Question:
Im coming up on 6 months with Werner. I have nothing bad to say except for the fact that at 6 months I'll get a whopping half penny raise to 26 and a half cents. The fact that their detention pay starts @ 5hrs rankles me too. I know some of you will say(or think) stay with them a year; but I am 51 years old-I cannot afford to lose $150.00 plus a week. Hell even Swift offered me 32cpm @ 6 months running SE regional. Crete would pay me 35 but would require me to go back out with a trainer again.
Anyway Im turning my truck in the later part of January and taking some time off...if I get down and out I can allways make a sign up saying- I worked for Werner- please help LOLOLOL.

Answer:
can u give anymore info so we can give you some better advce?'? You're 51 and wanting to run regional, is this correct?? Wanting to run van probably? Do you want to stay with a manual or an autoshift?? Have you considered a local job, depending on where you live you might stay in or very close to your house.
PLease give us some more input. thanks

Answer:
Well, I dont care auto or manual.....Good paying local would be cool. I talked with a bulkamatic driver yesterday who showed me some of his pay stubs...over 900 a week typically driving around 1200 miles aweek. They need a year though.

Answer:
My research on regional/local is everyone wants min 6 mos,but you'll find
most want 12-18 mos average recent otr exp
Answer:
I'd NEVER advise someone to stay anywhere they were being robbed. That is stupid. I would take what experience you have, any references you can get and head for the local gig. Maybe a little less, could be a little more, get cha home more often and get experience all the while. Once you get a year or so in there if you still wanna trailer truck up and down and back and forth you can take your local gig experince along with your 6mos. with wiener and gitty up.
Hope something good works out for ya, don't get discouraged.
Look LTL if ya have to, that IS ht future of truckin.

Answer:

I dont care what most want- just need ONE good job lol. As for getting discouraged- that doesnt happen. One thing I got going for me is a clean MVR.

Answer:
It's worth it to stick it out, or at worst make no more than one move in the first year. One thing that a lot of outfits look at is how many times you jump companies, as an indicator whether it's worth taking time to train and hire you. Put too many companies on the resume in too short of a time, and the companies get nervous about job hopping.
Bulkmatic went to a year this past summer, prior to that they required 2 years minimum time. Most of their work is regional or local, running typical loads of 100-250 mile ranges. You are out of the truck physically doing things vice sitting in a break room, but there are a lot of advantages to doing dry bulk. They do food grade, non food grade, and plastics. Some of the trucks are auto's and some manuals.
At 900 per week, you probably talked to someone in a day cab running locally around a town, vice a guy running a sleeper regionally. I usually hit between 17-2200 miles a week, 2-3 nights a week out of my own bed. A little busier in summer than winter, but pretty steady year round..
When you turn your truck in, follow their rules to the letter. Do a complete post trip inspection of your truck, then have someone responsible come out with you and go over the truck. Then have them give you a written receipt for the truck, stating it's condition, that it is where it needs to be, and that they signed for it. Have them countersign the VIR report and then you keep that peperwork. If anything comes up about the way you left, this is your proof that Werner accepted the truck back and was happy with it. Failure to do this allows the company to say that you shouldn't have left it at the terninal in Saginaw, but should have returned it to the home office in Wherever Mn. Cover your fanny when leaving any trucking job. Don't burn bridges that you might need to walk back across some day. My 02.
By the way, there's no "A" in Bulkmatic.....

Answer:

There's nothing wrong with your plan to leave Werner after six months but the end of January is probably the worst time of the year to do so if you're looking for local/regional work.
Think about taking a week or two off at that time, visit the trucking companies in your area and find out what they require in the way of experience. I think that you'll also find that they will be more interested in hiring come the spring.
BOL.

Answer:
It's not going to hurt your future plans leaing Werner at 6 months. Actually staying that long may help. Companies have seen names like Werner, Swift, Schneider, JB Hunt and more on so many applications so often they couldn'r count them. They have seen every reaso possible why drivers quit those places so it's doubtful quitting after 6 months would even raise an eyebrow.
Phil might be right about the regional/local work. Having no idea where you live I wouldn't know whats aroung there. I do know many fleets have regional drivers who they hire all year round. Even JB Hunt has regional in almost all areas. I wouldn't recomend them but they do hire alot. But I have no idea what your really looking for. As far as local you will have alot of competition with drivers who have been out there alot longer applying for most jobs. But nothings impossible.

Answer:
I was planning on taking 6 weeks off, but might cut it short to 3 and just go out with a Crete trainer for 3.... At first I revolted from the idea but after thinking about it- I just may go that route. I really want to be the best driver I can be, and humility helps. It seems to me that Crete is a better company than Swift and if the entry ticket is going with another trainer than so be it. Unquestionably their trainers are better than Werner's lol. Sad to say-when I had 9 weeks experiance my dispatcher and his partner were hitting on me hard to be a trainer. (no comment lol)