Werner Enterprises

Fyr,

Will you still have Carol or another trainer?

King

 

I'm half the way through training with Werner. I got on with a o/o, I cant complain. I wanted to get with a flat bed operator,and got placed with a dry box. Little bit of bs here and ther but I realy cant complain.well I could,but cry babys shouldnt truck. I have heard that a lot of the women are stuck at the terminals waiting for a female trainer. It seems a lot of male trainers wont mess with training a woman because of the possibility of a harrasment suit.

 

To add about the trucks and Werner policies, etc;

Werner policy prohibits cell phone use while driving... for ALL drivers. That is often ignored, but it is policy.

Training begins(for new drivers) with 275hrs required. Over the past yr or so, they've extended that another 50hrs for new drivers and will have almost all drivers run that extra week. They'll tell you within the last 7 to 0 days of your training. And to be sure, Werner makes ALOTTA extra money by keeping a driver in training. The trainee, however, makes very little.

Once you're a qualified driver, you'll only make the money they claim if you can average over 3000 miles per week. Newbies start at 26cpm, which isn't much. Not long after, you'll get a 1cpm raise.

Werner doesn't allow drivers to pick their truck, but they may allow a driver to pick from what is on the lot at the time... That is, from used equipment with generally 250,000 or more miles on the clock. That isn't so much mileage for a well maintained truck. Problem is, they don't do correct/proper maintenance.

They use Pete 387 and 389's now, along with KW T600 and W900, and Freightliner Century Class S/T, aging Classic XL's and a "lucky few" will get the new Cascadia. That isn't considering any day cabs. Nearly ALL current Werner trucks(save the couple Volvo's left) have the Cat C15 engine. They don't have any other engines in new trucks based on what I looked at in late February. I've seen a Detriot Series 60 here or there, but not in anything remotely new.

I left Werner a few weeks ago due to bad equipment and lack of proper maintenance, but more because of bad dispatching. The miles were probably there to be had, but the trucks kept breaking down and my dispatcher flatly refused to insist on proper repair. The only reason I can think of for that is his desire to make money. They're paid based on miles the drivers run. You'd think that means getting a bad truck replaced or a broken truck repaired. Not so much from my personal experience.

I don't recommend the company, but with a turnover rate of over 120%, clearly they get drivers. I wish you well.

 

I am a trainer for Werner and I train both woman and men. I think that it has to do with the person and if they are willing to be in a truck for 7-9 weeks with a person with the oposit sex.

As far as addressing if you can pick your own truck after training the answer is YES and NO. They normally have several trucks in the yard and give you the oportunity to look at them before you "TAKE IT".

Just my two cents...

 

If they offer a truck and you don't take it... They won't pay you layover time while you wait for a truck you will take.

 

QUESTION - Isn't your trainer supposed to be awake while training?? Sounds like she was pretty good other than that. My spouse smokes and I would get on his case for getting ashes all over HIS truck!

 

And I don't blame the guys either. I would not train females either when I trained. FOR that very reason.

I've had a female co-driver. That I was not involved with, believe it or not....BUT

I've been involved in 4 sexual harrassment suits, as a witness. And EVERY time, it cost the guy his position within the company, or his job altogether. Regardless of the outcome. The potential cost was TOO much for me to even consider training a female.

Wanna see a driver LOSE everything. All it takes is one woman to scream rape or sexual harrassment. GUILTY until proven innocent. No If's, ands, or buts

 

danc694u,

See my PM and You could not have said it better. When I get into the industry, I will refuse to team with women unless she is my g/f or good friend. I would never take a risk with a stranger fearing my career.

King

 

Don't take that to mean every woman is bad news.

My female co-driver was ALL business. We spent a couple of weeks chatting via phone (our company hooked us up), she came to my house to meet my wife. We were able to agree on what we wanted and expected from each other. And things worked okay for us both while we were together.

 

I did not mean anything bad sir. My fellow co worker was in high school while I was college and it was not pretty as we had two different personalities. She started the stir and I had to miss work for a week because of too many complications.

King