Working For Werner

But back to blue screw.. it is amazing some ppl have good experience with them. This is the first site I have ever heard any good thing about them.. on the road ..I have never heard one good thing about them.. glad it is not all bad..

 

And THAT is the fault of the company you work for. It is totally unreasonable that we do not make money unless the truck is rolling.

This is why in 3 months I will no longer drive a truck, and after that point, I will refuse to ever drive one again.

It's primarily been a good experience for me, but they do suck to work for. Getting anything fixed or maintained on the truck is a joke....I was routed to an area near a terminal and I got maintenance to let me get a PM at a TA anyway...haha. I've seen Werner screw up PMs pretty badly. First of all, they changed a belt on my apu once and didnt get it tight enough. Second, I talked to a guy that told me they dropped a bolt in his fuel line when they changed a fuel filter....

I dont sit much but it makes me mad everytime I do. And I don't get paid crap for it, and the pay is 100% werner's fault.

For example, I run canada a lot. Now, whenever I do a drop/hook and have a choice of trailers, I do a thorough pre-trip on atleast 4 of them and take the absolute best one I can find, incase I have to go pickup rolls of paper or have to do a canada run. I prefer to have an e-trac trailer with air ride and ABS that is less than 10 years old, with no bent crossmembers or obvious broken welds....and no holes and good tires and brakes.

They inspect every trailer before it goes into canada, at a real shop. full FHWA inspection, doesnt matter if it just had one yesterday. Welll, three times I had the trailer fail inspection. One time it was so bad it took about 18 hours of welding to fix the trailer. Seriously. Cracked welds on many many crossmembers, 14 bent crossmembers had to be replaced, broken welds on the landing gear, etc. The trailer had a DOT inspection at a werner shop within a month of this. LOL. And don't blame me for pulling that POS either, if i had a choice I wouldve never hooked to it. But it was pre-loaded, just like most of my canada runs are. After that, I made sure crossmembers ranked a little bit higher on my inspections when I choose a trailer. I don't evne know if i got the $20 breakdown pay but im gonna call dispatch next week and make sure of it. But $20 for a day and a half of sitting? WTF?

Usually when they fail inspection, like 3 days ago, its simple stuff. A couple of bad tires, a couple of worn brake linings, whatever. Usually takes an hour or less in the shop. But that one time, ugh! How the hell did that ever pass an FHWA inspection like that?

 

Those trailers that need work like brakes, lights and all other things are 100% the last driver that pulled it fault. I picked one up a couple of weeks ago that had metal to metal brakes, its not Werners fault, the last driver that pulled it should have had it fixed.

 

How do they pass inspection? My first truck they issued was in Henderson. I did a couple of runs and came back to terminal for next load in the morning. Went through saftey lane. Girl about 22 was on her cell phone talking somewhat miffed that I was interrupting her. Looked my truck up on the computer and said oh your due for your inspection. Got any write ups? No? Burnt the old sticker off and put a new one on. End of inspection.

Saw a flat bed go through Dallas safety lane. After it was dropped I noticed the landing gear did not look right. The supports were gone from the landing gear, and the one side was about to fold under. Took the person from safety lane out and showed them. They just shrugged thier shoulder and walked back inside.

Atlanta terminal. Went through safety lane at shift change. 0600. They didn't want to screw with inspection so they asked if I had any write ups burnt the old sticker off and put a new one on.

Want me to keep going?

 

Usually, I would agree. But most drivers aren't going to noticed damaged welds on crossmembers because while most of us were told what to look at, most of us werent told exactly what to look for and how important it really is. And most drivers dont care. And besides that, isn't that kind of thing what an FHWA inspection is for? The amount of cracked welds on that trailer I pulled was not something that happens over night. That's 15 years of wear and tear and abuse. If competent mechanics were doing the inspections it would have never gotten to the point it was at. A couple more years and the floor wouldve fallen out And besides that, the trailer was inspected within the last month. So its totally the mechanics fault.

But yeah, obvious stuff like broken lights, missing/expired FHWA tags, holes, doors that dont latch right, landing gear that dont work right, etc should be caught. And gladhand seals that dont seal... $2 part...

Also when trailers go to mexico its not uncommon for them to come back with bald tires and bad brakes.

By the way there is one werner trailer with a cardboard license plate that says "NEBRASKA BIODEGRADABLE LICENSE PLATE - 100% CORN". If you see it i'm the one that wrote that crap on it. hahaha.

Heres a kicker: The other day when I went to canada, my trailer had a turn signal out. The left middle one. I knew it when i picked up the trailer but figured the shop would fix it when I had it inspected. They didnt. I commented to them. "Oh, thats not required to blink.".....F it. lol.

As for the safety lane, last time I went through one was Omaha, and my truck was due for an inspection, and....the mechanic was very thorough and inspected EVERYTHING. he chocked my wheels and told me to release my brakes and checked the adjustments, everything except under the hood, because my hood wouldve fallen off if he opened it. Even redtagged me because i had an exhaust crack. I also remember one time, at Springfield, I pulled into the safety lane, safety lane guy dissapeared for 10 minutes, never saw him do anything, came back and told me ok youre good. LOL. One time had a brand new truck, no inspection sticker, they just put a sticker on it.

I had a front turn signal/marker light go out on my tractor. I replaced it, but the bulb isnt quite amber. Looks like crap. WTF?

 

I have had 4 trailers in the last 4 years have cracked welds. Your right, most drivers out there do not notice things like that until the floorboard falls out.

As far as the teminals, i agree with both of the last 2 posters, there inspections are a joke, Henderson is the worst. The only terminal that does a good job is Omaha. I have pulled a trailer out Henderson before, got to Big Spring NE then put in for work to be done. But i find more trailers then anything that are the drivers fault, when its at a shipper with bad brakes, there is no excuse.

 

If you have a trailer that has a problem dont tell your dispatcher he doesnt give a flying you know what . Call safety tell them whats wrong if that doesnt fix the problem tell them you wont haul the trailer .Remember Its your license and your responsibility to do a pretrip. While I know we arent qualified inspectors, if you find something wrong with the trailer or your truck and you roll , you can be held liable for any accident incedent . As far a running Canada I hated it because all I ever did was go to Tonawanda never really had any good runs except for 1 time. I finnaly opted out and my dispatcher allowed that to happen.

 

Hmmmm all I do when I need something fixed for Werner is send a mac 24 and let break down worry about it. also if you are in a terminal and need something fixed if they wont do it just send a mac 24 once again break down will get it fixed

I have drove for Werner for a year now the frist 6 months were the rough ones but now my fleet manager knows i will get the job done so she treats me very well

 

Yes I did the "let break down worry about it" and found it to be a real excercise in frustration. All they ever wanted to do was send me to a terminal. I was on a dedicated route that never went near a terminal.

I could write volumes about having them worry about it and not getting anywhere. I am glad it is working for you. Hopefully you don't get stuck waiting for them to authorize on e-shop. Another one of thier nightmares.

I also fixed a lot of minor problems myself just so I could keep moving and not be running without lights and stuff like that.

 

i dont let the terminals work on my crap if i can help it. they seem to screw it up worse....

they give me the run around for apu work....

oh, gotta do it at a terminal
oh, gotta do it at a terminal
oh, youre at a terminal, go to the dealer!