Watkins shepard

W&S pay is right in line with most companies. If you just want to drive. They offer 150% more for stop pay than Schneider does. So I can understand why you wouldn't want to do it. I get paid for simply hooking to a trailer. I've made $10 before I ever roll the first mile. I get $15 for unhooking it. I could have that backwards...I'm not sure.

You're splitting hairs. That's all there is to it.

Just like you. I gave up some annual pay, for increased hometime.

I can do 65k a year easily without the stops. I'm not going to work that hard....period. Your 1/3 statement is still irrelavent and pointless. All that matters is I made the money. End of story.

Work is what we get paid for. I don't get paid to cook hamburgers. So I don't do it. I get paid for everything I do regarding that truck. Be it driving, or unloading. A paycheck is a paycheck...period. If my company offers to pay me for cooking hamburgers, and I have the downtime. I'm gonna cook hamburgers. That would be easier than driving.

It's a j-o-b ... I don't care what else they call it.

All companies use the "up to" statement when they do advertising. This isn't any differant.

Don't try to belittle/minimize the "1/3" statement. Especially since I am getting 3 times the hometime as the average OTR driver. And working less for it.

Especially by your own admission. You make less for more hometime. Or do you make more now? It's getting extremely difficult to tell whether your arguement is about pay, experience, hometime, unloading...or none of the above.

 

My whole point was the fact that it seemed to me that you were a regular OTR driver, however it seems you do more local / regional stuff than I thought.
With that in mind and my thinking that you were an OTR driver, the fact that the extra stops were adding up to to the 52k a year statement...it seemed odd to me. In my thinking, the multi-stops were just extra pay (well they are, if you get those loads), perks of having multiple stops and without them, the pay would be substationally less. And I was thinking that if you were an OTR driver, and that extra flow stopped, you would be making 30% less, and would make less than I do, and I have more home time than a regular OTR driver and drive less.

I didn't know that the terminal you run out of has 90% of its loads being multi-stop.

I've said it on here since day one that I don't make what a regular OTR driver makes. However, I make a decent living and a comparable competitive wage for what I do, and like yesterday, my days can be decent 8-10 hours, depending. I actually had one three hour day back in December or so. Had two stops about 110 miles away. 48 foot trailer for 1 foot of freight. My pay is set up on the route I have which is six stops and load swap along a 220 mile run...and then I turn around and basically deadhead the 220 or so back.
Either way, in the end, my annual salary will go up about four grand from when I started last year. Plus, if we get a raise, it will go up another 1300ish or so. Im happy with what I got.

 

How many 30 day students are going through the Watkins/Shepard training program the last few months.

 

B-Rad you still holding out? I thought you would have been in a truck by now. I was there over the last two moths and it looked like 3 for each month. Kind of slow on the 30dayers but the 10 guys are going strong.
Good Luck

 

The reason that I have not started school was that I had to get my blood pressure down with some meds. I will be starting school next month.

 

I have talked to several of the W/S western region drivers and they are complaining of a lack of miles. Is this true?

 

I suspect/know they have seen a decrease in miles. Our Western regional division is one of our largest, IMO. More Drivers, Fewer Loads = Less Miles. I've seen the QC memos about the low miles. I've also seen the memos stating things are picking up.

I'm not going to sugar coat it in any way. While I am getting the miles I want...more than I want actually. Many in the West are not. Ask the hard questions before you go, or while you are there for orientation/training. They won't sugar coat it either.

This is where you have to decide what's best for you. Do I hang around until it picks up, and it will eventually. Or do you run out long until it picks up, and hope for the best.

Or do you go with another company?

Every company has had a drop in freight. Some have been hit harder than others.

2 questions you need to answer.

How much do I expect/need/want to make a week? Be realistic.
How many miles will I need to run to make that amount, at my current rate of pay?

If you come up with 2500 or less. You'll do fine.
3000 or more, you'll have a few problems unless you are willing to do OTR for awhile.

Keep in mind. Industry wide average is about 10,000 miles a month. Or about 2500 a week. Less for some, more for others.

I spent 2 months OTR last fall while freight was slow in our area. It wasn't all about the money either. My doing OTR allowed others to move regional freight, that needed to be near home. aka Team Player....although some will tell you I am far from being a team player. Thankfully, I have that option. My family wasn't happy about it. But they dealt with it as they had in the past. And I will still run out long when I'm asked to. I don't get asked to very much. And when I do, I'm generally back at the house within a 10-14 day window.

Don't be afraid to try something new. OTR, Regional, or Local. Whatever it takes to keep your money in the area you want. Local runs when asked, can pay nicely. The words "How much extra pay do I get for that?" are always on the tip of my tongue.

If you don't ask for it...you won't get it.

Everything we do with our trucks....we are paid to do. Provided you have your paperwork turned in properly. Don't be afraid to call someone about anything. If my routing sucks. And I had to run 20 miles out of the way. I bring it to someones attention. Phone call or QC, I don't care. I want to be paid for those 20 miles.

Hell I've asked to be paid for something that was clearly my fault/issue. Of course they denied it. But, at least I asked. No harm, No foul.

 

Yup, luckey to get 1200 miles a week, been out 6 weeks asked to go home 2 weeks ago getting bounced back in forth between MT and WA. Got a load to Salt Lake and said well it is in the right direction only to get a load to Kent WA via Spokane where I sit waiting for the terminal to open.
Had more layover time then running time in the last few weeks.
It is what it is, But the company is a good one to get your feet wet at and possibly stay on, me I am doing my time and if it works out here I will stay if not I will move on. The company is a good one and the people are all great it is just a hard time everywhere right now. Dance paints a nice picture and it sounds like he has it all figured out and that’s great one day I hope to.
GOOD LUCK
Jim

 

Jim,

The figuring it out, is the easy part. It's making the decision to pull the trigger, that's the hard part. The "trigger" ? Tell your FM, run me anywhere...get me miles. Although I have noticed, it's seems difficult to get an east coast run out of CA. You can sure get one out of MT or CO.

After you've driven OTR/Regional for a length of time. You learn where freight moves, and where it doesn't move. Knowing that, if you are offered a choice of loads. You have to make the difficult decision of taking the loads no one else wants, because it gets you miles or home once your empty.

I would love to run a specific area every week without fail. And I do, for the most part. But, I take a lot of #### loads by most peoples standards. And these standards are wrong. They're wrong because of the myths and legends (aka outright lies) that get told within this forum, and on the road by other drivers.

My dispatcher here in Myrtle knows I will cover just about anything she ask me too. And there are times she will call and ask me where I want to go, with a brief list. And I simply tell her to stick me on one and let me know what it is. It's not all gravy.

Occasionally, we all have to do things we don't want too. I occasionally get out to your part of the world. Either because a team has taken some time off and the load needs to be covered. Or, our freight has fallen off and I need to cover my own ### to insure I get the $$$ I want to make.

You have to be flexible, and your family has to be behind you. If you're on the 11 state western region, take a East Coast run from time to time. It won't take them a week to get you turned around. And you'll be covering some miles in the process.

The NE as an abundance of freight, because new guys are scared to run there and I blame that on many of us older guys. The old guys, don't want to go NE anymore because they remember how it used to be.

The SE furniture areas are still running strong. There has been some fall off in the "truck load" freight. But, we handle a lot of LTL as you're aware.

So long as I take the occasional Jersey or New York load, and come out of the terminal here in MS with a good multi-stop run from time to time. It's all good.

If I get to Jersey, they generally get me turned toward Ohio or Georgia. From Ohio I can get home, or to the Georgia area which gets me home. I have had weeks that really suck too. But it still comes out in the wash.

It's hard for me to sit here, and talk about how good I have it. Knowing that some are hurting for miles. But I don't know the entire story. So it's difficult for me to pass judgement on the driver, or the company.

One thing I know for sure. The 11 State Western, has too many over lapping services. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

You have the 11 state drivers, the Bay drivers, the local drivers, OTR drivers, and the heavy haulers. Everybody wants their share of the pie.

It doesn't help matters when a couple of the local guys team together over the weekend for a load that should have been covered by 2 regional or OTR drivers. They bring a load out Washington to CA. Then go straight back home. Now if there was no one to cover the loads...I could see it.

A little bit more than 2 cents worth. But I think I've said enough to make the point.

 

man who are u. you talk as if you worked for w/s before, don't care a hater is a hater. first of all to u new drivers with w/s, like I said before u can use the q com to let dispatch know where u like to go. such things as east, west, south, no west, no east, trust me it does work. as for SNI giggles I'm not acompany killer but don't push me, that company who have drivers looking for lost unavailable trailers plus keep drivers constantly out of service with that faulty eq; Hell I said it w/s is a good place to work for if you know how to work and not moan. I learned that lesson a long time ago. they have frieght coming from west to the east all the time yet' you have to be opurtunistic when it does come to that.