Western Express contract??

I did my orientation at Nashville but I was based at the old Nazareth,Pennsylvania terminal before it was relocated to Bethlehem. At the time if I finished my 1 year contract I didn’t have to pay back orientation/transportation costs(I was with Western Express from November 2014 to April 2016 so I more than fulfilled the terms of the contract).

 

To clarify. It sounds like they don't charge you for the time on the trainer's truck. But would charge you for the expense of orientation. Specifically any hotel stay and transport costs. Like bus/plane tickets.

Which isn't unreasonable. Since I don't know of other industries were they even cover those costs. Typically.

 

The only thing unreasonable about it would be the length of contract. There is no way it takes 12 months of the profit the driver is generating to cover orientation. Something like 3 months would be much more reasonable.

 

Understandable. Which is why you have a choice. You can cover your own costs to get there. Stay the year. Or leave early and pay it back. No one is holding a gun to the driver's head.

 

Your broke, that's why you are at western express.
DONT ever forget how this feels.
Sign the contract.
When I got back in a truck I was in the same place. I ate canned spaghetti, Cold. I saved my money. Got out of debt.
Every driver should have the cash in their pocket to change jobs tomorrow because anything can happen in a second.
Put your head down, move forward and start planning what you are going to do in a year.

 

Exactly!

 

Western Express does not offer CDL training

 

I'm not sure I'd things have changed but when I drove for Western the contract I signed was for being on a trainers truck, yes if you leave before a year they will keep you're last check to pay back the expenses for orientation but the contract was for inexperienced drivers, drivers going through the refresher course, and drivers with a bad safety record that needed to be retrained. If you leave before the year you will get the bill in about a week, at least I did, you can either pay it back in full within a couple weeks or it will go to a debt collections agency and you can set up a payment plan with them or you could find a another carrier to buy out the contract like I did and you will make payments with that carrier while working for them. If you choose to leave early don't listen to WE's empty threats they will try and tell you. they won't send you to jail, repossess you're house car or anything else, prevent you from working for another carrier if you leave early, or any other dumb lie they make up to scare drivers out of quitting. If you have a family I would recommend looking somewhere else, I left because it took them 3 months to get me any hometme and I had to really put my foot down for it, they HATE giving drivers homelike, I couldn't afford to live off what I was making even running 32 to 3,600 miles a week at .34 CPM it just couldn't pay the bills and we lost our place end ended up in a section 8 apartment, and my DM was constantly lying and making false promises and was extremely disrespectful, seemed like whenever I was at the yard he was constantly getting in to screaming matches with drivers.

 

When I was young, I took a ride on the dirty dog from Allentown PA to Tucson AZ. I don't remember how long it took, but when I got to Tucson I was a changed person.

 

I rode the graydog from Jersey City, NJ, to South Bend IN. Never again......