Werner Tractors ???

I will agree to some extent on the condition of some of the trucks. I drive for Werner and have seen some pretty beat up trucks. There's a heck of alot of students driving the trucks and then there are some "not so skilled drivers" in a few. I'm still a rookie and I'm nowhere near perfect. Still learning everyday, but, I haven't crushed my sleeper wings yet, and I hope I never do by paying attention.
The whole "dirty" truck issue is due to the economy. The company will only pay for one wash a month. It's up to you, and your pride as to how clean it stays the rest of the month. I can't stand for the inside of my truck to be nasty, so every down time I get it gets swept out and picked up. As for the outside, I'll use their once a month cleaning and then I'll try my best to clean it up on home time.
It's all up to the driver. You can tell the one's that take pride in it and the one that don't care because it's not their personal vehicle.

 

Not trying to hijack anyones thread here but i have noticed a few current Werner drivers on here. I was wondering about the miles you guys are getting along with the home time right now. I am considering sending them an app.

Thx-BigDan

 

I'll be driving for Werner soon hopefully. How do you like driving for Werner so far? Getting lots of miles? Are you dedicated, regional or OTR? I won't even ask about home time likes lots of people do, I always asumed you give up that to be a trucker.

I just love driving and want to see the states I've never been to yet. I was told no OTR available in my area (texas) right now. I did see a post saying a regional guy going all over the place, not just his region. Heck, I'm going into this profession not for the money, but the experience.

 

Are you still with Werner? You info says wannabe.

Saw the post above and you are still with Werner

 

I know you werent asking me, but it sure sounds like you referred to one of my posts in the end.

I'm midwest regional, I get lots of miles usually, but this week has been a little slow for me. I think its mostly just the holiday, almost all of the christmas products have shipped by now, they want to get me home for christmas, but i am still expecting a couple of good paychecks. I enjoy working here but it is a big company so they do p me off sometimes..

I'd suggest you go regional. Regional will get you home for 1 day a week if you want, every other weekend seems to get the best hometime vs pay. You can stay out as long as you want, and the longer you stay out the farther you're going to drive, the more miles you're going to get.

You WILL operate outside your region. Infact, the regions as they define them are so small its silly. I live in Michigan, so I usually run Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennyslvania, New Jersey, New York and Ontario. I get a lot of east coast runs, but those get me the most miles, so I rather like them. Not what i call the midwest..but it's really not a bad setup for someone living in michigan. I usually go to the Channahon, IL drop yard (X247 on I-55) atleast twice a week if that tells you anything!

On two week trips, ive been as far east as Connecticut! But, when I was in training, my trainer was supposedly on southeast, we went all the way to Oregon, etc. Broke down in the middle of the DESERT! On southeast! LOL. how does that happen? Had to get towed 100 miles to the nearest shop! Anyway, I went solo in Omaha, stayed out for 3 weeks after training (it was only 140 hrs of training, im not totally nuts!) before i went home for 2 days. After i first went solo, i drove a daycab to OKC, constantly hitting my knees on the steering column, picked up my cascadia, went through heck getting keys for it, and went to Kansas, Texas, Lousiana, Florida. The fun part was when i had to go to (across the street from) the seaport in LaPorte, TX. You could see the ships being unloaded from the street. I basically was OTR until I went home the first time.

Anyway, midwest has a minimum $40 of pay on all trips, if your milage pay doesnt exceed $40 you get $40. Sometimes i get loads that i complete in 30 minutes! This is a lot better than the $20 shag pay + milage OTR gets, on loads under 100 miles (so if its 101 miles, you dont get it...).

So basically, if you're regional you get 1 week minimum dispatch, OTR gets 3 weeks, but you can stay out as long as you want, and the longer you stay out the farther you get to go.

Next time i go out im staying out for 3 weeks.

 

Freight seems to have slowed down for the holiday just last week. Freight will pick back up in a couple of weeks after the holiday.

I get aroun 2000 to 3500 miles a week, its usually around 2000 to 2500 because i only stay out two weeks at a time though. The longer you stay out the more miles you get, period. Even though you end up having to take 34 hour restarts every 10 days or so!

I get one day off for every week out, i only have to stay out for 1 week at a time but that doesnt make much sense so i stay out for 2 weeks... heh.

 

Do you get to take your Tractor Home if there is no OC near your home??

 

Yup. I take mine home every time i go home. However im always loaded when i go home, and i have nowhere to park the trailer...officially you cant drop it except at a guarded yard, but we have "guarded" yards where they're in the ghetto with an abandoned guard shack and a fence thats falling down. I can't get a ride at 4am to the truckstop, so I drop the trailer there...with written permission..., apply a kingpin lock and lock the doors, and bobtail home. Never been a problem, its more secure than most of our drop yards, and.... 1) I've had call-ins about where i dropped my trailer before, werner didnt care but i was told that i had to move it 2) If someone wants that load they can steal the whole truck and trailer easier than a trailer alone, 3) its always something stupidly low value like wood pellets, pallets, paper towels...heh.

just make sure you have written permission from someone in charge of wherever you park your equipment. I have a local TA that doesnt own its own parking lot, the lot is public property, the township can come tow whoever whenever whyever, and after i heard that, ill never park there again. I drop at a flying j that can give authorization up to a week...I also dont have room for the tractor at my house, so i park it at a local place of business (with permission), and i just walk home from there...not very far. These people said its fine as long as i dont interfere with the snow plowing.

It's a two hour drive to my home drop yard as i call it, so ... Plus this way i get cheap insurance as my car is for pleasure only, and im not even lying about it.

 

Pilot is 4 miles from my house. Flying J is 12-14.

My street is very narrow. It will require doing a 1/2 mile back to get down to the dead end of the street where my place is.

 

cant bobtail in and use your driveway? my flying j is 10 miles away from my house but i drop my trailer there anyway

ive backed up 2 miles once. its not that hard.