Rookie Driver Looking For Some Insight, Advice And Other Helpful Information For Werner.
Topic 28859 | Page 1
I work for werner I went to orientation in Lithia springs back in May. Is there anything specific you want to know? Will you be otr or dedicated?
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
I’m not 100% sure if I’m gonna be otr or dedicated. When I set up the orientation over the phone I asked to be assigned to the West Rock account but I was told it was not available. There did not seem to be may accounts listed online. I did settle on the Best Buy account and was told that when training was near completIon that I could explore more options.
I did a fair amount of research online before I chose Werner. There are tons of companies out there and it looked like Werner would be the best fit for me. If you could go back to May, what would you have told yourself to better prepare?
Thanks for your help.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
It was a fairly straight forward process. It has changed a little since I went.
They will give you a preliminary backing test/class, road test. These don’t count against you but they want to see where you are before you go out with a trainer.
There is a Walmart close to the hotel. Before you turn in your rental car in the morning, go get some stuff to sustain you. They provide a brown bag breakfast that you pick up the night before but it’s not much. Lunch is provided. Dinner is on you. There is an hourly shuttle bus that you can use for the rest of the time there.
Make sure your paperwork is all in order. Have 2 forms of id, make sure you have your cdl (one dude didn’t bring his I swear). You will be doing another DOT physical even if your old one is good. So lay off coffee and cigarettes the first morning if you are close with BP. They do urine and hair follicle collection that will be done the first day.
Then you will start all the paperwork , PowerPoint. They will assign you (Etrainers) you must have all of these complete before you can get on the trainers truck. Some guy can do in the classroom when there is spare time but some will be homework. Best to knock them out right away.
When you are out with your trainer remember it is your training. Make sure you understand how to work the Qualcomm and how the macros work. And make sure you back every chance you can. And keep a record. Of it. You will have to turn in a backing sheet and a paper log book when you leave the trainer truck to test out.
Good luck!
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Qualcomm:
Omnitracs (a.k.a. Qualcomm) is a satellite-based messaging system with built-in GPS capabilities built by Qualcomm. It has a small computer screen and keyboard and is tied into the truck’s computer. It allows trucking companies to track where the driver is at, monitor the truck, and send and receive messages with the driver – similar to email.DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Sounds good. I’m excited to start this new adventure. Thank you for you help.
If there is anyone else out there with current or recent Werner experience let me know. I appreciate the good and bad intel.
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Hello all,
I leave this Tuesday (about 3 days) for orientation with Werner Enterprises in Lithia Springs, GA. Anyone have any insight, advice and other helpful information to get me started in this career?