but correct in terms of the industry. Usually, only about half the per hour tuition goes to the teacher salary. The rest goes to administration, and I'm sure that more than one administrator is getting at least 4-5 times this teacher salary. There are significant facilities and insurance costs too. Considering all the fly by night schools, the main thing is to have a reliable schedule of training. If the students shows up and the lights are out and the instructor is gone, that's a real financial loss.

Whoops! My teacher salary response is a bit off. The instructor deals with 2-3 students, so I figure that the instructor probably makes $25-30 per hour. $14- does seem a bit low, unless you took the course a few years back.

Yeah at the Stockton location they DO actually use the longer trailers, I was speaking specifically to the W. Sac location. In fact I think in Stockton you'll even get some 53' experience if you are being sponsored by Stevens Transport.
Yeah I have never heard of a school teaching on a skid pad. Schneider used to teach it but discontinued it and now they do it on a simulator instead.
I agree on the wages, it's probably the norm but teaching always seems to pay too low. My friend went to the Stockton school and said it was a pretty good experience.

Good luck and drive safe!

Yeah it might be a bit low but it's not a teaching job that really requires much more than possesion of a CDL and some driving experience so there is a big difference when you consider that.

My is a Werner driver, and is a trainer, he likes the company. he has great , and the insurance is good, real good. we have no complaints.