Profile For Daniel W.

Yeah I thought the same thing. The only reason I agreed to keep going was because I'd already driven like 5-6 hours to get to the shop they routed me to, which put me only an hour away from where I was delivering. The worst part about it all is apparently that trailer has had issues for a while, because someone unplugged the abs light on the trailer so they wouldn't get caught 😕 I specifically mentioned that in my repair request too.

To be honest I don't know exactly why they had me go to the the terminal, but I was supposed to check in at the office and talk with safety department. It could have been a couple of possibilities after looking back at it. I was just irate that it took my fleet manager 2 days to tell me that. She could've easily said check in when you get to the terminal in the original message telling me to go to the terminal. Especially considering I sent messages asking what I was supposed to do when I arrived, but the night time dispatcher didn't get any info either as to what I was doing. I assumed the following morning my fleet manager would have seen that and contacted me if there was something I should've been doing. I took the response from dispatch, "we have no orders for you", as sit and wait. Which has happened numerous times before while on training, as they tend to split/swap loads at terminals. (Happened the day I got my truck).

However I did go into the office, and on the exterior of the building it says to check in. So I assumed when I go in the main office they would check me in, but that wasn't the case either. I was looking for food and asked the lady in the office if there were vending machines and she directed me to them. I thought it was strange that they would let a stranger in and do as they please considering I didn't have my badge or anything to indicate that I worked for Werner.

Now for the possibilities of reasoning for seeing safety. First, Werner is changing their badges and I noticed the new badges are to be acquired from safety department. But I think it has more to do with this second possibility.

I had a trailer Saturday night that I reported in my post trip as having the ABS light on. Someone from Omaha called me and gave me a plan to have it fixed. I was told to resend the repair request once my 10 hour break was over (1am Sunday). So I did and I was routed to a TA to have it fixed. I was told I they contacted TA and I had an appointment setup. I got there at 6am and they were closed, didn't open until 8. I sent a message in stating that and asking what I should do. My dispatcher called me instead of responding via Qualcomm asking if it was safe to drive and asked me if I could just make the delivery or it would've been really late. The load was due for 7:45am delivery. Well considering I drove it through the mountains in southern Virginia, I said yes and I'll have the trailer red tagged at the drop. He told me to send a message via Qualcomm stating I was going to make the delivery and red tag the trailer upon arrival. All I can think of is that safety wanted to talk with me about why I drove a trailer that they know needed repairs without getting it fixed prior to dropping it. These are the only assumptions I have as to why I would've been required to see safety, but unfortunately we will never know the exact reasoning as to why.

The local job I'm hoping to get is driving a truck doing local beer deliveries to various restaurants and liquor stores. It's still rig and trailer vs straight box truck. I will find out Wednesday how that goes.

As for leg swelling, it was quite bad at first. I wear low cut socks and tennis shoes, and when my legs (calves/ankles) swelled up they left marks that took weeks to go away. I guess the swelling caused the socks to restrict circulation in my feet. What I ended up doing was getting diabetic socks which are really loose fitting along with some more casual slip on shoes, and that solved that issue. The swelling still happened a little but wasn't as bad as before. The swelling dissipates quickly after getting out and moving around or laying down. Now if the swelling doesn't dissipate it could be a sign of a much more serious complication such as kidney disease. That was how we found out my wife's kidneys failed. So it is very important to monitor it.

Home time is important, but seems hard to come by. From what I gather most company's home time is one day home per week out, but some companies or accounts may vary. The Perdue account was a dedicated account Werner had, and the home time was 2-2 1/2 days per 2 weeks. I think the dollar gen account at Werner was home on weekends which is why it was so popular. I think the ultimate home time comes from local jobs that run day cabs or being an owner operator without forced dispatch. One of temp instructors at the school I went to worked for land star, and she could be out or home as much as she wanted. Just starting out it seems like home time can be difficult to come by.

I was supposed to get tuition reimbursement, but never did. I turned in the necessary paperwork at the very beginning during orientation, but it never made it to my checks. I couldn't remember how long it should take to start getting it, and by the time I realized that I was never going to get it I had my mind made up that I didn't want to do it any more so I didn't bother figuring out why I wasn't getting it lol. I don't recall seeing any XPO trucks in my ventures. Although I've seen a lot of different companies I might have and not known. I don't know much about any of the other companies, I just randomly chose Werner and jumped in as a last resort. I was approaching that 6 month mark with no luck getting a local job first, and I didn't want to pay for a refresher course lol

Only 30 cpm? That's low compared to everything else. OTR was 35, the Perdue account I was on was 36 so long as loads weren't late, or 33 for the week if loads were late (due to oversleeping or poor planning). The most sought after positions that I could tell was the dollar general account. The lady that was going to run in Texas wanted the dollar gen account but it was full and there was a waiting list to get on that account. Everything else seemed relatively open, besides their dedicated Coca Cola account.

XPO offering to do the 34 hour reset at home sounds nice!! On OTR with Werner 6 days out equals 1 day of home time, but I think they cap that at 4 days (so 4 weeks out 4 days off, but I could be wrong). Werner's OTR seemed nice when it came to home time. I remember on training the dispatcher asked how long I'd like to be out at a time and they'd work around that. Perdue account I had to do the math and request home time immediately after coming off of home time and it still wasn't guaranteed. I stuck it out for roughly 2 and a half months. 8 weeks OTR training and 2 weeks on my own on Perdue account.

I didn't realize you were still in school. Most companies allow a 6 month period from getting out of school to putting the CDL to use before requiring a refresher course. Use that time to research companies and make a choice that suits your needs. There is absolutely no need to jump right into any of this unprepared. Good luck on your endeavor. It's definitely a one of a kind experience! I don't regret any of it lol

Well I just resigned. It turns out I wasn't doing a 34 hour reset, but apparently there was a reason for me to be at the Indianapolis terminal, but it took them 36 hours after my arrival to tell me why. Despite me asking why I was there when I arrived at 8pm Monday night. That to me is just unacceptable. If I need to be somewhere at least have the courtesy to tell me why I need to be there within a reasonable time. That on top of not receiving tuition reimbursement, or the pay for orientation I attended for Perdue just put me over the top. I understand it's difficult to manage such a large spread out company, but how difficult would it have been to just tell me to check in at the terminal upon arrival in the same message that was sent telling me to go there in the first place. It was just too convenient not to part ways after that. I wasn't under a load and my truck was at a terminal. I might get charged for not getting rid of the case of water I had in the truck, but so be it. It was an interesting experience that for the most part I enjoyed, but with my itch to get back home and this situation it has come to an end. In the meantime I'm checking into a hotel and making arrangements to ship myself back home to Maryland.

Thanks! I just looked up your zip in the app and it claims that 4 state (tx, ok, ar, la) account you mentioned is available. I'm not sure what the account is, it just says running general freight. Unfortunately other than that it looks like there is dollar general, and dollar tree (unload yourself), and OTR. I think I'd try contacting your recruiter and asking again about the account you want before you start.

After running all those miles since Wednesday I was told to go to the Indianapolis terminal last night. I had no idea why and still don't. I have 14 hours left on my 70 hour clock, and in two days I start accumulating recaps. Only thing I can think of is that they want me to do a 34 hour reset, but they could have told me that. So I'm stuck at a rather crappy terminal lol. I woulda rather spent my day at a truck stop where a somewhat closer resemblance of real food existed vs the vending machines here that are full of snack food. But it is rather nice to have a break. And this time next week I should be heading home for that local interview 😆

The dedicated routes that drivers have to unload would be the dollar store accounts (family dollar, dollar general), I had no interest in those. Big ol rolling containers that have to be unloaded and loaded. I believe there is a dedicated route for just all over Texas. One lady that finished up training at the same time I did said she was going on that. I don't know what the account was though. The Perdue account I'm on now is out of Kentucky, but I've been running back and forth from Virginia and Indiana all this past week. This week was a lot better than the week I started on my own. I had a couple little waits but nothing severe. It's been probably 50/50 of drop and hook and live load unload (don't touch freight). The only other extra task with reefers is getting the trailers washed out when empty and putting in load locks. They do have multi temp and multi stop loads on this account, but I've yet to do any. I've heard they can be a bit more involved due to a stop taking what's theirs and leaving your trailer unbalanced or unorganized. I'm not sure what area you are in, but if you give me your location I can look in the Werner app for possibilities in your area.

Been a while since I posted an update!! I had a wonderful time at home for 4 days then got back on the road on Wednesday. The first couple days back on the road from home time were tough. I was really missing being at home and everything that we as truckers sacrifice to make our livings. On Saturday it wore off a bit as I was back in the swing of it all again. With the loads I've gotten so far, I will have logged 2,601 (paid) miles tomorrow afternoon. I don't think that's too bad for 5 days of work. Then a week from tomorrow I should be heading home again.

While I've been out I've been fighting to get a local job with another company (difficult to get ahold of the people). I just like home a bit too much, and there's no other reason for me wanting that local gig. I can't bash Werner like many people do with starter companies. They've treated me rather well, and I don't find the pay to be too subpar. In my current situation I'd have some peace of mind at home that I just can't get out here on the road. My wife was the reason behind me jumping into OTR, but is also the reason behind me wanting to be local. Da struggle is real lol.

(Back story) She is disabled from Kidney failure and requires dialysis 3 days a week, which was caused due to her being a diabetic. I was struggling to find local work, while all my CDL school classmates managed to land local gigs (despite me being top of the class, go figure). That was when I decided to go with Werner and at least acquire a taste for OTR along with acquiring some much needed experience. Make some better money than I was at retail to help with the heaps of medical bills and get some decent health insurance. Until she gets a transplant she can't join me out here, otherwise she'd be right next to me instead of being stuck in our empty home in her lonesome. She really needs someone to be around, but unfortunately at the moment I can't be, but I'm hoping soon that changes as I'm supposed to be getting an interview on my next home time (if I can get ahold of them). When her health gets better in the untold future I can see us getting out here on the road for her to at least see the many sites that I've seen in such a short time that many people never get the opportunity to see. Rant almost over.

I just figured I should explain why OTR isn't right for me at the moment. As you all can see it has nothing to do with all the aspects of the job, just a personal struggle at a young age (I'm 30, she's 28). But in the meantime I'm doing what I have to. Ok rant over. Be safe fellow truckers!!