Orientation with Werner

If I was that close I would sleep in my own bed. I have a friend working with JB Hunt out of that same location.....he does 3-4 stores a night and then makes stops picking up empty carts on his way back to the DC. He has lost 30lbs in 8 weeks, not sure about Werner but they really expect alot of production out of him.

 

I did the Dollar General account for Werner out of the Fulton, MO DC for a couple months. It is a lot of hard labor out in the elements for the amount of money you will make. The good points are you get home every weekend, you rarely have to drive at night and you get dispatched from the small terminal at the DC rather than Werner corporate. I am working local now but I might go back to Werner at some point in the future as OTR, not Dollar General.

 

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just giving a firsthand opinion. Some of the deliveries weren't bad and paid pretty good. Then some were very hard and paid poorly because of many problems. Such as pushing 1000 pound rolltainers up hill out of the trailer in almost unbearable heat. Then across an uneven lot into the store hoping it doesn't tip over or lose all the contents out though a ragged net. Also there is the toppers falling on your head while you're trying to pry the rolltainers out. Some of the trailers are in bad shape and you will frequently have to go back to the yard after you pick up your load to get the shop to fix something. Liftgate breakdowns are not uncommon while you're at the store. Then you either hand unload everything or sit and wait for someone to come and fix it and make no money. You have to handle the dunnage multiple times while making your deliveries. Some aspects of this account are unsafe. That's why they have lots of injuries. I know of 2 drivers the short time I was there that went to the emergency room with heat exhaustion. I'm not trying to sound all negative. Like I said in my earlier post, there are some good aspects to it. Werner treated me fair and told me I can come back if I want to. I don't think I'm lazy either. I've done a lot of different jobs and this was one of the hardest and long hours. You will run out your 14 hour clock every day and then some. Even though it's e-logs you will do a lot of work while on line 1 if you want to make your deliveries on time and make any money. Good Luck.

 

Congratulations. After you get through training if you don't think Dollar General is for you just tell your dispatcher you want to go eastern regional.

 

How's it going with Werner now? I have to make the same decision in three weeks.