WERNER, this kind of rip off cant be legal

This is what I was wondering about. Do some newbies go with these companies just to get the cdl and training and then move on to bigger and better things? Would it look bad to have Werner as a former employer?

 

Well Bloodyknuckles - Whilst I note everything you've said, unfortunately I'm not in a position to be choosy. I am British, got my full CDL (so no loan fees to repay), but I've only held a U.S. drivers license since May of 2007 - I tried Roehl, as I'd read a lot of good things about them, but although I've got a clean 45 years driving record in Europe, that cannot be substantiated in the U.S., and Roehl said, please come back in a couple of years time. Now at my age, that's about a lifetime, so, as I have no other avenues down which to travel, I am leaving tomorrow for Monday's orientation seemingly at the same location that you had your experiences, hopefully I can be a little luckier - Thanks for the input anyway - good luck

 

wow 1100 miles

 

"they will send you places like chicago have you drop your trailer without an emtpy and send you running all over town looking for emtys that might be somewhere they send you (i have spent 2 straight days searching for mt before). and no, you do not get paid for that (youll find you work for free a lot in the trucking industry period, more so with werner."

Well, I hate to be the wet blanket, but if you are getting paid hourly - everything is paid for regardless of what you are doing. I read all these stories and it makes me wonder what possibly could motivate a person to want to go into the trucking industry at all - besides those that love to drive. For the hours spent, you could just as easily stay home, get a job doing whatever and not have to deal with all the bs.

 

my experiences with werner were not as bad though i can relate to some of the problems you had, i pulled for their dedicated dollar general account and when my knees could no longer handle the physical unloading of the trailers i asked to transfer to another division within werner and was immediately disappointed with the offers, .26 for 48 states and .22 for netops. i was then informed that due to my aching knees i was not allowed to continue on the dollar general account. i left werner after total of 8 months (includes training) and currently drive for crete and getting paid .41 on their national fleet. my point here is that if you hang in there for alittle to gain some experience the doors to brighter days will soon be available to you. crete accepted me with only 8 months experience and put on a trainers truck for just 3 weeks and then cut me loose on my own, i have been with crete since jun '07 and recieved .01 raise in december bumping me from starting pay of .40 to .41. if possible when leaving your current employer try to leave without burning any bridges as they may come back to haunt you. goodluck to you.

 

wow sorry to hear about the bad time with werner. I do work for werner and have had to deal with a few of the issues but not to the point you did. when i was running 48 i averaged 3000 miles a week, I never had to wait more than a couple of hours for a load but for once when i mty out on a saturday afternoon and had to wait until monday to load. Never had a problem with the logs I just got in to a habbit at the end of the day looking at them and sending in my fixes and they were always fixed. I guess it really depend on your dm and i had a good one he was always willing to work with me and when i would tell him i really need the miles this week he would get me them. I'm now going to be running local for them and will see how that goes.

 

Bloodyknuckles - My experience, as a Trainee, with the paperless logs was EXACTLY the same. And at the end of every day, or first thing in the morning, I would check the Qualcomm log with my own paper log, which I kept for myself very carefully and truthfully. And yes, they always had me on duty, taking my hours, just automatically. I would call the Log Department, and they would REFUSE to correct, not only for me, but for my Trainer also. For some reason, they didn't want to believe either one of us. It was so unreal, and took up so much time talking to them, that we just decided to let it go, let the Qualcomm fantasize the HOS the way it wanted to! Yikes!

A note to the Brit - Welcome to the Land of Opportunity! A lot of drivers are curious about how you lorry drivers are doing these days. Did you ever make that LONG drive from Europe to the east coast of Siberia? How do they pay drivers across the ocean? I'd love to see a 'new thread' on the subject, as there are a few others from overseas who post occasionally. You're 5 years older than me, and I take my hat off to you! My cowboy hat, that is. Actually, now that I'm in Quebec, it's a tri-corner, in straw!

 

Geez, why don't you try Equity Transportation out of Walker, MI. They have decent equipment and still seem like a decent company to work for; although I did come across an Equity driver a few years ago in Carlisle PA that had glassy eyes from being up all night smoking crack.