Comments By James P.

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to go regional for year if you can. Most of them can get you home most weekends. As it was said before, LTL leaves you so exhausted you don't have time for your family until a weekend off anyways.

Quality time, over quantity time. Plus, you can always take a family member out with you for a week provided the company offers a rider policy, and the family member is old enough. I imagine that would be a great way to bond with your wife and kids while making some pretty unique memories to boot.

My 0.02 cpm.

These incidences, were they documented, or hearsay? There is a lot of misinformation spread about many things, especially the driver cam, because it directly effects our various expectations of persona privacy. Like Ms Myoshi said, the various company lawyers, went over the issue with a fine tooth comb, about the what ifs, cans, and cannots, etc. If this actually happened, I am sure the female drivers would have filed lawsuits, in which case, it is able to be researched, by the public. And a lot of people seem to forget that use of either privacy curtain blocks the camera, so I doubt that female drivers would be changing clothes, or other personal things, for all the world outside the truck to see, let alone the camera. People see a camera, and automatically assume that it will always be on, always recording, and easily accessible by the big bad bosses. If you look at the specs of any of these systems, they do not have an overly large capacity.

rumors and BS spread like wildfire, and are often treated as fact, because it comes from what is usually a trusted source. But because this is, has been, and will continue to be a hot button issue for the foreseeable future, that trusted source may not be a credible source, because of his or her already established bias.

I believe it was actually documented, and of course the drivers filed complaints and lawsuits. I don't recall who, what, where, or when as I wasn't paying that much attention. It is for this reason that I doubt they would use the cameras in this manner (again?) as such actions would end up being counter-productive since they would be facing legal charges of another kind. It's still a bit creepy though, imo.

I personally would hope that if a company uses inward facing cameras that they also face outward. I would also want to be notified. It's their equipment to do with as they please, but I'd still like to know if they use inward cameras, or if they plan to install them. Also, I'm all for outward facing dash cams. If I get a company truck that doesn't have one, I'll get my own. It's simply my humble opinion that inward facing cameras should only face the driver's seat, and should only be operational while the truck is moving, or the driver is on-duty. If the truck is shut off, and the driver is off-duty, or in the sleeper, the inward facing camera should turn off, but the outward facing camera can/should remain on.

I remember when I got my CDL-A in 2012 with Central Ref. we had a discussion about inward facing cameras. At one time, perhaps at the start of these being used by other companies, they were able to view the entire inside of the truck and there were incidents of office personnel (of other companies, Central did not use cams) hacking into the cameras to view female drivers in their off time. While I doubt this is much of a concern anymore, and I rather doubt anyone would actually want to peep on me, it still gives me the willies and is the basis for my concern about inward facing cams (I'm all for outward facing).

^ Dan ^ wrote:

Local routes can be nerve wracking for a new driver though, since it is a lot of P&D, usually in city environment. It is usually best to start out regional, or otr, to get your feet wet,and then transition to the local routes. Keep in mind though, that although you may get home daily on a local route, you will not have much time to enjoy your family, between driving, and sleeping from exhaustion.

I actually want to touch on this a bit JASON. This is something to very much consider. At the end of the day you'll be exhausted, than trying to spend more energy than you have with your family. It won't be long before it catches up to you and you may either 1) have an accident and lose your job because you were too sleepy to focus, or 2) end up blowing up on your family due to exhausted crankyness. Lots of stress combined with a real lack of sleep will shorten even the longest of tempers at times.

I would honestly suggest finding a regional route. More often than not they offer home most weekends. I/They say most because stuff happens sometimes and you may have to spend a weekend out on the road. This will also give you experience that you can use to make that local route much less stressful when you do get it. You can probably find a list of companies hiring regional in a job booklet that you can find in any truck stop.

Congrats man!

I would suggest you read this: Why Drivers Are Paid By The Mile

It's more that you're not guaranteed to spend a night in a truck stop every night. Also, you only get one shower credit every time you fuel. You may also not have shower credits for the truck stop that you're at. It also depends on how tight you are on time to make your pick-up/delivery, so you may very well just not have the time. Granted that some folks get stinky because they are lazy, but I'd like to think that those folks aren't the majority.

Do any of y'all have experience with both, and could elaborate on the differences, pro/cons as you see them, and perhaps tell your preference? Thanks in advance.

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.