Watkins & Shepard - Yesterday and Today

lynch confused about what, Denver is the perfect place to be in to start with watkins. u will never be too far from home.
my question to u lynch is almost 2 years with this company and for a year you gross up to 60k.
then over the weekend a weekend they tell you your worth 32k or u can quit.
1st question is will u say yes sir I love this company. I'm tied to u cause u gave me my first chance I'll go with flow.
Or tell them they suck and find a job that pays 52k a year home everyday cause u earned it.
Ot usually gets out of hand when committed drivers get on here and scream watkins is priceless for a truck.
after a year and a half and ur still making 31 cpm my friend is not sane.

 

Yes, I will say I love you and thank them for the work. I'm a huge risk as a newbie with no experience and for a company to take me on seems like a privilege to me. I bet most of the guys getting into trucking a generation ago had to start at the bottom like I will and take the s@#$ runs and S@#$ hours and S@#$ everything else, to get that experience under their belt.

Don't get me wrong Naw'lins, I see your point and can understand, maybe I would just be so thankful to get hired on and paid, that I can see past all the S@#$

 

........hmmm...where to start...
ill break it down for u on why I am otr, not someone els.
when i started at watkins shepard i was a shortliner, running the north east, i was brining home after taxes, $990.00 a week, thats a 6 day work week, things got slow, they sent me otr, i did it, i loved it, but missed the money, they called me back to shortline, and i went back, same thing happend again, and then i went back, and then realized i hated the short line dispacther( who is now gone), and the sayreville term mang, and decided im going back otr, not very long after i chose to do so they stopped the great pay for shortline, nawlins chose to continue running shortline with the now, over 50% pay-cut, and did it, then when the entire company got a .01 pay cut, he just couldnt handle it anymore, runnign shortline ur lucky to get 1500 miles EVERY week. duhhhhhhhhh helloooooo u cant make money at .32/1 with 1500 or less a week...do the math here people.

as far as how u would be treated, as long as u do wat i said in my last post, ull be loved here!!! disp learns the names of drivers who are willing to work. they prob dont no nawlins name cause he didnt go otr to make money, he chose to work for free if u think about it cause he dont live at his moms, its clear he dont. got married, moved out on his own with his new wife, ( congrats btw ) and honestly thought he could make it at .31cpm with 1500 miles a week???? coooommmeeee onnnnnn!!!!!
and then nawlins decides he's going to post badly about this company when even he himself said he only delt with disp 2 times and that was when he went to GA??? coooommmeeee onnnnnnn!!!!!

to people who are reading this and trying to decide if u wanna work here or not, are u going to take the words from someone who NEVER ran otr? or from the people who are actually doing it???

im not going to the dentist to have him to surgery on my back..
and nawlins,
43. first one in first out is hog wash team and o/o roll up behind u grab a snicker --- thats how its always been!!
44. recruiting won't tell you all you do is west coast regional.----they tell u the truth, w.s is 48 states plus lower canada, last time i checked the west coast was part of the 48 states
45. stay out of touch of any terminal for a week and your check will be delayed for a week ---- thats driver error, not payroll, same with every other CPM truck company othe there! not the houry,
47. New jersey terminal is the only hourly local terminal at watkins all others get paid cpm and drop. guess u never made it to sfs
48. dispatched on monday pick up monday night and deliver on wednesday morning going 680 miles you get those alot cause watkins deal with alot of brokers with no real clientel geographically. funny, out on the road for 91 days now, pulling my 2nd broker load this time. hmm...do the math here too, monday night u get loaded, and u have to deliver 680 miles away, which does happen, which would most likly happen out of sfs, sayreville, spokane, or lakewood, which cant be done anyother way, u would need at least a whole day plus some of the next to deliver that load, whats the problem here? those areas all have speed limits of 60 or less for trucks!
49. get caught between were they do business like kansas missouri area grab a snicker. no terminal no where near there. ur an f---- truck driver dude! do u expect any company to dead head you 500 miles as a company driver??? coooommmmeeee onnnnn!!! and how would u no this being an " underpaid shortliner? "

wing rider, im doing good, doing really good actually, plenty of miles, plenty of sight seeing! got my camera all filled up! thanks to my travle agents of watkins shepard! i talked to redneck, he's doing good, and i think mis rednek must be mad at us, havnt seen her post.
lynchmob, please, consider the source here, an otr driver vs a non-never otr driver with w.s....ulll be treated good here, always someone to listen to the good and the bad, and the worse, go into the disp office once or twice and they'll remember u from there on by first/last name and face,

 

lynch after 18 months with no accidents on your cdl or 2 years this industry is yours.
happiness is what you make it, by u living in denver u will be through there alot. unless u have 2 or more accidents on ur cdl after going with watkins you owe no one but yourself.
Your now eligible for day cabs and time schedules after that.
Sb man I'm happy doing mnf on the couch you dealing with that now I went through and I will share my exp.
I don't like ur company and u don't like my hustle skills or exp we even.
To kill this bickering u tell ur exp and I'll tell mine.
Last but not least to hear lynch say what I been saying az in do to me as you which with over a year and then some exp is puzzling. Glad I actually heard other drivers say what I actually know now.

 

Thanks S2BT. I had pretty much made my mind on W/S after quite a lot of research, but you never know what a company is like until you talk to those inside getting their hands dirty. You're advice has eased my mind and I'm grateful for that, thanks a bunch.

What's it like there now and any insight to what it'll be like for a newbie getting in around October? What kinda truck will I be driving while training?

 

lynchmob, your welcome, i assure u that u will like w.s, as i said to u before that ur live in a good spot as we are in ur area very often, between our term in denver, and dealing with forcollins, ur actualy is prob one of the 2 best places to live.
things are going smooth for now, no walk in the park, but thats industry wide right now, if ur lucky enough they'll have some snow up in missoula and they will take u out and teach or driving in the snow, throwing chains, all the fun wet stuff haha,
ull be learning in a shaker. and then assuming u pass then youll have a truck assigned to u. something to consider about getting to missoula is if u talk to one of the recruiters they may be able to get u a ride up with one of our drivers, but only if a driver is willing to do so, if im out that way, id be glad to give ya a ride up to missoula. the best thing i think about starting in oct is that ull still be freash, and it wont be that snowy, prob up on the mts passes ull get a lot, thats about it for now, but ull be slowly getting into winter and slowly learning how to deal with the unpredictable weather, my mom always says, " slow and stedy wins the race " she's usually right!

 

hit post by accident.
anyway, theres no tellin what truck ull be getting when u complete the class, volvo or shaker is all we have, both of which are full condos, some have apus some dont, dont get to worked up if u dont get an apu, always light at the end of the tunnel.
just keep in mind that saftey is key to workin here. the owner of w.s was head of the american trucking assoiciation, i think i just read that he's the chairman now or something like that, anyway, saftey is #1 here. and as long as u can drive a truck, have zero accidents, and deliver on time, your set.

 

nawlins, im fine with that, but all i ask is that you tell your exp of shortline, 2 runs does not make u an otr driver, sorry, me and the other otr drivers will take care of any and all otr questions, and ill let u take all the shortline questions...

 

sb I went over the for 5 months before shortline.
I'll throw a name out to u nadine was my dispacter. I've been to sfs to phnx and back again. up S. dakota were u only see 1 other w/s truck every 600 miles.
midsize only if u say so. ate peanut butter and jelly to survive as newb them six months.
And here I am I made it to where I want to be home everyday making a nice living and not getting bothered by lot lizards.
seriously in the new mexico dessert when theres a will theres a way.

 

Awesome S2B I can't wait. Why not learn how to drive in the crap, throw me to the wolves, it's the best way. I know I can succeed if given a chance. I'm like a sponge right now wanting to learn as much as I can. So the more I can learn the better. I'm sure guys out there are still learning new things even 25 years into it.

If you're willing to PM me more info so as not to bog this thread feel free. This is helping me get to my 25 posts so I can PM ppl