An Honest Review of Werner

Are you owner-op? I was under the impression you have to drive all your available hours as a company driver? or are the hours given to you under your control (without dispatch getting on to you).

If the truck is auto then I wouldn't have too much of a problem but I am worried about 10-speed shifting because at the CDL school I was semi-sweating and mentally exhausted trying to remember gears and downshift.

 

If you get exhausted shifting,you could have issues driving a semi truck and trailer

 

Company driver.
I'm the captain of my ship. Werner knows throwing 40K of freight takes a toll. Especially when they stick you with a 4-5 stop like I did. I still had 3 hrs remaining on my drive clock. Did I drive back to dc? Nope. Went 4 miles to truck stop and parked for night. My next preassigned isn't till Friday.
Werner cannot force me to drive when I'm tired. Granted I have a 99.9% on time / early rating.
Only time I'm late is when someone else doesn't report trailer damage or I have a tractor issue.
Those aren't my fault.

 

Well I had trouble remembering what gear I was in because I was so busy paying attention to the road and surroundings.

 

Practice makes perfect. Listen to the engine and you will have a good idea of the RPM. Shift early and at low RPM while on the low side, somewhere around 1000-1100 on the flat and level. Skip a gear if you are going downhill and the hill is making you gain speed. Shift at a slightly higher RPM each time while on the high side, making the last shift around 15-1600 RPM... you should get up to speed quickly this way and save a bit of fuel doing so. Find whatever gear you will be in at 15MPH and 1000 RPM.... that is going to be your favorite gear for making turns/corners. If it is a 90° corner you will probably want 1 gear lower at around 10MPH, a sweeping curve such as a ramp you will do 1 gear higher at 20-25 MPH. When you are approaching a corner look at it and decide if it is going to be a slow, normal, or fast turn and when you slow down to the speed you need to make the corner, drop it in the gear you need to pull out once around it. Once you've done this a few times your hands will know where to put the shifter while you worry about the other things.

 

Are you OTR with Werner?

 

Hey Boston. When you were training with Werner, did they pay your training pay on time? and could you get a cash advance after orientation? Thanks

 

Ya, direct deposit weekly. I cashed out 10 days of paid time off before my last company abruptly closed their doors. So I didn't need an advance

 

I know you team drive for training but are there any periods where you stop for resets or do they put you in a hotel for that? Not sure what i'd do sitting in a truck for 16-30 hours.

 

I didn't do resets. My trainer and I ran recap. Granted we took time when we could to get our own space. Like when we came upon a terminal or I 80 truck stop in IA