Witte Brothers, Inc. - Troy, Mo.

There's the old way of doing things that doesn't bode well with the current laws. I'm not gonna claim perfection here, i'll stretch it a little . But some guys try to run 7000 in a week and literally die doing it , either by crashing and burning or having a heart attack at 57. The big problem with letting drivers do as they want when they want is , 1st_not mistaking a truck load to be more important than your life or someone elses , way too many legends in their own minds out there.
2nd_ is having the experience to be able to make such a decision on when you can or when you better not.
And the 3rd_ being the biggest ... "LIMITATIONS" and knowing what yours are.

Do you want to be on a two lane at 2AM when that legend hauling a load of steel , at 65mph doesn't know it , but he's asleep or having a heart attack , as he knocked out 6200 miles in the last 6and a half days , now as it plays out you do your best to run off the road to avoid the head on and succeed , however as he hits your driver side half way down the trailer the steel breaks lose and goes thru the drivers side of your cab. You are pronounced Dead at the scene , 4hrs later when they finally get your corps out.

I don't care for some of our laws , if I'm mty and need to drive to a truck stop 9 miles away, I'd like to be able to do so without giving up my 10hr break. Or restarting that darn thing , but without these laws every time you hit the road and every time the wife puts the kids in that car to take them to school, the chances grow in leaps and bounds that the legend i refer to is coming down that road cause there are so many.

 

Does anyone have an update on Witte Bros.?
I'm looking at starting there

 

i went to witte for four weeks but left for a better oppurtunity but heres my opinion and my experience with the company the orientation is 1 day 50$ which is nice but they only pay you 250 a week until training is complete after that you get 28 cents a mile but they charged me for things that i didnt need ended up taking 175$ out of my check they even charged me for the drug test i was left with 75$ for my self they have a weird pay system they say you can unload yourself and make more money but never really saw that seems like they made less than most starter companies they also forgot to pay my orientation pay two weeks in a row apart from that good trucks all automatics but no apu

 

Anybody with longevity at Witte Bros have a tangible opinion to offer of the company; i.e. avg. miles, equipment, etc.? Thanks in advance...

 

I was getting 2500 miles a week

 

I'll admit, I've never driven for them, but I guess I can give you as much information as the last guy. I've seen the equipment, and it appears to be in good shape.
Hope that helps.

 

if your talking about me i actually drove for them so id actually know more than just seeing a truck

 

Witte was a great place to break into the trucking industry. The people are very friendly. The equipment was nice, with nice amenities.The job itself is grueling very long hours and little home time. I am single so that didn't bother me much. I in fact just wanted to roll and requested to be in terminal less than 24 hours (pays an extra $100.00) per week. That all being said lets discuss pay... While the pay at Witte is about average with the rest of the industry you MUST watch your paycheck very closely. I mean Every check!!! I was there for just under 2 years and had to call in about errors in my pay approximately about 75% of the time. It got so bad, when I would call in on Thursday my Fleet Manager (Josh) would answer the phone by saying "What is wrong with your check this week, Mike?" It would vary as to what the issue would be, most common would be missing detention pay, missing less than 24 hour pay, or missing pulled pallet and break down pay. Most times it would be corrected the following week, other times it took 3 or 4 weeks to of calling in regulary to correct, sometimes you just never go it. Then there is what I have no other term to use other than THEFT and I am including some actual examples. In the Witte Drivers handbook it lays out exactly the entire pay plan. I will start with detentions. The handbook says $25.00 per hour after an hour wait and 10 minutes per pallet. 1 pallet coming off the detention clock starts at 70 minutes. I was delivering 2 pallets of Baskin Robins ice cream. I was going to pull it of myself until I opened the doors and due to the way it was loaded, it was all over the back of the trailer. I decided the lumpers could pull it (Witte did pay the lumpers). I was there 5 hours, upon requesting my detentions I got the dreaded "Let me look into that for you" reply. After four days of asking I ended up with ZERO detentions. The drivers hand book also says you are allowed up to 6 hours of detentions per stop. I was dispatched to Hershey in PA to drop and hook a preloaded trailer. Upon an on time arrival Hershey informed me the trailer was not ready and to go wait in my truck and they will call me when ready. 14 hours later my preloaded trailer was finally loaded. Witte did change it from a drop and hook to a live load, which paid a whopping $12.50. I called into my Fleet Manager (Chad) for 4 days in a row asking for my detentions. I got the dreaded "Let me look into that" on the 1st 3 days and on the 4th day I finally got a real answer, "Well we can't get you 6 hours (which the drivers handbook clearly states I am entitled too) but we can get you 4 hours." That same example happened recently picking up produce in CA, I was there 10 hours. I called in for 2 days asking my then new Fleet Manager (Jake) about my 6 hours of detentions and got the dreaded "Let me check into that for you", on day 1. On day 2 I got "We can't get you the 6 hours but we can do 4 hours" followed with a "and I promise I will make sure you get a really run next week." How does one even respond to that? My thoughts were "Well thank you, thank you Master, thank you for screwing me out of $50.00 and allowing me to do my job next week!!!" I had no clue upon signing on with Witte, that screwing me out of money one week predicated how good my run was going to be the following week. There is no mention of 1/2 hour detention pay in the drivers handbook, my fleet manager (Chad) just started paying me in 1/2 hour detentions. It wasn't until after Chad left the company and my new fleet manger Josh told me there has never been 1/2 hour detentions at Witte. For everyone of those 1/2 hour detentions reflected in my pay stubs is a reference to $12.50 I got screwed out of. I am still waiting on pay from my check dated March 29, 2018. My pay stub says I pulled 3 pallets and broke down 6 pallets. Well that in it self is just an impossibility. The paper work I turned in clearly stated I pulled 7 pallets and broke down 6 along with pictures of the load showing the trailer was loaded pinwheeled (which pays an extra $50.00) After 4 weeks of calling in faithfully to this day that $16.00 for pallet pay and $50.00 for pinwheeled pallets has never been corrected. While the $64.00 isn't going to make or break me, over my close to two years at Witte it compiled into a considerable sum of money over all. I am owed a week a vacation pay, I have made 3 phone calls asking for it, no return call. It was NOT on my final check. A word of advice keep very extensive records of what you do and lots of pictures as proof of time in time out from Peoplenet screen. Take pics of pinwheeled and turned pallets in your trailer as proof. Take pictures of the envelopes showing the work you completed for the week. Make a copy of the drivers handbook which states everything you are to paid for. I am glad I did. I was willing to chalk up what they stole from me as a learning experience in what to watch for in my next employer, however if I am going to have to go after my vacation pay, I am going after everything they stole from me. After all what is there to lose except maybe some extra time going over lots of pay stubs, pictures, and paperwork, with the Dept. Of Labor. Which in the end totals far more than the week of vacation pay. I personally know 8 drivers that have left this company for very similar instances and 3 more leaving as soon as their 1 year obligation is fulfilled in their contractual agree for the drivers school. In closing if down the road a driver asks, "I am looking at a driving opportunity at a company called Witte do you know anything about them?" My 1st thoughts aren't going to be...The people there are very nice and easy to work with or the equipment is nice with excellent amenities or even they have a good CSA score coupled with PrePass you rarely get pulled into the scales. Unfortunately my 1st thought is going to be, "They stole a lot of money from me"!!! This is posted anonamously and personally I which it wasn't because I would proudly attach my name to it as it was my experience with Witte. I was going to write this review the day I ended my employment with Witte, I was very angry and decided to wait a few days. In an angry state I figured it would not be the most honest review I could write. After waiting 5 days to write this in a much calmer state of mind I could not have given a more complete honest review of my time at Witte. I sincerely hope this at the very least gives prospective Witte drivers what to be on the look out for. Thank you.

 

Wow!!! That's a long posting.

There ya go - I dunnit for ya! Now people can read your lengthy prose. If Witte is truly this bad I wouldn't even call them a 'good starter company' as I would be begging for their self destruction. Far too many trucking companies are run in a similar fashion. I think Trucking should be re-regulated by the government to some degree.

 

"Yeah, we need more government regulation" said no one in their right mind...