RedGators Training Diary With Wel Companies

My name is Nalee. Nice to meet ya'll. Im a 28 year old cajun girl from Louisiana but have lived in Pennsylvania for the last 7 1/2 years. Before deciding to become a truck driver I was a hotel manager for 6 years. When I got laid off in the beginning of the year I didnt know what I was going to do. Being recently seperated (now in the process of divorce) and with a family and bills racking up i was kinda stuck as to what to do and where I wanted to go. I took a ride with a friend on his 18 wheeler and FELL IN LOVE! So back in June I started the process of getting my CDL through WIA. Gotta admit that school was an up hill battle. Who would have thought that learning to drive a truck was gonna be such hard work! Now I have my CDL and am getting ready to ship out! I really wish I would have found this sit sooner but better late than never.

On October 6th I left on my journey to WEL Companies. After a 30 hour bus ride which was surprisingly nice and uneventful I landed in Green Bay, WI.

Here's some information about the company I chose to work for - WEL

First day of orientation was 10/08, first half of the day is spent doing your drug test and DOT physical. Please note that on Mondays they DO NOT feed you lunch so you better bring something or you will be hungry!

The next half of the day they give you a 7 point agility test. You have to push 170LBS, pull 210LBS, climb in and out of the back of a truck, and lift 3 boxes (25, 50 and 60 lbs) from about 2 1/2 ft shelf onto the floor and then again 4 1/2 ft onto another shelf. (Note you will have to do the 60lbs box twice). Then you have to stand on each leg one at a time once for 30 secs then 15 seconds. Well me being 5'1 and not very "active" if I can do it ya'll can do it!

Day 2 you take your actual road test in the morning and watch videos the rest of the day. The owner actually takes you out to a really nice restaurant and buys lunch and he eats with you. Day 3 is more videos then (safety, paperwork and logs) comes in to talk to ya about what to do. Then you get a brief tour of people net which is the system they use.

Day 4 you get a tour of the office, if you are a experienced driver you get your truck assignments and meet your driver manager if your a rookie then you just meet general folks and the second half of your day is spent at the TWIC card office. (note day 3 and 4 you eat Digiorno Pizza).

Now Friday if you are a rookie you have to go to WeL's one week school so you watch videos and do trip planning all day til 3 and logs. If you are experienced then you go on a load. Now I will say this all and all orientation wasn't bad but you have a lot of "down" time waiting. I think they could do some better time management. But all and all not bad for $187.50 (orientation pay)

Now week 2 Mon-Thur you go with the instructor if you are a rookie and its just like school, driving around and backing and such. On Wednesday you do a "live load" to KIEL, WI which is about 45 miles away. During this week you stay in a hotel. They are nice enough to provide a car during orientation and your training week so that at night you can get around.

Now overall some things you should know. 1. This company expects you to know everything when you get out of school. Their attitude is you should have learned it in school. Therefore if you didn't go to a good school or you have struggled this is not the place for you. They will fail you on your road test and they will send ya packing (they pay for the trip back unless you fail your drug test). 2. You have to pay for load locks, pad locks, a safety camera, temperature gauge (the kind that you stick in your turkey) and if you want it a nifty back pack to put it in. All of that runs you about 120-135(if you want the back pack) Now they do take the money out of your check in increments but they don't tell ya that during recruiting.

3. Their equipment leaves a lot to be desired. Its not bad but it's not great. Its "heavily" used. 4. Also not that your first paycheck IS NOT Direct Deposit so you have to A. get it mailed home or B. pick it up in DePere. That' s only for your 1st check though.) Every other pay check is DD or comdata card

If your a guy then you should get a trainer right away. Within 3 days of completing school. They pay for your hotel and you do get $400/week during school and the 4 weeks of training. So you will be gone a total of 6 weeks from the time you leave home until you go back but you do get 5 days off. You do have to come back to DePere, WI to do another road test and get your truck.

Now I have heard from a few guys that left out that if you wanna run the miles are great. (mon-wed one guy had made 1800 miles already). So they money is here if you wanna make it. Students your OTR pay is .33/cpm first 3 months after orientation, .36/cpm at 6 months and .38/cpm after 9. if you are regional East Coast is .44/cpm and Mid-west is .40/cpm. Any other region you would have to ask cause i forgot. So aside from the $120 for the equipment you have to buy everything they told me was on the up and up. Aside from the above mentioned items if you have any questions please feel free to ask me.

Now If your a female expect to sit in a hotel and wait for a trainer. I have been here since 10/8 and my trainer wont be here until 10/30.

Orientation

So by this time next weekend I will be on a bus to Wisconsin for my orientation. Im excited and nervous all at the same time. I just feel like I should know way more than I know but I know that after a 4 week course thats just not possible.

So my original orientation was scheduled for 10/1 but had to be pushed back to 10/8 due to the schedule of the female trainer! As much as Im gonna miss that money it all happens for a reason. Just cant wait to get back to work! After 6 months of being unemployed I cant wait to rock n roll. Not looking forward to the 2 day bus trip to Wisconsin though.

Training

So Ive been in Green Bay for 3 weeks now. Ive been being bounced around from local trainer to local trainer because they have only 2 female OTR trainers and about 4 female trainees. I am coming to the point where I am considering going to another company. The last thing i want to be is a job hopper but these folks cant even tell me when Im actually going to go out with my OTR instructor. Could be next week or 2 weeks from now or on and on. Nothing definite. I waited 2 weeks before coming here to avoid this exact issue. Yesterday i showed up for training with a local guy. Was suppose to be there at 6 so I got there at 5:25. The man never showed up! So i had to wait until 7:30 just for them to find another person.

I am one tuff cookie and I am definitely not a quitter. Sometimes though I just get frustrated and need to vent, clear my head and get some new perspective. I have so much to learn and i want a company willing to help me learn it. Like I said yesterday it was so much more than just being jerked around about my trainer. i was told by the guy that did the road test that even though I JUST got out of school I should know what I'm doing and that he shouldn't have to "help" me so much! Honestly my driving is not that bad (and yes Ive been told that my numerous trainers) but my clutch control is a little off and i have trouble backing. Well this guy hated my "bubbly" personality (his words) and told me that I needed to stop asking him questions. Just to "shut up" and do what he says cause its his truck and his way!

Needless to say that didn't set well with me. in a calm manner I informed him that I came into trucking knowing nothing and i want to learn from EVERYONE I come in contact with. I'm a sponge thirsty for knowledge. I picked the company I did because I know its a good company but I need to feel like they are willing to TEACH me and not expect me to "KNOW IT ALL". I wasn't getting that from this man. However this week I meet a whole new set of people that know I shouldn't know it all and are willing to give me the building blocks to grow as a driver. Thats all I want is to be the best that I can be and enjoy it.

This guy keep on trying to convince me to be a DM or an office girl because I dont "look" like your "typical" driver. I look good, smell good and get my nails done and keep myself up. (and yes ya'll I know there are ALOT of men and woman drivers who are just like me. I am actually glad that I encountered this man though because i am the type that when you think I CANT do something I will not only prove you wrong but be good doing it. He is going to be the fuel for my motivation! Again thank ya'll for the support because it does mean so much. i know im not alone on my journey. The road is going to be a ruff one but I am up for the challenge.

So I left out with my trainer Tammy on Friday. She's awesome! Drove 343 miles on Friday thru Minn. At rush hour! (Such fun), Sat drove 592 miles thru the rain sleet and snow and today 296 miles! On a load from Green Bay to Seattle. She says I'm doing awesome. Love the adventure so far.

The whole time I trained which was 20 day I drove nothing under 300 miles a day. Usually more like 400-628. I just kept trucking. Never crashed out like she thought i would. Guess i was made for this life.

Graduation!

I passed my test today and got offered a position with WEL Companies.

Well I know it has been awhile been busy getting those miles under my belt. Got about 6000 in 20 days. I officially passed my driving test yesterday. I'm thru with training and officially got my truck assignment. Truck number 1561 coming to a city near you. My truck is in Allentown, Pa. so Im in Green Bay for a couple of days til my ride comes back from home time. They were going to fly me but I have to much stuff! Then I get a load back up here and will finally be off for my 5 days. 6 weeks gone is too long! Cant wait to get home! Training was good and I learned alot. My driving has improved tremendously. Im alittle nervous for my first solo load but I know I can do this!

During training i went thru the Rockies, rush hour in Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, DC, Seattle, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Thru rain, sleet, snow and fog about 20 states and various other obstacles. Ive learned all i can from the trainer so now the real learning begins! Wish me luck. Hope to catch ya'll on the road. If you see my WEL truck pull up in a parking lot and a fiery red head hops out the drivers seat just yell "Hey RED" and ill stop for a chat!

This company is a great company. had a few bumps in the road but im glad i stuck it out. I feel like Im with "family" There is good and bad in everything but staying positive has gotten me thru. Good luck to those still in training. Remember training is like a roller coaster some days its great and somedays it sucks but there is always tomorrow.

I know I dont know half of what I needed to and thats what is making me so nervous. Glad to know that they wont expect me to me a super trucker coming right out of school! My attitude is always a positive one. Even in the worst of situations i always try to see the positive. I've gotten to experience 2nd hand thru my best friend and several trucker friends the daily struggles they endure so I know Im not going into anything easy but im definitely NOT a quitter. I have double to prove here being a woman an all. Ive been told from day one I cant do it or I shouldnt do it.

So after 20 days on the road, 7,145 and 6 weeks away from my family I'm finally home with my family. And as glad as I am to be home I just wanna hit the road again! Guess the diesel got to me. I can't even sleep in my own bed anymore! Lol Its just not the same without the hum of the reefer. Well now I'm off til 11/24. I had to bat the baby blues at my dispatcher and he agreed to 7 days home time. Sometimes its good to be a girl lol Hope to catch ya'll on the road. Next stop Green Bay again and then well who knows. Hopefully its somewhere good

One thing my instructor in school told me that I still carry with me today is your first year is like a roller coaster. You have ups and downs but don't let the downs get to ya cause what you did bad today you can do better tommorrow.

Solo Driving

So I have had the most adventuresome weekend EVER!. I was suppose to be on home time until 11/24 but got a call on 11/23 (which also happens to be my bday) that I had my very first load to deliver on Sunday which meant leaving to put some miles on it Friday. Ruined my plans of getting drunk but hey it saved my liver. Any who guess where my very first load went to? Wait for it...................DOWNTOWN CHICAGO! So I headed out to the terminal to wait for the driver to get there and drop it so I could hook up and go. He drops the trailer with No Seal and never even bothered to scale it (was about 40,000 in the box) nearest scale is AFTER the Weigh Station which luckily closed that night.

After ensuring I wasnt buying 40,000 lbs of bananas I was off. Got to the service plaza in OH after about 6 hours of driving and wouldnt you guess it as soon as i shut my truck off it starts to hail and freezing rain! Ice cycles breaking of the truck and all! So I think to myself since I shut down at 12:30am i wont have to drive til 10:30 the weather should warm up by then so i go to bed. Woke up, opened the curtain and it was white! WTF its snowing?????!!!!!!!! Seriously! Well still gotta get it there so Im off. My check engine light comes on. I dont notice a difference so im off.

In the mean time i get a new load. 3 stops in WI so that I can bring my truck into the yard. Its 200% overdue for a DM. I get to Lake station and park for the night. Ended up running into a friend so i got dinner and a free $250 CB. Things are lookin up. Wake up at 1:30 Sunday morning to make it to my appt early (appt time between 4-6am). Get there about 3:30am, was told by a driver i cant be late cause they wont take me and the ppl here are rude. And guess what? Nobody shows up til 6! So i wait. right as i get all snuggy to nap, the guy bangs on my door to have me move docks 4 doors down between 2 trucks at the edge of a curved lot and you cant even set up a 45 without taking out the trailers on the opposite side! So I park and wait. 5 1/2 hours later im ready to go. Get out the truck, she tells me i need a $30 gate fee. Well I dont have cash so I have to do a Comcheck. Go back out to the truck to get the check, as i come out I lock my keys in the truck! So I go in and ask her not to be mad but im gonna be backed in there for a bit.

She rewards me with hot coffee and loads me up with some fruit (its a fruit place) and tells me to hang out and stay warm. Yea, sometimes its good to be a girl! After i get let back in i park 1 mile from the place at a rinky dink truck stop (I55 x289) where the lot is so small you have to go in the fuel island just to back it in. Well I meet up with another friend and we went eat and shop since they pulled my next load off me and told me wont have nothing til Monday night! I get a call about 3:30pm saying that when my reset is up at 9:15 they need me to take a load from joliet to Danville, Il since the driver dropped the ball. I should just make it for my 2am appt!!!! Ive been up since 1:30am with 5 hours of sleep and yea ok I guess i can. So I run back to the truck to grab a few hrs nap. Get all nice and snuggly and pass out. About 1hr later someones banging on my door. Its the pilot guy coming to deliver fuel and the tank is under my truck in the parking spot! (and yes it was a parking spot with yellow lines and all)! He apologizes profusly but hey you didnt know i was gonna be here and i didnt know you were gonna be here so hey what can you do.

So i figure since I have to pull into the fuel island while he unloads ill just fill the reefer up since i forgot when i fueled. Repark and try to go back to sleep, yea not happening. So i wait and leave. Get about 10 minutes up the road, total power failure to all the lights on the left side of the tractor and trailer! So I stop at the nearest truck stop Im already runnin tight, havent even dropped my empty and hooked up to my load so this is gonna make me late! They only have white lights when i need amber but thats gonna have to do because i need blinker lights!

Get to Joliet, got to hook up and wouldnt ya know, the trailers to high so I have to drop 40,000lbs 2 inches and end up cutting myself thru the gloves! Now Im off. I get there and wouldnt you know I have to back into the door thats on the otherside of recieveing. there also happens to be a huge overhang with four posters that juts out halfway into the middle of the drive lane so i cant set myself up. I have to 90 it in. Get unloaded by 5:30 and find the nearest rest area to crash. wake up to dispatch at 8am, they have a load and hey its the same one they pulled me off off Sat! Go figure. I have to run a split sleeper to be able to deliver on time. Stops 7am Kenosha, 9am Milwaukee and 1 pm Green Bay. Tight schedule much? Made it to all loads early.

First stop was a nice big lot. Gordon foods, set myself up so good i backed her in on the first try. Yay me. 2nd stop is a mom and pop grocery store. Had to buttonhook across 4 lanes to drive her into and alley way, not take out the house and 2 cars on the corner to drive into a lot thats no bigger than a postage stamp and back her in (snug against the dock my tractor nose kissed the street!) 3rd stop was in a cul de sac, had to nose dive into a ditch to back into an angled dock. So now Im in Green Bay, truck wont be ready til tomorrow so my company was nice and put me back in the RAMADA. Gotta love a 42 inch flat screen.

My fiesty personality demands nothing but respect from anyone i meet. I have no desire to be with every truck driver in america. As a matter of fact at one point I wouldnt even date truckers because of their reputations. hehehe I actually date a man now that has a CDL and we are thinking about teaming. We shall see how that goes.

Keep stearin' and gearin', but make sure its safe, sane.

And always remember...you may be a trucker now, but you were a daughter first, to a man who raised you to be a lady !! (My dad told me that, RIP)

I can tell ya i really really enjoy trucking. This is the first job i ever felt "at peace with" If ya know what I mean. May have just found my calling lol. i was told today buy a vet trucker that i was naive because my attitude was too positive. He said i wasnt jaded by the industry yet. Like i told him i dont wanna be jaded. i wanna look at everything in the best light even if its bad. life is all about lessons and experience. Im living and learning and as long as im doing that Im not dying. Me and my baby Elsie Mae (my truck) are gonna have a good time together. That old gal runs just as hard as me

Ok so lets see i left ya'll off in my first very eventful week as a truck driver. Thought it couldnt get any worse eh? HAHAHAHA think again. So last week I ran 3500 miles in 6 days maxing out my 70. drove 5 1/2 hours in black ice on 476/81 in PA/NY empty with a trailer that had a skirt and super singles. Almost jackniffed twice once off the side of a mt with a 500 ft drop going 15 miles an hour!!!!! Yea crazy. I had a super single MELT, YES MELT on me and had to spend the night on the side of I75 in FL between the 3rd lane and a guard rail. Oh joy til 5 am after 3 guys came and went to fix the tire.

Then got about 100 miles down the road and a drive tire blew. Didnt even leave the parking lot when i discovered a massive airleak. Get down the road to get it fixed to discover that said guy that changed the super single left all the rubber behind the tire he replaced which wiped out the airbag and the airlines. so get that fixed make it about 40 miles down only to discover another airleak!!!!!!!! First guy comes out looks at me like a stupid female and proceeds to tell me nothing is wrong???? YEA ok dude. 2nd guy comes out, my break chamber is leaking, airlines are leaking, airbag is leaking and an airbag on my tractor. See i knew you werent suppose to lose 45 psi in 30 seconds. Lesson learned if you know what you know never let anyone tell you otherwise.

I had to do mt eagle that day and had i not stuck to my guns who knows what would have happened! Then i picked up from the caves in Carthage, Mo. What a cool experience! Then I had someone try to break into my truck with me in it! Craziness! and lets not get into all the ridiculous docks that Ive come across or the ridiculous delivery schedules Ive been put on. So you mean to tell me its possible to live unload in Bluffton, In at 3pm then drive 105 miles to Indy, In get loaded at 4pm and make it to ATL, Ga by 3:30 am after starting your day in NY at 6am? In what universe dude. Or deliver and 8 stop load coming from McDonough, GA to Miami, FL with 14 hours left and your time is maxed out? My favorite one was I was scheduled yesturday to pick up in Richland center, WI and Green Bay at 8am. And my truck was driving up MTs EMPTY in 6th gear!!!!!!!! Thru the snow and ice. Yea i must be super woman. I can tell ya this. It didnt kill me, I didnt quit and Im still driving. So my truck has about 830,000 miles on it and has been in the shop 4 times since I got it 3 1/2 weeks ago. They want to give me a double bunk that is super clean but its an automatic.

I've been getting along fantabulously. My checks take home per week range anywhere from $450 to $1050 after taxes so I'm not gonna complain in the least. I don't know whether nothing crazy has happened to me lately or if the crazy has just become normal (probably the later) but things have gotten alittle normal lol I'm in New JErsey right now delivering a 2 stop load that came out of Atlanta. I can tell ya I hate this state with a passion! My companies directions sucked on this one and the receiver didn't open til this am and I had an early delivery. I managed to not hit a bridge and get here in one piece so its all good. I just knew I was gonna have to call the state police to turn me around lol luckily I didn't but hey the days still young yet.

I got a new dispatcher right around the time that I got good old Elsie Mae 2. We got off to a bit of a bumpy start. His attitude SUCKED! However I kept mine positive and gave him 2 weeks to change before I spoke to him. Id been busting my hinney getting this impossible loads delivered and he kept on being just so rude. He would talk to me like I was one of those jaded truckers with an attitude in which I'm not. I'm always positive and upbeat and agreeable for whatever. With this company they dont plan your route. They give you pick up/delivery and how many miles there gonna pay u. So anywho one morning I had to wake up hella early and I choose to go one route that was 20 miles longer but would save me3 major cities and Mt. Eagle which in my freight shaker is always 6th gear up and 7th gear down.

So he sends me this measage saying am I sure I picked the right route???? Well it seems small but it was the straw that broke the camels back. So. Called him up and politely asked if he had a min to speak. So I told him I'm not trying to be rude but I'm doing the best I can as a rookie and when your rude and condecending to me it makes me upset and I would appreciate being treated with the same respect I treat you. Every since we have been the best of friends. He's always saying thank you and have a safe trip. Trying to plan me on loads to places I wanna go! Its awesome. I'm glad I handled that with class and pizzaze. All those years of customer service really paid off. that coulda went a whole other way and I'm glad it didn't. I've gotten to go places where I've seen friends that id never seen before and experience things id never have otherwise experienced. I can honestly say. LOVE MY JOB! GLAD THINGS WORKED OUT THIS WAY!

I don't have any compalints on my job or my company. Well let me take that back priming a refer that ran out of fuel:/ now that's a complaint right there! I did a drop and hook and it wasthe only trailer left. Talk about Eau de Diesel is NOT a good scent on me! Plus it ruined my pretty pink work gloves that I SPECIAL ordered with the reinforced fingernail tips! Cause yess I still roll up in my semi to get my nails and feet don! Lol You can make me a trucker but you darn sure won't take the girly grl outa me. I manage to shower 7 days a week most times and on thedays I can't get to a truckstop I was my hair in the sink at a rest area.

You know the only states I haven't seen so far Cali, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Louisiana, Texas and the new England States about New York. Been everywhere else and back again. Thanks for the compliments gentleman. I always laugh to myself when I wonder wht folks think seeing me driving this rig with my pink shades. I've seen some of the looks and their priceless, always have folks waving at me like I'm a rock star! Had one guy shouting out his number of the CB 1 times and another proposed to me at a shipper lol tons of friends requests and team request but I'm not your average female. I'm focused on my money lol. Engineer Us girls gotta keep it together. I too have seen them ladies that you just can't quite tell at a first glance. I'm gonna be a great trucker and look good doing it. I actually heard thru an old school vet of my company been with us about 30 yrs) that I'm developing a reputation at my company for my work ethic and positive attitude. Made me feel good to hear that I'm appreciated. This is a smaller company (500 trucks) so word gets around. Hand dryers make pretty niffty hair dryers too. And I LOVE BABY WIPES! They really are a girls best friend. I had someone come and sit in my truck for a few and the first thing they said was it smells soooo good! Got my insense burning, my candle wax melting and my air fresheners on ( did you know if you take a disposable muffin pan the 5 in one and put a bar of wax in it and stick it by the bunk heat it melts the wax and has your truck smelling oh so good without the fire hazard tip from a rookie!

Great read! Please post more of your experiences!

Phil

I agree Phil. Staying positive, may be difficult for me at first I will be mucho concerned about EVERYTHING haha. Well not haha, :( but so good to read survival of the rookie stories!

All of my updates typically end up in the general forum. Theres lots more where this came from;)

Hate to dredge up a zombie thread, but I was just wondering if you're still with WEL? I graduate CDL school this week and chose WEL as my company. I'll be at orientation a week from Wednesday.