Werner Enterprises, Inc. - Omaha, Ne.

He pulled a trailer with locked up wheels. Maybe had the air lines reversed? Still he blew out the tires. How in the heck can you do that? Poor judgement.

No mystery here. He doesn't act surprised.

 

Looking for some info on Werner. We had a recruiter at our school tell us that all their trucks have apu's, with no idle restrictions?? He even said when we have hometime to leave our trucks at the truck stop and keep the apu running to charge the batteries. What ?? leave our truck running for 2 days at a truck stop. I do realize he's a recruiter.

Right now is a crazy time for all of us, but for a newb w/ little choices I find it nearly impossible to find a starter company [bottom feeder] that stands out from each other. They all sound pretty much the same except the trucks are different colors.
My options, 1. May 2. GTI 3. Werner

I have read all about these co. on here. I have been researching for over a year, you guys' and gal's have given me great insight. I value your opinions much more than any recruiters. Werner driver's past or present give it to me straight. Thanks-Liteguy

 

They must have changed it.It was ten years ago.

 

Werner was the only company I had worked for until now and that was for ten years.I worked for them from 1997-2007.I went to a non company driving school and Werner kept making the monthly payments for as long as I kept working for them.They ended up paying all of my schooling.I did my training and then did OTR for a year.I got tired of OH,IL,PA,IN,KY,etc and went regional with Werner's 57' trailers.That covered TX,OK,KS,NM,AZ,NV,CO,WY,AR,LA,MS,AL and FL.I had the option of going home every weekend but I'd stay out for five weeks and then take five days off.Every year or so I'd take a month off and get a brand new tractor when I came back.I had a lot of seniority back then and back then it meant something.

As for equipment,I never had a problem except for a 2005 Peterbuilt 379 with a new emission C15.Of all of the tractors I drove(7 or 8),That was the only one I wouldn't have bought from Werner.Back then everything was less then 2.5 years old.If it was something non DOT I'd wait until I got to my home terminal to get it fixed so that I could go home while it was in the shop.If it was DOT related and something minor I'd fix it myself and get reimbursed for it.If I couldn't fix it then it would go to a terminal,truck stop shop,dealer,or road breakdown.

Miles
When I started back in 1997 I was getting 3600-4200 a week before they changed the HOS.After that I was doing good to get 3200-3600 a week.From 2006 until I left the country in 2007 I was only getting around 2400-2600 a week.

Payroll,never had a problem getting reimbursed for scales,tolls or any other thing needed out on the road.

Tolls,had all the cards and transponders for all the interstates.

They had PrePass which kept you out of scales and POEs 75-80% of the time.

Home time
Back then it was one day for one week.OTR drivers could take seven off without turning in their truck.Regional drivers could take five off.You could also turn your truck in and take 30 days off without having to reapply for your job again.A lot of people complain about home time.I never really had a problem.I was home on the day I asked for 90% of the time.If it was something I had to be home for then I was smart enough to set it for a couple of days before the date I needed to be home.If you run regional and expect to be home every weekend then there will betimes you mess those days depending on the region and it's size.People need to remember that that is 52 times in row that they want to be home on time.

Loads
A lot of drop and hooks.Some HAZMAT.Never ran overweight.If the shipper refused to cut the load then we didn't take the load.

Logs
I did the paper ones for a year and then went paperless for the rest of the nine.Never really had a problem with them.The only DOT that would check them was the Texas DPS and they only wanted to know what our hours were at at that exact time.Even with them and running legal I still was able to make $40,000-$45,000 a year until freight and miles started to fall off.

Sure there were times when I wanted to quit.That's just the way it is.When I went to driving school one of the instructors said it was all the same no matter were you went.That was part of being a truck driver.Dealing with you job and dealing with things out of your control.He said if you got P*ssed off to give yourself 24 hours before quitting and odds would be you wouldn't quit.That's what Werner was like.There were some bad times and bad days and bad loads,etc but nothing that was so bad or every single day or every single load,etc.

A lot of people rag on these big companies.The experienced drivers do it for one reason and the newbies do it for the another.Of all the newbies that complain,how many do you think are still driving a truck?How much of it was the company and how much of it was the trucking industry that they ended up not liking?

I'm at a place and time were I don't need to work for a company.After ten years I don't want to be forced dispatched.I'd like to be an O/O.Since I'd be debt free I'll have a lot more control over things.A lot has changed over the two and a half years that I've been driving overseas.I may not even recognize the truck industry I left or Werner.I can't tell you what Werner is like now.If I had to go back to working for a company I would go back to Werner and see if it was the same company I left.

 

I was with werner up until December 09 so ill try to give you as much info as I can.

Not all of there trucks have apu's. The 2009 frightliners they have the apu's and they would have alot of internationals that had then but the newer trucks where the ones that had the apus but not all the time. Deppending on which terminal you go to you maybe able to talk to th fleet assignment person into getting you into 1 with an apu if they have them there.

My 1st trainer had and apu and we were told if we wernt using the apu it needs to be shut off because it was wasting something the said I can remember what but they wanted it off.

As Hoofbeats said about the hometime that hasnt changed. I dont know about regional I drove all 48 states but for every week your were out you could get a day off up to 5 days off but if you want 7 or more you had to turn in your truck. I took my hometime every once in awhil for no more than 3 or 4 days but I knew if i had to be home for something you should tell them days b4 you actually need to be there.

The miles I would get would be up and down. I never had more than 1500 miles in a week and I would get that if I was lucky. It was hard to come by good miles. I think teams probably get the loads with more miles.

The pay for me did suck. In the beginning i was sitting so long a had negative paychecks then i would get some miles then I would be back in the lower pays.My pay was up and down. For the year i was there I made around $15,000.

But I think the first year is interesting. There will probably come a time where you'll want to quit, cry(yea I had a few times I cried) well maybe not cry but it'll be to the point where you'll start to second guess if this is for you. You may have to just take some time to clear your mind. Like I think with most people you'll have good things that happen and bad things that happen.

I hope that helped

O yea they do have some good benifits. And a 401k I think, and they dohave prepasses for most states exept Florida and somewhere else but I loved my prepass.

 

if you are interested in flatbed then boyd bros. would be my pick, as far as marten they are as bad if not worse on miles than werner is givin you. i drove for them or 3 months and got a total of about 1500 to 1800 miles a week. good luck

 

yor not leaving the truck engine running. your having the apu (auxillary power unit) run and it either cools or heats the sleeper depending on the season and keeps the batteries charged.

 

Yeah I realize that, but with how strict everyone is about letting anything run, especially an empty truck I was surprised. A lot of co's. have restrictions on apu's.

 

I think the recruiter had his facts wrong.You're still wasting fuel if now one is in it.The good ones have a battery level sensor and will come on when the batteries start to drop down.

 

I think she fell into that "pre paid legal" scam! How much did you pay these bottom feeders to tell you it would cost you $2000 to fight those tickets?
I hope you have learned a lesson or two here.

#1 STOP paying for pre paid legal! It's better to get your own lawyer and fight the ticket and you don't even have to show in court unless it was a reckless driving ticket and you might still not have to show. Guess you figured out that you threw a lot of money into that hole!
#2. You REALLY need to slow down! You've broken even MY record! And in just 1 year!
#3 NEVER "just pay" a ticket! Get your OWN lawyer in the town or county you got it in and DO NOT believe anything the cop tells you about "they'll drop or lower" something if you just pay it! He's making money for whoever so do you really think he's going to do something that will loose money for the tax base in BFE or wherever you are to help you unless you're sitting there with your top off?

If you do manage to get hired on somewhere pay a little more attention to your surroundings and turn that CB on! I bet you either didn't have one or it was off and you were doing the cell thing or an i Pod deal! Yes, a CB is like listening to a kidder garden play ground but most of the time someone will yell Bear! I bet the cost of a CB was a lot cheaper than those tickets!
I'm poking a little fun at you little lady but you out did me in my best year on tickets and I hope this will help you out to save you money in 2 different areas. As for he rest of you drop that stupid prepay legal crapola! Do you honestly think a sticker on the door or a baseball cap advertisement will stop a cop from writing a ticket? If you do, IM Dieselbear in these forums and ask him! That will give him time to ROFLHAO! I was in a company safety meeting a few years ago and they had some pre paid legal rep there who actually told us that cops will turn around and walk away when they see that cap and sticker on the window! I had to get up and leave giggling as he kept spreading it on so thick until there were about 10 of us walking out on the meeting laughing our arses off!

Good luck there kid!
Rollover!