WSE - from my point of view

I started posting to the DAC sub-forum but thought that maybe it may get buried in the details of this forum so I pulled it out here.

Sorry for the long post but I want to catch up. It's about 05:30 on Friday, 11/13/09.

I started with WSE (Willis Shaw Express) on Veteran's Day after 2.5 days of orientation.

I was assigned a trainer right away and I was fortunate that he was actually at the Elm Springs Arkansas terminal on Wednesday. Doesn't always work out that way. The other student driver had to wait until Thursday for his trainer to get there. Not too bad though compared to some of the horror stories I've read. My trainer is HASB, 30 years old...single guy, one who is concerned with personal hygiene (a huge issue with me). He doesn't smoke or drink. He is a 5 year veteran who likes training, has done so for a couple of years, and has trained about 13-14 students, 11-12 who are still with the company and he still speaks to on a fairly regular basis (in fact, on this run to ATL, he received calls from 2 of his trainees...just to chat.) Positve thing in my mind. I could not have hand picked a trainer better.

WSE's goal is to get their new drivers AT LEAST 10,000 miles behind the wheel and to go to all 4 corners of the country in doing so. We aren't running the team concept (although we may at the end just to experience that). I am pretty much running on my log book with his guidance. He will fade further and further into the shadows as time passes so that by weeks 3 & 4, I am pretty much running the truck/loads as though this is my truck.

Our first run was to take a MT trailer to Joplin to pickup a load of canned biscuits, etc. WSE runs primarily reefer units (although they do pull some dry van freight). It was a short run...only 70+ miles to the shipper. There we shut down for the night since our appt wasn't until Thursday morn.

First experience in a truck stop was the Petro in Joplin...that place is HUGE!!!!!! No trouble with parking. Admittedly, I felt a little like a fish out of water. I am a CPA who has lived in the dark wood and gold letter world for the past several years. It's been 20 years since I have been the part of a blue collar world. That is not a slam on the good hardworking people in this business...just an observation and my thoughts as I climbed out of the truck and made my way across the huge lot of trucks.

Other thoughts....Man, there are some BEAUTIFUL trucks on the road. Incredible. Without a manufacturer's logo or name on most, I wouldn't be able to tell one from the other...10 wheels, 3 axles, and a couple of doors. I saw one that had a sleeper that was bigger than some of the nicer camping trailers I've seen being towed down the road.

So, we went in to the shipper, getting there at about 7. Our appointment wasn't until 9:30 but thought it was worth a try to get loaded a little early. This is a live load. Went inside, saw the guy we needed to, confirmed the load we were there for and hung out for a few minutes awaiting a call (over the CB) as to when to pull up and to what door.

I pretty much impressed my trainer already with my backing abilities in simply putting the rig into a waiting area. When we were called, I backed it pretty much right into the dock door we were assigned. I think I had to pull up once. I think we only waited about 15-20 minutes for those guys to have us bumpe the dock.

Heck, another 45 minutes and we were loaded and heading out. Loaded and on the road at 0900...not bad when our appt wasn't until 0930. Only 32k lbs of freight so we knew we would be good and not have to scale out the load.

We motored the load back to Elm Springs. This load was headed to the ATL area. We were trying to head out on one of our "4 corners" trips so we just dropped this at Elm and got under another load that was headed to Nashville TN. From Music City, we were to head to CT, the Northeast corner. I was excited to go ahead and get this one out of the way.

We dropped the newly loaded trlr and got under the Nashville load, one of more than 42k lbs. Hmmm...better go scale this one. Headed to the nearest scale, about 5 miles. While sitting at a traffic light, I noticed that the air pressure (applied brakes) was falling more than the 4 lbs/minute I had learned in school. This was with the engine running too...the compressor could not keep up. (I will never leave the yard or anywhere again, without performing the static and applied leak checks...would have saved us some running around).

After scaling and finding all was well with the weights, we motored the 5 miles back to Elm to get someone to look at the leak. Lo and behold, there was a bad brake chamber on the tractor that had to be changed. They took us right in because this load had to be in Nashville 0700 Friday morning and we had just enough time on my 14 to get there. Well, even with the expedited repair, we just didn't have the time and thus, we got back under the ATL load, showered and headed out. Too bad, I was looking forward to a nice run up to the NE.

We are currently in Maumelle AR at a small Shell truck stop just north of Little Rock. Thusfar, all is well. I haven't scared the trainer yet.

For me, until I get my 10,000 miles and HASB feels I am ready...I really am not as concerned about miles. While I would like to get my own truck as soon as possible, I want to be sure that I am ready. There are enough new guys out here with substandard training...I don't want to join them. And heck, who can't live on $50/day? (Dang, I made that an hour working as a CPA!!).

Parting comment...sort of related to my last comment and a little philosophical...life really isn't about impressing others, hanging credentials behind your name (I have several), trying to make all the money you can, despite what you have to do to get it. It's about finding joy...not happiness. Happiness can be found many places, good and bad, but joy is found in the important things of life.

Until next time...Good Luck and God Speed The Right (not necessary the political Right, although that applies with me too).

p.s. feel free to PM me or merely post question here. I'll be as candid as I can...I have no axe to grind...and with this auto-shift tranny, I don't even have any gears to grind....dang it!

 

Yes, WSE does pay a portion in the form of a per diem based on a rate per mile. It is kind of stupid to call it "PER DIEM" when it is based on miles.

Per Diem is a "per day" amount, not based on miles or anything other than where you are. There is a ME&I rate (which is used here for transportation workers subject to HOS regs) that is now $59/day, up from $52. The IRS allows one to use 80% of that amount regardless of where you are. You can keep track of each locality, as the rate in some places is higher, however, it can be a bit of bear to keep up with all that.

ME&I (MEALS EXPENSE and INCIDENTALS) includes obviously meals and few other items. Incidentals were really defined back in the day prior to our ability to easily communicate.

I just ran 2 scenarios where used a 30CPM rate and a driver who was out 294 days per year. In one scenario I used a single driver with no company paid per diem to a single driver who receives his pay at 20CPM driving and 10CPM per diem (untaxed).

I did the same calculation for a married driver filing a joint return. Obviously, every taxpayer's situation would vary somewhat and this is by no means intended to say that per diem is always better.

In both of these cases, the taxpayer was better off cashflowwise to take the per diem.

Now several folks here have noted some of the downfalls to taking per diem...reduced social security income reporting, lower income levels for worker's comp and other disability payments, if applicable, more difficulty qualifying for loan programs due to lower Box 1 income on your W-2s, etc.

I am not sure that there is a surefire method of making this call. in a lot of cases the driver has no say in the matter...per diem is required.

If that is the case, you are probably not going to be any worse off as determined by cash flow going home, however, there are definitely some downsides.

 

Danc,

I am getting a real education out here. I don't know how these guys (and gals) do it unless they are retired and this is a second "career". I can see it as "fun" (seriously) if you don't absolutely need the money.

My eyes have been opened.

Nole

 

Well, we arrived in Atlanta on Friday around 18:30 with an appointment the next morning at 10. Once we were assigned a door, we dropped the trailer and started searching for an MT. We found one...kind of.

It was going to be MT but it was a drop load so they take the Live Loads/Unloads first so we had to wait about 4-5 hours to get a trailer and get out of there. And honestly, we had nowhere to go. Our next load, headed to ID, doesn't load until Monday at 0600.

So, we hung out the "Atlanta Terminal". What a pig sty. Muddy, and just a run down nowhere. There we were stuck. We dropped the trailer and bobtailed out to a restaurant for a nice late lunch early dinner then over to Pilot for a couple of showers. Then back to the terminal for a loooooong fall evening/night.

Pretty much the same for Sunday...until 1730 when we headed to the shipper for Monday's appointment. Looked it up on Bing Maps (awesome tool in conjunction with Streets & Trips...especially in "Bird's Eye" view) and found that there appeared to be ample truck parking. Sure enough, there was only one other truck there. Spent some time cleaning our chateau and then settled in until 0500 when we will bumped the dock and get loaded.

We figure that we will utilize mini-team driving to get out to ID...with a plan to cover about 750 miles for the first two days and then a 500 mile drive on Wednesday. Appointment isn't until Friday, but my trainer has been there before and feels that we will be able to unload early.

So, I spent time today studying the per diem issue as well as the homebuyer's credit that was added to the extension of the NEW Homebuyer Credit. The way I understand it, if the taxpayer has owned "a" home for at least 5 of the last 8 years as his principal residence, he can buy another home and qualify for a new credit of up to $6500 as long as he lives there as his principal residence. He can't go out and buy a rental property and get the credit. BUT he can buy a new principal residence, convert his former home to rental and qaulify. That is a great deal especially with the reduced home prices out there. There are some real deals in the market.

Oh, well, until next time...