about a month into training my prospective

I will put together an update over the next few days. Currently spending some hometime with my family. In a nutshell I tested out a little over 2 weeks ago in omaha, got my truck (twice LOL) and ran around for a week and a half before heading home to see the family. Will go into more detail soon (overall it has been a positive experience even with a few hiccups)

 

I figured I would update on the end of my training and the process of "testing out"

I was contacted by my SDM with around 50 hours left and asked if I was comfortable enough to test out. I said yes and we just had to work with our dispatcher to get my trainer and I assigned a load to Omaha.

I went to Omaha late on a Friday night (about 5 days after the call from my SDM) was put up at the hotel Werner uses and stayed the night. I went over the terminal on the 1st available shuttle Sat. morning and reported to safety. They looked over my CBT's, progress report, and road test form. When I was in orientation they gave us a list of CBT's (computer based training) that must be completed before testing out. they recommended we complete them at orientation if time allows or before we actually complete training (that way when you go to test out you have them all done as this will delay things) I completed all my CBT's required for testing out in orientation. about 2 or 3 weeks into my training my trainer (who has been training for Werner for many years) recommended that I check my CBT's throughout training so that there would be no hold ups when training is complete I said " I did them all" he laughed and said "they always put extra ones in there and I would check" well sure enough they put about 8 or 9 more in there for me to complete. I completed some on my smart phone and others on my laptop while in the hotel when my trainer had hometime. This is something I need to recommend to all people in training complete them before you test out. Even if you think you did all the required ones go into the portal and complete throughout training because they WILL add more. The gentleman in the safety dept. was stunned when he pulled up my CBT's that they were all complete. HE said that this was very rare and would allow me to be tested out and assigned a truck within an hour or so.

They have an actual truck driving simulator in Omaha and he made me do 3 tests on that before completing the process. It is nothing like driving an actual truck but it was fun. I scored in the 90's on 2 tests and 100 on another. I did not have to complete a road test with safety since my trainer had done the road test with me and filled out the proper road test form. They then gave me a certificate of completion and some paperwork and sent me over to truck assignment.

I was assigned a truck with around 460,000 miles on it but it seemed like a nice truck it was clean and spacious. I brought in my binder (and truck inspection form) to check with the permit, registration people and they went thru it to ensure all required permits, toll passes, registrations where correct and up to date. They were closing at 12 on this Saturday and I had all of this wrapped up by 1145. They said once I got everything packed and retrieved from my hotel to update my availability on the qualcom to "available for a load" I completed a thorough pre trip on the truck and headed over to the hotel. At that point I notice they forgot to issue me a fuel card. By this time that dept was already closed for the weekend and since it was already after the checkout time I was able to stay in the hotel another night.

ON Sunday I went out to start my truck (it was a little cold that weekend) and my truck wouldn't start. I ended up having it towed to the terminal on mon morning the shop went thru it and had it running. I was able to retrieve my fuel card and met my dispatcher. I explained to my dispatcher that I had chosen not to take any hometime during training and I would like to get home to see my family within the next 2 weeks. He said that would not be a problem. I was then assigned a load. After picking up my load my truck had all kinds of warning lights come on so I notified dispatch and brought my truck back to the shop.

They looked over my truck on Tuesday and the shop foreman said that it will most likely have to go to the dealer and he would recommend to truck assignment that they give me another truck. Within an hour I was assigned a new (new to me) truck and was ready to hit the road. I was assigned my 1st load which was about 600 miles away to be delivered the following morning. I delivered it about 2 min before my deadline. they ran me around for about a week and half (they kept me very busy) while slowly getting me back towards the Northeast.

During this time I had a clutch problem brought it to the dealer and they said I would need a new clutch. I asked them if there was anything that could be done to adjust the clutch to make it last a little longer and they made me some adjustments so that I could get it fixed at a dealer near my house. Well after a week and a half on my own they sent me a load to get me near my house. I was set up at a local dealer to get it fixed so I dropped it off on my way home and had my wife pick me up. The truck should be fixed by tomorrow and I will be back on the road. Overall I have to say my experience with Werner has been a very positive one. There were some hiccups along the way (the truck issues) but they were very quick to resolve them and get me back on the road. I can also say that my very positive training experience was a direct result of having a trainer who was a great trainer.

I am still new to the company and cannot comment on any of the negative issues people post on here about Werner. All I can speak to is my experience which has been a good 1. There were some issues in the beginning with the truck issues but they were very quick to get them resolved and get me on the road making money. During that short time on the road I did just over 3000 miles in a week. I am looking forward to getting my truck out of the shop tomorrow and getting back out onto the road

 

Also was able to visit the Werner museum at the Omaha terminal. They have CL Werners original truck there as well as different trucks used thru the years in Werner. They were all fully restored there was some nice cab overs and a really nice long nose Pete. They have a Chopper there built by OCC with different items on the bike to resemble parts on a tractor trailer it was pretty cool. If you are ever at the terminal check it out

 

The cbt's are just different training classes online. Some are just videos some are videos with an easy test at the end. Others are page by page training with a test at the end. They were all pretty easy. Even if a certain subject is new to you watch the video or page by page training and the tests will be very easy to pass. Some of them can be completed in minutes a few could take up to an hour. They cover a wide range of training general safety, winter driving, braking, shifting, adjusting mirrors etc etc.

Will try to separate the paragraphs better. Just got a new smart phone and for some reason it is condensing everything together even after spacing everything out (i think i just fixed the issue)

 

Unfortunately my trainer is taking a break from training for a couple of months. He usually goes trains 2 or 3 trainees then takes a few months off from training to run solo. They run you pretty hard when you have a trainee so I can understand wanting a little time away from it