Watkins Shepard 30-Day Training

yeah buddy!!!

 

I most definitely would be happy with whatever truck they give me, and I will go wherever, whenever they tell me. I am just getting anxious to get on with my training and get on the road!

Oh, check your email again, S2B. I sent a new email with my email addresses in it for you. Hopefully you can get them from that message...

 

Hey i don't care what truck I am in cause i garuantee it will be better than what i have driven in the past. That furniture gig sounds great, $20 bucks a stop is cool with the miles. Did a similar run around Ireland, all flat packed furniture, lots of beds, mattresses, closets, all heavy stuff but the excercise was great between driving, however i wasn't getting paid to unload. Does the furniture unload at a warehouse or is it delivered to large stores?

 

tiny stores... lil mom n pop shops, no loading docks, grandma, and grandpa to help unload
some is warehouse, but for the most part its tiny places... places other companies wont go.except for Ashley.

 

That sounds all to familiar, trying to dolly boxes across busy streets with the cops giving me crap for where the truck is parked, do you have a tail lift on the trailer or have to take it down by hand?

 

well, all i used to do was run the north east, and i never had any problems with the police for the most part, most were nice, and even willing to hold traffic back a while why i backed in a driveway, only one time i was told i had to move the truck... ehh... i was blocking the fire departments driveway.... oh yeah, i was delivering new furniture to the fire department, and got in trouble hahaha,
no lift gates.. well some of our trls in nj have a lift, but just some...
we offer " Tailgate Service " which means we take what ever the customer is recieving to the doors of the trl, however, when you get to some of those places, and see granny and granpop in their 80's standing there, u kinda give in and put it where they need it..

 

HI snakeskin, as most of the posts read say kinda the same thing but I will tell u my thoughts, I to am a very quick study, very mechanical and I ran my own business for the last 20 years here in so. cali., so I am very motivated and usaually dont quit something once I start pursuing it---BUT I research everything to the hilt so I can make an educated decision...
I have put LOTS of miles on my 34'rv and towing many trailers the most common a 23' enclosed trailer,I know its not a big rig but I am very comfortable driving the almost 60' rig around and very use to backing up in many places. I have read lots of posts about different types of schools and jobs right after school, ( and personally talked to about 20 different companies) befroe I made my decision to go wiht W/S .
personally I think there are guys out there that would need the extra experience and then there are those (like me) that have a hmmmm lets say a "more advanced comfort zone" and attitude to drive a truck. Some guys need the extra "company training" ie: 4-8 weeks of team driving to be comfortable with geting in the drivers seat--for an example---and I am not tooting my own horn here but want to give u an example-- the school I joined is one on one training and when I joined there were/are several students already enrolled and doing their "yard work" ie: straight line, alley dock, and parellel parking. So after starting my class I had the yard work down pretty good within a week or so. over the next 4 weeks or so I went on to road driving --city and freeway, then passed my dmv then went on to city driving and only using the clutch for starting out then "floating" the gears for all other shifting. SOooooo anyway back to my point--there are still alot of the same guys that havent gotten out of the yard yet cuz they cant get the backing/manuevering down. I just finished my school and after all i have done there are still those that just "cant get the hang of it" soooo thats what I mean by it depends on your personal ability to have the "comfort zone". Also when I was at my last class today doing my drop and hooks and other misc stuff , one of the guys asked my if had driven truck before because I seemed so proficent at it and wanted to know if I studied for the DMV endorsement tests-- I told me no I hadnt driven before and yes I crammed like a lunatic for the tests:::::and his reply to me was " I really dont study the books" HUH????? this is the kind of guy that will be in school for 8 months and personally I dont see him having the "comfort zone" to handle a rig-- cuz he doesnt have the selfmotivation to even study? Hope this all helps and it really does depend on how you get comfortable with it all. like the w/s letter stresses-- you have to be able to cope with stuff on your own out there, so YES i do believe some SHOULD do the company 4-8 team driving and I believe some can handle it with a 160 school course and the 10 day orientation. REMEMBER -- THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD::: THOSE THAT LET IT HAPPEN AND THOSE THAT MAKE IT HAPPEN.,,....sorry this was so long but hope it helped...ALSO I cant say how glad i was that i picked a one on one school--- all of the driving and practicing was just me --- no sharing time and trucks with other students.
also yes Watkins Shepard has the best starting pay cuz of no training otr BUT if you check into other companies you will find that, say --after 2 years you can make more CPM somewhere else ---BUT w/s is known for treating its drivers right and they have 1/3 of the turnover of the other companies ie: swift,werner,cr england etc,, and that in itself my friend was enough to make me constantly call Roxy at w/s and mske sure "i was making it happen" instead of "letting it happen" you are in control of your own destiny--to a point-- sometimes though GOD has a way of stepping in and putting u back on the road of his chosing in the destiny - BUT it still doesnt change my drive to succeed...and ALSO just because the cpm is better doesnt mean you will make more money or more importantly be happy with your job. gotta have the loads to make the miles: would you rather be getting .41 cpm and driving 1000 miles a week or .30 and driving 3000 per week.
take care

 

Hey Anthony-- dont worry buddy I wouldnt take a new truck, when I finish my 10 day in a few weeks and they say atta boy!!! and give me a 2010 new volvo ,freightshaker, kenny or pete I am going to smile and say no thanks..... PLEASE give this truck to S2B and I will take his ole worn in truck ---u c how nice I am !!!!!!!! lol or maybe I will just take my picture of me with it and email it to you with a great big smile on my face

but all joking aside -- I am really planning on getting an old beat up , no apu, cassette deck, no power windows, worn out mattress and seats, and throw in some odd smells---- I figure if I am prepared for the worse then anything better than that will be an upgrade....
also what u said about the 20 fer stops does make sense and YES it all adds up in the end, if they dont send us newbs to the N.E. maybe they will send some of the vets from the westside here over to u and that will free up the loads in the west,,,,, aahhhhhh..... no snow, moviestars, and texas tea..... hope i do get some of the east stuff though cuz my daughter lives in Maryland. hope all is good take care Deven

 

no no pls keep that truck,,, ill keep my old beater!
and no... knowbody needs to come over here... i like the miles out here hahaha

 

outta curiosity what r u driving? what did u start with? how many trucks have u had since u started with them?

we will work out the logistics of territories later but your proposal sounds good. lol