Complaint Review: Werner Enterprises - Omaha Nebraska

First off to Smoking....
WOW.. I'm not sure if you were one of the ones that have had nothing but bad experiences.. or if things have really changed that much in 3 years...  I drove for Werner in 05 & 06 and do know that there is not an honest, fair, or caring trucking company alive, but have to say, Werner treated me right for the most part.  Now of course there were moments like with any job or company, but nothing to the extreme as you described...  as far as the training money.. well lets be honest, you are there to learn, and you really cant expect a company to pay you experienced wages for that can you?? Not saying the pay is good, but it does get much better once you get past training and get your own rig... i made an average of 600 to 700 a week for them.. even had a few 1000 weeks in there too... so the money is there to be made.. it just takes work to make it.. 
The other side of this is also this job is not for everyone.. it does take a "special" type of person to do this on a regular basis, year in and year out.. This job is definitely not for the married, or family man, (unless you have an extremely understanding spouse and family).. It wears on a relationship in a way that no "normal" family would endure or understand... I started driving in 1997 and had to quit a few years into it because my wife could not handle being home with kids alone all the time... so I quit and got a local job... and believe this or not.. the politics, the games, the crap I had to deal with at the local job was no better or worse than the trucking companies... the only difference is.. on the road I don't have to look at the one giving me ulcers and anurisms on a daily basis like I do at the local job, so in that aspect.. I prefer the OTR job..
To Scott..
Unfortunately, the appeal of O/O died years ago when the fuel prices raced through the roof as the price of hauling stayed pretty much the same.  When I worked there I considered entering into their O/O program.. but after looking over the selection of trucks they had to offer and at their price, I quickly decided against it for a few reasons.. 1.  You are right.. The trucks they offer are older.. but I really can't agree with the worn out part.  The maintenance they do on their trucks is insane. Nothing gets by them,, they take good care of their rigs..  2.  I didn't want to run into what you are talking about.. If I left, I had to leave the truck.. No thanks.. and 3.  And believe this or not,, but at the time i checked onto this,, I could buy a new truck, equipped better, for not much more, (maybe 3 or 4K more) than what they were charging for their old trucks.. Another thing I want to mention, with all due respect, is believe half of what you see, a third of what you hear, and a quarter of what you read..  basically saying, shouldn't fall for a salesman's pitch, he's always going to make things sound and look better than they really are... just like joining the military.. the recruiter will lie to get you to sign up..

Burnside, When I talked to the Nebraska State Attorney Generals office,they have been trying to catch WE for a long time in a mistake.They have attorneys in ALL areas of their business and they DON'T make mistakes. They run in that GRAY area and just skirt the wording in their contracts that allows them to get away with what they do. Your report doesnt surprise me in the least bit. Unfortunately, it's us little PEE-ONS that get the royal you know what. We hear the song and dance, wine and roses BS and most of us fall into the trap of theirs and there's no way out. The other thing is that ALL of the MAJOR TRUCKIN companies are the same way and, and in my opinion, there is NOT a large company on the road that is any different in treatment of drivers. What is really sickening is that their recruiters make it sound so grandeose to those young guys and, I have to admit, us old guys that there is more money to be made than stars in the sky and we have fallen for it. Then when the real deal comes.... oops, we have no freight,or no trucks, or you have to spend more time makin money for your trainers, say, 50 more hours. Do the math... 50 hrs X 65mph X $.36/mile = $1,267.50 for your trainer and you get a whopping $375/ wk. There is something definately wrong with this scenerio. WE is in the minimum wage area and there's nothing illegal about it. LAUGH MY A.. OFF because I fell for it also. I've asked my training school to allow me to sit in on one of Werner's recruiting speeches; they have NEVER called me to let me sit in, even though I've talked to 2 of those, so called TEACHERS. I promised NOT to ask questions or make comments (when they tell a lie) and say NOTHING to the prospective drivers and still NO call. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to NOT know that the schools receive some sort of kick-back from these companies or that the gov't doesn't reward them for each student. You can't tell me that THEY don't know that WE is lying during their speeches. The school gets their $6K + kick-backs and then us students get our A.... kicked. Kick-backs everywhere you look. Can you honestly tell me that your traing in school was worth $6K? Then heres the real kicker, you get your 300 hours in, get laid off and don't get a truck. You become frustrated and start calling other local companies for driving jobs and you find out... OH, I NEED 2-3 YRS OF EXPERIENCE? What'cha gonna do? YOU'RE GONNA GET SCREWED. ALL OF US PEE-ONS SHOULD LOOK INTO THESE TRAINING SCHOOLS FIRST,AND THEN GO AFTER THE BIG DOG. I'm so fed up with Werner that now I'm rambling in frustration. Maybe I did add some fuel to a fire that is within many of us suckers who have believed in the company that says "AT WERNER, WE CARE! B... S...! Give me some feedback. I know that alot of you are as frustrated as me, so keep the rebuttals and notes comin. Positive or Negative... Keep in touch. Oh, one more subject I'd like to hear about is YOUR ORIENTATION, PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE. BE SAFE... SMOKE IN PA.