Flatbeddin' with good ole' Western Express

are u still with Western? I was giving them some thought, might go flatbedding havent decided yet.

 

im leaving sunday for orientation in nashville runnin flatbed. recruiter told me ill go with a trainer for about 2 weeks just because i havent driven in a few months and have no flatbed experience. pretty excited. how r the trucks. new? old? good? crappy? 10 speed? 13 speed? auto? do they force nyc. r they good about gettin drivers home? any answers would be appreciated. be safe drivers

 

Sorryhavent posted in awhile folks. Still here at western express and still liking it. I cnt speak for evryone else that works here but I do get home when i ask to. i get between 25000 to 3000 miles a week. some trucks are new and some are old so it's a luck of the draw as far as what you will get. Thay have sme autos but not alot on flatbed. They run 10 speeds. They are phasing out paper logs here so hope you dont mind e-logs. Yes im still runnng john deere nd anythn else hey can get on a step deck lol. I am out of chickasha oklahoma "oklahoma trucker" they have lenty of freight to get you home.

 

Sorry for typos guys hard to type on my ipad. Fingers are to big for small keyboard.

 

thanks for the help okie

 

one more question. if im goin with a trainer for a couple weeks how long after i get off the trainer truck and get my truck will they get me routed home since by that time i would have already been out atleast 14 days

 

That depends on your dm. If you tell them you need to get home to get your gear on your truck you should be home in a week or two after training. But I am here to tell ya dont believe all the hype they tell you in orientation
.

 

it unfortunately seems like there is a recurring theme with western. except my experience has come to an awful impass. I started my driving career with western fresh out of school and was thankful they gave me a chance. I am a flatbedder and i looooove flat beds... trucks are sexxier too. like everyone else I started with orientation and then went on a trainer truck and was flat dirt broke for the 26 days I was training. I got let out early cause I'm just that good. once I was on my own I ran hard made a decent buck and even saw 2 pay checks almost a grand. got my 500 dollar bonus too. then, .. after 3 months... everything went to #### faster than I can spell it. it started in the month of July and has been steadily worse. 3 continuous weeks less than 1400 miles (at. 27 cents a mile that hurts). I had to call 3 times to get my extra pay for Brooklyn. I have to call 80% to get things like tarp pay (my whole 15$ worth) layover pay, and they like to re-route you without issuing you the mileage pay. but this is not even the worst. they lie. they lie to manipulate you and achieve what they desire, then they go home. they are terrible at scheduling appointments and its hard to believe the brain knows what the hand is doing. (if you wish I can expound). as if this wasn't bad enough they practice unsafe methods in maintaining a truck. example. I had a bad steer tire (right) replaced on the road with a brand new one. got to the Nashville terminal about 3k miles later and while doing regular maintenance they had my NEW tire removed and replaced with a used tire to match my left worn tire. this apparently is better at preventing lopsided handling characteristics then replacing the old tire with a new one. I feel routinely as if they don't care about driver or truck... only the loads. and those loads can be as low as 200 miles... or like my current load, 950 miles spread across 4 days. apparently I'm pushing my truck to the consignee. ...... But... I LOVE my truck. and I'm going to be sad to leave her behind -sad face-

 

Is freight slow right now or they just slow playing you i leave in two weeks for flatbed orientation. they only pay .27 cent a mile....

 

They start out for students at.27 a mile. I dont know why everyone else seems to have problems with there dms or getting all there pay. I average 2700 to 3000 miles a week. My dm makes sure i get all my pay i got coming. So i guess I am the only guy here at western express that isnt getting screwed. Been here about a year now and plan on being here longer. My dm doesnt hasle me. I drive my truck and get paid to do it. I realize not all dms are the same but 8 guess I got lucky with mine. And making more than
27 cents a mile.