Sorry Did Not Know How Else To Reach Him, Hey Old School!

It was suggested in a PM that i reach out to a driver on here named Old school. Could you PM me please?

It was suggested in a PM that i reach out to a driver on here named Old school. Could you PM me please?

Hey old school, i am considering western express. I have looked on their sight and Spoke with a recruiter but what am wondering what has been your experience with them? Do they try to work with their drivers? Give at least decent miles? Do you know anything about their mentors? Decent wanting to teach/ in it for just the money? These are questions that a recruiter can't really answer., and since you actually work for the company currently I thought you might be the best person to ask.

They have a terrible reputation online, however let me start off by stating that we pretty much consider this current trend of scouring the internet looking for a good review of a trucking company to be a completely bogus method of making a choice of a company to work for. First off, people seem to feel empowered to really go off on a rant when they can hide behind their keyboard, and the truth is that you don't know a single thing about that persons experience other than what they tell you. 99.9% of the folks that go off on these horrific sounding reviews concerning how this or that trucking company screwed them need only to take an honest look in the mirror to see why they failed so miserably in this business. In this day and age people do not seem to want to accept responsibility for their actions, it's more gratifying to go on line and try to get even with their perceived nemesis. While the internet is chock full of information, it isn't always reliable information.

I tell people all the time about how no one can not find one single positive review on Western Express. In fact it seemed the devil himself was running this poor trucking company. When he drove for them, OS could not be happier in his choice of driving a flat-bed for Western Express. He's had a great dispatcher who kept him running, and he didnt ever get any grief from anybody. Now let me quickly say that I've met a lot of disgruntled drivers at various places I go, but every time I do it only takes a few questions from me to prove that it's not the company that is making them unhappy, but rather it is their own choices and ways that make them think the company is screwing them over.

Here's an example: recently I met up with another company driver in Milford CT at the Pilot there. He asked me if a had a load to get out of there, and I said yes I do. He tells me he has been sitting there for three days waiting on a load. Immediately I'm suspicious because the last thing these trucking companies want is to have their trucks sitting idle. Well I come to Connecticut an awful lot and I know that it's real easy to get a load out of here. The problem is that 90% of the time it's going to be a load of trash. Now I'm not real fond of hauling trash, but if a driver could just understand how the dispatcher is thinking he would understand that sometimes you have to take a less desirable load so that it will propel you over to a much better area for freight. These trash loads shoot us over to Ohio (which in itself is about a 600 mile run) and from there we have a ton of options. So I ask him "they can't get you a trash load?" His response is "I don't haul trash, that was what they sent me, and I refused it. I know there is a NuCor Steel plant near here and I told them to get me a load of steel out of there." Okay, now we see the driver thinking he's the boss of this operation and we see where it's getting him. I do my best as an ambassador of Trucking Truth to show him the way to success in this business, but he is adamant that there has got to be some loads of steel in the area that he could be hauling. I leave with my load of trash to Ohio and when I'm over there I get a load of Sheetrock taking me right back to Milford CT. I was back at the Pilot TS in about two and a half days. My fellow driver is still sitting in the same parking spot. He sees me walking in to the store and comes over to me just fuming about how the company is treating him. I gently tell him that he should have taken that load and not demanded his own perceived solutions to what the dispatcher is trying to accomplish - I remind him how I just made about 400.00 while he was sitting over here getting nothing but mad. He goes to his truck and sulks while I go to my truck and find out that I've got a load on me from the NuCor Steel plant with about 1500 miles on it.

Giovanni, I could go on and on with tales like this. I see it every day. Now the point I'm laboring to make is this. The fellow that I just told you about is the type of person who goes online spitefully giving out their experiences with these evil trucking companies. What you don't get to see online is the part that I just shared with you.

Where ever you go to work in this industry, you are the deciding factor in whether or not you are successful. You hold the keys in your hands to success or failure. It's a great job. You get to manage it the way you want. There are no supervisors, there is no one watching you, and you are completely on your own to make it happen out there. I've decided that there are some people who need supervision, they need someone to provide them the structure and the understanding of how to succeed in their job - these people need not apply to be professional truck drivers.

If you've got what it takes to be a success at this it's not going to matter whether you go with Werner or Western. Just take a job and do it successfully and safely for one year and your opportunities will be wide open for you in this career.

Uhmm, Giovanni, I couldn't have said it better myself!

I loved my time at Western Express, I've moved on recently to Knight Transportation, but I got a great foundation for my career at Western Express.

Giovanni, you can click on my profile and it will take you to a page where you can send me an e-mail if you like.

Hello everyone I was wondering if there are any posted about securement and tarpping. I would love to know how to fold my tarps better. And I had some loads I was like how do I strap it down.

Daniel, wow.

My level of respect for you just went up a whole other notch after reading your post!

I see disgruntled drivers in my own company all the time. And, it's usually because they are refusing to do the job they are asked (and paid) to do because they want to do what they want to.

The ONLY time I asked not to be sent somewhere was Chicago last winter when the roads were all treacherous, and the weather was horrendous. Since my dispatcher knows I never complain about my assignments, he sent me somewhere else instead.

Friday when I drove 18 miles to sit 7 hours and then drive 18 miles back to the terminal , I didn't complain about having to do it. Actually, after sitting all that time the customer told me they were refusing the load and that I had to have it re-scheduled. Which meant I couldn't even send in a completed trip for the day! Well, lucky for me they had already cut the seal. Even though Werner told me to have them notate on the bills that the original seal was intact and that a new seal had been placed with load intact, instead I told them Werner said you have to accept the load since the seal has been cut, and if I take it back I might get in trouble. They made room for my load and an hour later I was rolling out of there unloaded. That day stunk. But, because my dispatcher knew I finagled them into unloading the refused load, you can bet I got an extra run later to make up for it that I didn't even have to ask for.

Most of the disgruntled guys I work with run late all the time and are always complaining. Those of us that are happy in our work don't see a lot of each other because we're too busy runnin' loads! And, you can bet when we do chat for a minute or two when we see each other in a yard we're not complaining about work, we're usually laughing at the guys that are always complaining and shaking our heads.