Considering Western Express

just lookin for some feedback on starting my trucking career with Western Express ....

Hello Justin, and welcome to the forum!

Hey I got a great start to my trucking career at Western Express, and you can too. The thing you have got to realize about trucking is that you are pretty much in control of how it goes for you. There were a lot of miserable drivers who hated their jobs at Western, all while I was very successful. I have talked about my experiences at Western extensively in this forum. I need to get myself into bed tonight, but I will try to jump back in here tomorrow sometime and see If I can help you a little.

Like I said, we've had a lot of discussion concerning Western Express. Try putting their name into the search bat at the top of this page. You should get all kinds of results back that you can read and do some research on. Have you gone to a school yet, do you have your CDL yet? How did you make your decision to start at Western?

I've got my "A" already, and have no misconceptions of the work it takes to be successful. I'm a 45 yr old man who's just looking for a no bull**** opportunity to get paid. I've got no illusions about hard work, but I'm also not interested in being lead around by the nose. JUST LOOKIN FOR THE REAL TRUTH.

Justin, we have a ton of great information for anyone looking to get started in trucking:

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road Training Program

The career guide will teach you how to choose a company, how to choose a school, and covers a million other topics that pertain to getting your trucking career underway. My book will help you understand how the trucking industry works and what life is like on the road. Our High Road Training Program will prepare you for your written permit exams, all of your endorsement exams, and teach you all sorts of things you'll need to know to do this job like the logbook rules, how to load cargo, getting your truck weights balanced out legally, and even how to secure cargo if you're considering flatbed.

Not to hijack your thread, but any of the big "starter" companies knows what it takes to Get R Dun in this industry. After some thought, I come to conclusion that perhaps the reason most of them get a bad wrap is because they have no problem finding a driver to deliver their freight. Unlike a smaller company who may actually NEED a particular single driver, the larger companies don't bother trying to prop up the weak and unwilling. If you can't get it done, they will give the freight to someone who can. Let yourself starve yourself out of their truck. As soon as someone who can't get it done leaves, they just throw another prospect behind the wheel. Granted it is kinda like throwing a handful of spaghetti at a wall. You keep what sticks. The stuff that falls to the ground goes in the trash. As for the noodles that are partly sticking to the wall but are kinda dangling. They go back in the pot to finish up.

Drive Safe and God Speed.

I called Western Express a few weeks ago, the person who answered asked for my SS# and i declined saying i was not comfortable supplying said information over the phone, but would be more that happy to give my SS# on an application. She hung up the phone on me at that point so not too sure about this company if they do not care about my personal information and or ID being stolen. Anyhow plenty of jobs out there for someone with a good record.

I called Western Express a few weeks ago, the person who answered asked for my SS# and i declined saying i was not comfortable supplying said information over the phone, but would be more that happy to give my SS# on an application. She hung up the phone on me at that point so not too sure about this company if they do not care about my personal information and or ID being stolen. Anyhow plenty of jobs out there for someone with a good record.

#1, You called Western Express. It wasn't someone calling you, saying they were from WEx.

#2. Sure it's OK to be cagey with your personal information. You could ask them why they needed your SSAN "now".

All trucking companies will need your identification in the hiring process, before you get hired. It is true that the SSAN is a unique 9 digit number everybody has, which made it easy to identify applicants, etc. Yes, the problem is when bad guys get your number, they almost have the keys to your kingdom.

Many government-style forms ask for your SSAN, and there's a note that says it you don't provide it, it will be hard for them to complete whatever it is the form is for.

But if your confidence is high that the person you spoke with has a legitimate reason, and especially when they might offer a job you want, it may be a better idea to cooperate.

Incidentally, saying your special information over there phone is actually more secure than sending those numbers digitally. Any computer can find nine digits in a row, but it takes a lot to decode human speech into a machine readable form.

Justin, I'm not real sure what you mean by this statement...

not interested in being lead around by the nose.

Trucking is the last career where that is going to happen. If there is one thing that stands out about a successful truck driver it is that he is an independently minded person who is in charge of his own destiny. He calls his own shots, and makes his own way. It's the beauty of this career, but it is also the beast. So many truck drivers are so stubborn and headstrong that they make themselves miserable out here. Some of them get so hung up on the little things like our friend Alex here, that they miss out on great opportunities. We've tried to explain to him before why they hung up on him, and it had nothing to do with having his identity stolen. You can ignore what he said, it is a petty dig at Western Express that he just can't seem to let go of. When you start making big things out of little things your trucking career is careening into some really bad territory, like heading down a mountain pass with black ice on the roads, there's no stopping your descent into a bad situation.

You will make this job what you want it to be by your work ethic and willingness to push through what ever difficulties arise to hinder you. As far as whether Western Express is any good or not, I consider them to be just like any other trucking company - they've got all the same issues, because they are trying to do the same thing as every one else, move freight from point A to point B.

So many people jump into this career with false assumptions based on foolish reports and notions that they have picked up from internet "review sites". Have you ever noticed how 99% of the people who post reviews are people who are dissatisfied in an extreme way? That in itself should be a big red flag to any thinking person. This business of being able to be anonymous, and being hidden behind a keyboard, has emboldened a bunch of people, who are generally failures at most things they attempt, to lay the blame for their ineptitude at the feet of "big greedy trucking magnates who are still practicing slavery in their business models".

What I'm trying to say is choose a company that you seem to like, and then get out there and prove yourself to them. Don't be looking for them to prove themselves to you - that is the current trend of thinking and it is so backwards that is a huge reason for the current 100% turn over rate in trucking. They don't have anything to prove - if you take a look at the walls of the offices of almost any trucking company that is being unfairly slammed on the internet you will find photos of drivers who have been there for ten and twenty years and put in millions of miles safely and very productively. Those guys didn't do that because it was a "good company" - they accomplished that because they were "good" drivers.

Your willingness to succeed and your drive to excel are the main ingredients for your success at this career. So don't worry so much about whose name is on the doors of the truck. I spent the first eighteen months of my career at Western Express. Their reputation is absolutely in the gutter by all internet review accounts, you couldn't ask for a company with more disparaging remarks against it. I excelled there, was always in the top group of drivers for productivity, and made some very good money despite the fact that their pay rate was very low. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but rather the truth that you are the driving factor of your success at this. Any company out there who has a really hard working dependable driver who knows how to "get er done" will do all they can to keep that driver moving and satisfied. I have since moved on to a different company, but it wasn't because I thought the other guys were scumbags. I received a much better offer and I took advantage of that offer. That's the way it works - you prove yourself first, then you will find the doors of opportunity opening up to you.

One of the biggest problems with getting started in this career is the sheer difficulty of getting oneself accustomed to all the many consequences of your own decisions and choices while out there on the road. It is tricky to say the least to get the hang of all this stuff during the first six months of doing this. People end up with negative consequences due to some of their own poor choices or decisions as to how to handle their job or manage their time. It is not easy breaking into this career. New drivers will inevitably make some bad choices while on the road. It is important to recognize when you make a mistake and learn from it. Your driver manager will come to depend on you and treat you really well if you are a dependable driver. People tend to give up and blame their company for not getting enough miles, or not making enough money to live on, as if they were being mistreated by the greedy company. But I can guarantee you that at which ever company that is getting slammed on the internet for mistreating their employees, there are a group of competent drivers who are getting more miles dispatched to them than they know how to handle because those drivers have proven themselves again and again. The reason you don't hear from them on those internet reviews is because they are in their sleeper catching some much needed rest so they can give 110% during their next on duty time period.

I appreciate the insight Old School, it has given me the understanding i was seeking. I'm all about proving myself worthy and reliable. My statement had much to do with the many different stories I've read, both good and bad and the multitudes of different information I've gotten from different recruiters from the same companies. I just mentioned to my old lady that i was gonna take a ride by the truck stop and get the perspective of a few drivers. At the end of the day, Its my intention to nail down as much information as i can from the company recruiter and take it from there. I'm jumping in with two feet, my only intention is getting er done. Again, thanks for the time you took to explain to me what I take to be an honest and frank assessment of what it takes to be successful in the industry. I'm sure you could've been getting some much needed rest instead. Your advise will certainly be heeded.