Don't work here!! Werner's Pony Express will kill you

I am unfortunately still a driver with the Big Blue Screw Machine. I will be looking to get out as soon as I can. Trust me. I post this so hopefully others may not get sucked in to this @hit hole. Students, do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. JB, Schnieder, or even Swift have got to be better than Werner. Take it from a guy that has been here for 11 years you won't be happy here for long.

Why have I been here so long, well truth be told the first 5-6 years were not all that bad, but things have straight down the tubes in the last 5 years. I don't think that I'll be able to "stick it out" too much longer.

I am by no means a slacker. I am "supposed" to be long haul 48 state driver, but that's another issue I will get into shortly. I will drive as hard as they will allow me. My goal is a modest 3400 miles as a solo driver, there have been a few times where I have been able to meet or exceed that goal. (Believe it or not). But lately that has been becoming harder and harder to do thanks to Werner's Pony Express.

What is the Pony Express you ask? Well it is what they lovingly refer to as Net Ops. Big Blue Screw Machine with hyper drive is what it really is.

Regional and long haul drivers have to make all the pick ups and deliveries while an army of part timers in day cabs drive all the gravy miles off of the loads. They never have to bump a dock, deal with the 2 lane back roads and in most cases never see the heavily congested areas such as DC, Baltimore, or Chicago.

Freight may be slow, but these golden child SOB's would never know it. It's the long haul and regional drivers that have to sit around and bear the pain. Another fine example of how the big blue screw machine does things back asswards. These part timers should be making all the pick ups and deliveries and the long haul drivers should be driving all the miles off the loads. Oh wait, they unofficially retired that term, there are no long haul drivers any more the 48 state drivers should be getting all the gravy miles.

But why do that when you can pay all these part timers a lesser wage because they get home every night? It just makes me mad when I see how little they really care these days. This is not the same company I started with almost 11 years ago.

I have up until this year never had any problems getting to home time on time, but here in the last 7 months I have been late 4 times. I think that part of this may be due to the fact that the Blue Screw Machine may have caught on to the fact that I have been taking my time off on opposite ends of the country in order to get out of the regional ruts that they love to keep you in. (Part of the reason that I was getting better miles).

I have done this now for the past year and a half. You know just trying to work within what the system can offer me. Now every time I keep calling in to @#%$! about my low productivity, all they can do is suggest that I become a trainer. My response is always the same, "if you can't keep the drivers you have busy why in the Hell are you hiring more?" After reading the posts here I can see that the turn over rate is much higher than I had thought. And given the fact that these students are used as slave labor, I can see why they are always pushing for trainers. Another sign that it's time to move on, Werner in an effort to keep the driver pay scale low is actively looking to hire Mexicans. Come on guys we're already the lowest paid drivers on the road. How about a little more fair compensation for the sacrifices we make to be out here? It's time to update the pay scale. Especially for things like Long Island pay. You guys are stuck in the 70's. $25 a day layover is a joke. That may have been fair compensation in 1975, but this is 2007, some places that won't even get you a pizza delivered. What a joke.

Sorry guys, but I have morals and cannot with a clear conscience promote, encourage, or lead people into becoming fodder to the big blue screw machine. Quite the contrary, I tell them the truth as I know it, as I have lived it.

I will keep on looking at all of the other companies out there until I find one that I feel comfortable going to. But trust me. When I do make the move I will not put as much time in there as I did here if I can see that it's not a good move.

Bottom line, at this point in time don't drive for Werner.

 

That's the dilema, economy and state of the nation says hang on to what you have, but as we all know even though I have 12+ years with this company, that is no guaranty that they won't can your ##* for no valid reason. I have seen some good people come here and be canned for no good reason. Still they [Werner] is well on the low side of the pay scale. A person with my seniority level caps out at .35 cents a mile. Anywhere else that experience level 'should' command .42 or higher. Just another example of how little drivers are appreciated.

I may have a little more security than some of the newbies being a Million Miler, a trainer and all but as we have all seen, if they don't like you for whatever reason, you're gone. Seniority means nothing to them.