new driver here, need YOUR advice!

I've been with Werner for about 4 years now, training for the last 3. Was with Covenant, JB, Swift, Schugel, and Whitehead Bros before that. Got my CDL in '94, so it ain't THAT many jobs. Werner isn't the worst you could do. As a training company it is okay. Don't expect to get rich here, but good money can be made. One of my students from a couple years ago went onto a dedicated route for a while and trained for a while. With the student bonus kicked into the numbers he was making nearly 50¢ a mile.. but he's a hustler, owns his own truck at XPO now. Not everyone does as well. The insurance here is second to none that I am aware of. BCBS and it's a good policy. The main thing is... hustle... get the load delivered early and nag for another.... after a couple months of that they will start running 10-12k a month. I was told the "average" solo driver here gets 8300 miles a month. Don't be average and you'll do okay.

 

I left some backing tips on this thread... http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/tips-for-backing.290658/ ... if you're interested.

 

Here's what you have to take into consideration, and this will be true for any company, I don't care what anyone says. If the company offers a position that will work for your lifestyle and offer you an opportunity to achieve your goals than its up to you to find out the good or bad. Werner will always gain a lot of negative response from the simple fact that they are a huge company and the majority of their drivers are new. For every one review that says Werner was ok, you are going to find 15+ that say they were horrible. But you have to be able to read between the lines a bit there. There are always two sides to a story, you have no way of knowing what type of person is actually writing or giving their review, or knowing what their work ethic is like. I went with Werner out of school, I worked for them a grand total of 5 months. I can tell you from a newbie stand point the company wasnt that horrible (for me).
I chose Werner to use them as a resume builder, I had no intentions on staying any longer than I had to. They were one of the few companies that would actually put newbies on dedicated. My goal was to gain the experience to land a local job that I wanted, and it worked. I chose the $ account as a Surge driver, and I made decent money while doing it. The only issue I had in those 5 months was with my FM dropping the ball on my last requested home time. But I will say this after I made it clear that they were not going to jerk me around they did their jobs and got me home. I will say that their training is a joke, it is nothing more than team driving, now the program isn't layed out to be that way, it is just how it is managed by the FM's and the majority of the drivers. Which ever company you choose, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself if you get a crap trainer, request a new one. Werner doesn't have strict requisites for their trainers. You can also expect to get VERY used equipment to start off, but if you go dedicated they usually put you in something decent, I even saw newbies that went dedicated get placed in brand new trucks, its hit or miss really. Bottom line man, pick a company that appears to work best for you and your goals, every company is going to have good and bad, and every driver is going to have a different experience thats part of the unknown that we embrace as newbies into this industry. Good Luck.

 

I agree. The way it is set up it can and does get abused. Most trainers want you for a 2nd logbook and to be the night driver. They are in it for the money only, averaging 5-6000 miles a week. I do it differently... I train, which is why I only get 25-3500 miles a week. I ride shotgun a lot, and we park the truck to sleep almost every night. If you get a trainer that wants you to drive on his logbook, sleep in a bunk without a net, drive totally without supervision, speed, or refuses/cannot answer your questions, then call his fleet manager and get a new trainer. We need to weed out the bad ones here and reports of abuses will help do so. If you need to, you can send a freeform message to dispatch to document what you want to say. After that, go to the Outbox tab on the qualcom and delete that message and the trainer will never be able to see it.

 

Make sure you don't decide your future job solely from the notion of tuition reimbursement.

Rookietrucker89 said "Werner pays up to $7500 for school. They give you $100 or so a month towards your school until paid off"
So..Depending on your school cost it may take over 6 years with Werner to get it paid off.

I have heard of noobs getting school free or paying anywhere from $2500 at community college to $7500 and UP for private schools.

 

You need to eat some crow first son. What I mean is "PAY YOUR DUES". Find a big company that runs 48 states that can offer good benefits and pack your bags. Stay with that company for 2 years then you will have some choices. Anything less than that is a waste of time.

 

Any company that allows the trainer/trainee to "team" like that until the trainee has got some miles under their belt deserves what happens to them. Remember most carriers use Elogs now. Several carriers tie the trainer and trainee together log wise. In fact as I think about this I know of several driver/trainers that got fired by their safety departments for this. It still exists but is getting slowly stopped as the carriers put safeguards in their computer equipment to monitor. I know a lot of carriers allow the trainer/trainee to team drive, but its after the trainee has demonstrated they can drive in this environment so they can build either hours or miles to get their own truck. The thing about trainers that peeve me off is the crap they teach those trainee's. I have watched trainers tell trainee's its ok to run over curbs. I seen a trainer actually allow a trainee to do a hit and run and both of them after checking out the damage got in their truck and drive off. I know he was a trainer because I told him over the CB I had his truck number and had called the cops. They come back and waited, the cop told me later he was a trainer. One more thing about some trainers that really gets to me. Its that smug I know it all attitude some of them have. I am generally a laid back person but I had a trainer to get me so angry with the bull he was spouting off that I wanted to throw my glass of tea at him. My last company I drove for was a training company. I always loved to mentor the young drivers and try to help them with logs and the other paperwork so they would only have to scan it once. I have been asked on more then one occasion to train. I just never wanted another person in my truck or I would have. I have seen young drivers trying to alley dock in tight places and sit and watch their eyes then do the best I could to stop them before they whacked the right side of their trucks. Then find out they just got off a trainers truck. Just saying.