Western Express

Don't know much about Western, but I can tell you that I will never work for a company on a sliding pay scale. To me that is just crap. The more miles you run, the lower your pay is per mile. The harder you work for them, the less they will pay you. Whoever came up with this is a genius for the companies' sake. And whoever drives under those rules....well, enough said.

 

Don’t know what the implication was there. But, I oddly earn more now on this scale than I did as a reefer puller at 45 CPM flat rate. Weird? What I’ve learned over the years is you can earn more cpm, but end up making less at the end of the week than someone earning less cpm but runs far more miles. I don’t know about you, but I care more about what I earn at the end of the week than what I earn a mile. Lol

 

Don’t know what the implication was there. But, I oddly earn more now on this scale than I did as a reefer puller at 45 CPM flat rate. Weird? What I’ve learned over the years is you can earn more cpm, but end up making less at the end of the week than someone earning less cpm but runs far more miles. I don’t know about you, but I care more about what I earn at the end of the week than what I earn a mile. Lol[/QUOTE]
I understand your point. My point is, If I'm being paid 50 CPM and I run 3200 miles a week, I expect the 50 CPM for all of those miles. Not 50 CPM for the first 1500 miles, then 45 CPM for the next 1000 miles, then 40 CPM for the final 500. I suppose everyone's situation is different. I do pull a refer and generally run coast to coast...no, I'm not doing it for 45 CPM either. Your point is well taken.

 

What you said makes sense and I agree it’s BS for sliding scale. I think some folks worry too much about flat cpm, though. I used to get paid hourly at one point at a non driving job. I was paid $16 an hour. Other guys got paid $18. They never worked OT, I worked 10 hours OT every week. They would earn about 37K a year and I’d make about $46K. They though it wasn’t right I got paid less per hour, but couldn’t wrap their minds around me making $9K more each year.

 

Vultures want to charge a driver $2,500 for a 1 week "refresher" on top of a 1 year contract. What's that tell ya?

 

Well I'll be going there after Thanksgiving as it looks like my choices are thin. I got my cdl with a company in January, and left after a month as me and my trainer weren't the best fit. As I was waiting on a different trainer assignment; a friend put me in touch with a local guy here who was running a few flatbed trucks around the region - out and back in a day type work - who said he'd give me a job and I took it. All was going great until summer season started winding down and the loads we were getting began falling off - we mostly hauled hardscapes, mulch and other seasonal demand stuff like that to Lowes, Home Depot and such. Then he started taking on some longer runs for different freight for out of state delivering with dry van, and they got some sleepers to run. They got these from Ryder. It all went downhill when he hired this dispatcher who would schedule impossible appointment windows, and expect you to make them. I'm talking egregious HOS violations here! They had one dude running outta here from Charlotte to South Florida and back with a return load and he would make it in 24 hours! That guy did this twice a week most times. Then this dispatcher began bringing in some drivers from where she worked before who were willing to run like this. I refused to do this craziness, and I could tell they were getting frustrated when I would be nowhere near being able to make appt times. Last time they tried that with me, I ran my 11 out coming up from Miami area - literally parking in the big truck stop right over the GA border at mile marker 1 - Pilot I think - pulled my brakes at 11 hours to the minute. To make that next appt in SC that next morning, I would've had to take a 5 hour break before I got out again to have any chance. Hell no.

Long story short, the owner decides he's going to turn all sleepers back in to Ryder and go back to daycabs - and put us in hotels they book in advance. Next run they give me has me going to D&H swapping an empty at a shipper nearby, then run all the way to Tampa to the hotel... Would've been 12.5 hours. I took the sleeper they were supposed to be turning in and so I could park legally somewhere and of course he made a huge case about it - which I told him I won't take those runs if I cant control where I park so we decided to part ways.

Rewinding a little, I had an unfortunate incident where I backed into a hand rail at some steps that were beside a dock about a month earlier and put a good bend in them. It was 5 AM, dark, and the place was tight as hell as its made for box trucks. There was one dock at the end of the building with a driveway going out that they sent the semis to because it had a driveway going out in front of it where you could setup in. It also had a rolling gate that was closed at the time and the guys there didn't have the key. I got a little close to that rail that was about three feet from the dock with all the maneuvering and bumped it enough to bend the bars a few inches. The guy there insisted on filing a police report over it, so now I show that on the DMV records as an accident involving a CMV. Good stuff. So since I've dug myself into this hole here as a rookie, the only place that seems willing to touch me right now is WE. I guess I'll update everyone on the experience as it goes along and that way it'll be here for future reference for others searching the forum. Wish me luck - looks like I might need some! Lol

 

Wait,,, actually .40flat rate.... For Flatbed. And as i looked it up, 25$ for tarps.

Yeah, anyone doing flatbed, go anywhere else. There's much better deals out there with miles included as well. I mean even the beast that shall not be named do better than that.

 

Did you ever work there?