If you HAD to choose to work at Warner or Swift...tell me which one and why?

Been with Werner for a few months now... had a bad teainer, then after a quick call to my SDM I was put with a great trainer. Knocked out the rest of my training and went solo. I have good days and I have nightmare days... seems to me that every aspect of this job is like that. If you can deal/cope and not allow anyone to push you into doing something that isn't safe you'll do just fine with Werner

 

The best decision you can make is most likely to find option C. There is no way under the sun that those are the only two places you can work. Sometimes it takes a little more effort to find an option C, (and sometimes a LOT more) but I wholeheartedly assure you that it is out there.

 

as an ex werner driver i have nothing bad to say about them,i only left to take a warehouse job for a little while so i would have some home time to tend to personal problems.werner was great to me,right off the bat i was able to get into a dedicated account,shortly after i moved into the jimmydean/saralee account in west tn for them,they gave me miles when i wanted and got me home when i wanted(this was maybe 8 yrs ago). i considered going back to them when i had my problems worked out but decided to take a wild chance with jbhunt and run intermodal. ive ran intermodal as an o/o before and loved the routes i ran,jbhunt offered me those same routes and ive been with them 6+yrs now.people will tell you this compays bad or that companys bad,but its going to come down to what works for you.I would never bad mouth any company out there,cause were all here for 1 reason and thats to make $money$.talk with both companys more than once,ask if you can talk with a dispatcher not just a recuiter,ask if theres any accounts that they may have that you might be interested in. if you have a certain area you like running ask if they have accounts in that area or going thru that area.ask as many questions as you need.

 

Very well said!

 

when i was at werner i started on homedepot account out of atlanta and went to nc all the time.a good dedicated account doesnt really need to be close to you to work for you,and i understand your looking at otr.both accounts i was on were considered otr dedicated but i was home just about every weekend.like i said werner was good to me.i couldnt tell you anything about swift that isnt going to be hear say.but both companys will try to push you out with a male trainer,just about any major company would do that.just stand your ground if its important for you to have a female trainer.good luck with your decision and be safe out there.

 

I was with Werner for a year, had a good trainer that drove for an o/o out of Moorsville, NC. After training my first load went to Chicago, 4th load to Canada, 8th load to Long Island. After that I drove mostly btween Chicago, Dallas, and Virginia. I was gone for 3 weeks at a time, usually home for 2.5 days in between. Never really had a problem with them, there were times that I wanted to rip somebody's head off just because a lot of the office people had no idea how it was on the road. for excample, one time I picked up a load at a dropyard and unloaded outside Chicago, turns out there was a partial load on the trailer that the previous driver for some reason didn't deliver in Iowa, well I got my ###s chewed for not making that first drop even after I tryed to explain I had nothing to do with the first drop. Lol that was the only time I sent bad words over the qualcom. You have a lot of corporate bs to deal with. Now? I drive for a guy that has 2 trucks, Its O so relaxing.

 

Depends on alot of factors, really.

I've been at Swift for 6 months... had a great mentor, went straight to a comfortable dedicated account, driving a nearly brand new truck. Basically everything that was promised was given.

On the other hand, a good friend / ex-roommate in the training school has had a polar opposite experience.

Just depends on who you end up working with / under.

One thing I will say that I feel is important is having a good personal presentation. A positive attitude and good people skills will help you greatly in this industry.