Tips for new Werner Drivers

I thought since I get asked this alot via pm I'd answer the biggest issues here:

Paperless logs -

They can either really suck or really help. Its a two way street, older drivers used to skewing their logbooks to make loads work ontime will hate them. Especially if they are used to increasing their revenue by skewing their logs to allow them time they don't legally have. There are only small ways to cheat them and most of them aren't going to save a load.

For a newcomer they will force you to understand routing and keep you 100% legal. I think newcomers, especially younger ones, have a better time with the paperless logs then they would with the paper ones, but if you ever leave Werner and most will, switching to paper logs will be harder if you don't practice filling out a logbook every once in a while.

The paperless logs help because very rarely without a serious accident involved, will you ever get your log book checked. Most DOT officers loathed the paperless log book, trying to figure out paperless logs is too much work for most. It also helps you get bypassed on the scales, even the hardest scales, like Banning, have bypassed me. The big blue Werner trucks are too much hassle for DOT in most cases.

They hurt because with a paper log you can 'make' the hours work, with paperless the truck itself is 100% monitered you cannot tell them you were not driving at 0800 if you were, the log checks the MILEAGE. You cannot cheat in this way.

You are going to take your full break every day, like it or not. I think this is good, because it saves me alot of hassle, and fighting with dispatch. Dispatch is just as bound by the logs as you are. Dispatch at Werner, unlike some companies is NOT going to tell you to try and fudge your logs. They know you cannot.

You will get exceptionally good at routing and planning or you are going to be cold, hungry, and showerless. End of story. With 11/14 you will learn very quickly that if you don't check your hours before accepting a load to be sure you can make it, you are going to have very annoyed dispatchers. You are also going to learn how to figure out where you should stop for your breaks BEFORE you need to stop, becase once your hours run out they are over and gone for 8-10 hours however you do your breaks. Again, as far as I am concerned, this is a part of good truck driving to properly plan routes and stops.

One rumor I have heard is you will be shutdown on the side of the road. No you will not. They will NOT shut the truck off and force you to stop, if you accidently run over hours you can still find a place and park. In fact is is agaisnt Werner policy TO shutdown on the side of the road. However, too many 'log violations' and you will start getting yapped at by logs, forced to take remiedial logs test, suspended, and in some extreme cases fired. This is not just because Werner is mean or tight behined or whatever. This is the LAW. Werner can be fined heavily for your log violations. They can lose their prepass status. And its part of the DOT system that requires carriers to ensure compliance. Again, it is part of being a good truck driver to manage logs properly.

It is very important to manage your logs. Whether you work for Werner or not. In fact, I believe I read somewhere that very soon DOT is going to start mandating that trucking companies over so and so many trucks switch to the paperless log systems.

One big con I can tell you right now is holdups at delivery or pickup, once you move the truck your 14 is running and its not stopping without an 8 hr break. If somehow a shipper or delivery place takes long enough to run you out of 14 you are going to get stuck there. If you have 1 hour left on your 14 and your pulling into a consignee, you might want to plan to be there all night. Or let them know that you will run out of hours sometimes they will rush you through, as they don't want you shutdown on their docks. Don't count on it though.

Tips:

Try to limit use of line 1 unless you are actually of truck. Line 1 can bite you in the but if you need to move the truck 10 feet. I've found if you are line 1 and you move the truck at all you are put on line 3 or 4 immediatly. Whereas line 2 gives you a bitmore leeway.

Check your logs nightly, really do it. The system auto sends you from Line 3 > Line 4 if you have been stopped for a period of time. Like you stopped in the fuel isle and ran in to pee. If you don't check and correct this your could be burning valuable 70 hour time. The best way to handle this is to pull your logs up before you do your 46 check them over, fix any issues, and then do the 46.

Use Macro 8, alot of people don't which can hurt you. It makes everyones life easier if before you got out to pee you put yourself on line one via macro 8 and when you got back you put yourself on line 3 or 4 via macro 8. Everyone is happy, no log corrections have to be done.

Trucks:

When you go to get your truck, if you are that far in your training you will be asked what are your three choices. Well Werner has about 6 choices, you have the Freightliner Classic and Century, the Kenworth W900 and T600, and the Peterbilt 379 and 387. And the difference is minor in each truck. The longnoses tend to have a better overall ride, and a slightly larger engine. The short noses tend to be roomier. Of course there is wheelbase, canadian entry issues with some vs. others, and there is turning radius issues. They also have like 3 Volvos, a few casadia's, and I do believe I've seen a Werner international but I could be wrong. But for the most part you are mostly going to end up with one of the 6 aforementioned trucks.

I also suggest you get used to the idea of driving a long nose, because the shortnoses are in high demand, and if they have 4 long noses and a short nose, and your not luck draw #1 you are probably getting a long nose like it or not. So at least look at the long noses and pick one that you can live with to put on your list.

I've been lucky up till the last time. The first 2 times we were asked we listed 379, w900, or classic. Both times we got the 379. The last time our dispatcher, trying to be helpful, set our truck up for us so we wouldn't have to wait 3 days to be assigned, and while he got the make right, he got the model wrong lol. Oh well. We can live with it.


More tips later, for now I must prepare to depart!

 

Yes Uturns and parking on the shoulder are generally considered termination level events. Your fellow Werner drivers, previous Werner Drivers, and drivers that know this policy but never worked for Werner WILL report you and you WILL lose your job.

The 46 is also very important this is your 'signing' off on your logs for the day, just as its legally required you sign your logsheet when you are done so to are you required to do a 46 daily. Failure to do so often will lead to log and safety chats, fun (not really) CBT tests, and the lovely 24/46/72/7day suspensions, or termination. Before you go to bed do a 46, make it a routine. Its better to send 30 46s then not send in 1.

Again I stress, if you are parking for the night go to line 2, because if for any reason you have to move the truck (aka you weren't in a parking spot at the truck stop and you got told to move and you see a spot 100 yards away) Line 2 will not switch you to line 3 automatically right away like being on line 1 will do.

Another big thing to remember is you are dispatchable if you have hours. And you will either have to get used to sleeping WHEN YOU CAN, or use the laws to your advantage. If you can sleep when its day light or without a regular schedule do it, you will maximize your earnings by being avaliable whenever you have hours to drive. This will mean though you may get a load that delivers at 8 am, get unloaded at 9 am, get to a truck stop and sit until 9 pm and they will suddenly expect you to get up at 10 pm and drive all night to delivery the load you now have, which is legal if you were on line 2 the whole time since you got the the truck stop.

But what dispatch doesn't generally seem to get is just because I am on line 2 does not mean I am sleeping. In most cases I'm finding it hard to sleep at 9 am and maybe dozed a few hours at most. This is annoying at best sometimes to have to switch your schedule all the time but it is part of trucking. My strongest suggestions are:

Sleep anytime you get the chance, being unloaded? Loaded? Waiting to be called to dock? So on..

Be upfront with your dispatchers, if you start getting tired let them know BEFORE you need to stop, give them time to see what they can do about the load, either swap it, change the appt, or tell you its ok don't spring it on them at the last minute.

Remeber DOT regulation: 392.3 http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.asp?section=392.3

Please please please remember, while in extreme stupidity cases any carrier might fire you for being late, in the long run for your own mental health and for your career, STOPPING WHEN YOU ARE TIRED or cannot be alert enough to drive is ALWAYS better then not. If you are fired for a late load, you will find another job. Trust me you will. But if you are fired because of the fatal or even non fatal accident you caused by driving tired, YOU WILL NEVER DRIVE AGAIN. You will have to live with knowing that you killed someone or seriously hurt some. And you will probably end up in jail. Its not just YOUR life but the lives of YOUR FAMILY and other people on the road you take into your hands when you chose to drive tired. The cost does not and never will justify the money you might have made. A late load is better then a load that never arrives. Save yourself the grief, pull over and take a nap.

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There is absolutely no reason why a rest area, truck stop, or large parking lot cannot be found to use as a safe rest stop to check directions. Simply let dispatch know you were out of route because you needed to find a safe haven to check directions. Werner's stand is that may avoidable accidents have been caused by parking beside the flow of traffic, their concern is safety of truck, cargo, motoring public, and driver. They are not doing it to be mean.

As for out of route miles, Werner is fairly lenient on this issue.

 

No you don't have to notice I did not say CALL THEM, I said let them know, which I meant if they did ask, as it is I've never been asked about out of route miles before.