Werner & Me

I did tell my SDM and safety every thing in I said here.

As for driveing 11 hours. At my last job (lab manager) I worked 12 + hours every day for 40 hours pay. So after driveing 11 hours I Still dont feel like I have even been to work. So far i Love driving it less of a job and more like a hobbe I get payed for.

 

My first day of training was similar in that I also drove (almost) 11 hours, but my trainer was cool about it and it was not a demand.. basically he said stop if you feel you had enough. He also told me that when I drove, it was up to me anytime I felt I needed to stop for a break, I did not need to ask..

There was also one time when we were driving heavy, and I screwed around and stayed awake too long on my off time.. I was driving and we were about to go through Vegas, he was in the sleeper, and I was feeling unsafe, and I knew that basically unless I could use both lanes I was going to have trouble going through the slalom of construction cones in town.. I knew that we had about 5 hours of cushion to make our delivery, so I pulled into the parking lot of one of the casinos in Primm.. set the alarm for 2 hours sleep, and slept (and it was good).. I knew he was a good trainer when he told me the next day.. "don't apologize, you did the right thing".. Of course I also learned the lesson "sleep when your supposed to", because if we didn't have that time cushion we might have been late.

 

I'll say you have integrity to say this when others would make things up and put the company down. If times were not so tough right now it may not have been a big issue.

Best of luck in finding work and hope you find something you can enjoy.

 

well, thats one hell of a story, Im right out of school, changed my career, ex-military,
its hard to find a comapny that will take me because of where I live, which is long island ny, due to ths economy, werner and lisa motor line said yes to me. I want regional for the north east coast. I have no experience except military and school.
I know, I have to pay my dues, and acquire experience, the pastr few weeks I have spoke to many companys, its the same answer, we dont hirer from your area or you need experience? can you give any advice to a new be.......Im all ears......

 

im about to start a dedicated dg run with werner on the east coast. What can I expect? I don't mind the unloading, i've done that before.

 

Hey IROC Babe great posting can you tell me about the Pennsylvania Terminal. I have researched the trucking industry for the past year and discovered only several posting like yours.

I am retired and will be trucking this fall. I will be attending a college base truck school. I have been pre-hired with WERNER and a couple of others. I have learned that every profession has its criticizers and many employees leave for greener pastures for hundreds of reasons.
I saw it for many years prior to retirement.
However, I like the WERNER Company because of the paperless logs, and the contact interviews I had with their drivers.
I look forward to beginning training this fall in the Pennsylvania terminal, unless some says training is better at another terminal.

 

Allentown, PA, is one of Werner's worst terminals. It's not a terrible place to do Orientation -- cause, honestly, orientation is basically just about watching videos and signing papers.

But if I had to choose a terminal at which to get my truck repaired, or from which to be assigned a truck -- or really, if I had to choose a terminal where I had to spend any considerable length of time at all -- it wouldn't be Allentown.

My tongue-in-cheek motto for Allentown was, "Where trucks go to die." Do your orientation there; you probably won't have a choice if you live in the northeast, in fact -- but if and when you've finished your time on a trainer's truck, ask him to drop you off at a different terminal, if you can.

You'll get a better truck, somewhere else, and your chances of getting treated like a human being are better somewhere else, too.

Your mileage may vary, but I worked for Werner for two years, and I spent a lot of time at Allentown. These are my honest impressions.

 

Heh, well she does have integrity to say that -- but I don't know that the picture she paints of the company is exactly flattering, either.

Not that I don't believe it, mind you. The fact is that Werner gets an awful lot of money through government job-training incentives, which is why they continue hire probably 2,000 people per week even in a year when they reduce their work force by 11%.

See, you can't very well tell the government that, on the one hand, you deserve to keep getting incentives for hiring people, and on the other hand that you're laying people off right and left.

What you can do is find excuses to fire everyone you can, and keep hiring. And there's an added bonus: By firing instead of laying off, you're not liable for unemployment insurance.

So, for what it's worth, what I'm saying is that Werner may have been technically justified in firing her, but in this economy a firing (which usually comes with a corresponding record on DAC) is a little like black-balling someone. And Werner's doing it for, shall we say, uh, shady reasons.

I know Werner drivers who got away with near murder and still weren't fired, as recently as three years ago. Thus, it's a little disingenuous on Werner's part to act like the recent spate of firings is just business as usual -- but it's hard to blame the company, alone. It's just acting in its best interest; government (largely) has just made Werner's best interests a little screwy.

The bottom line is that Werner's ok to work for. I think the paperless logs make for a great training experience for the new driver, in fact. The pay isn't great, and you will have to spend quite a lot of your time and energy covering your backside -- but if you drive safely and deliver your loads on time (document it when you're assigned a load that's already late on pick up, for cripe's sake), you can survive there, hopefully with the aim eventually to move on to greener pastures.

But don't expect that a positive attitude will solve everything. Take the bad things you hear about the company, whether on this forum or from disgruntled drivers sitting at terminals, with a grain of salt. Take the good things with a grain of salt, too.

Drive safe.

 

Hi Marty. I was a Werner trainer who recently quit for personal (not related to the company) reasons. I was originally hired out of the Allentown Terminal.

The best advice I can give you is to deal with the Allentown terminal. It is one of their worst. The drop yard is on the other side of town, in Bath. It is a dirty terminal and not a full service one either. Indianapolis is worse though!

Do not expect to make the big bucks. Student pay isn't much. While I was training, there were times that the student made more than I did! Try to have some money in reserve, do not spend all yours on food! Do NOT fall into the advance trap. Taking a pay advance only makes your next paycheck that much smaller! It can be a vicious circle. Take care of any personal business before you report. Pay bills, store your car (do not leave it at the terminal or it will be towed), tell relatives that you will be gone for a month or six weeks.

Werner tends to run trainer trucks as teams. Do not be surprised at this. A good trainer will help you run your hours and teach you to manage them. Please listen to your trainer when he explains the electronic logs. They are different than paper logs. The rules are the same but how you make entries is much different. The log works both ways, protecting you as much as it does the company. Make it work for you!

If you were prior military, you should be intimately familiar with CYA. It applies equally here too. If you have a problem, document it on the QualComm, don't do it over the phone. Some unscrupulous dispatchers will tell you do do things over the phone that you either cannot or should not do. Get it in writing!

Don't tolerate a bad trainer. IF he (or she) is dirty, nasty and smelly, get another one and make sure your SDM knows why. Werner reads the blue sheets and will act on them. Believe me! I've heard horror stories from students. One told me how his trainer put away two six packs a day! Even while driving. When I asked him if he told his SDM that, he said no! I dragged him into the safety office and made him tell. IT was as much for his own good as for that driver's. The trainer was fired on the spot when the safety manager found a case of beer on the truck but it was still for his own good as he could have killed somebody out there. Another female told me her trainer had an impressive collection of (unwashed) dildos laying around the sleeper. I didn't believe her until she showed me the pictures she took. Good Lord!

Why do people put up with this?

Please keep your trainer "in the loop" on what is going on. If you need help, ASK! A good trainer will help you even if he is sleepy. He would rather help you get something right the first time than have you hand him a real challenge that will cost him a night's sleep later or worse, crash into something. I have had students jack the truck into impossibly tight situations and THEN ask for help. All I can do is scratch my head and wonder how in the world he got the truck wedged in there like that...

Werner is ultimately what you make of it. They are a "starter" company. You should plan on living like a monk for two years until you have enough experience to go someplace better. Most drivers do it that way. Ask questions! Understand everything! Learn all you can! Don't let a trainer get away with half-answers. He is there to train you not just to drive but to live!

He should be showing you how to plan a trip, tips on routing (do NOT follow your QualComm directions!), how to eat and shower on the road (daily showers are unusual, get used to it!), which truck stops to avoid (some are real dumps) and more!

You are embarking on a lifestyle, not just a job! Trucking is unlike anything you have experienced to date. It takes some getting used to. There are sacrifices you will have to make. You have to love what you do. Protect yourself and your DAC with your LIFE! Do NOT piss off Werner or you WILL be blackballed. Leave on good terms or not at all.

Feel free to ask me anything.

Good luck!

 

Informative post, thank you. Wondering if you had any experience of the Lathrop terminal near Stockton CA?