Werner Making Me Go 8 Hours Away Instead Of One

So I got my prehire from Werner for their Dollar General account, but instead of going to the terminal that does orientation an hour from my house they want me to take a rental car 8 hours to another one.

When I asked why he said they started a new program where someone goes out with you to make sure and show you how to alley dock instead of just handing you the keys, and that the closer one doesn't do it.

Now I really don't mind being with a trainer for a week or two because my backing skills do need work. It just seems fishy that the recruiter was forcing me to go to the one 8 hours away.

Anyone ever hear of something like this?

I think a bigger concern would be admitting that your backing skills need work when you're about to take on a job that demands not only a lot of physical labor on top of driving, but very good backing skills with all the tight stores you'll likely be visiting. Are you familiar with the demands of Dollar General accounts? Dollar General accounts are notorious for chewing up rookie drivers and spitting them out, let alone drivers with some kind of experience. You really need to understand what you're getting into when you sign up for a Dollar General account. It's probably the toughest trucking job you can get.

I'm not sure how much a week or two of training would offset the demands of such an account.

I don't know anything about Werner, but that explanation sounds reasonable to me.

Probably not a good time to tell them you don't like to have to drive that far.

Well I wouldn't worry in the least about which terminal they send you to. Companies are constantly changing how they do everything. Nothing remains stagnant long and they have all kinds of things going on all over the country.

I worked for US Xpress for six years. The company's headquarters are in Chattanooga, TN and I live near Buffalo, NY. I went to orientation at their Georgia terminal and then was immediately sent with some random driver on a trip to the Ohio terminal to get my truck. I was then dispatched out of the Ohio terminal for a while and maybe a year later was switched to the Oklahoma terminal for dispatching. Then I wanted to go regional so I was based and dispatched once again out of the Ohio terminal. Finally I signed up with their Dollar Tree account and was based and dispatched from that point on from our dedicated terminal in Pennsylvania.

So don't think anything of it. It's a corporation. They've always have a ton of changes and growing pains and some level of confusion going on. Just roll with it and be patient. You know there's going to be some 'corporate moments of confusion' during various stages of this process, especially when you're first getting started with a new company.

Finally, the Family Dollar account. I hate to say it, but those jobs really are as rough as their reputation in numerous ways. They're physically exhausting, stressful, and require some extremely difficult backing situations on a pretty regular basis. You have extremely high burnout and turnover in any dollar store account, and you get a noteworthy number of mostly minor injuries like back strains, wrist strains, and bumps on the head from boxes falling from above.

So it would really be to your benefit to try to get into a regular dry van or refrigerated gig at first, even if it's only for a couple of months. Your backing, navigating, and tight-quarter parking lot skills will improve drastically in short order early on in your career. Even postponing the dollar store gig for a relatively short time would make quite a significant difference.

My guess is that was the closest available trainer. Which terminals are they, if you dont mind me asking?

Perhaps the further terminal actually has the necessary training pads. None of our drop yards or terminals are the same in size.or facilities.