Werner Enterprises, Inc. - Omaha, Ne.

When you're happy, -- I'm happy, AWife.
Congratulations.
I wish you the best of success.

Those 140 hours should go by quickly. How do you feel about the 140 hours?
I gotta say, having a trainer within two hours after orientation ended is quite impressive. Were you surprised?

The answer to your question just might amaze you.

Who is Mona drivin' for these daze?

Sounds like you impressed them.

Seriously, I don't think that "all" of the drivers on here are "########". Amend that to *some* (of the drivers) and I'll sign it.
You GO girl!
I just hope we'll still hear from you, but will understand if your schedule prevents that.
Best wishes AWife!

 

Those were reasonable offers. Take what you can get. After a year, look around.

 

I see, you got lucky with a dedicated account when just starting off. Most companies I talked to will not put you on a dedicated account unitl you have at least 2 years of experience. There may be exceptions, but I don't know them. Thanks I understand now.

 

I will say this about Werner, I've had two blowouts this month on their trailers. I had one blowout when I worked for Stevens transport in the two years I was there.

 

How did the tires look at your pretrip?

 

Neither tire raised a red flag. The tires on the second trailer were obviously well used but still had life in them. I thumped them with my lot lizard repeller and they sounded fine. Maybe I got two flukes, I dunno. Aside from that the trailers I've pulled so far seem ok, though some of the older ones could use a little TLC.

 

Hmmmmmm ----
No red flag?
Yet they both blew out?
Hmmmmmmmm -----

Not much life though, it seems.

A couple of quick questions?
First, what does it sound like when your "lot lizard repeller" makes contact with the head of a lot lizard?
Second, how does that sound compare to a thumped tire?
Third, What difference in sound does a Big truck truck tire make when inflated to 80 PSI as compared to an identical Big truck truck tire inflated to 100 PSI?
Fourth, How much additional weight stress would a single Big truck truck tire be required to support when the second tire in the dual set-up is 20 to 30 PSI under-inflated?
Fourth and a half, how much heat is generated in an under-inflated tire?
Fourth and three quarters, How would the overloaded properly inflated tire be affected by heat generated as a result of being over-loaded?
Fifth, how often does your "lot lizard repeller" require re-calibration to assure the measurements are accurate?

That's a possibility, ...... among others.

You've had three tires blow out already?
ShuX HowdY, that's one more than I managed to have in over a million miles.

One thing I would suggest though, is to leave the lot lizard repeller for repellin' lot lizards and invest in a quality, accurate air pressure gauge. Then, actually check tire pressures when you first hook a trailer. Don't depend on the sound-0-thump to determine if a tire is properly inflated, even if you're blessed with perfect pitch. I've seen drivers thump a tire with around 20 or 30 PSI total --- that's 80 to 90 PSI under-inflated, --- and it passed their sound-0-thump test.

Don't take chances.
Check the Big truck truck tires' air pressure regularly. I checked 'em 'bout twice a week, --- once a week for sure. Keep a record on a sheet of paper each time you take a reading so if air isn't available at that time, you'll know which tire(s) were low on air, and by how much. If the PSI is lower when you get to add air than it was when checked earlier, guess what?
But you wouldn't know about a slow leak with a thump test.
If a leak is discovered, but it's determined to be slow enough to get the load safely to it's destination, don't just drop it and leave it for the next driver to contend with, have it repaired or notify whomever can see that it is.
(I know you wouldn't do that PackRat, but there are wannaBees and newBees that may not have heard that it ain't cool to pass problems on to the next driver.)

If, when a trailer to be hooked to has any tire severely under-inflated, just pumpin' more air into it might not be the best idea. A much closer inspection should be done. If the driver before you ran tire(s) under-inflated, it's possible that they've been subjected to serious abuse which damaged the tire(s) integrity enough that failure is in it's near future. Heat causes things to weaken and come apart. At 65 MPH, throwin' a drive tire tread can, and has, slapped fuel tanks right off the Big truck.

The additional time it takes to check tire pressures isn't all that inconvenient at the time, compared to havin' a tire blow out --- out in the middle of somewhere not even on a map.

Here's one for the books -----> a driver once informed me that he considered it a waste of time to check his tire pressures, --- because he'd never had a tire blow out, ............. so he must be doin' it right. :smt120:smt120

HuH?!

Doin' somethin' right by not doin' it at all? :smt017
What am I missin' here? :smt102
Not wantin' to appear a dunce, I assured him I'd remember what he'd just told me. And, as y'all can see, ........ I did remember.
For what it's worth.

 

A lot like a tire since both are full of air.

See above comment.

Probably not a whole lot. I know the thumper is just for testing whether a tire is totally flat or not but considering the trailers both had central inflation systems I would think they would at least be inflated to the proper pressure by the system.

Couldn't tell ya, I'm no good at math!

Enough to start burning. I've seen it personally.

Doesn't help I'm sure.

I do have a guage which I use on the tractor. I haven't on the trailers since so many have the central inflation but it seems that isn't a foolproof system, lol.

Oh no. I always report any problem I find and my dispatcher will relay it to Werner. Last week I had a trailer that was having air suspension problems. The dump valve kept getting stuck. I was able to finish my run when it finally closed.. Werner told us to go ahead and drop it at dollar general and they would pick it up after it was emptied.

 

I went with Werner right out of CDL school for the training, and the electronic logs. Just didn't want to deal with logs right off. Did orientation in Dallas, TX. I am not your average driver trainee. I'm a widowed empty-nester from a white collar world who wanted to see the country and have someone pay me to do it. I'm also used to working on my ranch so hard work didn't deter my decision. As I was looking around the Werner Terminal in Dallas, the first thought that struck me was the general shabbiness and unkempt dress mode of the other drivers. Most were wearing clothing that I wouldn't wear to clear land or build fence. And others looked like they were right out of the ghetto. I went through orientation for 2 days and then was told we'd have to wait for a trainer to become available. Some of the trainees in the hotel had been there for 2 weeks or more waiting for a trainer so I was worried that I might be there a while. I had a trainer the next morning. He had been a trainer for several years and was a consumate gentleman the entire time I was on his truck.
The point I'm trying to make is that if you conduct yourself with self respect, dress well and practice good personal hygiene, you will get a little further than someone who looks, dresses, and acts like they just don't care. Yes, those that are in charge of assigning trucks, and other company business, notices your image and reacts accordingly. Just sayin', you dress and act trashy, you're going to be treated trashy.

Note: I have noticed that you can tell the ex-military in the terminals and truck stops. They are always better disciplined, dress better and are cleaner.

 

I would bet that you were in his/her blind spot or you proceded to cut in front of him and hit the brakes before a traffic light not knowing the trucker was hauling a 40 000 pound load and near impossible to get the truck slowed down