New To The Industry

Hello fellow humans. My name is James, And I am a new Class A CDL holder, And would like to know if anyone can tell me what to expect, I am in a hotel in Va right now waiting on my trainer, I’ve been here for a week tomorrow and completed the western express orientation, my recruiter said my trainer was here on Thursday but his trucks been in the shop, so we are supposed to be pulling out Monday (tomorrow), but I have yet to hear anything from anyone, not even a trainer. Now like a tone of others, I have heard horror stories about western express, and their trainers, but I went ahead and accepted their offer beca I’d rather experience it for myself, instead of a bunch of disgruntled ex employees, So I have 70 hrs of training to come, what can I expect? 1 week? 2 weeks? A month? I’m not even sure anymore, I guess I just need some encouragement and something to look forward too.

Thanks for any insight and for having me on your forum

James

Welcome, what to expect?? That is a very subjective queston. Your trainer should be getting ahold of you, probably sometime tomorrow morning. He/she should give you an idea how the program will go. I don’t know if Western has any set timeframes, but you can expect to be very busy during training. Your timeframe will likely be based at least in part by your performance. You will struggle with backing and trip planning, everyone does.

Depending if your van or flatbed those are very different divisions. Vans can have appt times just about anytime day or night. Flatbed is more daytime hours.

Your trainer most likely won’t know for sure when the truck will be ready, until it is. Shops are notorious for giving unrealistic time frames on repairs.

Take a deep breath and relax. Wedtern has trained many drivers and know what they are doing. Learning to roll with the punches is hard for most folks to get used to. It will all come together.