Werner Express Dedicated....

I worked for werner/family dollar for the majority of 4 years, and I went into it straight out of trucking school. Right away I was grossing almost 1000 a week and last year my average gross pay was 1300. And I've seen as large as 1800+ for one week. I made over 60,000 last year , and for the most part you are home every weekend. Not likely two full days. Yes its a lot of work and honestly if you're not confident in your driving it may not be the best place, I worked out of rome ny and delivered from pa to the top of maine and everywhere in between.

Basically, you will have to deal with some bs, but try finding a job, especially a trucking job where there is none. Its not a terrible gig to get going and make some money and not be away from home a ton. I dealt with it and now I've gone on to better things.

 

I went out on a dollar general account with a trainer 2 months ago, i have no problem backing into anywhere, but you have to physically unload 300-350 pound rolltainers and all the loose boxes and everything else by hand, so it is definitely hard work, so just prepare yourself! I started december, an its on you where you end up, and what you'll be doing. Werner thought they were just gonna throw me anything, and i was gonna accept it, going otr for 3-4 weks at a time, being away from my family and friends, and only paying 26-28¢ per mile? Not me, if its not worth it monetarilly, go to fleet services and request something that suits you!

 

You seem rather knowledgeable about new drivers etc. am I crazy to think I will be making 700-800 dollars a week driving over the road as an 11-12 state western regional driver? just graduated from driving school am an considering werner out of Fontana Calif. as my starting point.

 

That`s the most money i`ve heard of doing the FD account. You must work fast and accurate. I saw a FD truck at a store and he was unloading with a pallet jack, he said this was something new they were doing now.

 

can anybody tell me about the run for werner from phx az to California and back

 

my trainer was only a solo driver for a year before he became a trainer. he's now been doing it for 19 years.

a good friend of mine at Knight was there only 4 months and they made him a trainer and he's doing GREAT.

either way you look at it, a student isn't going to learn EVERYTHING they will possibly encounter and need to know as a trainee. There's simply not enough time to teach everything during the training period.

Being out with a trainer is to help refine your driving, work with you on your backing, and to help you get accustomized to the daily routine of trucking (pre-trip, driving, backing, city driving/turning, dealing with consignee/consignor, and using the qualcomm and logging your hours properly).

so to sit there and say that a driver with 1 year of experience can't or won't be effective is just plain ignorant. Really it's on a case by case basis, and how much attention to detail one pays as a trainer, and how prepared they are, and if they the desire and patience. Training is certainly not for everyone though.

If you don't have the patience or desire, you could have 20 years of experience and be a bad trainer.

 

Although your logic makes sense. One should not train with under 1 year of experience. I feel you need a lot more than 5 and at least over 500k miles to properly train a new driver. It's a case of the blind leading the blind with that little of experience.

 

and you feel this based on what???

every driver out there took and passed a test to drive a car. those with CDL's took a course and a test to drive a truck. Most of this stuff is common sense and not getting in a hurry. The backing might be the most technical part of it. The rest is so simple you could train chimp's to do this stuff like clockwork.

unless you've lived in Miami or Phoenix all your life and you've never driven in the snow/sleet/freezing rain, I can't see any possible justification for your logic whatsoever. We aren't doing anything THAT advanced or technical that needs to be taught...aside from the backing, it's all just honing your fundamentals.

 

Get some years behind you on the road and you will see what I mean.

 

yeah I dont see what a 4 month rookie can "Teach" you!