Western Express

Western Express, where do I start. Well I figured I'd give them a try since they take students. I called, got an orientation date, and a hotel room. Drove from DC to Tennesee, went to check in and was told at 9:00 at night that I'd have to wait. They had a pipe burst and the first floor was covered in water, as were the elevators. So no water, no toilets, no showers. Day one orientation. Not so bad, boring, lots of waiting for physicals and drug tests, typical day 1. Day 2, going over company basics, then the safety part. It was taught by some ex cop and dot person. The guy did nothing but make fun of van drivers and go over and over and over the same safety B.S. for about 5 hours. Now, don't get me wrong, safety is crucial for a trucker, but those of us sitting in class had clean driving records, so why spend all that time preaching to the choir. By hour 3 I raised my hand and pointed this out, he didn't like me much, but I think Western will feel threatened by any educated intellegent trucker. And I'm not knockin Westerns drivers, I met some nice people there, but if you're a braindead steering wheel holder that never questions their mistakes and lets them walk all over you, they'll love you. Day 3 securement. They went into thorough detail about securement and covered all the basics for all the load types they carry. And for every load, they also told you how much money you'd be charged and that you'd not get paid your miles if a load wasn't secured properly. I know load securement is essential, but it seems like a big scam to rip off drivers and save money on their insurance if a driver makes a mistake. At that point I switched to dry van, and was thrown onto the road. They never set my gas card up, didn't and wouldn't provide me with info to set up transflo on my phone, and sent me out with bad logs. I had a paper log book that we started to fill out in class, ans that was the same book I was sent on the road with. So I go on the road and the fun begins. My first day I couldn't drive, rules, so I was "O.D." for 10 hours. Day 2, I drove 11 hours, about 500 miles. I started out double clutching and by the end of the day was floatin up and down. The instructor didn't like that, mainly because he couldn't float gears, and covered my tach with ellectrical tape, and told me I needed to learn to drive by feel. I said ok and gave it a shot. On day 2 I could float by feel so then he started nitpicking everything else. My first delivery was to a distribution center, we got there late, and they said they didn't have an empty. Weekend dispatch for Western is non existent. We sent 3 QC messages and decided to park for the weekend. Monday when our real D.M. came in, it got sorted out. Run 2 was supposed to be a live load. We get there, it's a drop and hook with 2 stops on the load. We are told that we can deliver the next day to stop 1 anytime after 8 am. Get to the loacation and they cant unload us till the next day when their receivers come in. So we go back to a Pilot and park. The delivery went good, we were unloaded in a timely manner and off to stop 2. En route to stop 2 we get a T call to switch trailers and head to Cali. The other driver didn't know what Pilot he was at, didn't want to ask, dispatch didn't know, and after about an hour figured out where we needed to be. So we picked up our trailer, with bent rims and landing gear, which I pointed out, the responce was "we ain't being down for 2 days gettin it fixed, be careful, and don't get us pulled over". Ok, so I hook up and we're on our way. We did a few little CA to AZ to CA to AZ runs and then picked up a trailer load and were headed back to TN. They were supposed to have a load ready for us to do a T call, but that never worked out. I decided to call it quits after the first week for a few reasons. 1. I drove better and harder then my instructor, I drove about 2200 miles in a week, he did about 1200, he was always tired. How somebody can be tired after 8 mountain dews, 3 or 4 redbulls, and yellow jackets is beyond me. 2. Dispatch was a joke, anything that happened after 5PM weekdays or on the weekends never was addressed. You all know, if the weels ain't turnin...yadda, , yadda, yadda. The way I see it, if this is how they represent themselves to a student, then when I'm solo it's probably gonna be the same. 3. The condition of the trucks and trailers, sorry, there was never a day where I didn't find a few issues. We had a flickering ABS light for the whole trip, a busted fairing on the drivers side that I pulled off while super trucker was sleepin before it ended up goin through someones windshield, I bought glad hand gaskets to fix the dry rotted ones on the tractor and trailer, watchin the needle on the air gauge cycle from 90 to 140 every 5 minutes isn't safe. 4. Their QC was messed up. According to D.O.T. you're supposed to take a 30 minute break between 4 to 8 hours of driving, Western forced you to take a break at 4hrs. to 4.5hrs. Or they would cut your drive time by 3hrs. They did payroll well, an electronic pay stub was sent to me on Thursday, and was paid on Friday. They don't have a very good trainer policy either. All mine did was talk about gettin laid, lot lizards, chug energy drinks and yellow jackets, and talk about how Western was a peice of ####. Plus the guy was just "common" in a lot of ways. And twice during our 7 days together he got a 12 pack and drank in the truck. I wouldn't get back in till he threw the bottles away, he didn't like that, but I told him I wasn't gettin busted cause he couldn't follow rules. So take all this with a grain of salt. Western needs to really get their business in order and focus more on their drivers, maybe they can become better, if they wanna put the work in.

 

The way I see it is every bad experience turns into a lesson. My week on the road did give me QuallComm experience that I didn't get in the classroom and it also enforced that the key to any good job is communication and organization. Western could be a great company if they got their affairs in order. They have some good name accounts, but being unorganized will eventually cost them those accounts. I'm really trying to be professional in dealing with the company and with shippers, receivers and all that. I'm eventually going to find a company that I can work with. I've been through a lot to get my CDL. Dealing with Driver Solutions was a nightmare, and now I add another name to the list of "Wow, really!" There has to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm cool if it's just my truck. And making the run to Cali was awesome. New Mexico is a beautiful state, as are parts of Arizona. So I'm walkin' away with some good memories, despite a few nightmares along the way.

 

Well Blue, I don't expect my trainer to rely on my miles to line his pockets and then take it easy, make deliveries just in time, and screw my schedule up. And as far as him being common, theres a certain professionalism that comes with any job. Drinkin in the truck, texting your DM trying to get laid, pushing your religion and personal veiws doesn't belong in a work conversation. There are certain things I don't tolerate, and don't have to. Whats wrong with bein professional and having some class, but I guess some people just don't get it.