Frustrations With Werner Enterprises, I'm Finished With Them

How about this if wadhams turns out to be most of what i want i will come back here with a glowing review. i know several people in trucking and they all think this is a positive move. one guy i know actually drove for werner early during his carrier. another guy i know works in the milk hauling divisions.

I don't want you to think I am being rude or mean, but I do want you to understand what our issue is with not only your post, but your whole approach to getting started in this career. You simply don't understand how one makes a good start as a truck driver. We could care less about your glowing report about Wadham's just as much as we disliked your slanderous report about Werner. They both indicate that you are trying to circumvent every thing that we teach folks about what you need to do to succeed at this business.

You made so many blunders in your start, and then you started blaming Werner, until we pressed you and then you switched the blame to large carriers in general. The blame game does not fly in this career, and according to your statement above it sounds like all these people that you "know" and listen to, have just about ruined any chance of your success.

I am really taking the time with you to explain these things so that hopefully some other newbie coming in here and reading this thread will benefit from our wisdom, I am beginning to have my serious doubts that you will.

Let's just start with your huge list of blunders from the start...

NUMBER ONE:

You decided to start on a Dollar Store account. We tell people all the time to not do this, it is a brutal job for a rookie.

NUMBER TWO:

You started during the Holidays. That was a big reason for you sitting at a hotel. Duh... Yes those folks who are training drivers would like to spend a little time with their families - the very thing that you've been ranting against. Trainers are available when they are available. It was bad timing on your part, but that is just part of being the new guy, you might have to wait a little while for a trainer to be available.

NUMBER THREE:

You thought you could go to a local job right from the start after you finished school. Look, I'll give some consolation to you if you were mis-lead by all these people you know, or maybe even the school personnel, but if you had been in here asking some of the professionals who have been doing this for years we could have set all this straight for ya. We always recommend that you go with an Over The Road job for one full year at the start. That is the industry standard for being considered experienced, and that is what the local companies need so that they can get you onto their insurance policies at reasonable rate. There are rare occasions when a new student driver can land a local job, but those opportunities are few and far between. Quite often that newbie ends up in an accident due to the rigorous requirements of driving a big rig locally, and that ends their career prematurely because no one wants to touch them now. They have no over the road experience, and they have an accident on their record - they are basically cut off from most trucking opportunities now. It is a bad way to start, but you are going to find all this out on your own doing a regional North East job. I drive the North East all the time, I have some regular customers there on my dedicated job. It is tough up there, even for an experienced driver.

NUMBER FOUR:

You thought this job would not require you to drive at night. Truck driving is all about making your self productive and efficient. This is a performance based job. You will soon discover that successful drivers in the North East drive at night, because that is the way they get the most done. If you have got to drive in the day time, you are going to be exposing yourself to so many more risks up in that area, but you will learn, or else you will be back on line slamming another company for their deceptive hiring practices.

Continued...

NUMBER FIVE:

You thought you could manage a pleasant balance of family life with your new trucking career. I know you are convinced that Wadham's holds this magical formula that is going to enable you to be a big part of your family's life, but most local/regional drivers find that it is just as frustrating. You will get home on the weekends alright, but you are going to be exhausted and needing to re-charge for the next long week ahead. If a person does well at this job, they are a top performer, and that takes commitment and work that you (at this point) have shown little understanding about, or inclination to aspire to.

I could keep going on and on because you have laid out a virtual litany of misunderstandings about making a decent start at this career.

I would appreciate it if you would do me a favor, and this is for your benefit. Please take the time to click on these links and listen to these Podcasts. They will give you the opportunity to hear some common sense about how to understand the whole business of breaking into this career.

Boot Camp

Sticking With It

Do You Have What It Takes?

Why Is Training Rushed?

As usual Old School is full of wisdom and keen understanding. Yet somehow he is still folding frozen tarps in a snowstorm.

Too bad he won't understand that all that will get him is frostbite.

In all seriousness though, Old School is telling you the truth. Take heed to his words and change your attitude or you a heading on a one way trip to becoming just another statistic. Just another individual this rigorous lifestyle has chewed up, spit out, then asked for more.

Drive Safe and God Speed.

Any situation you find yourself in is the result of all the choices you have made up until that moment. No one can make your choices for you therefore you are responsible for the situations you find yourself in.

Ad356 wrote:

i went with Werner because the way i saw it, they were better then swift or CR england. i still believe they are.

Spoken like a true expert! NOT. Considering how green you are, you have "seen" very little and know virtually nothing about other "mega" carriers or truck driving in general.

Swift has 17000 drivers at any given time. My interaction with Swift basically occurs with 7 people (all really good people); two planners, four DMs, and one safety manager. Collectively as a team we get the job done; safely, efficiently, and professionally. Problems occur, we work through them.

Your problems with Werner had everything to do with your attitude, unrealistic expectations and the inability to work through adversity. You come off like you were a victim. You weren't at Werner long enough to evaluate their effectiveness as a company or how they treat their drivers. Expect big challenges and difficulties with Wadhams as well, it's inevitable.

You really should carefully read all of the replies to your ranting. Truck driving isn't for everyone, and you may just be in that category. No trophy, sorry. 🏆

Good luck.

Alright now that I've read through this and have some time, here's my input:

I'll start by saying I understand the family aspect of your decision in a way. When I started cdl school my wife was a few months pregnant. Obviously they were very important to me at the time, which influenced my decision. Somehow I found this website and got plenty of feedback on different companies and aspects of the job. I probably researched the industry for months before jumping in, which it doesn't seem like you did. Anyway, I talked it over with my wife who was on board for the sake of my son. She understood, and still does, that I will need at least a year out here to get my foot in the door locally. Our expectations have been spot on as I knew roughly what I was getting into. My company got me home every weekend during training and only missed 4 weekends last year. We may not be a mega carrier but certainly not mom an pop. If you do some searching you can find a company that will fit your needs, including werner. You're off to a bad start in the industry because your expectations are too high and your looking for that unicorn company that doesn't exist.

#1. they sold me the dollar account because i said i wanted to be home as much as possible. i worked on the dollar tree for one week with another trainer i had. it was allot of work with two people, by myself i could see having serous problems keeping up with it. driving OTR is not in the cards, being gone 2-3 weeks or more is not something im interested in at all. one of the reasons i switched companies is i had two choices, stay with a dollar account or go OTR with Werner. i found a company that offered me regional which would keep me in the same northeast area but is 99% no touch freight.

#2. i know i started during the holidays, the biggest issue i have here is that i was flat out lied to by the recruiters. they falsely told me i would be driving before Christmas. i dont like being lied to that's not a good start. i dont lie to people and i hate being lied to. honesty would have been better and prevent me from being resentful. i would have waited until after the holidays to start. sitting in a hotel with no training offered was a joke. i will admit i am quite resentful being so blatenly lied to, and it makes me wonder what else they might be lying about down the road.

#3. i knew that getting a local job was going to be tough but i did not realize it was going to be impossible. i was falsely told by the local feed mill that they had a local job for me when i graduated. i got my CDL and apparently they changed their mind, maybe they had no openings. i was told something that did not materialize.

#4. my issue was not driving at night, but overnight. they are not the same thing. i drove at night pretty much shift i drove. my issue is not having a problem with night driving itself. my issue was being expect to sleep during the day in a moving truck. when i get on my own, im going to drive during the day and evening and shut down at 1 or 2 am. my issue was i started to nod off about 3 or 4 am.

#5. yes the family part sucks. i hope to at least get as much time as possible at home. they tell me they dont work on the weekends so perhaps its a little better. i dont know, i will have to find out. i really was trying to skip this leaving home part and go straight into being home at some point during a 24 hour period.

the problem around here is the local non-trucking jobs aren't even close to a living wage anymore. the temp services have sucked the life out of the wages in manufacturing. i would probably pursue something else, but i will be living in a cardboard box at $12 per hour. that's the typical starting pay around here, and with a minimum wage of $9.70, $12 per hour is not money to live on. i have accepted the fact that i will not be home daily for quite some time, but if i can get home on the weekends it will greatly reduce my emotional pain from being separated from my wife and child. frankly unless the local job market makes a drastic change for the better i am left with little choice.

i will try my chances at wadhams and stick it out there. it will probably still have its moments but might be something i can live with. im not expecting it to be perfect, if i am not spending 34 hour resets at a truck stop i can deal with it. unpaid 34 hour resets away from home suck. i did several of them. if you are on the road, they are not days off.

I am only going to say this once. Take a look at H. O. Wolding.

they sold me the dollar account

i was flat out lied to by the recruiters.

i was falsely told by the local feed mill that they had a local job for me when i graduated.

i was told something that did not materialize.

Werner is the only mega carrier i have ever worked for but i have been told they are all the same. avoid them when possible.

the recruiters told me one thing, and something completely different happened.

truth is the big carriers lie to the drivers.

i know someone..., and he said ...

i used to work in a milk plant and know allot of drivers

Frankly the dishonesty started with the woman at the CDL school

people i know that have been driving for decades. they all say the same things about larger companies, they lie through their teeth.

i hate being lied to; actually i despise it.

I'm hoping you will take a look at this brief little collection of your statements and realize how little you know about this industry, and how not only all the people you "know," but all the people you have come in contact with during the process, and all the large carriers, and anyone else that you seemed to have spoken to in your quest for a truck driving job are all low down sorry people who lie, lie, lie.

Here's a reality check for you. We call this web site Trucking Truth for a reason. We've been wasting a lot of our time here trying to tell you the truth, and all you have to say is how you have been misled every step of the way in your job search. Here's the Truth...

You started out wrong with false expectations, and thinking a CDL was your magical ticket to Job Nirvana - roll out the red carpet boys, here I am! Any, and everything in life worth doing takes some real sacrifice and commitment. One of the hallmarks I see in successful truck drivers is that they accept personal responsibility for their mistakes. That is, they do not go around laying the blame on their circumstances, their location, or on a bunch of people who misled them. One of the most common things I see in the guys who simply never break through in this business is their propensity to get on public forums and play the blame game.

I wish you the best, but you are not getting any sympathy here because we have witnessed your ilk so many times before that we just end up shrugging our shoulders and saying, "another one bites the dust."

I guess all i can say is i will go with wadhams and stick it for a while, really make an attempt to make it all work. working as a milk receiver i met allot of truck drivers, some of which is still am in communication with. shall i ignore their advice? i have a tendency to ask questions to someone who i know has been through it all, and these are people that i personally know. all i can say is i will go to wadhams stick it out for a year and see if it works out. if i cant do it, then i will bow out of the industry and come to the conclusion that its not for me. at this point i like what a hear and i have to give it the benefit of the doubt. if i don't succeed i fear with the crappy paying jobs that are otherwise available i very well might be doomed for failure and loosing my home. $480 per week before taxes isnt enough to buy toilet paper to wipe my rear end. i have to at least try.