Werner Enterprises

And therein lies the problem. Trainers running as teams. Giving the new guys unrealistic expectations of how it's going to be, once they get their own truck. Fleetwide average..by Werners OWN reports, is 9400 miles per month.

30-40% of JIT freight late? Seems a bit out of whack to me.

I couldn't imagine being late on 100 Fed Ex or automotive loads in a months time. The cost to the trucking company would be ENORMOUS !!

Hey dad...I'm fine, we only shut down 6 GM plants 10 times each this month, and held 40 Fed Ex 747's at the terminal.

We were fined/penalized by GM and Fed Ex on every load. But Mr Werner has got our back, and paid the fines/penalties.

We trailer truckin though.

 

If you just finished training, you really have no grasp yet of what you're in for. The best runs are typically flatbed, with reefer being a close second. The best situation is typically a dedicated account.

Running with a trainer is far easier than solo, insofar as the things you are responsible for. You may get a garbage truck, for example, compared to the one you trained on and that may keep you in the shop, preventing mileage altogether.

You may get a bad fleet manager too. And you can expect to get sad runs for the next 6 months in your 1st truck, new or not, unless you get a good dispatcher. You may get Eagle right away, which would be a pain for the 1st couple-three months, then get a bit better, but even that has its downward trends. A friend of mine has decided to stay with Werner till he knows he can get the job he wants. He tells me regularly what kind of week he had, and as often as they're good, they're bad. He complains every 3rd week about low miles. In January, he averaged less than 200 miles per day for 3wks. He gave notice and got a meeting with his boss(not a dispatcher) and that resulted in better mileage.

Werner has a bad habit of hiring "less than desirable" drivers, many of whom other companies simply will not hire. Those are mixed right in there with the good ones.

But if you think "just work hard and you'll get what you want..." That's not necessarily what will happen at Werner. If it was, they wouldn't have a 127% turnover rate. Keep this in mind when you consider that it's mostly the driver and not the way Werner is run. They hire and lose(for various reasons) more than 13,000 drivers annually... That's about 10,000 too many when we consider there are only about 9,000 working for the company on any given day.

Werner also has an overly high rate of DOT reportable crashes, something like 7 of every 10 drivers over a 2yr stretch. The average is less than 4 for major companies. The main suspected culprit... Angry and/or stressed drivers.

I think Werner is being investigated on some level with the above consideration. The logging system would show that they have a low number of 11, 14 and 70 hr violations compared to other companies. So tired drivers is almost out of the realm for reasons... But when you realize how much real cheating is done on those logs, it isn't hard to conclude they have their share of sleepy drivers.

When you have to deal with the logs department changing your logs without your consent(even with consent it's illegal) and then refusing to change them back, you'll get a tad upset too and that goes nowhere within the company. They'll blame everything but the dog as long as they aren't taking responsibility, but it is directly their fault 100% of the time unless the driver makes the change no matter what they say.

And when those changes they made become an issue "to them" and you get called in for safety hold and told to take a test to remove the violations you never committed, you'll be mad... At 1st, you'll think it's okay... Then you'll realize something(a reason I refused to take their test 3 times)... When you take that "logging" test, you're taking the respinsibility for THEIR error and with it, you're accepting any and all DOT responsibility. This could lead to you being fined... Think they'll pay the fine for you? They won't.

When you notice you've been sitting and waiting on a load for quite awhile, then you get another, but haven't got the hours needed to make delivery... Oh, you're gonna find out much about Werner in the next few months which you probably never considered before.

Best hope... Dedicated! But at the moment, the likelihood is you'll be on 48 for the foreseeable future. It's not bad, but you'll really only benefit if you have a good dispatcher.

Btw, the carrier itself isn't punishing a driver with low miles. First, they can't promise miles because they are forced to rely on the customer. Second, it will be a dispatcher costing you miles, or a log violation you may or may not have committed. It isn't Werner, it's Werner employees.

 

A-men!

I ran over 10K some, but it never lasted. Perhaps 50% or more of my loads were JT and I was never reported late, though I was late due to weather 3 times. Of course, I wasn't the only one who ever had that problem.

The 1st time we stopped moving as a team, I(we) got harrassed till about 1am by a rather testy night f/m who told me I must want to be charged with a late load... I was sitting in a snow storm in Utah and had stopped counting at 13 truck crashes along I-80 during that day. I stopped responding to their msgs after finally telling them under no uncertain terms, the only way my truck was moving again till I was ready would be if another showed up to take the ld. I moved at 5am and delivered ontime. Incidentally, they did try to get another driver to swap with me, but he told them to pack sand because he was already west of the storm and wasn't coming back for anything. We met at the same consignee(FEDEX) in CA and discussed the matter. He was still there when we left. They had told me to get moving, even after I said it wasn't safe... That's why I don't like dispatchers who've never been drivers.

Since C.L. stepped down, the company as a whole has gone downhill in a big way. I'm just really glad to be "anywhere but there" anymore.

 

I know a lot of companies say they want their drivers to stop. But I know an equal amount that will harass a driver to no end, if they refuse to move.

I feel fortunate to work for a company that doesn't mind rescheduling a load, because a driver felt unsafe in current conditions.

I haven't had to have one rescheduled for road conditions. But, I have had one rescheduled...due to driver conditions.

 

Every company that is large has unhappy drivers that will go through large lengths to bad mouth the company with unproven statistical data without offering the full scope. The turnover rate in large companies is high, espeically so for those whom take on trainees. Why? Half the trainees came in to trucking expecting to take home 2000 a week and do nothing but drive. 1/4 of them wind up either hating the job, or being unfit drivers. The other 1/4 that are left are likely to switch companies at the first hint of more pay. If you check the statistics no matter the company they start out at, or end up at, drivers with 0-1 year expierence on average have changed companies three times.

The information is always skewed by the unhappy. Those whom are happy have no reason to seek out forums and post their great expierences. Most of the time they go on oblvious to teh fact that people are unhappy about things. Its human nature to be quiet when content, and loud when unhappy. A few bad expierences compared to the sheer number of truck and drivers is just not a fair estimate.

Frankly as to the JIT loads you simply have to see some of the stuff they come up with. They wanted us to grab a load from ft worth to haywood ca 1700 mls in all. We got assigned # 22:00 10/20 live load (left SHP # 0:30), they wanted it there 10/22 4 AM. The people that create the loads must forget we have governers.

I asked my FM about trainer/trainees on Team Werner he said they do not run trainee/trainer teams on Team Werner period. They run them 1.5 status after 2 weeks together and run like a team after 3 weeks. Team Werner is a seperate operating divison all they handle is JIT freight, and trainees are too unpredictable for Team Werner to risk. In fact getting on to the Team Werner is a difficult task can't have any lates, etc etc. They boot your butt off for 2 lates. I know I got booted

 

30 hrs at 60 mph = 1800 miles At a 55 mph dispatch, it would have taken you 31 hours. 52 would have been more realistic for a solo driver.

Sounds like dispatch/load planning dropped the ball here.

2 hour shift diff there, from central to pacific. As a priority team we averaged 1400 every 24 hrs. That included breaks, in a 70 mph truck.

Note: Most of our loads went west. I-10, I-20, and I-40 corridors.
While PCMiler doesn't allow for breaks, traffic, and heavy loads. It does allow for speed limit changes. Showing 28 hrs drive time.

I'm quick to point out time issues, especially if the speed average for a load at dispatch works out to ANYTHING over 55 mph. And you guys were given 29.5 hours to do it. I would have called the first time, after loading. Then every few hours until they got the idea. Too many red lights between Ft. Worth and Amarillo for my taste, with that schedule.

When duty calls......Left door SHUT.

 

Dang, they got to you already. I know you went through orientation and had at least 70 other people in there with you. They do that 3 times a week and 70 is a low number, but ill run it. 210 bodies a week, 10920 year. If that many are going in, how many are going out? Lets say that there are the unimaginative, the lazy, the whiners, etc, are all 11,000 this way? Where there is smoke, there is fire, dog. Run tell dat

 

Things will be left out indeed, but that's because those people(me included) aren't trying to tell every detail, but cover the things they believe will matter. Look how long my posts are already... Besides, it isn't like Werner ever gave me "extra" pay or something.

Werner's is apparently the highest of large companies. They reported 120%, but their numbers said more like 127%. They also report that industry wide, the average rate is 120%. That's just not the truth, btw, unless you count every 3-truck company out there.

The half lied to by recruiters wouldn't leave if those recruiters weren't paid on commission... They'd never start! I must say though, I never heard anyone say they expected more than 1,200 a week as a company driver. The point is, they're being lied to before they ever start working.

The 1/4 who hate their job(or are unfit)... Those are the quick ones... Anyway, there's the margin I would shoot for.

Those leaving for more pay, were that the only problem, could easily be retained if not for poor company standards.

Most companies these days will tell you they don't want you if you have less than 1yr and you've been to more than 2 companies.

Many people "stick it out" for a yr just to have that experience. If the company was better, that may be different. Bottom line, there's positively no way to excuse such a high TO. Werner lost more drivers than it hired last yr. That's simply unacceptable to a good manager. It sometimes requires effort to keep a good employee... 1st, they'd have to care and they don't at Werner. You're a number to them, and there are other numbers to use.

 

all trucking companies suck, some just suck more than others!

 

I walked into an orientation, spoke with my FM when he handed me my keys. And told him point blank. I expected to make NO LESS than 65K that year. And if he couldn't produce...get out of the kitchen NOW.

I quite 3 weeks later. 5 days to do 800 mile runs don't reflect those standards.



SRT = 20 new hires a week when I started. They had 400 trucks. That's almost a 200% turn over rate.

CFI = 50 new hires a week when I started. They had 2400 trucks, including O/O. That's just shy of 100%. And they are/were considered by most, to be a good company. Those numbers have increased by their own admission.

OTL = 2 new hires a week when I started. They had 150 trucks. Or about 70% turnover.

Bottom line., nobody on this board knows who the **** OTL is. But everyone knows who the other 2 companies are.