Working For Werner

Bob the Trucker
Are you still with Werner ?
I live in Tampa and will be signing up to road master soon
Werner sent me a pre hire

 

Werner can't can't keep people on the Dollar General accounts nor the Family Dollar accounts. They are constantly forcing drivers to be assigned on a temp basis to those accounts. and they send out messages all the time offering 1000.00 to move to the NE and work those accounts. I have been with Werner and will be leaving them very soon. They have little to no respect for thier drivers. they run 3 orientation classes a week with close to 50 newbies per class so they really don't have to care. I was told they lose right around 14,000 drivers per year.

They are cracking down pretty heavy on violations if you get any kind of moving violation they will fire you . Speeding , running a red light etc . etc ...thier safety rating with DOT is pretty high and they are working to get it down. But yet they don't want to really take care of thier equipment . I had to argue and argue with them to get them to change a steer tire that was a 3 in the center of the tire . Finally had to call safety to get them to change the steer tire. It is pretty common for them to give you a load that you figure will take 15 hours to deliver and they have you delivering it in 10 hours. They will try to run you right up till your 14 expires then write you up if you exceed it cause you cant find a safe haven to park at. Most of thier dipatchers are young college kids that have no idea what it takes to be a driver and have little compassion for thier drivers. You better be good at E-Logs cause Werner has little compassion for mistakes on your first mistake it is a verbal warning. Second mistake written warning. Third mistake you are routed to a terminal to take a safety class. Fourth mistake you have are suspended for 24 hours you have to pay for a motel room. 5th mistake you need to pay for a motel room for 7 days. After that you are fired.

I remember my orientation class that was a very seedy bunch one guy was dismissed cause he was on pain killers. And he stood outside raising hell cause he was under doctors order to take them. It seemed like there was a party at the hotel on both nights I was there. One of the guys in our orientation class checked into his room only to find blood all over the room.I remember getting pic pocketed in the orientation class someone stole my wallet and 200.00 right out of my back pocket in the class room. All another could talk about was how great his Rand McNally GPS was and that him and 12 other drivers did not have to go out with a trainer cause they were considered qualified drivers in Werners eyes even though some of them had not driven in years and none of them knew Werners policies. The hotel was also filled with injured Werner drivers off the Dollar general accounts that Werner was letting work at the terminal on light duty. I remember one woman was working the desk and she got mad because Werner did not pay her for that week. 3 fights broke out in the parking of the hotel and one hotel room got thrashed while I was there.

I think one of the biggest things I don't like about Werner is that they pay you 20.00 layover pay per day. And they will keep you on a pre assigned that may not pick up for a couple days just to keep you from getting that 20.00 per day. You will set alot with Werner and be lucky to get that 20.00 a day layover pay. Even if you deserve it you have to make sure you ask your FM to give it to you or you won't get it. They are bad about giving you a preassign also then pulling it and giving you a load that is almost impossible to deliver on time. Not sure who does thier planning but they need to get rid of them.

I have been with Werner a couple months and will not be there another month. I have been driving for a couple years and had a friend talked me into going with them as he drove for them at the time. I knew better and had better offers but let him talk me into it anyway then he quit while I was in Orientation. With Werner you better get use to paying lumpers also. You can unload the trucks for 10.00 a hour but it is not worth it plus is kills your hours. Werner uses the EFS checks for lumpers and you have to get them authorized . You also have to have the lumper company fill out the Lumper reciept. If they don't give you the proper Tax Id or thier SS number or if you forget to put the lumper fee on the front of the trip pack envelope Werner will take the lumper fee out of your paycheck and not reimburse you for it. Let me tell you it is like pulling teeth trying to get those lumper companies to give you the info for those lumper reciepts. Most companies have taken that burden off of thier drivers but Werner still puts it on thier drivers.

Another thing is Werner will issue you a tool box that is probably worth about 50.00 dollars with the tools they give you in it, if that much. They are pretty cheap tools and it includes two cheap locks that freeze up on you pretty quick. Along with two straps instead of load locks for securing your loads. They will charge you 400.00 for this tool box and take it out of your check at 10.00 per week. They also offer you alot of things in orientation that you don't really need... They offer to take 10 or 20 dollars out of your check for thier legal council. What they don't tell you is that it is only to keep thier lawyers on a retainer it does not pay for any legal advise. They also offer you life insurance that they take out of your check but it is only for like 7.000 in coverage. They offer med insurance and vision insurance that seems reasonable to me though I have yet to use it insurance kicks in after 30 days ... Just make sure you neeed what they are offering and are clear on what they offer you.

Thier per diem package seems ok ... My biggest probelm with that was they could'nt remember from week to week rather I was on per diem or not... On my slow weeks they paid me per diem.. If I was over 2000 miles for the week they did'nt pay me per diem.

For a starter company I would recommend Swift over Werner any day. Maybe Werner will work out for whoever wants to go there. And I am sure there are those that like it and enjoy working there. I have had a very bad experience with Werner and will be leaving there in very short order probably as soon as I get off my hometime. I am looking hard now and enjoying some good offers. Werner may tell you they care but it has been my experience that they don't ...

One other thing the recruiter will tell you that Werner was founded by a truck driver and that drivers come first because of that . While that may be true and C.L. may be a good guy who is known for taking care of his drivers. C.L. is now retired and his sons are running the company and they don't care about the drivers all they care about is the dollar. I was told that C.L. had had to come out of retirement 3 times now to save the company from his sons running of it ... How much of that is true I am not sure except that C.L. is retired and his sons are running the company now and they care nothing about the drivers they are in it for the money and nothing more. Also agree with the the other poster who was talking about Werners Southeast regional. If the recruiter offers you S.E. Regional decline it you might as well go all 48 states. Werner will pay you 20 cents a mile for S.E. Regional but will run you all 48 states even though you are S.E. regional. They will pay you 28 cents a mile if you go in as all 48 states so your better of going all 48 states cause your going to run to the same places as S.E. regionals are doing. Also if they offer you 28 cents a mile or 20 cents a mile a protion of that is called safety pay like 4 or 5 cents of that 20 cents or 28 cents per mile. If you have a safety violation in that week you will not make 28 cents a mile or 20 cents a mile depending on what you are running ... Instead it will be like 15 CPM or 23 CPM... Werner has all the bases covered and are in it to make the most money for the company they can often at the drivers expense.

Another thing that is kind of scary with Werner is that you can become a trainer after only 90 days with the company. So you could be 90 days out of school and be a trainer. To me that is just scary and it is hard to get a good trainer with Werner for that reason.