Watkins and Shepard Driving positions and pay???

Hey I resemble that remark!! You do mean Arizona right? Hey where are you where are you going? Thanks. TD.

 

MD to NC next... then most likely a furniture load either west or north again... not sure yet, they wanted me to leave tonight but no sleep = no driving.

 

Hey OneShot 10 yrs. with the same co. is not something you hear that much anymore in any industry. I'm actually in the wannabe, still thinkin about it category right now, Wife and I both, if we decide to drive we eventually want to be O/O even it turns out she's not comfortable driving a big truck, and does the paper work side while I do the driving.

In the end knowing we have to make up our own mind, any words of wisdom or advice you might you willing to share with a couple of thinkin about it's, would believe me, not be taken lightly.

We went to a local dealer and he let us go through the truck and see what they looked like inside, but we really don't know what to look for in a truck, or all the expenses besides the obvious Tires, Fuel, Maint. There's always Tags, Insurance, Permits.

To be with a company that long your either a very patient, resilient person or you like working wit W/S very much.
Anyways good luck to you and maybe we'll see ya on the road sometime in the near future.

Thanks
Randy

 

Thks Randy.Yes WS is good and I like it here.A few of us O/O have been here 10 to 20 yrs and most are really great people.But with any business u need to learn all u can b4 u make a giant stepand buy a trk.I would say drive 5 yrs and learn all u can.Buying a trk or starting a business is the easy part keeping it alive takes determination,knowledge and patience.Just remember failier to plan is a plan to fail.

 

I was leased to the FB dvision. Great people to work with. Had few problems, 1 was with a company that made me take off my whole side kit to load, then put it back on. I got mad and threw all of the panels on their wherehouse floor and they asked WS not to send me back. Wouldnt have gone anyway. They always wanted me to run CN but had a 10 ft spread and they didnt have backhauls then so you came out ety.

 

Schnieder national facts.

Forced dispatch , only with legal hours to drive

You will make the most money in teams at Schnieder if you get a good driver business leader. Good luck with that

Schnieder has allot of freight so very rare as solo to be sitting

If you want new equipment you go teams

They micro manage the hell out of you

My over all opinion is that Schnieder is a starter company

This is not a negative post they are not a bad company to start with

I'm a 2 year driver i started out on teams for the first year then went to dedicated solo for 6 months and now I'm Otr solo all 48 the most I've ever made from this company was on teams . Dedicated was the happiest I've ever been and now I'm leaving this company to make more money , I also am looking at Watkins and Shepard they are a contracted company through Schnieder they pay more and have faster trucks

A word for the wise that are starting in to this is start with a major company to find out what you dislike then move on to a company knowing what to expect so you don't end up disliking that company to.

 

Yes Schneider Dedicated now owns Watkins but Watkins still operates serperately.
We are not forced dispatched, I'm solo and I'll make 65k this year home every weekend. And we are paid practical miles. We are also not micromanaged. We are not hounded about idling. Our trucks idle from under 30 and over 70. And some just Idle. Now this time of year they may say ssomething to you about it cause it's cooler but I've never had them say anything to me.
The major difference with Watkins is most of our loads furniture and carpet are loaded at a terminal so there isn't much waiting. Or at least I've never had to sit and wait hardly ever. They keep you rolling. As far as the trucks they run 65 idk if that's much faster or not lol. Good luck