Werner Enterprises, Inc. - Omaha, Ne.

Ok... how many of these new drivers are quitting to go to another company vs. quitting because they find out OTR isn't their thing?

I still haven't heard any details aobut what makes Werner a bad comany to drive for. Just a bunch of vague references... and no, I haven't read all 690+ posts on this thread.

 

I average 5.5 to 6.0 mpg in my 07 Century with 297k miles on it. My old trainer had a 08 Cascadia and was averaging 6.0 to 6.5. I met a driver at a Pilot with a brand new International that was averaging around 7.0. It depends on how much wieght you're haulling and how many hills you have to climb. As for keeping the trucks in good shape, that depends on who drove it last. When they gave me my truck it was clean and seemed to be in good working condition. I found a few problems on my first trip. The diff lock wasn't working and the trailer ABS wasn't working. I tokd my dispatcher about it and got a hold of road breakdown and they got me into a dealer to get it fixed right away. It does have some cosmetic damage that they didn't fix from an accident by a previous driver but I wouldn't expect them to fix it because the truck still drives ok with the damage. They did offer me a Kenworth that had no dammage on it but I took the Century because it had more interior space. Not all of Werner's trucks are beat up, it just depends on wether the last driver cared about the truck or not.

 

I worked for Werner about 4 years ago. That qualcomm? Well first if Werner is short of money Werner just wigs out all their computers and then comes back and tells you "oh well you drove less miles than you actually did", and pays you much less than the work you put in. I am an 11 for 11 or 8 for 8 hours pay kind of guy. Its my conviction that a person should get paid for what they have done, not for what the "company" thinks they are worth! Second Werner will hire ANYBODY and if you read further the quickest you can leave Werner the BETTER! Most any trucking company out there is better than Werner!

 

I worked for Werner about 4 years ago. That qualcomm? Well first if Werner is short of money Werner just wigs out all their computers and then comes back and tells you "oh well you drove less miles than you actually did", and pays you much less than the work you put in. I am an 11 for 11 or 8 for 8 hours pay kind of guy. Its my conviction that a person should get paid for what they have done, not for what the "company" thinks they are worth! Second Werner will hire ANYBODY and if you read further the quickest you can leave Werner the BETTER! Most any trucking company out there is better than Werner!

 

I thinking to buy one oh his fleet truck . but I don't know of the shape of his trucks ?

 

No matter what you read on here its up to you on if you go to work for Werner or not.Some will defend Werner others will not,their pay is about the lowest out there,no holiday pay and you will work them sooner or later and if you dont send a request to be home at Christmas time soon enough you will be out that day unless you get lucky! The ones that quit while I was there found better jobs for I ran into a few of them at truck stops.A few I dont know about.You might be one of the lucky ones who work for them for 20 years or 20 days but all drivers are different so it will depend on you and if you are a student I would say,find another truck line for a lot pay better then Werner.JMO

 

Rich, I just gave a specific like 3 or 4 pages back. Its #674 in this thread. But like they said.. it's your choice. You can read all the posts here and make up your own mind.

 

Thanks folks. That was the sort of input I was hoping for. It sure gives me something to think on. I also have a pre-hire offer from Roehl, so I may give them a closer look.

 

Could you please explain what you meant by "short of money"? Are you implying that they don't have enough money?
You say that you worked for Werner four years ago, what did you do at Werner?

 

I was reading all of the posts until the last couple of days... Here is my take on going to work for ANY trucking company. And, this is my opinion only. If you are going to start a career in the transportation industry, do your homework. Do as much research as you can on several carriers. This is a wonderful forum!!! There is a lot of information on here. There are also a lot of opinions on here. You have to sort through and find what you think is the right thing.
There are a lot of drivers who are/were unhappy with any of the big carriers for a lot of reasons. Some of the reasons were their own fault and some were the company's fault. You'll have to sort through it as I said.
Some of the posters haven't even worked for Werner. They are the friend/lover/etc of a person who worked for the company. Some of them just like to post what they think will get some attention and feedback.

Here are some things to consider when you make a choice. Let's use Werner as an example. Werner is a huge international company. They had about 8,000 trucks on the road, I don't know how accurate that is now and about 24-25,000 trailers. Not all drivers are going to be happy in a setting like that. You are a number, simple reason is that if your name is John Jones, you won't be the only one with that name. It keeps things simple for the people who are taking care of thousands of drivers. Keeps mistakes from being made. Some people can't stand the fact that when they call in they have to give an employee or truck number. That is standard procedure when you are at a big company. You might want to consider a smaller company if that's a problem for you. Very impersonal. Some drivers don't last through orientation and then there are the drivers that have been with them 15-20 years. For a driver to be at any company that long, the company has to be doing something right. Those people have learned to work the system and they've made the system work for them. If you don't you might not survive it and you'll be one of the poor unhappy people who get on here and whine about how bad it was.
I assume you'll be talking to a recruiter. Make up a list of questions that you want to ask. Start with the most important thing and that's salary. How much am I going to make? How does the company figure my salary? Benefits are most important and how much are they? What about hometime? Explain orientation and the driver/trainer procedures. Have them spell it out for you. Do NOT be afraid to ask anything that you need to know. Believe me, they won't be shy when they want to know all about you. If you don't like what they have to say, maybe it's not the company for you.
One very important thing to remember is that OTR isn't just a job, it's a lifestyle and you have to give yourself time to adjust to it. It's not an easy job but if you make it work for you, it can be very rewarding.
Best of luck and hopefully you'll find your niche.