Western Express, think twice before going there

Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by pantothenic, Aug 28, 2010.

  1. pantothenic

    pantothenic Bobtail Member

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    Aug 28, 2010
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    Hi, I was looking at the posts, trying to decide if I would go back to trucking. Reading the posts brought back reminders of what it was really like...so decision made.

    Anyway, I thought I would add a post that you might find useful. I worked for Western Express for about a year. I left them recently. I was already an experienced trucker.

    Here are the highlights. When I got out of Orientation (which was unpaid) we waited around forever to get going. Though I was experienced, they wanted to put me with a trainer for a few days to make sure I knew what I was doing (it had been awhile). No problem. My first trainer wanted to convert me to his religion. He even said it was his duty to God to convert everyone he met (yes, he actually said this), he insisted that he would play a religious CD, and he said he disrespected other people's religious beliefs (he actually said that, verbatim). This was after I had told him I respected everyone's personal beliefs.

    Got away from that guy quick. They put me with another guy (had to wait another week) and he was OK. Very experienced, gave me some pointers, which were useful even though I had already been a trucker.

    When I went to work there, the miles were very low. I may have gotten over 2000 miles once or twice, but usually it was anywhere between 900-1300 average. Truck breakdowns were common, repair times very long.

    At one point the company charged me over $200, and took it out of my pay. Finding out information about why this happened was a nightmare. I finally tracked down the person responsible for placing the charge against my pay and they could find no explanation as to why I was charged with anything (I'd never had an accident or any other incident). I was at the terminal in Nashville for well over 7 hours before payroll would clear up the mess. Along with me were several other drivers with similar issues. It took communicating with the company owner before I finally got resolution to the problem.

    I have told to run loads illegally at Western Express and have refused to run them (meaning, I was told to run them when I didn't have enough hours, or it could not be legally logged, etc.). I finally got with a cool dispatcher but I never did make any miles.

    Also, at that time, Western Express used SMX flatbed trailers for some of their flatbed loads. These were the old SMX trailers with tiny winches for the straps. This meant that you either couldn't carry full length straps on your flatbed, or, if you did, you had to take time to bundle-wrap them against the side of bed when you had a low-height load, or when you were empty. This made for way extra work that you aren't compensated for, and it's a major pain that shouldn't be there to begin with. In my opinion, it's also unsafe. I've seen strap jobs like that come loose.

    Also, getting detention pay out of Western Express was a major deal. I only got it once. Tarp pay was $15, which is ridiculous. There were some good people in the company, and some total losers. Mixed bag. But mostly very unresponsive and from the looks of things, they tried to steal money. That's certainly how it appeared.
     
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  3. ptrbilt

    ptrbilt Bobtail Member

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    Jun 17, 2008
    Lakewood, Ohio
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    I don't here much about W.E. but the little I have heard has been bad. I heard theyre pay is crappy.
     
  4. JimDriv3r

    JimDriv3r Road Train Member

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    Aug 2, 2009
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    Seems like you had a bad time there. And here I was thinking that everything over there was all like unicorns and rainbows. Oh well.

    But you may want to watch what you post here. You might get bashed by the megaposter geriatric crew.

    Later!
     
  5. bayouslim

    bayouslim Bobtail Member

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    Apr 19, 2011
    hammond,louisiana
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    I worked a dedicated account in my home town for them,which was great being home with the family more,but I didn't make any money and had to quit.gave two week notice to my supervisor,turned in all equipment and went on my merry way and found out a year later that they put truck abandonment on my dac and that knocked me out of a job.called frank crews(bham terminal mngr)to talk about it and he reads the report they have on file which says that I didn't give two week notice and that he called me several times to ask me if I would bring the truck to Birmingham when in fact I never heard from him when I put in my two week notice until my departure.i have 10 safe years in this business and not one negative complaint from previous employers!.....watch these snakes guys....part ways with them and they find a way to stab you in the back.
     
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