Watkins shepard

Watkins/Shepard will finance 30 day students through Transportation Alliance Bank. The cost of the 30 day training at W/S is $4,000.

The payback on the loan starts after a couple of weeks after you start driving. W/S will pay $25 a week and the driver pays $15. This is paid for 104 weeks.

Is it better to have W/S finance the training or pay for it in cash at the start.

 

Personally, I would pay for it up front. That allows you to have the freedom to leave whenever you feel the need to. If you're like me, you don't want anything that may bind you to a job. And it's too easy to simply pay a small "student loan" forever.

104 months is a huge amount... Are you sure it's not 104 weeks? At that rate, you're still going to pay over $6k for the training.

Financially, I would have to see the total package to really pass judgement on it. IE How much of a differance it would make in my pay, weekly, monthly, and annually.

If they offered .05 more a mile to start...if you paid up front. That could translate to a substaintial amount of money over 104 months. If it was only a penny...well duh.

I know a couple of drivers who took the W&S financing. One has been here almost 2 years, and has no intention of leaving. He grew up in a family of drivers, and had many options open to him.

That could be a good thing...could be a bad thing.

 

Danc,
I made a typing mistake and the term of the loan is 104 weeks not months. They start you at .28 cpm. If you pay $4,000 up front they will reimburse you $100 a month for 36 months still at .28 cpm plus bonuses. If you don't opt for the tuition reimbursement you start at .29 cpm and do not get the $100 a month.

 

Thanks for the tip! I got the non-slip stuff and put that between my fridge and microwave and then threw a tie down around it and viola! That baby doesn't move at all!

 

Now, I just want to share another update with you on how things are going here so far. As I said when I first started posting I will be sharing the "not so good" on here as well so here goes...*sigh* As of today I have been sitting for 36 hours since my last unload and even though I get layover pay which is generous but not THAT generous I'm a bit miffed. The dispatchers originally started off as Fleet Managers and the one who I was assigned to was great, I never waited for a load. But, now they've gone back to having Zone Managers (one Manager for each zone i.e. East, Mountain, Pacific) and the one I'm dealing with is difficult to say the least! She doesn't respond to Qualcomm messages, I can't get her on the phone after holding for 20 minutes so I feel a bit deserted out here. Now that I'm done venting I just want to say that even though I came into this career with no real expectations and understanding this could be a potential draw back to driving OTR I never expected this kind of frustration this early on in my career with this company! I'm willing to go ANYWHERE for these guys and have no limitations, can pull haz-mat, doubles and can go into Canada if need be so I don't see why a load to ANYWHERE is so hard to find. I tried calling my Zone Manager first thing this AM and was told that she was listening to her voice mails...ALL 54 OF THEM! Oy vay! I was responsible for three of them, again never answered. Am I wrong for being upset? I'm hoping this is only temporary as the bill collectors don't want to hear about my hardships! Let me know what you other drivers are experiencing...is this common? If so, I may have made a wrong career choice? Be safe everyone.

 

JT, yesterday was the first day of zone dispatch, so I'm sure they are all a little overwhelmed trying to figure out the new system.

I assume you're in the east and are dealing with Krissy. She's probably got it worst of all because she previously had most of the teams and a few solo drivers such as myself and now she's got to deal with every driver on the east coast. She was my fleet manager before this change, and she's very competent, I'm sure you'll get taken care of. She's always been difficult to get on the phone and voice mails aren't much better though, best way to communicate with her is through Qcomm.

We all get layovers from time to time, and sometimes they come in strings, it just comes with the territory. The hardest part with me, and I gather with you too, is not knowing what's going on. But believe me, they're trying to get you something. The company doesn't make money when you sit either, they'll get you rolling.

Where're you at anyway?

Jon

 

I wasn't going to say it in open forum...But here goes. This woman is a complete putz. She's either too #### lazy to answer her QC, phone, VM. Or she has her brain out playing with it on too many occasions.

If I wanted to wait for 2 hours to find out I was supposed to be calling someone else, who was going to deadhead me home..... I would have sent empty NOT available. And sat my happy ### there for 2 hours, while only being an hour from the house.

I don't give a rats ### how busy you are. A simple "Call terminal" takes less than 5 seconds of your obviously over scheduled day to type in and hit send. And it doesn't involve taking you away from the 40 other drivers who may be on hold. We call it multi-tasking.

And I'm not refering to a 1 or 2 time deal. I am speaking of an EVERY day item with this woman.

Thats my story..and I'm stickin too it.

 

Sorry to hear you've had problems with her too, Dan. I haven't experienced many problems with her. As I said, can't get her on the phone too often, but she usually answers my QC's without much delay and she's kept me rolling pretty good.

 

Since day ONE. She either takes at least an hour to respond to a simple yes or no question...or simply never responds at all. I ALWAYS have to contact her via phone. She kept me moving, when I was with her. But it's like having your teeth drilled. At least my other FM would acknowledge they had received a message from me. Whether they actually gave me any info, is irrelavent.

I thought I had finally gotten rid of her 3 months ago...But nooooo here we go again.

And now you're telling me SHE is handling the east coast freight, not Mari ? I'm fixing to start going west...again. That or I'm gonna need a script for some #### Valium.

 

Hmm, maybe I hadn't experienced enough of the other FM's to know how bad I've had it then, eh?