Watkins-Shepard Acquired by Schneider

I sure thought this thread would have a lot more posts by now. I guess the Watkins drivers are too busy putting in application elsewhere. LOL...just kidding

 

The Final Mile service will be similar to what JB Hunt is doing. Making deliveries in box trucks and small flatbeds like the ones Lowes and Home Depot uses

 

Yeah, for small items and things that need inside delivery. W/S is a furniture ltl carrier and half of their loads are multi stops to furniture stores. That's not considered final mile services.

 

Truth, a lot of these guys went to Watkins because they didn't want to work for orange swift. You sure won't make the same money at Sni OTR that you're use to at W/S after they screw everything up. Get out while you can.

 

Watkins has been doing the final mile for sometime now. We deliver the online furniture to lodeso locations all over and they deliver to the homes. I actually assumed Watkins already owned lodeso but I never ask anyone. But we also haul for several other big name furniture manufacturers. Me personally I like the stop loads I can make good money and don't have to drive 600 miles a day to do it. And I get home every weekend. I think you are gonna see a lot of drivers stick
It out to see if something changes and if it does they will leave at that point. But there will be those guys that just leave because of the fear of change. Which I understand that too. A lot of drivers here myself included are set in their ways and would sure hate to see things change. Guess we gonna have to wait and see if it's good or bad. The thing is we will be on the dedicated side of Schneider but I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

 

As someone who has been through a couple of these buyouts and in one case panicked and ran out the door only to find later if I had stuck it out I'd have been doing much better ...hind sight is 20/20 and if I were a w/s driver id stick around for now .

 

Most people that have been at Watkins for a while (almost 4/years for me) enjoy the atmosphere, decent pay and new model trucks. When/if that atmosphere switches to big company, micro managing nonsense, veteran W/S drivers will leave. Ya know, If we wanted to work for Schneider we would have went on their website and filled out an application.

The things that keep us working here definitely won't change overnight, but when they do, quite a few drivers that have kept their nose clean will be headed for a small/med company. No reason to leave yet, but I'd bet money the people who look at the big picture are planning their escape route, so to speak.

Starting the month off with a 2200 mile load, point A to point B. It's still the same Watkins so far lol.

 

True ...I used to work for a small Nebraska based ltl carrier that saia bought out , most of us left but the few linehaul drivers that stuck it out are making 80k a year now .

 

Good advice- Any WS drivers currently working would be wise to wait and see. You can always give your 2-weeks notice if "Orange Pumpkin" starts to screw things up too much. In the meantime, you can ride it out and see how things go. WS won't disappear overnight, they will prob keep things basically intact for another 6-18 months while they integrate into the orange blob, oops I mean the pumpkin LOL.

These companies don't give a BLEEP about the employees and what they think/want. To them, drivers are all easily replaced. It's a corporate culture that undervalues the everyday employees who are the frontline of the company. Without drivers, no trucking companies could exist. Without cashiers and stockers Wal-Mart would not run and without cooks & cashiers, fast-food places could never make millions in profits. But they all tend to see us, the front-line employees as easily replaced hum-bots. Very short-sighted & ignorant management which never understands that the bottom-line depends on the everyday workers who deliver the product & services of each company to the consumers. Without each of us these companies could never function.

 

Very well put !!!!