Werner Enterprises, Inc. - Omaha, Ne.

Werner's training time is only 275 hrs drive time plus whatever yard testing they do, I've gotten told between 2 and 5 days for that.

It shouldn't be 2 to 3 months. If you get a decent trainer, you'll do the driving for 8-10 hours per day so between 4 and 6 weeks on the truck with a trainer. As far as sleeping while the trainer drives, probably not. Your trainer is on duty while you are driving for at least half the time you are driving and are required to be in the passenger seat observing you and correcting your mistakes before they become accidents. Breakdown time, waiting on loads, shippers or receivers cannot be helped but you should not get stuck with downtime due to a trainer's hometime....not more than the usual 36 hour reset, at least, and that's your reset too.


That being said...my dad drove for Werner's for 7 years and though he hated it (he hated anything he didn't have control over) it was a good job. They paid him decent, on time, all the time. He got home 4 days every 4 weeks. His biggest complaint the first 3-4 years was that they'd run him north + Canada during the winter (snow and ice) and south (hot and tornados) in the summer. Personally I don't find that so bad since as soon as you have tenure you can pick and choose (within reason) where you want to go. As for me, I won't be tied down to a house so I don't have to come back to Bum-F%$#-Illinois every 3-4 weeks. That should be a benefit on getting the miles (I'm hoping).

Good luck. Do your homework on companies. Figure out what your priorities are and find the company(-ies) that fit your priorities. Remember the pay will be low but if you have the right attitude you can make this career a success. Personally I believe that truck drivers need to have a strong personality, good morals and a healthy sense of humor. (My dad only had one of those --- and it wasn't the sense of humor.)

 

yea they told me 7 days with a trainer because i already have about 38,000 otr miles, and sleeping while the truck is moving its easy to get to sleep but to stay asleep is hard to do for me,

 

All I know is my son's experience with Werner. He started 1/3/11 and finally tested out the end of march.When his trainer got 6 days hometime in Oregon my son was put in a hotel because they' wouldn't send him cross country to our home in NJ. My son was offered home time 1/2 way through training but declined it because you get a $500 bonus for training straight threw.So while training shouldn't be 2- 3 months,sometimes it is.

 

Once he has his own truck he can be a trainer..

 

Anyone (and everyone SHOULD) see anything wrong with this? What kind of experiences in trucking can a 21 year old driver share and teach?

 

Perhaps the better question might be, what kind of experiences in ANYthing can a 21-year old share and teach someone with a closed mind?

Some folks see someone young and wonder how they're gonna make it.
Some folks see some of those Big truck truck drivers with 30+ years experience,
and wonder how they made it that far.

How comforting is it to know that there are trainers who have accumulated 30+ years of bad habits and insist that their antiquated methods are superior to technological advances, teaching the newBees how to be just like them, opinionated, closed minded, and an attitude of superiority?

If one can be too young to be a driver trainer, does it not stand to reason that the opposite also applies?
Some driver trainers go strictly by the book.
Some driver trainers throw the book out the window and
read the writing on the wall instead.

 

I'm not quite sure where you're going with this, Aftershock, but what I'm getting at is someone who is only 21 most likely doesn't even have one year of experience. If he/she started in say April or May, it's quite possible that they've never even driven in the winter months. I'm not saying that young drivers shouldn't be trainers. What I am saying is that they should have a minimum of two years behind the wheel before they are qualified to train someone.

 

I'm not real sure myself, Voyager.

Half the time I don't read what I write unless someone calls my attention to something I've written. So, to get up to speed, I force myself to go back to read what they're talkin' 'bout. Mostly boring truisms, foods for thought (non-sugar coated --- bland and sometimes hard to swallow), scattered sarcasm, rather dry wit, questionable humor, often too long to bother readin' just to get at a message somewhere 'round the middle that might contain the answer(s).

I noticed that you said, "most likely" (doesn't even have one year of experience). Most likely I'd agree with you. But there are exceptions to darned near every rule. Although a 21-year-old Big truck truck driver may not have more than a year's experience drivin' a Big truck over the road, it's also possible that their knowledge of all the other aspects, like how to operate Big trucks and other mechanized heavy equipment such as would be utilized in a farming or ranching operation, would put them miles ahead of the usual wannaBees. By the age of twenty-one, growing up in a Big truck environment, riding along with dad or an uncle in their Big truck over the road, they could have 15 years head start on experience over a city dweller turned Big truck truck driver two years ago. Experience isn't always determined by the number of years.

If a potential driver trainer ran the southern routes, say I-10, for two mild winters, would that be considered sufficient winter driving?

.How can you be certain that they don't have two years experience behind the wheel? I've known Big truck truck drivers with decades of experience behind the wheel I wouldn't trust to be trainers. Years aren't always an accurate measuring tool. Proof is in the puddin'. Ability and results are what counts.

I know of a husband/wife team who own their Big truck and took turns drivin' it during the school year. One month on --- one month off the Big truck. During summer, they both teamed and took their two sons with them. Each summer the boys covered around 30,000 miles, and they did that for about 10 years. By the time they were deemed legal to drive a Big truck on the highways, they already had around a quarter-million miles riding in a Big truck. They knew their way around a truck stop and were no strangers to the highway systems. Little by little their dad showed and taught them the tricks of the trade and to be comfortable and confident in and around Big trucks.

When each of the boys turned 21, they received the Big truck of their choice, --- along with the payments and associated costs of running their own Big truck. Sink or swim.
All this expected from two young men who never attended a Big truck truck drivin' school or ever drove for a bottom-feeder trainin' company. They also don't whine and complain.
Personally, I'd jump at the chance to be trained by a 21-year-old like that.

But I do understand your point, generally speaking.
What passes for trainers these days is a joke that isn't funny, and IMO, leaves a lot to be desired. But the highway safety statistics seem to indicate little, if any, negative impact on those numbers. The latest numbers show the highway related death toll as the lowest since 1949, in spite of a dramatic increase in the number of vehicles traveling increased distances. That's good news.

Is it possible that the blind leading the blind leads to safer highways?
They say statistics don't lie.
Go figure.

Now-a-daze we see once high flyin' Big truck truckin' companies reduced to bottom feedin' starter companies in an attempt to keep their new revolving doors turnin' in the trainees while also turnin' out the wash-outs. Very efficient and profitable to boot. (pun intended)
Their "training" often includes trainers who go the extra mile to demonstrate how to sleep in a moving Big truck. What's not to like about a 'team' operation where one team member is paid for all miles driven, ............................. unless you're the trainee with a pressing question.
Stay on, or get off?
(I just threw that in 'cause I saw the movie SPEED again recently, ---
and I have a crush on Sandra Bullock. :smt045:smt112)

When the position of Driver Trainer becomes a matter of 'Who's next?', ......... and if nobody steps up, the position is assigned to the one lowest on the totem pole with the least experience and even less desire, Hooston, --- we have a problem.
Of course, that's my opinion.

It's also my opinion that driver trainers should be required to take and pass additional training including aptitude testing to determine if a qualified driver is qualified to teach. Not all have the ability to instruct and/or teach, no matter how many years of Big truck drivin' experience they have.

To encourage those who are qualified to apply for the position of driver trainer, I can think of no better incentive than to make it worth their while by offering an attractive incentive in the form of higher pay, --- and by that I don't mean offering trainees to lease drivers for a weekly fee paid to the company by said lease drivers; to use as an extra log book so they can make their Big truck lease payments.

HuH?
Say again?

Is there, .......what?
Like that?

OH!
Is there really a Big truck truckin' company like that?
Actually, .................................. yes, there is.
Anyone curious which one?

Big truck truck driver trainers 'training' out of desperation rather than desire.
What's wrong with this picture?
Besides bein' scary.

 

Shocky, you are brilliant!

 

tell your F/M to get you more miles or you will find one that will
hang in there it will get better