Noob Starting At Werner

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 😆

My location is south west Oklahoma. Zip 73521. I'm about 150 miles south west of OKC. 175 east of Amerillo in Altus. Hey and good luck on your interview!

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.

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.

Sorry that didn't work for you. I could go and look but I'd have to start over. But how many weeks did you stay? Around three months wasn't it? And thanks for checking that out for me. That position only pays .30 and I contacted the recruiter to see when or if any pay increases occurred. I also ask what the weekly average for miles. I'm thinking I called at a bad time due to her being out of office for several days. I decided to wait until I get to hear what the recruiters that visit the school has to say. I believe they said they were scheduled for the twelfth. Only two more weeks. Don't know how fast those positions get filled but don't want to jump in two quick.

Again thank you for your help. XPO is offering me about the same thing execpt to take the 34 reset at home. That counts as the one day off for being out seven. Werner has two off and out twelve. XPO has NM, TX, LA, AR, MO, AND OK. What kind of home time were you on? Plus let us know how the local, works out!

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

The recruiter was advertising home every other week. Suppose that was to draw attention. You said no tuition reimbursement! I was told 250 a month until paid or Max I think 7000. XPO has the 250 for 12 months then a lump sum on the 13th for a total of 4000. I'm not seeing any XPO drivers here. The majority I see are Swift and Prime! They are the two largest that sponsor. And we are rookies. My top four I've highly considered are Averitt, Schneider, Swift, and Werner. Then XPO contacted me last week with the regional and home weekly. Swift has a dedicated but I'm not qualified. Need at least 3 months otr. That makes it tempting to go with them. Almost have that after training, but will that still be available in September? The only local for me is flatbed.

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

Are you quitting truckling? Or is that local another driving job? I know in one of your post you mentioned your leg swelling. How is that? Hope nothing serious! And home time is important. Some say I setting my self up for failure because I'm holding out for home time. Was Perdue for Werner? What was that home time supposed to be?

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.