Werner due to lack of options...

I was in the same boat as you. Went with werner to just get a year then intended to go to Navajo. I ended up getting screwed over, but I can tell you how to learn from my mistakes.

If you get a bad dispatcher (you will likely get a few...those guys quit a lot) just keep your head down. Dont argue with him even if you are right, they will only make your life hell. And when you are more compliant even the bad ones will soften up just enough to give you a few decent loads. I survived 2 rat ####### dispatchers this way. Also dont have high (or even average) expectations. Your truck will almost certainly suck, repairs will take forever and will need to be done multiple times at different terminals before someone gets it right, and you will get stuck at terminals for days on end at least once a month. I found that accepting these aspects of werner reduced my stress considerably and made everything more bearable.

Now as for my mistake.... dont get lulled into a sense of false security. After almost a year of doing this things got pretty simple for me. I started to think werner wasnt all bad, that I just had to be positive. I took up my dispatchers offer to become a trainer. I had 1 great student, then had a incompetent fool who always got lost, didnt understand the mechanics of braking, and almost tore my arm off sliding the tandems cause he couldnt work the clutch. I asked him to get a new trainer and told them I wont train anymore as they told me I could go back to solo at any time. They kept trying to force students on me and eventually the student wrote me up for various bs violations, I explained to them the reality of things and they said dont worry we know this is just an irate student. Then I get pulled into the Indianapolis terminal for a safety meeting. They drug test me and inspect my truck both of which were fine. The same person who told me things were fine calls on the phone and starts screaming at me for having a tv in my truck and says I did the things the student said and fires me. I had to spend $700 on a rental car to get from Indianapolis to home in Southern California, as the bus ticket they offered would require me to leave all my possesions behind. I thought werner was putting faith in me when they asked me to train, but they were just keeping their vicious cycle of "drivers last" going. I used to talk to former werner drivers at various truck stops who would tell me similar stories and I would think not me. I just need to keep my head down. Now I cant get hired anywhere. I should have left when I had the chance.

Anyway.... forgive the rant. To sum up, you can survive. Just keep your head down, do what your told, and dont get lulled into a sense of false security. Stay solo the whole time and after your year is up you can leave with no black marks on your record. Best of luck and be safe.

 

Don't blame yourself,they are looking for any excuse to terminate drivers,that way they keep the pay low;they don't have seats for all those trainees they hire every week;they just want to milk them as low paid team drivers.Once a trainee has been milked for the government training tax breaks and the trainee pay,he's of no use to any other of these training companies;only the bones are left all of the meat has been stripped away by the vultures.
My son only got 3.5 months with them before they terminated him for hard braking.You say you can't get hired anywhere? I think that's what's happening with my son,when they see the word terminated on his application,it gets tossed.They don't see that Werner put on his Dac eligible for rehire after review.How long have you been out of work? They really don't care about kicking you or anyone else to the curb for a BS reason.

 

You got fired for having a TV in the truck?

Is that a company policy, if you are a trainer?

Just wondering?

 

See that's a major issue with the "Big" companies always doing spiteful things to affect someone's DAC report. I've had similiar issues with companies like Swift and JB Hunt when I first started. Most places nowadays will take you after 3-6 months just have to make sure that you don't abadon the truck with your current employer and I know alot of the flatbed companies are little more flexible. Hope this helps and Good Luck going forward-Drive Safe!

 

@whosedog

Outta work 5 months now. Been denied employment by CRST, Roehl, UPS, and Schneider. Currently trying swift.... sadly

@bigjoel

The TV thing isnt a rule I ever heard of and I knew other trainers who had em. They were just looking for excuses to fire me I guess. They even tried to yell at me for having the APU inverter until I told them that was part of the truck.

 

Pollux, What did Werner put in your Dac Report? The only thing they put in my son's is one 2 inch scratch that he put on a trailer;that and terminated but eligible for rehire with review. They didn't put hard braking ,they just told him about it verbaly which was the reason they gave for termination.He's only been out of work for one month,filling out applications,but getting no replies.
Honestly I think he's finished with trucking thanks to Werners BS.
I believe that when recruiters or personel directors see that he's terminated,they toss the application in the trash.
He really doesn't know what to do at this point and I'm losing hope as well.I'm telling him to join the Army or see if our neighbor can sponsor him in the roofers union.It's hard for him to let go of his dream when he spent so much time and money chasing it.

 

I havent received my DAC report in the mail yet so Im not sure. Has he tried any smaller companies yet? A few people have told to to apply at smaller companies as some of them tend to understand that werner is a big bucket of BS and wont deny you outright for having been screwed by them.

 

He's got applications in Sisco,PFG, Watkins Sheperd,us Express, a local lumberyard,a local dairy,a dump truck co.and a paving stone delivery job. He doesn't mind hard work, I know those jobs involve a lot of labor,but he just wants a job;doen't like sitting at home doing nothing. He also got a tanker endorsement and applied at an enviromental clean up co where his GF works and he's getting a twic card soon.
You have a lot more experience and keep getting turned down so I bet they DACed you with some BS lies.Did you send away for your DAC? It takes about 3 weeks to get .I also read on here that smaller local delivery type jobs don't use Dac so that's probably a good place to apply.The applications for these jobs don't ask for every detail like the OTR companies do.

It really burns me up the way they treat people, terminate them based on lies so they can get a lower paid driver.I don't know how they can look at themselves in the mirror.