Werner Orientation

Lynn inquired:

This is for Brian from Forest Lake - Hi my name is Lynn and I'm from North Branch. I'm currently in CDL school and leaning towards a career with Werner. Are you currently with them? And if you are, would you care to share some of your experience with them here. Be safe driver.

Welcome Lynn.

Werner is a really good company with an excellent reputation. However there are many, many Trucking Companies you could consider as potential employers, that will provide you with road training.

A couple of other links you may find helpful: Understanding Pre-Hires and Apply For Truck Driving Jobs.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Safe travels.

Biggest issue I have is the lack of real training.

This is one of the biggest concerns I have. That and winter driving. I'll just have to go into training with few expectations. Hopefully your trainer will give you some pointers on the 90... I find that maneuver to be the most difficult. I can only imagine what it would be like with real world obstacles instead of cones. It's good to know what G-Town said, though. Thanks for sharing Raz!

G-Town said:

Werner is a really good company with an excellent reputation.

I have to admit that I was left a bit bewildered by this statement as the last thing I recall hearing about Werner was that the only reason they went to e-logs was because their drivers were always fudging their paper logs, and DOT made Werner switch. That along with their drivers supposedly being as bad or worse than Swift or Western Express, and Werner supposedly having a horrible safety record, left me with a very bad impression of that company. If I'm wrong though, than I'm wrong and I'd be happy to know that. After spending some time here it seems like most wine you hear from the grape vine is more whine than wine, and should be taken with a good dose of salt.

Let me be clear , I have no serious complaints about Werner as a company . Staff is friendly and program is solid. I chose werner for several reasons, but mostly because I wanted 275 hours with a trainer . If a driver using paper log chooses to fudge its on him . Werner uses e logs so that they know the instant a driver goes into violation and they jump on it. That's a good thing for mgmt and driver. As a student I am required to run paper log parallel to elog and I must say it is not easy to learn Remember a company can have all the correct policies in place, but it is difficult to manage drivers after the fact

Let me be clear , I have no serious complaints about Werner as a company . Staff is friendly and program is solid. I chose werner for several reasons, but mostly because I wanted 275 hours with a trainer . If a driver using paper log chooses to fudge its on him . Werner uses e logs so that they know the instant a driver goes into violation and they jump on it. That's a good thing for mgmt and driver. As a student I am required to run paper log parallel to elog and I must say it is not easy to learn Remember a company can have all the correct policies in place, but it is difficult to manage drivers after the fact

My info came from driver chatter back when I got my CDL in 2012. The info most likely wasn't correct then, and it probably isn't now. It was most likely something someone that drove for them and felt slighted by them posted on some forum somewhere to try and get even by driving potential drivers away. I have yet to actually look into Werner for myself as I've not really had any real interest in driving for them yet.

Let me be clear , I have no serious complaints about Werner as a company . Staff is friendly and program is solid. I chose werner for several reasons, but mostly because I wanted 275 hours with a trainer . If a driver using paper log chooses to fudge its on him . Werner uses e logs so that they know the instant a driver goes into violation and they jump on it. That's a good thing for mgmt and driver. As a student I am required to run paper log parallel to elog and I must say it is not easy to learn Remember a company can have all the correct policies in place, but it is difficult to manage drivers after the fact

I think they were the first company to start using elogs.

My wife's dad drove for Werner and loved it. My ex wife's uncle drove for Werner and hated it, mostly because he used a low bridge in the Chicago area, as a "can opener" then wondered why they fired him. (Nothing was ever his fault, but he wrecked 4 trucks with 3 different companies in 2 years!)

They both had great things to say about their dispatchers, and fleet managers. Both got decent miles, and drove good equipment. They sat more often than they preferred, but overall their mileage averaged out pretty good.

Werner is on my long list of companies that will be applied to, as a backup, should my top companies fall through.

G-Town said:

Werner is a really good company with an excellent reputation.

James P offered this:

I have to admit that I was left a bit bewildered by this statement as the last thing I recall hearing about Werner was that the only reason they went to e-logs was because their drivers were always fudging their paper logs, and DOT made Werner switch. That along with their drivers supposedly being as bad or worse than Swift or Western Express, and Werner supposedly having a horrible safety record, left me with a very bad impression of that company. If I'm wrong though, than I'm wrong and I'd be happy to know that. After spending some time here it seems like most wine you hear from the grape vine is more whine than wine, and should be taken with a good dose of salt.p>

James, I did not intend to confuse or mislead anyone with that statement. Werner is one of many good employment choices an entry-level driver can make. I stand by that for good reason. I know plenty of drivers (some on this forum) who have successfully made a go with Werner and continue to successfully extend their careers with Werner. I have a theory; a "good" driver is able to perform at a high level for almost any company, a "bad" driver will fail multiple times with multiple companies and almost never look in the mirror and take responsibility for their failure.

I can assure you that every carrier has hired a so-called bad driver, almost impossible not to. And most of them shed their ranks of "bad" drivers very quickly. With all of the current safety and observational systems in place, it's far easier now to hold bad drivers accountable for their unsafe behavior. However there is a large and growing majority who diligently work through their first year of trucking and learn to be safe and professional drivers for all of the companies you mentioned. Ninety-Nine percent of the negative information you will read on the internet is created by disgruntled drivers who for a variety of reasons could not cut it. So naturally when this happens they blame it on everything and everyone other than themselves. You were a driver, you must know this.

G-Town said:

Werner is a really good company with an excellent reputation.

James P offered this:

I have to admit that I was left a bit bewildered by this statement as the last thing I recall hearing about Werner was that the only reason they went to e-logs was because their drivers were always fudging their paper logs, and DOT made Werner switch. That along with their drivers supposedly being as bad or worse than Swift or Western Express, and Werner supposedly having a horrible safety record, left me with a very bad impression of that company. If I'm wrong though, than I'm wrong and I'd be happy to know that. After spending some time here it seems like most wine you hear from the grape vine is more whine than wine, and should be taken with a good dose of salt.p>

James, I did not intend to confuse or mislead anyone with that statement. Werner is one of many good employment choices an entry-level driver can make. I stand by that for good reason. I know plenty of drivers (some on this forum) who have successfully made a go with Werner and continue to successfully extend their careers with Werner. I have a theory; a "good" driver is able to perform at a high level for almost any company, a "bad" driver will fail multiple times with multiple companies and almost never look in the mirror and take responsibility for their failure.

I can assure you that every carrier has hired a so-called bad driver, almost impossible not to. And most of them shed their ranks of "bad" drivers very quickly. With all of the current safety and observational systems in place, it's far easier now to hold bad drivers accountable for their unsafe behavior. However there is a large and growing majority who diligently work through their first year of trucking and learn to be safe and professional drivers for all of the companies you mentioned. Ninety-Nine percent of the negative information you will read on the internet is created by disgruntled drivers who for a variety of reasons could not cut it. So naturally when this happens they blame it on everything and everyone other than themselves. You were a driver, you must know this.

Sorry for the confusion. What I was trying to say is that what I heard from other drivers on the road about Werner was just hear-say to them as well, and that a lot of hear-say should be taken with a grain of salt. I didn't mean to say that Werner really is a trashy company.

The negative stuff I heard about from other drivers was more believable then because I too at that time had unrealistic expectations, and didn't have my head screwed on properly in regards to this industry. I was also quick to blame everyone else but myself. I thank y'all for helping to set me straight(er).

I'll be doing my best, once I find a company to drive for again, to look at what I'm doing to make things better or worse before I blame the company or dispatch. I also hope to check in here as regularly as possible on the road. I look forward to posting about a bad day, asking for tips and insight to analyze it properly, and getting some great responses. I am really greatful that I have found y'all.

James P. responded:

Sorry for the confusion. What I was trying to say is that what I heard from other drivers on the road about Werner was just hear-say to them as well, and that a lot of hear-say should be taken with a grain of salt. I didn't mean to say that Werner really is a trashy company.

The negative stuff I heard about from other drivers was more believable then because I too at that time had unrealistic expectations, and didn't have my head screwed on properly in regards to this industry. I was also quick to blame everyone else but myself. I thank y'all for helping to set me straight(er).

I'll be doing my best, once I find a company to drive for again, to look at what I'm doing to make things better or worse before I blame the company or dispatch. I also hope to check in here as regularly as possible on the road. I look forward to posting about a bad day, asking for tips and insight to analyze it properly, and getting some great responses. I am really greatful that I have found y'all.

Thank you for this post. We are here to assist you in re-vitalizing your career and look forward to reading posts about your "good days".

Hello and nice to meet you all. I've been lurking in the forums for a while now. The information I can get from this site is excellent. I'm happy that there's a place like this, for newbies and vets alike, to share experiences of being a trucker. Thank you! I'm planning on driving for Werner and I was looking at the hair follicle vs ua company breakdown list... Werner hasn't been updated since January 2015... would anyone who has recently gone through their orientation be kind enough to tell me what type of drug screening they are doing?

Thanks!

I plan on driving werner too after school! Pet policy will be awesome!!