The truth about watkins, my expierence

SpiritWolf, you need to accept that just because someone does not have a similar experience to you it's not a personal attack on you.

The problem with this site is that anytime someone has a less than great experience that they wish to share the people who had great experiences immediately come to shut down the situation. Everybody is an individual that will have different experiences & ways of dealing with them.

It is great that you have been happy at Watkins & Shepard however if someone else doesn't that does not mean they are being untruthful or dramatic.

 

I accept that rebuke, and somewhat deserve it.
I'm just seriously tired of people making a life changing decision to become a trucker, staying a short time, and then blasting this company as if its their fault things did not go their way. I have had my share of issues with dispatch, equipment, ect.. And the majority of drivers who have been here for a while WILL agree, its not a perfect company, but it is BETTER than most of the starter companies out there.

Experiences I know of from personal friends who lived through them.
#. Covenant... Driver was left sitting in a terminal for 5 weeks, waiting for a team mate to be assigned after training.... company would not pay him anything, since he wasnt really "working" for them. Driver finally quit.
# Western express... Driver came back from hometime, slipped getting into his truck on the ice that covered his truck and severely injured his ankle. Driver was refused workmans comp, company IMMEDIATELY filed suit claiming driver injured himself at home, not work... ongoing, so I don't know the conclusion here.....
#. Schneider... Driver left to go for hometime for 3 days. Ended up in hospital due to traffic accident. Scheider re-assigned truck since he was out more than 10 days.. ALL of drivers belongings went missing....
#... Swift... Company hired driver, company put driver through orientation. Company left driver sitting at terminal for 9 days after orientation waiting for trainer, then gave driver a notice saying he had an unsatisfactory report during his probationary period, and fired him. He hadnt even gone out ON his probationary period yet.....
#. CR England. Driver suffered sexual harassment and verbal from trainer for 3 weeks before telling company he couldnt work with the trainer. Company says he either has to continue, or get fired...he chose to quit.. Company put on his DAC that he abandoned load and truck.... He left the truck empty, in the hands of the trainer, At a terminal.....
# Werner. Driver left sitting at terminal for 4 weeks after being out with trainer for 3.5 months. Driver continually told "we dont have a truck free for you right now, but If you want to lease one we can get you in it right now".......

And so on.....
W/S is NOT the end all be all woohoo company. But AS I SEE IT, someone came expecting something else, didnt get it, and its the companies fault. 100's of people come into this business daily, and few actually last.
#. Hometime isnt guaranteed. I dont like it but its a fact in ANY OTR job.... Things happen out there.
#. Rookies are not going to get the best equipment or treatment.
#. research on this company would have shown we dont have 24 hour office staff, and that the biggest complaint from people who stick around IS equipment issues.
#. Im not a fan of several of our dispatchers... I think their attitude is VERY poor. However..... its a Job, and You must accept that you wont get along with everyone out there in whatever job you choose.

In 2 months, this Driver went from saying how great people at W/S were, to blasting the company and people for problems and quit. That is NOT even the length of time most starter companies force you to be in a training truck.
W/S has its share of problems, and things happen on the road. But give them a fair break, and they will give you one. Not everything is going to go perfect all the time. 2 months is an eyeblink in this industry, and not enough time to come up with a fair assessment.

I will stand by my comment of waiting 6 months to see how things work out at your new company driver.
And I will say with all honestly and sincerity, Good luck! I don't like to see people fail out here.

 

Newbie h/w team here... puttin in my 2 cents about WS

The main reason we decided on WS is the 10 day orientation! My wife and I did not want to separate for two months and go with trainers at these other companies, we are very co-dependant!

We had read about WS less-than-desireable equipment, and we were concerned about having to drive a junker truck, but made the decision to take whatever we got while we "paid our dues". So from the beginning we were prepared to accept the good, the bad, or the ugly.



To our surprise, we were assigned our new Volvo! We did have to drive a rough ol' truck up to Missoula, it was a trade-in, but she ran like a top! We considered ourselves blessed that we got a new truck!

We been driving "Wildfire" for a few months now, and she's in the shop at Volvo with tranny issues. Looks like they are going to have to replace the transmission in our new truck. Are we mad at WS for this? Of course not, it's not their fault. They are being awesome and have paid for us to stay in a motel for the past two days while we await word about our sick truck.

Has everything went our way since beginning at WS? Of course not. Lol

We realize that things can change at a moments notice in this industry. For example, just the other day we hooked up to a trailer, headed down the road on a 2300 mile load, got 10 miles down the road and got a phone call to return to the terminal because they needed us to do a different trip, a 237 mile trip. Yuck, not happy about that. But it was what the company needed, so we went back, changed trailers and trip numbers, and were on our way.



I learned a long time ago to not hold on to every disappointment or resentment in life...that will make for a miserable life. In every job in my life, there have been good things and bad things. WS will not be any different.

We have had more good treatment than bad treatment from office folks at Missoula 10:1.

Our truck has been happy and healthy more than sick. The dispatchers have been helpful and nice more than they have been otherwise. For us, the good has far outweighed the bad.

In this gentleman's case, I'm not so sure the good outweighed the bad, and if not, it's understandable that he go to a different company. Sometimes, it seems that we are not meant for a job or position in life, then we must make a move to a different job, simple as that.

Of course this young man is upset, angry, hurt, etc.... he's been through aggravating and stressful times with WS. For whatever reason things did not go so good with WS, he's dusting off his shoes and walking away.

Airing"dirty laundry about WS" is his way of trying to inform others that things can and do go bad sometimes for people at WS, as they can and sometimes do at all companies and in life.

Not everyone has good experiences in church, at home, in school, at the disco, in marriages....etc

Point is : life is full of good and bad for all of us. We have to take our lumps, move onward to find our yellow-brick-road...find what works for us at this moment in time.

WS is not working for him at this time, but something else will! Good luck young man!

 

well said!

 

My husband has worked for W/S for almost 30 yrs I'm sure some of you have ran into him out there on the road. He's the old guy...LOL Now theres got to be more good than bad for him to have stuck around that long. There's been some bad along the way but the good has far out weighed it or he wouldn't still be there.
Just my .02

 

Is there anybody at this company with over 3 years expierence.
This whole thread is full of rookies who work or have worked
for Watkins. No wonder they treat you like crap!

 

Did you read the post right above yours?

 

We've met several drivers who have driven for WS for years but were leaving because of being forced into eLog. They felt that they were being mistreated somehow. :smt069

 

my salute to him, Wow.