Werner Enterprises, Inc. - Omaha, Ne.

I am a student driver, fresh out of school, and I talked to someone about getting a SINGLE hotel room (for extra $27.50) and agreed to it, no problem, they said they flagged my file and would process it. I get to Lakeland today and they say Sorry, we OVERBOOKED and we cannot do it, as it is, we are POSSIBLY going to have to put 3 people in some rooms...I am not happy, I am staying at another hotel right next door, and NOT getting reimbursed. I will go through with Orientation and stuff, hopefully they don't play these games like this all the time.

J

 

Read the posts about werner, they have a history of talking out the side of their mouth.

 

Well understand that stuff like that can happen if they have alot of new people going to orientation. Try to stay positive and hope for things to get better. Atleast you were able to get a room. Things could have been worse.

Good Luck,

Marty

 

Werner recruiter was at our cdl school the other day. I asked about trainers & if they trained new drivers with the trainer in the seat or by driving as team member. I forget exactly what he said about the first part of training, but the part that stuck with me was when he said "You will be sleeping in the bunk for part of your training. This is to see how well you will adapt to sleeping while the truck is in motion. That way we will know if you can run team or not."

This may be common at most/all companies, it just struck me as being odd the way he worded it.

 

I only had 3 recruiters come to our school, Werner, Swift, and H.O. Wolding. the guy from Wolding was the only one to point out that with their trainers, if you're on-duty and driving, your trainer is on-duty, not driving. and in that second seat. and if that isn't the case, you let the main office know, and it'll get fixed."

 

In all fairness, Werner should at least reimburse you the amount it would have cost them in the original hotel. I just don't get it. Like you said, hopefully this is an isolated incident, and indictive of the companies overall treatment of drivers. Write back and let us know. Good luck.

 

Moriati sez: I only had 3 recruiters come to our school, Werner, Swift, and H.O. Wolding. the guy from Wolding was the only one to point out that with their trainers, if you're on-duty and driving, your trainer is on-duty, not driving. and in that second seat. and if that isn't the case, you let the main office know, and it'll get fixed."


Sounds as though you got a good comparitive overview of the types of employers available to new drivers. Swift & Werner are BIG operations that aren't able to maintain a level of control to the extent the smaller Wolding can. Although Wolding wasn't my choice, I did notice and appreciate the many obvious advantages and disadvantages of size. Given those choices, I'd rather be a person in the Wolding organization, than a number at Swift or Werner. I spent years working for a large corporation in another industry, and came to the conclusion that bigger is definitely NOT better.

 

truckingcowboy25,

I don't understand why they wouldn't at least allow you reimbursement of their original cost. The arrangements for transportation and lodging for orientation are fairly standardIt's very common to bus recruits to orientation, but many recruits choose to fly. If a company wouldn't allow you the cost of the bus ticket to apply toward the flight, look elsewhere.

Your situation is just typical of large companies, inconsistent. If you dealt with another person, the outcome would probably have been different.

On another note, why not share a room with another recruit? After all, you are gonna be sharing much smaller quarters with a trainer, and for a considerably longer period of time.

 

Sounds to me like that is why she is paying for her own room. Last time I remember going to an orientation, they required two to a room.

 

I wouldn't be happy either, nor am I a person that would allow myself if at all possible to be in a situation where I am hanging out in sleeping quarters with two other strange men in the year 2007.

Of course, I realize that there are situations where this would be perfectly acceptable and customary. A couple of those circumstances would be if I were to have entered the military or if I become homeless and on a cold night needed to seek a shelter.

There seems to be trend going on lately in the industry, and more apparent with the training carriers, to cut their budgets by trimming back on the level of accomodations that are offered to new drivers, and this includes both experienced and inexperienced. The turnover rates that they endure have led them to do this.

I haven't compiled a list, but the trend in this practice is much more widespread with newbies, who have fewer options open to them to resist this practice. There are a few carriers that are trying to throw strangers together in a similar manner, even when those drivers are well experienced, and will only partially pay for accomodations if those drivers resist those efforts.

First impressions are the longest lasting. And when a company will lower it's standards to include practices like this, as a means of welcoming you into their organiziation, it speaks volumes about them.

I also happen to think that it is setting a person up for more of the same. Why butter up people when you can let them know right off the bat, not to expect us to bow to your whims and requests, or that life working here will sometimes not be what you think it will?

Keep in mind that as a newbie with your limited options, that at this point and time you need an avenue to enter the industry. This is not to say that you are not needed, but when you get in six months to a year behind the wheel, those options transform quite a bit. You will be in demand, and in a position to resist being jerked around in manners similar to this.

I wish that I could tell you that asserting yourself and demanding partial reimbursement would be in order, but the likelyhood of them responding to it is rather doubtful. They've disregarded a request already, or it may be that the motel did this on their behalf. Either way, it's just another indication to me, that Werner is not a company worth a hoot.

Me? I'd demand an agreement to reimburse an amount equal to what they are paying for all the others or I'd walk. Right is right, and wrong is wrong. But I can't sit here and say that this would be the right thing to do in your case.

Whatever you do, keep your chin up and I wish you well, and welcome to the trucking industry, and our forums. I'd love to see you updating us on how everything goes for you while you are in training and beyond....