This is why Werner continues to have problems, despite putting so much effort into improvement

As long as suckers er I mean drivers put up with it management won’t change...

 

You’ve been around long enough to know the list of suckers, is 1000x longer, than the list of people willing to do the work and research.

 

Unfortunately, within 3 days of getting my first truck and my first preplan I got a call that my sisters husbands brother had passed away. I was brand new to Ozark and one of the first things I had to request was emergency home time to make the funeral as that family waits like 36 hours and that's it. They immediately routed me straight to the house no questions asked. I apologized on the qualcomm as I was leaving the yard and they said "No need to apologize, life happens." I asked when they wanted me back on the driver line and they said just treat it as a 3 day home time and come back on after. That allowed me time to prepare for the funeral, attend it and then spend time with the grieving family without having to tell them no, I gotta go back to work.

This company is far from perfect, but one thing they do have is a heart.

Several times I've had insomnia issues and not been able to get adequate rest for a run. I let dispatch know and they call the consignee and tell them the situation. Apparently most companies would rather wait for their load to arrive tomorrow than to have to go get it out of a ditch today. I've yet to receive any lip but one time from one guy who doesn't work here anymore. I told him to F off and that I was in charge of this truck, not him. I then hung up on him and delivered the load the next day and not a word was said.

 

Oh and don't forget about their maintenance department personal that lack reading comprehension. I don't know how many times I've got a call from them at 2 a.m., Naturally I'm a little rude to them and they always like to say I'm going to report you to your fleet manager, I kindly tell them that I highly encourage that you tell my fleet manager that I was rude to you because you woke me up at 2 a.m..
These people will just keep calling until you answer. I'm thinking about getting a flip phone with a basic plan for phone calls only that way I can shut off my phone once I go off duty or sleeper. I prefer to keep my actual phone on should a urgent Family Matter happens happens and my wife needs to contact me

 

Most phones have the ability to skirt the silent mode for emergencies. On the iPhone they can redial within 30 seconds to activate the ringer. I think you can also designate certain numbers/callers to come through for emergencies.

 

For whatever reason I had to do a backing class today with a safety rep, got to #### chatting with a couple guys out there, they were talking about the Werner app and how convenient the new electronic trip form is, which I definitely agree. I out of curiosity asked if they use the CAT Scale app because I'm noticing that a lot of people still don't use it and always go in to get their paper copy of the scale ticket, (which some people may just prefer a good old-fashioned paper for records, which isn't a big deal at all) one guy looked at me and said why do you scale stuff out of here because it tells you on the bill how much your cargo weighs.......
He has been driving for six months and has never hit a scale.

I got a strange look when I asked him how he can look at the bill of lading and determine whether it was loaded heavy front heavy rear. Try to explain to him, depending on where you have your fifth wheel, if it is all the way forward and you got a heavy front load l trailer, that 22000 pounds of cargo could easily put you over on your steer axle. The to find out he received a ticket a few weeks ago in Florida because he had his tandem slid all the way back and was complaining about it asking how he was supposed to know the tandem law. I mentioned the motor carrier Atlas, how it's a great investment for only 15 bucks... He didnt need a atlas because he uses Google Maps. I looked at the Safety Rep and asked him why am I taking this class again.

About a month ago I poked my head into the office just to say hey and kind of #### chat for a few since I like building relations with your coworkers, and while I was in there I want ahead and told the FM he's going to get a Mac41 from me in a bit because I'm low on Grease for the fifth wheel, another driver said he gave up greasing the fifth wheel because every time he puts the grease packs on an back's under the trailer, the grease packs just slide off. I mentioned how i usually just grease as needed whenever I get a high trailer, spap the packs on the Wheel, back under and drop trailer onto 5th wheel, then release king pin lock pull-forward just a little bit then back underneath to relock. Apparently that was too much work, I just don't get it man.... Literally the easiest job I have ever had, and other drivers act like this is rocket science.... Makes me regret turning down the conditional employment offer with the state patrol

 

While I'm not going to say you're wrong in this, I'll say that maybe you're too new to know that new trucks, at least Cascadias, have air pressure gauges inside the truck that tell you the weight (or the air pressure) of the rear bags and thus you learn what pressure means what weight. With the exception of yesterday where I scaled the truck twice in one day with two exceptionally heavy loads at 45000lbs, I rarely scale my truck if it's under 42000lbs. If its a reputable shipper (meaning the weight on the BOL is accurate) all I have to do is look at the digital air pressure gauge on the dash (analog on the old trucks) and I know for the old trucks 60psi was 34000lbs and the new truck 64psi is the same. So if it says 40000lbs and I show 62psi on the truck gauge, then I know I'm about 32900 or so on the truck which means I'm fine on the tandems. I can watch the gauge on the truck as I slide the tandems and if it's not right I can make it right before I leave. No scale needed. This method has not failed me yet, I've never received an overweight violation at a chicken coup.

It saves a lot of time scaling trucks and also waiting to get reimbursed for the scale tickets.

I got so good with the first truck one time I had I walked into the pilot to get my ticket and told the girl that I was guessing my drives were 33500 based on the air pressure gauge in the truck. She glanced at it and smiled, she handed it to me, 33520. She said "You still have to pay for the ticket!!" We both had a good laugh. Then they stuck me in another truck, then another truck. Now I'm just in the ballpark, enough to get by.