Watkins & Shepard - Yesterday and Today

I heard there closing the school all together and requiring new to the company drivers have 3+ years expeirance now.I herd this 3rd hand so dont know if its true but imhearing this about all these ###### OTR companies following the local outfits requiring 5+ years of exp.
Not a good time for newbies getting into trucking, but I have herd that computer science majors have jobs waiting for them right now!
Im making "ok" money but im about to go back to computers and I would not reccomend anyone get in debt to to come to this overcrowded job market right now!

 

32 years of driving with my 1st 7 in the Blue Ridge Mountains, that's N. Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and western parts of North and South Carolina where the downhills on TWO lane roads makes most of the stuff in the west look flat!

That run it up to 65 crap is just that! CRAP! To tell a trainee that topping out a hill that has a sign at the top that has any kind of % on it is pure stupidity! I was an instructor for Alliance in McDonough, Ga for a while and that would have gotten an instructor FIRED!

Also, to let you go because you were slow to get the hang of downshifting on a down grade is another sign of ignorance! I hope you got a refund! No Seriously! I REALLY hope you got a refund because you DID NOT get what you paid for! A JOB!

It's a natural for me to downshift going downhill now, but I can tell you that my first year or two I wasn't real gentle with those gears! An awful lot of chunks were left in the bottom of my transmission! It's NOT something that 99% of the newbies out there will pick up right away!

And the guy who said that you need to use the clutch every time, when I go to look at trucks on the lots the first thing I look at (and most other O/O's out shopping) is the clutch pedal! A worn rubber pad tells us 1 thing, That clutch is close to a rebuild! Float the gears as much as possible unless you have a DOT doing your CDL check ride then double clutch. But still remember how, as sometimes a tap on the clutch helps when you get your RPM's a tad bit to high before an upshift and it'll help to break the gears apart. You'll get out of that as time goes on.

If you do go back to W/S and you REALLY want that job then do what they tell you to do! (untill you get your truck then do it the safe way!) A tip on that downshifting while doing 65 down a 6 or 8% cliff: Left foot on brake right foot on fuel and as you take it out of gear and are braking a little to keep the speed from building and it will faster than you realize, give it the fuel and GENTLY hold the shifter up next to the next gear down that you need and as you slowly bring the RPM's (slow being a reletive thing but not to slow!) up and that transmission will fall right into gear. Keep your eyes off of the tach and on the road!Feel the "buzz" on the stick and that "buzz" will fade till it hits the hole! Just don't try the jam it in as it'll just make loud, god awful noises and get you frustrated!

Good luck

 

That sounds good, i talked to Foodlink truck school which is practically free but takes 18 weeks to complete, the good thing about it is you get hazmat, forklift and all the other gubbins that can be had. Keep meaning to call by Western pacific but haven't got round to it yet. Are yo going to visit WP or just go with Western. Did you talk to any CDL mills yet.

 

I sent in requesting info from WP, they never called me back. I've pretty much got 3 options in my head. #1 go to school at W/S, #2 go to school Central Ref. or #3 go to Western and try to get on with KLLM or May. The cheapest initially would be Central, the most expensive being W/S. If I can't get the line of credit I applied for it most likely will be Central who sees me in October.

 

There ya go, every time. That's the voice of experience right there.

I love driving on mountains. I love driving in snow on the mountains even more. It's so exciting.

 

I don't know when you went to W/S school or who your instructor was, but in training and on our student trip we encountered very thick fog. We slowed down, a lot in some cases, and no one ever chided us or told us to pick it up in fog. I did not go through the 10 day orientation, and I will defend the instructors that were there when I was there as a good group of guys.

The school is being run more tightly now. They used to run it regularly and now they're running it when it's full. I haven't heard 3 years experience, but I suppose it's possible.

W/S is in an area where there are 6% grades that aren't marked, 6 and 8% grades that the ONLY sign is a very small sign after your steers are on your way down and preceded by flat ground. Getting on a grade at interstate speed and needing to downshift is possible. And we saw it happen.

Your method for downshifting is good. W/S teaches to always use the clutch, but at the end of our school, most of us were floating the gears and one of the instructors was encouraging us to.

I know everyone has a different experience, but I hear these claims about stupid instructors and people being washed out for no reason, and I just didn't see it. We had people wash out of the 10 day program many times while we went through the school. We weren't surprised with any of them. They had horrible attitudes and/or couldn't do it and/or lied on their application. I'm sure there are people who just had a bad experience, that happens everywhere, but I have not seen the stuff W/S's training department gets accused of.

The company has it's problems. Anyone who wants more info, please feel free to message me. I don't mind discussing real problems. But the big mean stupid instructors who are just out to get your money are just not a reality. The refund structure they have is SUPER generous if you wash out, and the 10 day guys don't even pay anything, so it's really hard to say W/S is in that for the money.

 

When i spoke to the guy at Western school on the phone he mentioned government grants, don't know if that is an option for you.

Am i correct in saying that CF requires a year commitment? I am keen to pull reefers again, always got more miles with them at home and have heard it might be the same here so CF is appealing to me.

I am hoping to get underway sometime in Sep- Oct so maybe see you on the road, let me know how your decision making is going and any other info you find out.

 

Yeah, Western can get student loans I guess. I don't think I can get grants. Anyway, TDA in Sac just sent me an email telling me to call some guy as they are taking students in for free right now because of the stimulus they are getting from the government...who knows.

I'm scheduled to go to Missoula Oct. 12th, but we'll see how everything goes. I've been working with Sandy.

 

JW430 do you have a number for this guy about free stimulus training money?

 

Shot you a PM there Beech