Starting with Werner on Monday

Wednesday I am starting with Werner in Indianopolis, after getting my CDL on 09/15/08 in Illinois. Tried to start with KLLM got burned because they were "checking" me more then 15 days so one month after getting CDL, was preaproved with Roehl, but when ask to schedule orientation was told that they are not hiring now, applied at Schneider, no response so I am starting with Werner- any advice?

 

Remember 1 thing FREIGHT IS SLOW RIGHT NOW

 

What part of upper NY State are you in Flatbed?
I live in Jamestown

 

Further North than you , off I81 towards Fort Drum

 

I know, but I need to make for living- so whatever is better then 0

 

That is true but SLOW FREIGHT means sitting and sitting does not pay all that well.

Many think that they will get all the miles they can run from the day they start , when that does not happen its the COMPANIES FAULT , no different than working construction and get 3 weeks of bad weather your pay suffers.

 

what are the average miles werner drivers are getting right now? im talking solo otr or flatbed division

 

just wanted to give a few words of encouragement as I too started with Werner a few years ago. I was on their dedicated Dollar General account out of Ardmore Oklahoma and actually made a decent paycheck and was home pretty much every weekend if I chose to be, as I would run hard and use all my hours and be ready for a 34hr reset by the weekend. I personally had a good experience with Werner overall and parted ways after approx 8 months due to the physical nature of the Dollar General dedicated requirement of unloading the trailers, it was just too physical and my knees and back suffered from this so I requested to transfer to another division, they offered 48 states but the pay was much worse # .26cpm verses the .32cpm I was getting hauling Dollar General. Though I have read many negative posting here about Werner, I personally didn't experience this and the experience that I gained, especially the "backing experience" while on the Dollar General account will continue to serve me well as I drive the National fleet with a different company. As stated in many other posting, we all have to start somewhere and I chose Werner and do not regret it one bit, I had paid for my CDL training and as promised while with Werner they reimbursed me cost of of my training up until the day that I left for my current job. So, hang in there and keep a positive outlook and hopefully we will all get through these tough economic times.

 

haze so your saying miles once upgrade is complete should be decent. im looking for about 2500 miles a week. If i can get in the werner flatbed division or tcu division i would go into that. tcu might have better job security in this economy people still need to eat. or maybe i need to find a good reefer co.

 

hello Bigpapa7272,

I can't really give an answer for those other divisions within Werner as I only stayed with in a four state area, but having said that I used to bring home a $800-$900 pay check weekly which wasn't too bad for a rookie. When I was offered to transfer to 48 states, the pay based on my limited experience was to be .26cpm on a sliding scale which to me was not very appealing as I most likely would not be making the money as I was on the dedicated fleet. I am sure there are some Werner drivers out there that can provide that info to you. My main reason for posting here was to let others know that Werner is not that bad of a company, with exception of their lower pay when compared to other large companies. Like many a driver before my time and as I did, hang in there get some experience under your belt and the options for a better opportunity will be on the horizon. Good luck!