STAY AWAY from WERNER....BAD & getting WORSE

geez dream,everything u said is so true.cut,dried,and chiseled in stone.ever since poppa werner retired from the company and put his oldest son greg in charge a few years ago the company has made a meteor plunge straight to that very hot place a bit south of heaven. Werner used to be an honoarable company when c.l. Werner was the boss,but now there r lots of broken and destroyed people that the holier than thou's have knifed in the back.i met c.l. Years ago,and i was impressed with him and i shook his hand with honor. Now i am going to be coming off the road and doing some local driving for a nearby construction company that will have work for many years to come. Hats off to you dream,you are so right. Lonewolf65

 

Love the comment about the sales reps!!! Most of their reps can't spell truck. They aren't real "trucking" sales reps, more like order takers. If you're looking for a person who understands the industry and works for the company and the customer, please don't look at Werner reps. Many have no idea how a trucking company works, what a driver goes through to pick up and deliver a load or anything that's crucial to the company, driver, or customer. Just lemme get that order!!! What most people don't understand is that the driver is the best sales rep a company has. The customer will see a company's drivers more than they will ever see the rep.

 

If a driver is a company's best sales rep think about all of the filthy, unshaven, fat slobs wearing rags that you see wandering around truck stops and tell me how well he's representing his company. There are alot of drivers out there that represent themselves and their companies very well. Unfortunately, that fat mutant with the filthy mouth and body is the one that the public remembers.

 

I went to Werner right out of school. My 1st trainer was a joke. He wanted a cash cow. I drive 11 at 65 mph, he drove 11 at 55 mph. All the wile twitchin and twisting like he had parkinsons disease. I did not trust him and after I spent my shift waking up on rumble strips I bailed in Laredo and demanded a new trainer. This guy was great. He drove a dollar general account but was NOT an O/Op. After my 285 hours they said I had to do 80 more. so I did. at $ 325.oo a week. When done and tested out in Phoenix I was told the only job was a dollar general in the Northeast US. Screw that I paid my own flight home and went to Allentown (close to where I live) and #####ed and moaned and demanded a truck. After 3 days I got a nice 387 Pete a 2007. I was never given more than 1500 miles/week and no trips longer than 460 miles. Many, many short runs to Home depot in Phila sometimes back and forth to fairless hills 5 times a day. Had an accident in Phila where I rubbed my tandems on an 94 Volvo and scraped some of the primer off the bondo. I offered the man $50.00 bucks but he wanted $250. And when he called Werners number off the Van I was screwed. Not enen 4 months out of school and this #### happens. Well safety said dont worry no injuries, no ticket, and minimal damages. Was promised hometime Christmas and when the time came they wanted me to swap a nice 1275 mile run and go to Canada for the 3rd time in a week (I mad a mistake of NOT being a convicted felon). I reminded my dispatcher I was scheduled for 12/23 hometime and I had only 20 hours on my 70 hour clock. He said I get 9.75 back after midnight. This didn't make me feel any better so I called his super. he said the same thing. But 2 hours later they dropped the swap and I finished the run. But I had 3 shags and did NOT make it home till 1800 on christmas eve. Empty handed...no time to shop. To make a long story short my last Qualcomm msg said I would be available for a load the following wednesday (a day later than scheduled because I got home a day late) Tuesday I was told to bring my truck to A-Town for a safety hold. I thought oh #### now I'm gonna hear all about the canada thing. Not so I was

 

I was TERMINATED by Werner for this accident. While waiting I ran into 2 drivers who were on safety suspensions. 1 for his 2nd at fault accident this year the first had injuries. The second driver had a major accident in Arizona on an offramp and was also on suspension. I guess I pissed my dispatcher off BIG TIME,
Now I am having a hard time finding any job at all because they Terminated me BECAUSE of this accident. Can I file any kind of an appeal?? Any advice would be appreciated

 

It doesn't matter that other persons were not fired for things, that information is not relevant. The fact is you do not know the circumstances involving those accidents, the drivers length of service, or if they did end up fired which is possible.

What you do know is you had an accident, at fault. And it was within 4 months of your driving a truck. Regardless of anything the fact remains if YOU had quit, and tried to find another job IN this economy you would NOT be any luckier without a termination. You have an accident, there are HUNDREDS of drivers, especially in your area, that DO NOT. And many are several years experienced.

It seems like you want to people to see Werner as in the wrong here. That YOU want US to say OMG Werner is evil all you did was have one little accident and they fired you! Sorry, but I see it just as I saw them firing us. You gave them a valid, and in your case I think more valid, reason to fire you. At fault accidents like the one you describe for yours are caused by not paying attention, rushing, or both. You caused damage. That means insurance was involved, and the fact money was asked for or offered is not a good sign either. If the man mentioned you offered money that would be another cause to fire you.

Little mistakes happen, but in time when there are so many without accidents looking for jobs companies are being much more picky. Werner has a cashflow problem, they will not tolerate mistakes right now. Every time you do something in a truck you are not pulling just your trailer you are pulling your livlihood. Every move has to be made with the idea in mind that you will NOT screw up. If you need to get out 40 times to make sure you are clearing thats what you do. Because if you don't clear, even a tiny bit, then you could lose your job. And I don't see Werner in the wrong here.

An appeals won't help you. You had the accident, it was at fault. You can try to go say it wasn't but in reality I don't see it helping.

 

I have to thank you for being able to read an intelligent well thought out post. It's refreshing. Thank you.

 

They are, and you will see that very soon when they post their $ info. Regardless they cannot afford to run the amount of trucks they have, go to the main Werner terminals today and you will see trucks sitting empty, many of them. As they lose the drivers to quitting, being fired, etc they are not just filling the trucks and keep on trucking as usual that spells something to me.

 

they are still running up to 3 orientation classes a week at some terminals with 20-30 people per class, they are still bringing up to 200 people a week in if not more. course alot of those wont make it to a truck but still probaly 30 percent of them do. so they have alot of trucks sitting at some of the terminals but they are still filling them pretty steady

 

No, they are exploiting the newbies to run team. They are not filling trucks. When they are done training they sit, they don't get put into trucks 90% of the time.