Complaint Review: Werner Enterprises - Drivers Management - omaha Nebraska

I attended truck driving school in Las Vegas, Nevada because I thought that I would get my CDL so that I could work for a local vending company and did not know that I would have to obtain some over the road driving experience.  Saw an add in employment guide stated that starting pay is over 38,000 dollars per year to start.  I took the words "to start" to mean as in after I start working and get a paycheck.  Attended AIT driving school for 6 months from august 08 to december 08.  Passed 5 tests in one day at dmv on donovan way and got a prehire months before from werner and covenant.  I was working a full time job as a security officer at the homeless shelter while attending AIT at night 20 hours a week. Often worked overtime and holidays. 

Ask me if there was 38,000 per year.  Go ahead please.  When I was a kid I used to play a little joke with my kid sister.  Go ahead and pull my finger.  Can you guess what used to happen???  Well when my sister was a kid, she found it entertaining.  Unfortunately I don't when a company like Werner does the same thing. After all I was 6 years old at the time and have grown since then.  I thought my experiences with my trainers were bad.  However, I can see that others have had it worse.  I can only say that it wasnt a bowl of cherries.  My average check was probably about 375 dollars per week.  I was told at the school before I signed on that training would be about 200 hours in length.  During orientation, I was told training would consist of 250 hours on the truck.  When I completed the training, I was told that there were no trucks and that I could stay on the truck with the trainer or take leave and wait to get a truck at home.  I went back to las vegas and was told that there was a truck.  One of my relatives told me to hand the number to werner trucking to her and said that she was going to do some research on the company and would take care of everything.  I have no idea what she said to them other than to say that she works as a lobbist in washington and was educated in texas.

Anyway, got my truck and was in good condition but did not get many miles.  Often found that I would sit for days on end without a load.  Saw 2 weeks where I earned 650 dollars.  More times that not far less that that.  Quit working in august 08 and am going back to College.  Used to drive me crazy when the company would have me get a load and swap out with another driver who would get all the miles and I would get the load that he already delivered most of the way.  Also maddening when the qualcomm would show an emergency message when it was not an emergency.  One time I planned my route so that I could either fuel up or take a more direct route to get to Walmart.  Was qualcommed after I took the fueling route and dispatch moved the appointment time up so that I was 3 minutes late.  I believe that Werner uses this as a way to make you late to deliver your load and thereby have an excuse to say that you are not reliable and not give you any miles.  One time I was delivering a load to Omaha, ne and got the qualcomm msg while I was driving.  Pulled off the freeway to look at it.  Once again, werner the wonder dog with fleas strikes again.  Got lost and was 30 minutes late.  Had I had the ability to look at the qualcomm while the truck was rolling, I would have been on time even with the revised time of 11 am. 

Also, there were times that I put myself on line 2 when I was not in a sleeping birth.  I was helping American Compass Salt load salt into my trailer.  Yet I can't understand why I was temporarily suspended for going over my hours on the qualcomm.

I wish I could have worked for swift instead.  I got a call from troy childs the recruiter from Swift but I didnt follow through.  The Werner representative buttered up all of the drivers by buying us popeyes chicken for dinner at a time when I was eating garbage at the homeless shelter I was living in. 

A few people considered driving a bus for greyhound but some of the drivers at the school spoke against it.  I wish I had driven for them now.  I recently knew someone who worked for them and he told me that he was consistantly making 800 dollars per week every week. 

I am not going to do over the road driving anymore with any of the freight companies.  It is a rough life that consists of a lot of work and very little reward.  Not worth losing sleep over.

If you are considering working as otr driver, please consider covenant.  I heard that their dispatch is of better quality.

Werner Claims to Care but I believe that it is more of an advertising thing than a reality.