Anything Good About Western Express?

Good points about Western Express.

LOL they will give you lots of miles! They will be glad to give you some nice pens and plenty of cards of whom to call. Yes those people do answer your phone calls / return missed calls.

If he wants a new truck there was a wating line in the Lobby of drivers (Nashville) for a truck. If he is willing to get onto a truck that has been abandoned, they will send him after that pronto.

LOL since you didnt want the other info I will stop here.

 

They still have not paid me for training. No one there knows how or where or what. Call this #, they say not our problem call this # and so on.

They told me $0.30 per mile. Drove 10k miles (pc miles) and paid $1333 of which they kept 400 for 4 accidents I recieved after 2 weeks that I no longer had their truck.

They will tell you one thing that they "could do", but as I quickly learned this definately does not mean they have any care to actually do it.

They will give you loads that need to be delivered in 7 hours and your 13 hours out. Some of these loads have the incentive of "$50 out of drivers pocket if load is late".

Forced dispatch. If you cant go there, you will anyways.

Directions for deliveries are 5 years old, company knows there are changes, it is however more of the "could do" aspect. Casing point. Had a delivery for a restaraunt wholesaler. Directions told me to go to a abandoned wharehouse, enquire again, new directions go around block and enter same place. Passing motorist said new location 4 blocks away. Enquired to company, response "oh that location, yes you can deliver there". Thanx people.

If and when he gets a BJ's delivery. If they get you there after 7am? Its doubtful you will get unloaded till 7 am tomorrow morning. Seems BJ's uses their shopping floor space as whare house. If its full of customers, forget it. Regardless of how much your DM is screaming that you need to get going.

No bobtailing unless going home.

Poland springs. He will go there here in Maine. One plant will have you spend 8 hours just to get loaded.

Paychecks come when they are ready to pay you. Not when they are supposed to pay you. $50 advance fee to get the money they cant figure out why you are supposed to recieve 10 days ago.

$25 per incident out of your pay if you need to call service. Tell them yes your tire is flat, otherwise they expect you to turn around and drive 150 miles to get service (destroying tire and rim). They will want you to get serviced while your on your 10 hours off.

When the lights dont work on your truck at 2 am, go ahead and drive it anyways for a high value load. REgardless that you cant see. "If you get pulled over, have DOT put ticket on behalf of Western Express". I have a photograph of the qualcom from dispatch saying this is acceptable.

Time off: They say out 2 weeks get 2 days off. I went out and trained with trainer for 15 days, came home, was told to get moving in 28hours or else. Drove 12 days was told could now have 48 hours, yet in 30 hours I recieved and irrate phone call claiming I was being beligerant, get a move on "or else". If you hit your 70 they will park you for your 34 with lay over pay. If he wants that 34 hours, make sure he does his 14 hour days, otherwise he will work for the company the 21 days he is out for 10 hours per day with out the 34. IF HE Expects 2 days at the end of 14 days, make sure it IS 14 days on the road. See above.

The 2002 columbia I drove had been previously jack knifed. Fairings were all bent. Service was what ever the company was required by law to do, and only that. So if your truck has a dirty air filter and the vacuum meter shows red, their response is "according to Detroit, a dirty air filter does a better job at filtering air than a clean one". Regardless of the fact you only get 3 mpg and you need to use 6th gear on a 10 speed to go up hills in Connecticut.

The flip side is, out of this recession mess, companies are finding business as usual no longer applies. The people want accountability. So companies will some day have to figure out if they want a good image, or do they just want to spit out drivers because slave labor is still allowed.

 

Edna's or any other recruiter's job is to get people whom are willing to listen to a shpeel of how wonderful it is to work for them.

As to taxi service? LOL good luck getting them to compensate you for it. Maybe you can get them to pay in a voucher? Probably they will tell you they will work on it, and that is the last the company does for your loss.

I can not advise you beyond that of which I do not know, as I am clearly biased by my own problems with the company. They act like they care in Nashville (corporate office), otherwise?

 

Little over 4 weeks (35 days to be exact). At the end of this time and only having seen $400 for pay I was doubting the companies honesty about 600 a week. Took them an extra 2 weeks to get me paid in full. Even then it was like yanking teeth.

Missing pay is my only real complaint. The fellow I trained with has been with the company for some time. Yet he had his pay like clockwork. But he also knew whom to call when it would not get to him.