Watkins shepard

With all due respect to the more experienced. I have never turned down a load. I have run loads with 14 stops, local deliveries, long and short haul, what ever comes. Watkins is forced dispatch for company drivers so as a new guy you don't get to choose. I have taken home 821 in a week after paying back a 100 cash advance and putting 50 bucks in my reserve account. I have also sat in Helena for 7 days, 2 for repairs and another 5 waiting for a load out in April. To the companies credit they offered to pay me 500 in layover pay for that week instead of the 350 I really had coming to me. That says allot to me about Watkins. I have had weeks that were crap and weeks that were great. I can only tell you about what has happened to me and to the couple of guys I went to school with that I still talk to. The four of us agree that it is better now than in march/April . I think that like anything else you have to pay some dues. Some will never take home time and be kept running and will break 43000 the first year others will not. Some times you sit on your butt waiting and other times the loads are back to back. I came from a completely different industry
and I choose Watkins because of the posts I read here about this company and I am still glad I did.

 

No offense was taken. And I do agree with you, to a point. It will be very difficult for a new driver to make 40K plus their first year. However, we do have drivers that do.

That's not a reflection of how good the driver is. It's a reflection of the terminal they work at, and the freight that is availible to them. We get very few drivers that request multi-stop furniture loads when they hit our terminal. The majority want miles, sad to say. And that's a payroll decrease in the making.

15-20% of my payroll is stop pay. If you subtract that from my overall numbers. You can clearly see, I would not make as much as I do. I actually LOSE money when I do OTR for a brief period, which I do from time to time.

I snipped some of the better statements in your post. But, I agree with you. There are times here I want to absolutely scream bloody murder !! But, I know it will come out in the wash. And like you, the breakdown pay came in handy. Very few large companies offer the benefit/bonus/pay package that W&S does. While they don't offer premium packages. The packages (breakdown pay, bonus pay, etc) are the ones used/needed most often by drivers IMHO.

One of the biggest bragging points I heard at CFI. We have the most consistant miles of our top 5 competitors. Which is completely useless, if you are parked for a week for truck repairs and ZERO pay.

 

Hey you guys I recieved my CDL Class A May 9th of last month at a local community college. W/S sounds like a good company. I was wondering if there is anyone located in or near Virginia? What happened to Ladytrucker, I noticed that she was in NC....

 

I started out with watkins in late feb. And since then, I have never regretted working for them. The home time was not great but like they say you get paid to travel or pass through which ever works for you. if you have hometime, and live on the east coast be smart about it pick days that you know will end on a saturday that way you can spend the whole weekend with your family. they do not do east coast loads on the weekends. second the pay you right on time and they will always work with you on any problems you have and I mean any. I was averaging 600 a week doing long haul wich was a struggle if your in the red starting off; But now I'm doing short haul yes my friends they do promote regardless of the pecking order. Less than three months and I'm doing short haul thats reserved for drivers with 6 months. now in my third month I'm averaging 1,100 before taxes a week running no more than 300 miles a day; start at 7 day over for 5 most days . Weekends off and 1 extra night at home during the week God is good my friends. Just to let you know I will never regret picking this company.

 

I know you . The name and location gives it away. Didn't take as long as you thought it would, did it? Good to see things worked out good for you. But that "short haul" money is sooo nice. Even if we can't convince people that it is.

I'll give you another shout when I make it back up to the Jersey terminal. Be safe

 

Hey guys, I was wondering if Roxie was the only recruiter in the office? I've been calling and leaving messages but no answer/response. I would like to apply...someone help me out.

 

Actually, Roxie is the second person you would speak with. That may have changed, but it's true as far as I know.

Just ask the operator to transfer you to recruiting. Keep calling until you speak with a live person. Their recruitment staff is limited and overwhelmed at times. So you have to be persistant.

 

Wow after reading all these pages WS seems like a great company. Just got an offer from KLLM and am expecting a call from WS. With KLLM no school fees just 3 - 6 weeks with a trainer after a 3 day orientation. Eventhough I have my CDL with Hazmat WS still requires the school. It seems to be worth it plus I have never been to Montana in my life. Just wonder who would keep me busier. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

School would most likely be the 10 day deal. And KLLM has reefers, W&S doesn't.

Might not be a big deal to you. But, I have other things to do with my time. Other than sitting at grocery warehouses. I used to pull a reefer, I can speak from that experience.

I have no real opinion of KLLM. I haven't worked there. But, I have a very biased and positive opinion of W&S.

 

Just want to point out that just because you pull a reefer, it doesn't mean you are going to spend time pitching cabbages. I'm just a trainee, home while my trainer takes a few days off. In two weeks, we pulled *one* load that required the reefer - and none of our loads was fingerprint (few are - and those are tailgated)

For me, there are two issues with reefers - and neither one of them is terribly important:

1) some people find it difficult to sleep with that engine firing up and shutting down at random times, not 4 feet from your head. I'm barely aware of it - even on my first run with it.

2) It's a minor PITA to fuel the darn thing. Gotta fuel the tractor, then move forward 20 feet and fuel the reefer. seems like bad design to me, but I'm not in the trailer building business.

While I don't have extensive experience, I *WILL* say, as I have in the past - do NOT - if at all possible - get schooling via a carrier. I agree that the W&S offer is probably about their 10-day deal. If I'd not screwed up, I'd be working there now. (not that I'm complaining about my current employer - just stating a fact).