Another Watkins Shepard Thread

I stand corrected. I received the application package from Roxy last night (email) and it clearly says that you are expected to show up with your CDL permit. Yes, msmspilot is 100% correct. So there ya go...

 

I got a call from W/S and they told me that my school wasnt approved and I had to get a job with a training company for at least 6 months and it had to be a company that used manual transmissions. or I wouldnt qualify... I have a terminal really close by myself.

 

The questions and answers on here crack me up but i was once the one asking them.

I dont have an APU and I will hold out as long as possible before taking a truck with one.

My home address is 248.blah blah blah miles from the closest terminal and my home terminal is about 2800 miles from my home address.

I dont run out of a certin terminal, I run from load to load.

Where ever they need me I go.
Mountains, east, west, north, south where ever. After all I work for them.

Some days are miles on end, others are stop after stop.

I dont care where I go or what I do at this company as long as im working.
I drive alert and keep a clean truck and look my best for the customers.
I like working here and how they treat me and hope to work here as long as they will have me.
If I feel ill and need to rest, they let me.
If I need to detour to avoid something, I can.
When I go home, I take the truck.
And the trailer. Im always ready for the next load. If they called me now and asked me if I could make a run, Id take it. I know they will return the favor.
If I use the truck for PC, I account for when and where all PC miles took place.
I have never been questioned.
I do my best to adhere to their rules and the seem to do thier best to look after me and my truck.
There has been times where my truck needed repair yet was safe enough to drive and they give me advice and let me use my judgement.
All reciepts are always reinbursed and dispatch is ALWAYS decent to me.
If I have a payroll problem, they notify me and i do my part to correct it.

The Physical test at your doctor wont be hard as you think, but a furniture load will test your limits.
Make sure you take time out of everyday to exercise. especially days you only drive.
You will learn a lot in their 30,10 and 3 day programs but wont know anything hauling that first load.
Its a steep learning curve and you earn your pay.

My truck is in good shape, but i also spent 7 of 8 days in a hotel waiting for repairs.
During thanksgiving no less.
They paid for my hotels upfront and gave me repair pay for every day I had to sit.
On another instance, my truck was in for a shimmy in the steering and they immediatly put me in a much newer truck so I could keep loads moving.


Yesterday, My load had 6 furnitre/carpet stops all thru Pennsylvania, with my qualcomm routing ending at my home. No PC miles needed.

On my first day working there Macon the saftey director told me, "you drivers pay everyones salary, we need to keep you moving if any of us want to make a living."

Words to live by if you ask me.

1722

 

Hey there Lightbulb....

Man that was a great and informative post. Thanks for the insight and the information.

 

I am strongly thinking of joining up with W/S, if not them them maybe the big pumpkin.

 

What APU's are W/S going with?


Tripak I hope.

 

Hey, 2 guys with all the question and concerns, as you no iv been with the company for 9, almost 10 months now, and im not sure exactly how long light has been here but i am strongly agreeing with every single word that guy just typed, they are a pretty laid back company, but they expect you to do what you have to do, if your nice to your disp they will be nice back and try and get you to where you wanna be,
as far as worrying about what term you will be working out of, forget it, you are working out of miz.'s term, you may see your " home " term either when your heading home, or when your passing through picking up and dropping off.
taking the truck home is based on weather you live within a 100 mile radious of the a term, however some drivers that live 200+miles eachway take the truck home with them, just remember that if you take it home and ANYTHING.....n i mean ANYTHING happens to it, it will be taken out of your pocket.
if you have called and talked to Roxy or anyone els and then you dont hear back from them, just remember that your not the only person out there trying to get hired on with them, and with the econemy the way it is most companies are now able to be a bit more picky as to who they chose to hire. they may like Bobs work history better then they like Jo's work history.
I dont have an APU, and have been questiond about my ideling average for the past month. i told them id work on reducing that to a lower #, they seemed ok with that answer, and with the amount of smoking APU's i see at the truck stops, and the amount of complaints im rather happy i dont have one either.
the equipment is nice, they pay to have it cleaned once a month, thats just not enough for me, i usually pay out of my pocket to have mine cleaned every 2 weeks at least!
anytime you have a problem tell your disp to route you to a term that has a shop, and they will, and they work hard to get you back on the rd.

Light is 100% correct about learning everything you can in school and online and out of books, but you dont no crap when you pull your first 78,000lbs load, no one is sitting next to you for you to ask what you should do when your rolling down a 7%grade or more, and you just need to THINK BEFORE YOU DO!, and i say this one all the time:: GOAL. always do it, youll only thank yourself in the end that you did!!!
Macon is prob the once person the company you never want to talk too, and i mean that in a good way, being that he is the heady saftey guy, i try to forget his name and who he is as often as i can, actually, in 9 months only had to talk to you 2 times, but i didnt hit crash or do anything like that, i needed paperwork for the truck, and he was the only one that i could get a hold of at 10 at night.
if you call him and " point the finger " at the other person when really its your own fault, he's not going to like you soo much, however if you take full blame for something that YOU screwed up on then you 2 will get along just fine,
if your thinking of working here, or you have been recently hiried on by them welcome to the company and trust me youll like it here, and if not go work for swift or one of the other big companies and im sure in 3 weeks youll be on your knees begging to come back

 

most of them are BlackRocks and PoneyPacks, but done base what company you go to just on thier APU's, if you ask me its pointless to even think about an APU at this point, id be more concerend on getting hired and in a truck, and chances are that being a new to the company you wont even get one, but sometimes they do end up with them, ask question that really matter, like what the miles are like, and how the pay is, and if there is a saftey bonus and fuel bonus, what the drivers health insurance is like, and hows the companies saftey rating, i think they are the more serious questions to be asking, not what apu or what color truck your getting,
cause if you get a truck without an APU, when it comes time to get a new truck youll get one then, for now, just get your foot in the door.

 

What is the mileage payscale these days anyways? Is it still 37 cpm top out?

 

I know what to ask, I have already been out here for six months. I'm sick of the crap with the company I'm with & would like to try W/S, I'm really not thta worried about a lot of things due to the glowing remarks I see in all of the W/S threds. Having a APU is a very nice thing to have, I'm sick of being cold at night & hot during the day becasue of the stupid idleing rules that I have to deal with now.