so far wadhams is turning out to be great!!

so i have left werner to go to a much smaller company. the company is called wadhmans enterprises and they are made up of rist (LTL and truckload), ARG (fuel), earl T. wadhams (milk). so far im impressed, i actually feel like a human being so far. they brought me in for orientation wendsday, they have around 5 new drivers they are bringing in. everything so far seems to be outstanding. i was allowed to bring my own car to orientation, the company is located about 95 miles from my house so its about a 2 hour drive no big deal. the hotel was a nice, clean microtel; not the stinky nasty and cheap dump that is the quality inn that werner forces you into. you are also given a room by yourself, no roomates. having transportation available to you at all times is a huge plus. they have no "holding center" with 30-40 drivers sitting around for weeks waiting for a trainer.

i went through my physical when i arrived on wensday everything went smooth. they did a physical ability and stress test, the basic other stuff, and pee in a cup. no hair follicle test. i then checked into the hotel wendsday after the physical, i discovered the the hotel was actually quite nice and no roomate. thursday morning i headed to orientation. i had to go through all of that dance of filling out the government paperwork and had some people tell us about the company. one of the guys giving the orientation was a recruiter...... and guess what? he is a CDL holder and drove truck for many years. it seemed like he knew what he was talking about, i respected him. after orientation i went back to the hotel. the next day i went back to wadhams teminal for smith training. the classroom training session lasted 4 hours with a couple of breaks in between. after the classroom session, they took two groups in two different cars out to lunch. after lunch we put into practice what was discussed in the classroom in driving in a car. when we arrived back at the terminal i met the dispatchers and they already have a trainer arranged for my. i have already been texting the trainer back and forth getting to know him a little better. i meet up with on monday at 8am all of the arrangements have already been made. i will go with him on monday and return friday to go home for the weekend. the trainer said there will be NO team driving me, both of our clocks will stop at the same time.

compare this to my experience at werner, there is no comparison. wadhams so far seems like an excellent company. i presume anyone going to another major carrier would have an equally bad experience. i get paid vacations, sick time, personal time, mileage pay, hourly rate for pre-trip and post-trip, paid wait time, pay for any layover, ect ect.

 

they are self insured so they can take new drivers. so far i recommend anyone who just got their CDL and lives in NY to skip the mess that's werner, swift, CR england, schnieder, ect ect and check out this medium sized company. seems like they have enough money to pay the bills properly and have decent equipment but they arent so big that they forgot how to treat people. the staff is also made up mostly of CDL drivers, except for the sales people.

 

im going into the rist dry van division. i was with werner 3 months went through the training and took whatever time i had into it and left. it was not a good time. they had me sitting in a hotel for about a month and i ended up with two different trainers. i have heard plenty of horror stories of people not getting home time at werner when they are supposed to which was the biggest factor. with how much time i spent in hotels i did not see any of it as a good sign. wadhams is 2 hours from my house (allot closer then werner's nearest terminal) and i was able to take my own car.