Profile For Steven D.

See if you get any more bites next week. If not, reconnect with the WE recruiter and begin Day 1 of getting your driving career back on track.

Stop back here and let us know how things are going. We always enjoy reading success stories, so become one, okay?

"Embrace The Suck!"

I've been looking for some time now and of the companies that accepted me, western was the only that will allow me to bring my dog along, I know that seems minuscule but I can't just abandon my boy. I went ahead and gave my WE recruiter the green light and I'll be joining the team. I'll keep you guys updated and do everything I can to make it a success. Thank you for the advice and words of encouragement!

You can find tons of negative info all over the internet about all companies. Mine doesn’t have very good reviews either, but I’m doing well here. The successful people don’t have the time to write reviews very often, because we are working.

WE is a second chance company and has low pay in comparison. No doubt about it. However as mentioned Old School started there and made it work. So can you if you want to redeem yourself in this industry.

I understand what your saying about your company you got your CDL through. My GF had a very similiar experience to what you describe. It was a total nightmare for her. There are those types of companies out there, and they make life miserable for alot of folks.

My best advise is to go to WE and spend a year keeping your cdl clean and then you will have many options. You will have to put forth the effort to learn how they work, so you can make it work for you.

Thank you for the input, you guys have all been a big help getting over the fear all those keyboard warriors instilled in me.

What you must ask yourself Steven D...is one year of your life worth getting back in a truck? Sounds like you may not want back in. Are you wanting us to convince you to work for them or not to? You put yourself in a bad situation and one company...ONE has offered you a lifeline. You basically fell off the ship and one person has thrown you a life raft and you don't know if you should get in it or drown because a handful of disgruntled life raft employees say the life raft isn't the best one on the market.

I have never heard of WE trapping people in contracts. Maybe they just expect you to honor your side of the bargain if they take a chance on you and you sign a contract with them. Is expecting you to honor your side trapping? I think not. I've not heard of the black balling any one or any of the plethora of scenarios you list. WE is a fine and successful company. They pay on the low end of the spectrum but if you are a successful driver you will get plenty of miles. Dry van there's no reason you cant make $40-50k a year. They run newer equipment and have NO problem fixing anything broken. Are they the best company out there? Probably not but they don't deserve the bad reputation failures try to give them. If you can't honor a one year contract with literally the ONLY company willing to hire you due to your actions perhaps another job is for you. If you are willing to suck it up buttercup and put forth a little bit of effort to make yourself successful and honor your end of the bargain, take a chance on them just like they are taking a HUGE chance on you. They are not trying to "pull one over on you" they are offering you a lifeline and taking a huge chance on you due to multiple safety violations on your part, asking for one single year of service is not trying to screw you, just making it worthwhile for them.

Unsuccessful drivers that can't manage a clock are the ones complaining about a lack of miles. Like Bobcat Bob said, they have a ton of money invested in equipment for your use as well as higher insurance risks on you. Do you really think a multi million dollar company has the desire to play games with having you sit instead of having you moving? You only make money when the wheels are turning, if your wheels aren't turning they are actually losing money. It's in their interest to have you moving and they have PLENTY of loads.

WE is a fine company and a successful one.

Hope this helps.

I appreciate the insight, and I fully understand them wanting both training and a commitment, it's a business not a charity. I just made a mistake getting with a company before that trained me to get my CDL in exchange for 2 years of driving, but miles disappeared as soon as I was solo and I couldn't afford to stay and had to pay for the training, and that happened to all 8 people in my class; I just wanted to do my due diligence and avoid making the same mistake a second time. And the stories I referred to came from youtube and some other trucking forums, granted its starting to sound like those people were the actual problem and not the company, but I'd be a fool if I didn't look for the truth myself. Again, I appreciate your response!

You have multiple tickets and have been shot down by everyone else, Western Express is offering you a hand with some condition due to you being a insurance risk and you are still not sure if it is worth it??

As far as getting miles, what logical reason could a company have for wasting time and money training a driver and then giving that driver a 150k truck and 50k dollar trailer just to have them sit with it?

What allegedly happened with this lane violation that you feel its BS? I find it hard to believe that a company would fire you over a single warning or citation, what company was this with?

You have 2 options. You could sit and allow your CDL to go stale while putting more time between your speeding ticket and your warning, which may result in you needing to go through schooling again due to being out of a truck so long. OR you could jump at this opportunity that Western Express is giving when nobody else will and make the best of it. One of our Moderators, Old School, began his highly successful career there and made about $50k there despite all the terrible reviews. Unfortunately he's dealing with some medical issues at the moment so he's unavailable to offer his excellent advice. This whole black balling you're referring to is them protecting a legal binding contract that the driver/employee WILLINGLY signed. Why should Western Express pay for your schooling or training just for you to jump ship before they can recoup the money they invested in your future? All they ask is you drive for them a set amount of time in exchange for using their resources to get your career underway. It's really no different than any other carrier.

Personally, I'd jump at the opportunity and make the most of it. If you're unhappy there use that to motivate you to continue doing the best job you can so that many more doors open for you. Give them atleast 1 year of SAFE driving and you'll find all these companies that have turned you down will be eager to bring you on.

I'm definitely not bashing the company for wanting a contract or requiring training, thats more than reasonable when someone has violations like I do. I was just looking for outside opinions because I know a lot of stories can be misleading and some drivers just don't want to admit they were the issue with their WE experience. And I had started with a company that trained me to get my CDL but as soon as I was in my truck, the miles were none existent and I was barely making money for food let alone bills, so I had to leave and obviously pay what was owed for training; this happened to all 8 of the people that went through the program with me so I don't feel like it was just me or my DM. I'm not saying thats what WE is looking to do that, I just didn't want to jump into a contract and be starved out again so I'm doing my due diligence and asking for input from more experienced drivers such as yourselves.

On the other note, I passed a weigh station that had a closed sign, and a passenger as witness for what it's worth. The officer obviously stopped me and I explained that the sign was showing closed and thats why I didn't pull in, after checking all my credentials and load he gave me a warning for a lane violation. I tried contesting it with no luck. And the company didn't fire me just because of that warning, if I hadn't made the mistake in my personal vehicle before hand, I don't think they would've terminated me, that was just the straw that broke the camels back.

Hi everyone, Im needing some advice. First a little background, I have a 20 over ticket in my personal vehicle from 1.5 years ago, I was able to get on with a different company last year but was terminated after getting a bogus lane violation, officer gave me a "warning" so I couldn't fight it. Now I'm very limited on options, most companies won't touch me because of the violations, and the ones that overlook that won't overlook being terminated from my last driving job and say I need 6 months experience after being terminated. Now it's looking like my only option is Western Express, but I'm a little on edge about them. First, they want me to sign a 1 year contract because they say my last carrier put me as a safety termination, I called them and they said there aren't actually any notes as to why I was terminated, so I'm almost certain they're trying to pull one over on me for being honest with them. Along with that contract, they want me to do 240hrs of training, which I could handle. I've seen a lot of horror stories about WE trapping people in contracts and not giving them miles, blackballing people when they quit and a plethora of other scenarios I'm sure you've all heard. But is it worth it? I know I made mistakes that put me in this situation, and I've learned from them, I just don't want to make another big mistake by going with WE to get my foot back in the door. Any input and advice is appreciated