Is It Normal To Wait A While For A Trainer?

Hes not getting paid. Thats the Wellfare Express way

Hey Georgia Mike I get that you're not satisfied with how things went at W.E. for you but you don't need to bash them. After all they're the only carrier if I'm not mistaken that was willing to give you an opportunity. The wait for trainers has always been longer around the holidays to help ensure they can get home. Add Covid to it and even less people are willing to train.

With all do respect i spent most of my six months there in the shop either truck or trailers. You cant live off of 35$ a day for breakdown pay when their trailers are not dot ready. I tried so hard to stay open minded even on this page and kept saying eventually things will get better but the last straw was them telling me that my first day of home was the day i got to the truck stop closes to my house at 8pm after driving 600 freaking miles. Im blessed that they hired but im not gonna sit and blow smoke up WE butts and sugar coat what a new driver is 90% of the time going to experience. Im not trying to my the tr.com. they blame all there unorganization on covid or still on the tornado that was almost a year ago. They use to be a good company that cared and appreciated there drivers. Once the new ceo got there that all changed. Now i dont need or want free swag but a Qualcomm message from the ceo saying hey we appreciate you drivers durring this crazy year because you are keeping this company alive. Do the drivers at WE get that? nope. Haven't heard from the CEO since the tornado of excuses back in march. WE is good for experience not for making money.

Technically he’s not employed till he actually gets a paid week when I was there bro there was a lot of people waiting on trainers just stay on them don’t give in on it there should be a trainer coming in that way in a day or 2 keep your head up it happens a lot with western especially in that terminal

If possible I’d try and draw unemployment benefits.

How would that happen if the person is employed?

Signup for unemployment. If your not working they cannot deny it

When I was there bro I claimed another unemployment check a lot of others did to keep your head up

Just out of curiosity did anyone else get stuck at the hotel waiting for a trainer after orientation? I just got done with my orientation at WE and have been stuck at the hotel for over a week,waiting over a week for a trainer. It's a little frustrating and stressful since I'm not getting paid and have bills that are due, Western dosent pay for orientation. Has anyone else been through this situation before? Hopefully I will get word on Monday with what's going on

WE is good for experience not for making money.

I found it good for both.

Most of us experience troubles like you did, but we learn how to deal with the issues. We don't expect the company to know things like which trailers need service. That's clearly the driver's responsibility to report those things. So, your problem came from your fellow drivers who speak worse of the company than you do. You can't lay blame on the company when the drivers are not taking care of what's clearly their responsibility.

As far as hearing from the CEO, I've never experienced that anywhere, nor would I ever expect to. We have driver managers who communicate with us, and the less communication you need is generally an indication that you are doing really well.

Of course we are thrilled that you are happy with your new gig, but we also know you could have done better at Western Express. It's tough. I can empathize with that. Our first trucking job is just tough on us. We like to see people figure it out and develop themselves into drivers that know how to deal with the issues.

I know where you’re coming from Georgia Mike. After I left the first company I was with, I ripped em every chance I got for close to a year till I asked myself when I was going to get over myself, and move on already. From time to time drivers will ask me about the company, or why I left and now my response to them is simple. They got my foot back in the door and if it wasn’t for working for them, I’d probably would of never came across the chance to work for the company I have been with ever since. Chalk it up as that. WE got you to Freymiller. You’ll be much happier once you move on.

Hes not getting paid. Thats the Wellfare Express way

Hey Georgia Mike I get that you're not satisfied with how things went at W.E. for you but you don't need to bash them. After all they're the only carrier if I'm not mistaken that was willing to give you an opportunity. The wait for trainers has always been longer around the holidays to help ensure they can get home. Add Covid to it and even less people are willing to train.

For those wanting to learn from this conversation, I'd like to offer a little more information.

Let's say you pick up a trailer that has a tail light out. What do you do?

Georgia Mike says...

You cant live off of 35$ a day for breakdown pay when their trailers are not dot ready.

That part about living off of $35.00 a day is certainly disagreeable. Nobody wants to be sitting around like that losing money. Any driver can learn to deal with problems like this. I have worked for Knight and Western Express. Both are large companies with inconsiderate drivers who drop off trailers that should be put in the shop for service. That way the next unsuspecting driver has to deal with the issue that the last driver left him. Guys who don't want to put up with waiting all day for the shop to get to this will take some initiative. I always had spare lights, wire, and connectors with me. It literally takes about ten minutes to fix a problem like that for me. I can do that, get the trailer rolling, and be making money. There are a lot of simple trailer repairs that a responsible driver can do on his own. If fit's a major repair that can't be handled by the driver you just drop the trailer with the shop and you arrange to get another trailer. That should be easy since you are already at the company terminal. You will also find that experienced productive drivers always keep a working list of locations where there are empty trailers available. We learn how to keep ourselves moving. We don't count on the company to hold our hand. We make things happen. There's a huge difference between drivers who take initiative and keep themselves making money, and drivers who just like to point fingers. There has always been these two different types of drivers out here. There's nothing new about that.

I always want to point these things out, because the way this conversation has gone you may not realize how the problem that Georgia Mike described can usually be easily resolved by a driver who understands how to make things happen out here for themselves.

Old School, I start orientation on Monday and this information is super helpful. I’m willing to bet that although I’ll be receiving tons of useful information, learning how to change a tail light in a trailer may not be part of it.

Other than knowing how to change the oil and a flat tire on a 4-wheeler, I’m not particularly handy when it comes to automotive DIY fixes, and don’t even know what fixes I would benefit from knowing.

How would I take initiative to learn simple “productivity hacks” such as this? Is there a resource of basic how-to videos? What kind of tools should I need to buy? Where on YouTube should I look for instructions? Thanks so much!

Old School, I start orientation on Monday and this information is super helpful. I’m willing to bet that although I’ll be receiving tons of useful information, learning how to change a tail light in a trailer may not be part of it.

Other than knowing how to change the oil and a flat tire on a 4-wheeler, I’m not particularly handy when it comes to automotive DIY fixes, and don’t even know what fixes I would benefit from knowing.

How would I take initiative to learn simple “productivity hacks” such as this? Is there a resource of basic how-to videos? What kind of tools should I need to buy? Where on YouTube should I look for instructions? Thanks so much!

What terminal are you going to?