  Werner is a first time hire company, which means they train no experience drivers. Which is great for rookie’s drivers, but when you get a year in you will have to make an exit in most cases, because of the business model of first hire companies. If dedicated or you have a good dispatcher you can avoided the normal problems of there business model. In most circumstances you will find they give the better loads to trainers.
There business is designed to hire and keep up with the pace of people leaving the company, average turn over in the recession is 60 to 70 percent. Which means 60 to 70 percent quite the company with in less than a year. Most companies have designed there business model around this. So they don’t worry if you quite, or care. There are some good thing about this model you get your benefits quick and if you train there’s usually lots of miles. I find that most drivers who don’t train end up with short miles one week and OK miles the next. Good miles for me as a trainer, 4000 to 7000, and a solo driver average 2000 to 3000, if he is running good, bad miles would be 1500 or less. As you see if you are going to train be prepared to run hard.
Werner expects most of its drivers to quit, so if you become a trainer they treat you ok, as long as you understand freight first. That’s the trade off with any company that is a first time hire, on average. So think about what your future will be before you get out of training. Save money while in training and make sure you try to get dedicated which could help you avoid the bad parts of many first time hires. Back too Werner, they do use computer logs and that dose help with not having lots paper work to do, also if you have a accident they will be patient in most cases. But remember if you have an accident you are now trapped at that company if they don’t fire you. I have seen many rookies who have had rollover accidents (rollover accidents are normally unforgivable in trucking) and not get fired, I think they like the fact that rookie is now trapped at Werner. Recruiters are lying to you if they give any guarantee on anything, Werner policy and rules are based on what’s going on at the company and change at any time. Don’t ever think that you have any grantees, even home time, is not a guarantee when requested off. Freight first is the model, you can increase chances of getting time off working for a company with a terminal were you live.
Werner-Dispatchers, don’t communicate and the departments that are right next to each other don’t even communicate, that means you will have to send message on each shift and at Werner, daytime dispatch is your boss. Who you will have to explain every thing too, if they forget or something happens at night. Yes I said it twice because it’s that annoying, there in the same fucking room! Sorry flashback, Werner trucks that are brand-new, have been breaking down lately and they don’t pay for layover, (you get hotel bill when shop works on truck).
I know the recruiters say they have A.P.U unites on all trucks, they don’t. A.P.U cool and heat the truck with the engine off saving fuel. They do allow you to idle for ten hours when in sleeper, but layover can sometimes be a day or more and not every truck stop you want to set in all day, reason thugs or place is trash. Even though so much at Werner not right, I still will say there the best company to start with. Most of theses problems will be easy after you get use to them but doing it for five or ten years to me would be insane. The only way I stayed for a long time is I trained on a good account and had great dispatchers. Who talked to each other.
