watkins&shepard horrible dnt do it

There are quite a few newbies at W/S that have all started recently, American trucker is one, Chlrab, Walstib and I am sure I am missing a few. These are all NEW drivers fresh outta school started at W/S and have had no problems (except the odd problems Chris had with Besty in the beginning!!) I think that says alot for the company that so many start their out of school and are doing so well -like AT!!

 

W/S cut it's starting pay since I was there almost 6 years ago. I understand it, though.

Their bread and butter is furniture and carpet. Hickory NC, Myrtle MS and Dalton GA. It used to be huge, but if you are up on current events, A LOT of furniture comes from China now.

Carpet is tied into new home construction.

Another crippling event for them was the closure of Smurfit Stone paper mill in Missoula. Tragic. Not only 400 union workers lost their jobs, but you can imagine the loss of outbound van freight.

Stimson plywood mill closed. Plum Creek Pablo closed. Whoops. The bottom dropped out of the flat bed market too. There's tough competion up there with several flatbed companies right in Missoula.

Good for W/S. I have and always will give them their props. If you can make it through their initiation, and get in your rookie driving time, you will have a DAC that says Rocky Mountain driving experience. Who wouldn't want you then?

Your experience is yours alone. Don't let those that haven't had the pleasure of learning from W/S deter you. It's a great place to start, and many love the atmosphere and stay.

 

I hate to say it, but if you've had back surgery, truck driving might not be the right career for you. Of course I'm one to talk, I had a disk taken out of my neck and I have a metal plate holding my head on, but I have my husband with me to chain up, move sticky tandems, crank the landing gear, and all of that stuff that I shouldn't be doing. Still, just driving down some of the primitive roads that we have in some states can be murder on your neck and back.

 

Sitting in a cubicle leaning forward to the desk all day can actually be worse on your back then sitting into your chair while driving... As far as the jarring from the road, I have ridden in the newer air ride semis and they really are a lot more comfortable than I thought they would be. My car isn't much better! Plus I offroad quite a bit and that doesn't bother me. Everyone is different. The only thing that gets me hurting is bending over and trying to lift something.

Driving won't hurt me, neither will chaining so long as I keep good form when I lift. Lifting furniture and carpet seems like it would be a nightmare though. It all depends, if they are using dollies and don't have to bend over to lift awkward items it might not be too bad.

 

I can't really say that. I have a 70's Cadillac hearse and a New Yorker, and they ride really nice. We have the air ride on the drives in our Volvo, but it isn't exactly what I would call a smooth ride. Getting enough sleep while the truck is moving can be difficult in places where the roads are in poor condition, like urban New Jersey, and Louisiana. We are having new front springs and new shocks all around right now, so I'm hoping that will make at least some difference. The front springs were actually broken! We've been taking the truck to the carrier's maintenance facility and they have been overlooking some really serious problems, so we finally took it to the Volvo dealer and asked them to go over it well. I could mention the company's name, I guess, since I'm here in the bad company forum, but I really don't want to, while we're still contracted with them.

Riding through Louisiana with a broken back would still be better than working in a cubicle, though. I worked for a company for nine years, got my own office after five, and then they sold our nice engineering building and gave everyone a cubicle again. I quit!

 

Depends if you go out west and run a lot of miles or get the furniture loads out of conover with all the drop pay. So it does add up either way.

 

You can use a dolly and wheel it out with little problems. Then again you could always just run out west and get lots of miles instead of the drop pay.

However, I'm not going to try to convince you to go there and take my spot.

I'm sure you'll find a company that suits your needs, lot of them out there.

Good luck to ya.

 

I'm a middle aged broad. I was shown the correct way to flip a sofa up on a dolly and roll it out to the tailgate. That's all I ever did, bring it to the back of the trailer. Usually guys would step up and help, but many places had policy not to go into my trailer.

The biggest pain was mom and pop stores. They could be in the middle of a city or out in the far most sticks.

I found the Pier One loads more of a pain! Do they still have that account?

 

How much OTR experience does one need to be considered a qualified applicant for Watkins and Shepherd?

What I'm saying is can one go to school with Swift and then get some experience and then try to apply for Watkins and Shepherd?

 

You would be much better off going to them with some experience. Especially this time of year. They sound like a pretty decent company from the posts I have been reading. Everyone sounds happy there and that's what counts!
Ideally you need to go with a company that suits your individual needs.