Western Express Trucking Contract

John...you make it really easy for the rest of us to kick-ass in this business. Way too easy...

You basically insulted a really great driver and human being (Old School) who will make over 90k this year... 90k... 90 F’ing K...! He volunteers what precious free-time he has to help folks like you with priceless advice.

Do you like being laughed at John? Think about that...

You really should take a step-back, check your over-inflated ego, review the advice you were given and realize that you are likely the problem. Not your employer.

Gut check time John. Fork in the road Bro...take the correct path. Pay your debt, make good on your commitment and become a professional truck driver.

Do it.

I agree Gtown folks make me look like a superstar lol

Let me tell you a story johny about the last time I got screwed over and blamed my company and was ranting and raving full blown terminal rat style to anyone who would listen. Sometimes I get complacent and forget that there is no finish line. A few weeks ago I was ahead of the game and had a short run from pittsburgh to Baltimore that paid me 250 bucks on like 280 miles. Easy money but not great. Picked up Thursday and delivered Friday.

Thursday I slept in because I knew I could make it to my consignee and sleep there. The load info said they unload at 7am. I figured as long as I got there by 10pm Thursday night I’d be able to unload off the clock the next mourning. . Even if I got empty by 8am I’d be able to run as soon as I was empty. So complacent me slept in.

Thursday I got Got empty and then picked up my Baltimore load out of Pittsburgh. I hit the road and stopped 5 times on the way. Shower ect ect. I show up in Baltimore around 9pm and there’s now 5 trucks ahead of me all from my company. I start asking where are you guys going tomorrow. Turns out we are all going to the same place about an hour and half away to get bricks. I go to bed and set my alarm for 7am because I'm tired from running like a mad man for the last few weeks and now I'm just going to sail down easy street until I make it home Friday evening.

I got up at 7am expecting a few of them guys to be empty already. Turns out every one of them was gone already. I didn’t call ahead to confirm their receiving hours because I didn’t care about getting in early that day. They actually start around 5:30 am.

Oh well I figured. After this I just got an hour and a half dead head to my bricks and then it's just 4 hours to my house for the weekend.

I show up at the brick yard right before lunch and all my brothers and sister are already loaded and gone home for the weekend. I don't really care though because I'm just doing me today. I've reached the finish line. I wait an hour and half and they get back from lunch and load me up. I strap and tarp and get rolling. Everyone else is half way home or better by now.

30 minutes away with my load on my back I get a phone call from my dispatcher. He tells me the load I have is the wrong load. Somehow dispatch gave me the wrong load and the load I picked up doesn’t deliver until next Thursday. I was told I have to turn around and get unloaded and that they was going to send me the correct pick up number. So now it’s Friday and like always when things go wrong it seems like it’s always on Friday. I turned around and I went back to get unloaded but before I went and screwed myself even more I went in to see if the new load number was good to go. The guard tells me that my new load number was picked up around 10am.

Would you look at that. Trucking karma. Did my dispatcher have some fantasy about teaching me lesson about getting lazy even when it doesn’t hurt the pay check or anyone at all? I wonder. Yep I’m in full blown terminal rat mode now.

I didn’t unload them bricks. I worked it out where I could drop them off at our yard and grab another load on Monday. I got screwed out of a Monday drop over this and I lost at least 350 bucks on my paycheck that next week.

Nobody was really out to screw me but every planet and every star in my mind was lined up and pointing the finger right at my company even though this was completely all my fault.

All I had to do was out perform the other 5 guys that day and one of them would of gotten screwed instead of me. I could of easily done that. I was ahead of every one of them out of Pittsburgh. I could of been first in Baltimore and first at the brick yard. I did me that day and finished dead last.

Thing is I know it’s my fault because I been driving long enough now to understand the game. It’s not about who’s screwing who it’s about making things happen and performing miracles. Its about out performing your peers every single day. It’s about climbing up that ladder and understanding that the ladder works both ways. You can go up and you can go down. Your a new driver and if you give it enough time and think about how you can do better everyday then one day you will be at the top of that ladder or some where near the top. No your never going to get rich driving a truck but you can make all that you can make. Or be all that you can be at western. Don’t think you got it all figured out already and that you know the game. If you did you would be making good money at western like many western drivers I know.

So what’s the moral of this story. Be the best everyday because **** flows down hill.

Rubber Duck shares an experience...

Let me tell you a story johny about the last time I got screwed over and blamed my company and was ranting and raving full blown terminal rat style to anyone who would listen. Sometimes I get complacent and forget that there is no finish line. A few weeks ago I was ahead of the game and had a short run from pittsburgh to Baltimore that paid me 250 bucks on like 280 miles. Easy money but not great. Picked up Thursday and delivered Friday.

Thursday I slept in because I knew I could make it to my consignee and sleep there. The load info said they unload at 7am. I figured as long as I got there by 10pm Thursday night I’d be able to unload off the clock the next mourning. . Even if I got empty by 8am I’d be able to run as soon as I was empty. So complacent me slept in.

Thursday I got Got empty and then picked up my Baltimore load out of Pittsburgh. I hit the road and stopped 5 times on the way. Shower ect ect. I show up in Baltimore around 9pm and there’s now 5 trucks ahead of me all from my company. I start asking where are you guys going tomorrow. Turns out we are all going to the same place about an hour and half away to get bricks. I go to bed and set my alarm for 7am because I'm tired from running like a mad man for the last few weeks and now I'm just going to sail down easy street until I make it home Friday evening.

I got up at 7am expecting a few of them guys to be empty already. Turns out every one of them was gone already. I didn’t call ahead to confirm their receiving hours because I didn’t care about getting in early that day. They actually start around 5:30 am.

Oh well I figured. After this I just got an hour and a half dead head to my bricks and then it's just 4 hours to my house for the weekend.

I show up at the brick yard right before lunch and all my brothers and sister are already loaded and gone home for the weekend. I don't really care though because I'm just doing me today. I've reached the finish line. I wait an hour and half and they get back from lunch and load me up. I strap and tarp and get rolling. Everyone else is half way home or better by now.

30 minutes away with my load on my back I get a phone call from my dispatcher. He tells me the load I have is the wrong load. Somehow dispatch gave me the wrong load and the load I picked up doesn’t deliver until next Thursday. I was told I have to turn around and get unloaded and that they was going to send me the correct pick up number. So now it’s Friday and like always when things go wrong it seems like it’s always on Friday. I turned around and I went back to get unloaded but before I went and screwed myself even more I went in to see if the new load number was good to go. The guard tells me that my new load number was picked up around 10am.

Would you look at that. Trucking karma. Did my dispatcher have some fantasy about teaching me lesson about getting lazy even when it doesn’t hurt the pay check or anyone at all? I wonder. Yep I’m in full blown terminal rat mode now.

I didn’t unload them bricks. I worked it out where I could drop them off at our yard and grab another load on Monday. I got screwed out of a Monday drop over this and I lost at least 350 bucks on my paycheck that next week.

Nobody was really out to screw me but every planet and every star in my mind was lined up and pointing the finger right at my company even though this was completely all my fault.

All I had to do was out perform the other 5 guys that day and one of them would of gotten screwed instead of me. I could of easily done that. I was ahead of every one of them out of Pittsburgh. I could of been first in Baltimore and first at the brick yard. I did me that day and finished dead last.

Thing is I know it’s my fault because I been driving long enough now to understand the game. It’s not about who’s screwing who it’s about making things happen and performing miracles. Its about out performing your peers every single day. It’s about climbing up that ladder and understanding that the ladder works both ways. You can go up and you can go down. Your a new driver and if you give it enough time and think about how you can do better everyday then one day you will be at the top of that ladder or some where near the top. No your never going to get rich driving a truck but you can make all that you can make. Or be all that you can be at western. Don’t think you got it all figured out already and that you know the game. If you did you would be making good money at western like many western drivers I know.

So what’s the moral of this story. Be the best everyday because **** flows down hill.

Rubber Duck this is a really good story. Thanks for sharing it!

That sure is a valuable collection of examples on what and what not to do. Thanks for taking the time to bring it here to TT!

I'm bumping this conversation back up just because it's been bothering me. I probably sound like a sap when I tell you guys how frustrating it is for me when I know I can help somebody, but they could care less for what I have to say. I'm a fool for thinking everybody should be glad to hear my advice, but darn it, I get frustrated watching people floundering in misconceptions about this thing we call trucking.

John is having a hard time getting the hang of how you make money at this - he's hurting. Instead of trying to improve his results (which is the answer to his dilemma) he is lashing out at his employer. It's the age old conundrum of trucking. If you aren't doing well you find a better company. That sounds reasonable until you've been at this for a while and you realize there are people out here who have been looking for that "good" company for something like forever! It's a futile search full of wasted energy - it produces nothing.

I purposely asked John some legitimate questions. Had he chosen to answer any of them, it would help us to point out the areas he can strive to improve himself. It would help us give him valuable advice on how to improve his situation. He didn't want questions asked. He wanted us to jump in and provide cover for his attitude. He wanted us to provide confirmation of his vilification of his employer. He never wanted help. He simply wanted to mouth off about his employer.

He decided rather that he should be asking me questions. He went so far as to pose this to me...

I wonder if you can actually tell me how to support my family on a 357 dollar check?

Of course I didn't respond because the question is pointless. I wanted to show him how to quit settling for that kind of money. There is absolutely no reason he should be averaging that kind of money out here. I averaged 1,000 dollars a week as a rookie driver at Western Express. I earned 50 grand my rookie year. You can't argue with me saying "this company sucks!" I know better. I know what it takes to be a successful trucker, and it has nothing to do with the name on the truck's doors.

I always enjoy helping people understand how to make a great career as a trucker. I also get frustrated with people who refuse to apply themselves to the principles that make for success. I shouldn't let it bother me, but it still does. I think trucking will never change. There's always going to be winners and losers. I'm going to keep applying myself to be on the side of the winners. I just like winning.

I didn't go into it earlier because he was so averse to our advice, but I want those of you reading this conversation to realize something about your paychecks in trucking. You hear us speak of trucking as a "performance based business." It's absolutely true. You get paid for how much you accomplish. Your paycheck is a lot like a report card on your performance. If your paychecks are worthless ‐ guess what? That's a hard pill to swallow.

When we look at our paycheck it is a reflection of our results. If it's bad we have to make some changes. Don't be fooled into thinking the source of the check needs to change. No, it's the source of the efforts that needs modification. Apply yourselves diligently and effectively. There's no better cure for a low paying trucking job than a highly productive truck driver.

I'm bumping this conversation back up just because it's been bothering me. I probably sound like a sap when I tell you guys how frustrating it is for me when I know I can help somebody, but they could care less for what I have to say. I'm a fool for thinking everybody should be glad to hear my advice, but darn it, I get frustrated watching people floundering in misconceptions about this thing we call trucking.

John is having a hard time getting the hang of how you make money at this - he's hurting. Instead of trying to improve his results (which is the answer to his dilemma) he is lashing out at his employer. It's the age old conundrum of trucking. If you aren't doing well you find a better company. That sounds reasonable until you've been at this for a while and you realize there are people out here who have been looking for that "good" company for something like forever! It's a futile search full of wasted energy - it produces nothing.

I purposely asked John some legitimate questions. Had he chosen to answer any of them, it would help us to point out the areas he can strive to improve himself. It would help us give him valuable advice on how to improve his situation. He didn't want questions asked. He wanted us to jump in and provide cover for his attitude. He wanted us to provide confirmation of his vilification of his employer. He never wanted help. He simply wanted to mouth off about his employer.

He decided rather that he should be asking me questions. He went so far as to pose this to me...

I wonder if you can actually tell me how to support my family on a 357 dollar check?

Of course I didn't respond because the question is pointless. I wanted to show him how to quit settling for that kind of money. There is absolutely no reason he should be averaging that kind of money out here. I averaged 1,000 dollars a week as a rookie driver at Western Express. I earned 50 grand my rookie year. You can't argue with me saying "this company sucks!" I know better. I know what it takes to be a successful trucker, and it has nothing to do with the name on the truck's doors.

I always enjoy helping people understand how to make a great career as a trucker. I also get frustrated with people who refuse to apply themselves to the principles that make for success. I shouldn't let it bother me, but it still does. I think trucking will never change. There's always going to be winners and losers. I'm going to keep applying myself to be on the side of the winners. I just like winning.

I didn't go into it earlier because he was so averse to our advice, but I want those of you reading this conversation to realize something about your paychecks in trucking. You hear us speak of trucking as a "performance based business." It's absolutely true. You get paid for how much you accomplish. Your paycheck is a lot like a report card on your performance. If your paychecks are worthless ‐ guess what? That's a hard pill to swallow.

When we look at our paycheck it is a reflection of our results. If it's bad we have to make some changes. Don't be fooled into thinking the source of the check needs to change. No, it's the source of the efforts that needs modification. Apply yourselves diligently and effectively. There's no better cure for a low paying trucking job than a highly productive truck driver.

Im happy that you bumped this because I might not have seen it if you hadnt since I just joined a bit ago. I'm going to a company in July after I finish with Roadmasters that gets all kinds of crap thrown on them for having horrible dispatchers that never give them miles and all sorts of stuff. Whenever I read a story like this though it always seems to have a very common problem, the truckers that do poorly seem to spend a lot of time saying how terrible the company is and the people that work there instead of sitting back and being thankful for having a job right out of school. Even if the company that I go to turns out to be garbage the very last thing I would ever do is trash talk the company or complain. Imagine how you would feel if you had a person that was on social media all day moaning about horrible pay and being grouchy towards the other employees? Would you feel like going to extra mile to line up a load on their route for them to make more money or would you give it to the guy that comes in everyday with a smile and says thank you all the time? Personally I wouldnt want the sour faced grouch anywhere near my customers, I would much prefer the guy that is going to be happy and appreciated by the customer. When I go in i'm going to keep my mouth shut for anything other than yes maam/sir, please, how are you doing today, and thank you. Then im going to run everything they offer me including the "garbage" that other drivers dont consider to be worth their time and at the end of it i'm betting that when the subject of employees that go the extra mile comes up I will be on that list. Be the driver they cant afford to lose.

Awesome response 😁

There is a really obvious way to get out of that contract. Write them a check! Pay up! That's what a contract is - it's an agreement. You agreed to it. If you have now decided there's a better way for you to proceed, then the contract allows you to do so.

Now, there's a much smarter way to go about this. You can fulfill your employment obligation and focus on learning how to be successful at this. Right now you are focusing on "how bad Western Express is." That's your first big blunder. You have fallen for the bait and feel the pain of the trap now. You have taken the common delusional approach to trucking of at least a million other wannabes. You think you are good, but your company is bad. That's so messed up and arrogant that I can't believe rookies fall for it so easily, but they do.

Get in there and make something happen. Be a man of your word. Be careful and prudent. Be productive. Be determined. Be a truck driver - God knows we need a few good ones about now.

A good case of the grass looking greener at the other company, however regardless of where you are if you dont put in the hard work fertilizing and watering the grass it wont grow green wherever you are. Put the work into it and you make your grass green wherever you may find yourself, refuse to put the work into it and dead grass will follow you.

A good case of the grass looking greener at the other company, however regardless of where you are if you dont put in the hard work fertilizing and watering the grass it wont grow green wherever you are. Put the work into it and you make your grass green wherever you may find yourself, refuse to put the work into it and dead grass will follow you.

I always approach every job with the expectation that i'm going to get back what I put in, in this industry i'm guessing that if you treat dispatch really nicely and dont make a career out of complaining to a customer about how long it takes to get loaded you will actually find yourself getting some really good money. Plus there really is no telling how long you need to work before the company starts wanting to run you more, i'm sure there is a really long adjustment period to let you get accustomed to everything without feeling rushed. I certainly hope they dont instantly start handing me loads that have to be hundreds of miles away in 2 or 3 days because i'm going to need time to speed up my pre trip, route planning, and other stuff. I doubt that anyone can drop into their own truck and instantly know how many miles they can expect to do a day and everything you need to know to plan a perfect route.