Watkins and Shepard

We're no longer there, but it's where we started.

Things were great there, then there was some turmoil in the heavy haul division. Well that caused problems and we thought it wasn't so good there, so we left.

After going to other companies for a while, I've determined that Watkins isn't as bad as they had seemed. They straightened out their mess and it seems better now.

I would definitely recommend them for someone living in the Northwest, even though they drive all 48.

 

The 30 day school was really good when we went. They covered a lot of material and a lot of things that you drive only in the western states....such as large mountains. The instructors were great and knowledgeable. W&S housed you right there at the terminal - most likely you would have a roommate. During the weekend and "after school" my roommate and I would practice driving the training trucks in the yard. I know it doesn't sound exciting, but the extra practice really helped.

At "graduation" they put you in a truck and assign you a load. No trainer for 6 more weeks or anything like that. After 3-4 months, you can sign up to go to their 3 day flatbed training and start driving a flatbed. They pay for your FB training time too. I would highly recommend W&S, especially if you're living in the west and would like to get home regularly.

 

No problem. W&S runs through all 48 states, but you can also run western. I believe the western states for them are:

Montana
Idaho
Washington
Oregon
California
Nevada
Arizona
Utah
Colorado
Wyoming

There's enough freight running in those states to keep your wallet happy. lol When we were running van, we were home every 14 days...we're in North Idaho where no one goes... haha Flatbed is longer though- 4 weeks for us. Of coarse with any company they *really* want you to never go home. lol If you're in the major freight lanes you have a greater chance at getting home more often.

 

They have a menagerie of trucks, Volvo, Freightliners, KW... a while back one of the top dog's buddy was a Volvo dealer, so they bought nothing but Volvo's. The lot they bought had issues, so I think they decided not to invest in ALL Volvos. We had a Freightliner at first, and when we went to FB we got a really nice KW. If you got a truck that had problems, they were always there to fix it, but make sure you are under load before heading to the shop. There are several terminals that do maintenance all over the country, and you can also fix it on the road. Most the problems we had with our trucks at W&S were minor things. The trucks appeared to be in decent shape.

They will let you stay out as long as you want... what company wouldn't? lol

And they do run all 48 states. We've had loads from Missoula to New Jersey and back several times. You can stay west if you want to... there's a lot of freight between Missoula and LA alone.

As far as the governors go, I'm not sure if they have them all set the same. We were set supposedly at 65, but were going faster at some points... don't think it worked too well. haha

Good luck with everything... I hope it all goes well for you. If you have any more questions... I'm no expert, but I can try to answer.