Western Express Year Contract

Hello, Like every one else I made the mistake as to work for western Express. I worked for them for 3 months before I reported to my dispatcher that they violated the contract for not paying me. After a month and a half of only getting 200 per week, I quit. After 3 months on the road I was only home one time for 24 hours. I was driving from repair shops to a terminal then to deliver a load for the company and they where not paying me for it. In addition, my truck broke down almost every other week and I wasn't getting the breakdown pay as it states in the contract. After I quit they mailed me a letter saying I was fired.

Now after 6 months later, they are coming after me wanting to work or pay up. I keep asking when they are going to pay me first.

Anyone got any ideas on how to deal with western express?

You signed a contract agreeing to drive I really don’t know how you deal with that

Hello, Like every one else I made the mistake as to work for western Express. I worked for them for 3 months before I reported to my dispatcher that they violated the contract for not paying me. After a month and a half of only getting 200 per week, I quit. After 3 months on the road I was only home one time for 24 hours. I was driving from repair shops to a terminal then to deliver a load for the company and they where not paying me for it. In addition, my truck broke down almost every other week and I wasn't getting the breakdown pay as it states in the contract. After I quit they mailed me a letter saying I was fired.

Now after 6 months later, they are coming after me wanting to work or pay up. I keep asking when they are going to pay me first.

Anyone got any ideas on how to deal with western express?

Hello, Like every one else I made the mistake as to work for western Express. I worked for them for 3 months before I reported to my dispatcher that they violated the contract for not paying me. After a month and a half of only getting 200 per week, I quit. After 3 months on the road I was only home one time for 24 hours. I was driving from repair shops to a terminal then to deliver a load for the company and they where not paying me for it. In addition, my truck broke down almost every other week and I wasn't getting the breakdown pay as it states in the contract. After I quit they mailed me a letter saying I was fired.

Now after 6 months later, they are coming after me wanting to work or pay up. I keep asking when they are going to pay me first.

Anyone got any ideas on how to deal with western express?

Pay the contract or fulfill it. I'd like to know the full story though. If you are still trucking ask your current company to pay the schooling cost. Some will some won't. I seriously doubt you weren't getting paid. I'd bet their story sounds WAY different than yours. They will come after you for payment so you need to figure something out. If you weren't making over $200 a week for that long I'd be willing to say the problem laid at your feet not theirs. You was averaging less than 1000 miles a week for 6 weeks or so, it's hard to do that bad even if you tried really hard. Sounds like driving just wasn't for you and you took the easy way out, blame the company.

Anyone got any ideas on how to deal with western express?

Samuel, you are asking the wrong question. They don't need any "dealing with." What in the world were you doing for three months? You claim they weren't paying you, then you claim you were making 200 bucks a week. I drove for Western Express. I did really well over there. You can't fool a bunch of truck drivers with a story like this. What's up? How many miles were you running? How many hours were you working? Were you scanning your loads in properly? Your story has got a lot of holes in it. Let's hear some more details. Maybe we can help you figure out how this trucking career works.

What have you been doing since you quit or got fired? Did you find another driving job?

Here's the full story they don't check up on their trucks they don't care about their employees they don't pay them anything they tell you that your your own boss when you do their lease purchase which is renting a truck from Them. You are not their employee you are there slave. Everybody who works from slight assigns to slavery contract by when you leave you never hear from again last try to recruit you to come back to that crappy company. The CEO doesn't care about his drivers just cares about the making him rich. I tried to be open my data about them and give them the benefit of the doubt that was the biggest mistake I could have ever madeI would always say it would get better as gotta get better blah blah blah and I Spent the majority of my time with them either in the shop because of their trailers or because of my trucks and God forbid you go to one of their terminals and have to go to the shop gonna be there for a week or 2. Never made over $500 at that place. Now they keep on trying to recruit me back. Add to tell the nice lady no means no I don't ever want to go back to penitentiary express.

Only a court of law can decide if an employment contract has been breached.

With that said, an employment contract for one year must be based on an annual salary.

I would love to see one of these contracts. They sound more like a credit card agreement than an employment contract.

Here's the full story they don't check up on their trucks they don't care about their employees they don't pay them anything

You are not their employee you are there slave.

That's quite the diatribe Georgia Mike. They paid me 50,000 dollars my rookie year. What do you think made the difference? If you think it was a change in CEO's you are still on the wrong track. Try a little harder to figure it out. We have no dealings with the CEO. We deal with our own performance and our own Driver Managers. Trucking is a very independent sort of career. Some guy in a suit, reporting to his office everyday, cannot keep you from learning how to make things happen out here.

You have tried so hard to keep your mouth shut, but the bile inside you is just bubbling up like a pressure sensitive volcano. Now you've joined the "slavery" crowd. SMDH! That victim mentality will keep you in that crowd and you'll end up always being a disgruntled trucker. You'll have your moments where you think you are rising above it, but you'll always returned to those feelings of dissatisfaction and servitude. You don't get it, and I'm not sure you are capable of getting it. Time will tell on you. If I'm wrong you can come back and let me know. But don't come back too soon. You've still got a lot to learn right now.

I know that you were making a higher CPM pay rate than I was, yet you couldn't figure out how to earn a living. That's on you. It's not on some guy in the office who was getting rich. I don't carry any water for Western Express, but I will call B.S. on beginners who don't seem to know the first thing about this career. Western Express gave you a chance and you blew it. The only way the CEO of a trucking company is getting rich is if he has drivers earning good money. You indict yourself when you say this...

Never made over $500 at that place.

Everybody knows that is a very low performing driver who makes a statement like that. No CEO wants a driver like that on their team.

Well actually if you get 1250 mile run only with a 26 cents per mile with live load and live unload at western after taxes you get maybe 450 or less you worked flat bed at western there’s money there especially training but dry van unless your blessed with a good dm and making 500 mile trips which pay good but those spots are usually held already your gonna stay at 26 cents per mile at western as far as my experience with equipment it was taken care of as soon as I said something I got hosed on 2 loads once because my dm kept trying to have me load a paper run on 10 yr old trailer that the paper mill kept refusing to load until I told him no!! They’re not gonna take it western express will give you the opportunity and chance to learn and figure your way out and for a few people it’s a very good place to make a living but they do have the highest turn over rates in the industry for a reason and I don’t believe it’s all because everyone who works there is stupid or lazy and etc etc imo!!

Here's the full story they don't check up on their trucks they don't care about their employees they don't pay them anything

You are not their employee you are there slave.

That's quite the diatribe Georgia Mike. They paid me 50,000 dollars my rookie year. What do you think made the difference? If you think it was a change in CEO's you are still on the wrong track. Try a little harder to figure it out. We have no dealings with the CEO. We deal with our own performance and our own Driver Managers. Trucking is a very independent sort of career. Some guy in a suit, reporting to his office everyday, cannot keep you from learning how to make things happen out here.

You have tried so hard to keep your mouth shut, but the bile inside you is just bubbling up like a pressure sensitive volcano. Now you've joined the "slavery" crowd. SMDH! That victim mentality will keep you in that crowd and you'll end up always being a disgruntled trucker. You'll have your moments where you think you are rising above it, but you'll always returned to those feelings of dissatisfaction and servitude. You don't get it, and I'm not sure you are capable of getting it. Time will tell on you. If I'm wrong you can come back and let me know. But don't come back too soon. You've still got a lot to learn right now.

I know that you were making a higher CPM pay rate than I was, yet you couldn't figure out how to earn a living. That's on you. It's not on some guy in the office who was getting rich. I don't carry any water for Western Express, but I will call B.S. on beginners who don't seem to know the first thing about this career. Western Express gave you a chance and you blew it. The only way the CEO of a trucking company is getting rich is if he has drivers earning good money. You indict yourself when you say this...

Never made over $500 at that place.

Everybody knows that is a very low performing driver who makes a statement like that. No CEO wants a driver like that on their team.

Very well said Old School. I fat fingered my phone and lost the entire reply I had written out. Folks what we have here is typical truck stop bull s**t of a driver talking out their a** because they dropped the ball. Nobody here would be willing to sit 2 weeks. We'd be taking it up the chain of command (if necessary) to get put in a loaner truck while the repairs are made. Are we expected to believe this company that ONLY cares about money would put Georgia Mike up in a hotel 2 weeks (MONEY!) possibly pay him breakdown or layover pay (MONEY!) while they spend more MONEY! on repairs while he DOES NOT move freight to MAKE MONEY!? Sometimes there are long waits on repairs, there's no way around that. The shop may get full, maybe it needs to go to the dealership or any other reasons. Its in the companies best interest to get the repairs done as quickly as possible. Needing trailers repaired isn't on W.E. thats on your fellow drivers for dropping them without getting it fixed. Guess what, I have a dang good job and it occasionally happens where I'm at too. I slipseat daily and ill have lights out on the truck, low fluids etc. Hell the other day the truck i was given had the passenger steer tire wearing real uneven on the outside edge. Does that mean my company is terrible because of the actions of another driver leaving that for me? Its all about perspective. If you want to live your life being angry because you dropped the ball as much with W.E. as much as you think they did, have at it. My previous driving job I started to hate it towards the end and it negatively impacted my attitude at work and home. Know what I did? I moved on. Prior to departing I called my manager and thanked him for giving me the opportunity to get my CDL and although things didn't work out I'd be forever grateful. I gave them a 3 or 4 week notice i was going to resign. You don't see me on here trash talking them do you?

You appear happy with your current company and I'm really happy for you. Same can be said for W.E. We've heard your gripes about W.E. so let's look up what some people say about your current employer.

Worst place to work over the road no miles no pay no life you will definitely feel like you are in prison if you have time to spend not making money but time to build your experience up this is the company for you

This company is not very professional in any of its departments. Orientation was led by someone who often spoke of drugs and alcohol joking about doing both at work and at home. Don't even try calling on weekends or evenings, it's a waste of everyone's time because they will not make any operational decisions. If you want a company that you work solo and you dont mind making low money for being on the road then this should work out fine for you. If you want to run team or a lot as a solo, find a better company.

That doesn't sound like somewhere I'd be willing to work. Look up any trucking company and you'll find nearly the same thing for every company. This is one of the few industries that it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it. If you're not performing then your paycheck and lack of miles will reflect that. Every company out there will have drivers extremely happy and also extremely upset with it. Most often our perspective is based on our own actions. No company out there is perfect. Not every dispatcher is good at their job. Its on YOU to follow the chain of command to get results if you feel you're not getting anywhere. Drop the crap about slavery. Its extremely offensive and inaccurate.

What type of miles are you getting at your current company compared to Western? Also keep in mind that you were inexperienced at W.E. so your miles and paychecks will naturally be lower. You seem happy where you're at and I'm happy for you. W.E was the only company willing to give you a chance.

Jammer when you talk about the longer runs harder to get frequently thats perfectly normal. Typically a dispatcher would rather take care of the drivers that are getting the job done at the highest level, what we call Top tier drivers. Its a process that takes time proving yourself, getting the job done safely without complaints and on time. You said:

they do have the highest turn over rates in the industry for a reason and I don’t believe it’s all because everyone who works there is stupid or lazy and etc etc imo!!

do you have any proof of that? The turnover rate in this industry is ridiculously high because drivers will change jobs just because they woke up with messy hair one morning and somehow that's the companies fault. It very well could be that they have the highest turnover, I've just not seen anything that tracks individual companies. You need to keep in mind though the type of drivers that are attending orientation. They're much more lenient in their hiring to allow job hoppers, multiple accidents, poor driving record and past criminal problems. I'm a firm believer that everyone deserves a 2nd chance, and that's exactly what W.E. is giving to many new drivers that nobody else will touch. The industry as a whole is so misunderstood. Most people want to drive because they enjoy road trips but when they get started they realize they dont like driving as much as they thought. The isolation, long hours, time away from home and many other reasons are just part of why The turnover is so high industry wide. The concept of being paid on your performance is also new to most people and they can never stop breaking it down to what they've earned if they calculate it to hourly pay. Before trucking most of us were paid for all our time spent at the workplace whether we're actually working or watching cat videos on YouTube. In trucking its more of a commission based pay structure that you directly affect what you're paid.