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lttlbgft
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Well, with all of the hoopla, I neglected to update y'all.
I am no longer employed by Werner Enterprise. I quit, already.
It would seem that their game is to hire an experienced driver in and then figure out ways to dwindle their pay away to the point that they aren't making any money. Then, they suggest you become a trainer, which involves another two cent a mile cut in your pay. They justify this by saying that a trainer gets all of their trainee's miles added to their own. But it's just a scam, if you ask me and I'm not going to train their rookies for the same money I should be getting on my own. Just not going to do it.
This weekend was the last straw. Every weekend my check has been for less money. Their latest excuse? They recalculated my nearly ten years of experience and dwindled them down to 38 months because of technicalities. Mostly because they said that the truck companies that verified my experience didn't dot the "i"s and cross the "t"s on their return faxes. So they threw them out. They said I could fix this but once all of them were in, it would take a few months to straighten it all out. Then, they suggested I become a trainer.
I told them to go screw themselves.
What I've learned:
Well, first I have to give you some background about my driving so you'll understand how I could be so unaware of these companies.
I got my CDL the old school way. I didn't go to school for them. I had been working for rail contractors for a decade and part of that was to drive a yard hostler, spotting trailers to the train. And even though I had been a crane operator for years, I hadn't forgotten how to drive a trailer. I just needed to figure out how the shifter in the trucks worked. It's hard to explain but you shift it through the first several gears and flip a switch on the shifter to go into the higher gears and then repeat the exact same **** pattern.
Well, I got my license and drove a friends truck for four months before I bought my own. normally, this is impossible but since I was leased to a company that did lot transfer work for the railroad, I didn't go any further than 3 miles and I was able to lease. Normally, a new driver has to work for someone for 2 years before they can buy a truck and lease it on themselves, due to insurance reasons. But I got around that. So, I've owned my own truck since then and when my first truck's engine blew up, I drove another friends truck for several months and bought me another one. The one I still have.
So, with all of that said, obviously I had no idea how these companies work. When I decided to drive for someone else, I wanted to try one of the big companies and Werner is the 5th largest trucking company in the US. I figured, nice truck, great benefits. You know, a win, win. But the terrible truth is that these big companies, JB Hunt, Schneider, Swift, Werner, US Express and so on, are training companies. That's why their so big, in fact. They screw these rookies in exchange for employing them and therefore, giving them their big break. But they pay them **** and this is what gives them the resources to become so big. If an experienced driver wants a job, then they play the same game that Werner was playing with me.
The really bad part of this is that these companies have huge fleets out there that are driven by rookies who are fresh out of school. And from what some of the rookies told me, they never pull a loaded trailer in school and one told me he had only backed a trailer three times. And one of those was during the test.
I'll give you a perfect example. My dispatcher gave me a run that included Office Max in Pensacola, Fla. He said, "Are you sure you can do it? It's the worst dock we have". He told me that he's had to send driver to Pensacola to back the trailer in for other drivers. I just replied with a "Pffftttt", took the bills and header out the door. Well, just outside the door there were two drivers who had taken advantage of the lease to own program with Werner and were driving Freightliner Centurys. A relatively small truck. Or at least, much shorter then the Freightliner Classic I was driving. These two proceeded to freak out about me taking that load. They told me these horror stories of a curb and a guard rail that were right in the way and assured me that I'd never get in there with a Classic. And if I did, I'd probably blow a tire on the curb or bend the front bumper on the guard rail. They told me that even with a Century class, you couldn't get on the dock without climbing the curb. They basically described a dock that was nearly impossible to hit unless you figured out a way to bend the trailer. So, I have to admit, they had me a little worried. I figured that they're owner/operators now, since they're buying their trucks off of Werner and I figured that gave them some credibility. So, I worried about this dock all of the way down there. I pictured a blown tire, or a bent bumper, or even a scuff on my steer tire, which would have pissed me off. So, I finally get there and the first time around the back, I drive right past the dock and never even see it because it's in a unlikely place. The second time through I spotted it and guess what? It turned out to be mildly annoying and nothing more. And whats more, is that I never even touched the dreaded curb, let alone the guard rail.
This is where I figured out that I was driving for a company that had nothing but rookie drivers who had no real idea how to control and maneuver their trucks. And it dawned on me how completely dangerous to the general public that is. There aren't even other drivers there for them to learn from. It's rookies teaching rookies to drive an 80,000lbs tractor trailer on the highway with everyone else. And Werner is only one of several who practice this. Remember this the next time you see one of these trucks near you.
On top of all of this, I had to get into a big fight with the mechanics for Werner because it would appear that the truck has either a bad tie rod end or a bad kingpin bushing. And they don't seem interested in even looking at it, let alone fixing it. so I had to go off on them in the maintenance shop and nearly drag one of the degenerates out to the truck to inspect them. For those of you who don't know, a tie rod end connects the front wheels to the steering mechanism. Without it, the tire turns freely, in any direction it wants to. And the kingpin is what holds the entire front wheel of the truck to the rest of the suspension. Without it, the wheel falls off. But the mechanic treated me as if I were just another rookie and wouldn't even take my word for it that there might be a real big problem.
Anyhow, I got there today to clean my stuff out of the truck to discover that after 5 days of having the truck, they still hadn't looked at the front end and whats more is that they bent the brand new bumper that I had just had them put on, to replace the extremely twisted bumper that the rookie who had the truck before me had twisted. The mechanics bent it. Can you believe that?
So, where do I go from here? I talked to a small company here in Carrollton yesterday and they didn't have an opening for me but said they wished they did. They told me about their pay, which was a hell of a lot better than Werner and their benefits, which aren't. But all in all, I'd say, a much better deal. So, I'll have to find a company that does have an opening and get back to work. The price per barrel of oil and the price per gallon of fuel are not nearly low enough for me to even debate putting my truck back on the road yet. And besides, I was really looking forward to all of the little repairs I was going to be able to make while it sits.
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7/22/2008, 12:57 am
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sadie44883
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Wow! I just read every word of that...how interesting, and SCARY, too! Sorry all that happened to you...it sucks! It's crazy how they are allowed to do that crap! Sure hope you find decent work soon.
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7/22/2008, 1:11 am
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jtopp4
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Explains how the Semi could rear end a car of teenagers that stopped at a traffic light on Main street and knocked their stopped car a quarter of the way down the street! The teenagers happened to be my 17 year old grand daughter and her 15 year old sister and their 19 year old cousin. Here we are a year plus (accident was May 17th 2007) One settlement done the oldest grand daughter who is now 18 negotiated ( actually I did) for $27,500 of that I have so far paid the $5000 in medical bills that had to be paid now, and today I sent a check out for additional $2528 and yesterday for $180. The guy never even got out of his truck to see how these kids were! Needles to say the car was totalled and they none of them were able to take semester finals since all had concussions. I talked to the adjuster again yesterday and he is supposed to get back with me between 9 and 12. Oh and the car the kids were in I owned as the grand daughter is on our insurance!
Not all ruck drivers are screw ups, but I have seen a steady decline in the quality of driver out there...and you give a classic reason why! Seems you fellows that have been driving a long time would be fearful of these under trained drivers that can really mess you up too! Big rig against big rig is not a pretty sight!
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McCain & Palin 2008
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7/22/2008, 1:20 am
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lttlbgft
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Yeah, it really is scary. It's scary to me and I know about how little skill it actually takes to drive a truck. Or at least, how little skill I perceive it to be. And as for the shotty repairs, well, I don't even know what to say about that. Werner has some nice equipment. Why they don't take better care of it is beyond me. It's like they just don't care, they just don't want to spend any money on the trucks unless they have no choice. Even when there's a possibility of it being a danger to the driver and the motoring public.
But I figure I'll find a decent job with a small company, fairly quickly. That one company might even call me back. The woman, ( a husband and wife team who own it) told me she wished I had called her 3 weeks ago. The guy they hired is a jerk and is argumentative. She told me if he quits or she fires him, she'll give me a call.
It's annoying but hey, I tired. I really liked the benefits package, I'll tell ya. It was great.
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7/22/2008, 1:25 am
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lttlbgft
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The reason you're seeing a decline in capable truck drivers is that all of the hoopla you hear about them needing truck drivers is BS. They don't need more truck drivers. What they need are more rookie truck drivers that they don't have to pay any real money to. You see. Just keep that swinging door swinging so they can keep driver pay as low as possible. Damn the public! It's all about profit margins.
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7/22/2008, 1:29 am
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lttlbgft
Hottie
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As for them scarring me, I can tell you that I just hate being in a loading dock and seeing some young kid, obviously fresh out school, come running down the driveway looking for his dock door. I always just sit there and cross my fingers that he isn't going to park next to me. And in the truck stops, lord, that's a whole other issue in itself.
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7/22/2008, 1:32 am
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sadie44883
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Re: …
Damn the public! It's all about profit margins.
Yep. It's getting to be pretty much that way for everything these days...even hospitals!
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7/22/2008, 1:33 am
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whaler23
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Re: Well, with all of the hoopla, I neglected to update y'all.
guess that pretty much answers your question how the TC's are making money with fuel costs as high as they are
good luck
--- Well boy, are you going to pull them pistols or whistle Dixie?
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7/22/2008, 1:37 am
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wralst
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You might want to check on the public record of trucking firms.
DOT allows a company snapshoot which can be accessed by anyone
http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/
You can look at company profiles, safety violations and other data
We do so as part of the service we supply our clients
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7/22/2008, 1:39 am
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lttlbgft
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Yeah, I'm aware of the company snapshots. There's one for me, myself, since I have my own DOT number. But I never looked into Werner's because, well hell, it Werner. It's a huge company with 10,000 trucks. Or so they say. Who'd have thunk it that they're so irresponsible when it comes to safety? It's just unbelievable. I can't tell you all how many times in my short tenure with them that my jaw practically dropped open in amazement over one thing or another. I own a crappy little daycab that is over 20 years old and has a million/four on the odometer and I would never do such shotty maintenance and the DOT would have my ass if I did. But big companies like Werner just skate on by. I just don't get it.
Last edited by lttlbgft, 7/22/2008, 1:49 am
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7/22/2008, 1:47 am
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