Question:
If I hadn't made-up my mind to stick it out with Werner no matter what for a while at least, I would have quit after 2 1/2 months too! He never got past his probationary dispatcher.
It took a few months before they started learning they could count on me, treated me better, I took a division that works better for me, and now I can't find a good enough excuse to quit. I take 6 days off a months and am always always home on time, make a little over 40k a year at 5 years. Medical/dental, new truck, run legal...
Sometime people job-hop and finally stay somewhere, but my instinct says....
Shuffler
If you don't mind I cut/paste your post for Newbies to read. Since you are a Werner driver, your posts tend to attract my attention. Can you go into a little more detail about your above post? In my mind an employee/driver has to allow the company(system) to work for them. And sounds like that's what you did. However, I'm curious obout Werner's system because they're at the top of my short list of companies.

Answer:
And....I get so disgusted with the industry sometimes, it's hard to separate "Werner" from the problems that plague the industry as a whole.
But here goes:
Werner's a very successful company. It's debt to equity ratio is virtually zero -- it owns all it's equipment and facilities outright. It's simply in a class of it's own in this regard. And it means they won't be folding tomorrow, or have cash flow problems that afffect payroll, or leave you "sold" in a takeover. Their rock-solid financials give them contract leverage with progressive, forward-oriented customers. No financial chaos or take-over soap operas at Werner Entrprises. Makes us an unusually stable transportation partner.
Unlike Swift, which specializes in buying distressed carriers with borrowed money, Werner financed it's growth with cash. We buy our trucks new and build our own terminals and facilities. We build new customers from scratch the old fashioned way. We steal them.
Werner calls it "85/15/20".
Operate the business on 85% of the revenue.
Use the remaining 15% of revenue to grow the business 20% a year.
We gross over a billion a year, so 15% in cash buys a lot of assets. Werner public stock is majority owned by the Werner family, and it made them very rich. The public stock holders (myself included) never see a dividend, but weve sure made some money trading and leveraging against it's predictable, long-term growth.
Werner bends over backwards to satisfy to satisfy contractual agreements with customers. Having owned my own business, I admire Werner's customer service ethic. In today's trucking, "service" is the only thing that really distinguished one mega-carrier from another. We can do almost anything a customer wants, if it pays enough.
Advanced technology gives Werner a distinct service edge over it's competition. It also reduces ineffecient paper handling and other non-driving costs. We have one of the lowest ratios of non-drivers to drivers in the industry -- apx 1 non-driver to each 7 drivers believe it is. We also built the world's first full-motion truck-driving simulator, and other things...
Werner's paperless logs is the enivitable "black box" everyone's worried about -- they just don't know it yet.
Dispatchers work in virtually paper-free cubicles, staring at their monitor and clinking their keyboards non-stop as they track 60 trucks or more. Load planners actually match the loads to drivers. The dispatchers then make it happen, and can watch as each truck stops and starts along the way, etc.
We exchange over 50% of our loads with at least one driver before delivery. Some loads get passed or "relayed" through 6 or 7 drivers.
For example, I just drive the western states. But I run a lot of freight going to/from the east. Sometimes I drop it for them at a yard somewhere, or actually meet them at a truck stop when we switch trailers/paperwork and take-off again. Werner long-ago abandoned the "one driver from beginning to end" concept. Loads are now put into the system with the driver most convenient driver, then passed around if necessary. It's pretty awesome when you consider we're operating 8,000 trucks a total of 3,000,000 (three million) miles each day, and apx 98% delivers on-time.
But most of all, what I appreciate about Werner is their relative integrity. They don't run splashy advertisements promising you the moon. They understate your probably mileage and take some care not to misrepresent the company. (they also don't lease to own)
They push their best asset for drivers "quality of life on the road". And in fact, if you just follow their rules and procedures, it's a relatively good quality of life compared to many carriers. Sometimes I go for weeks without actually talking to my dispatcher. The computer just spits-out my next load, and I never have to worry about cutting corners or running illegal. If there isn't enough time to deliver they'll either change the appointment or swap me with another driver that has more hours. I don't have to argue or explain. They have my exact hours in real time as I log on the computer, so they already know if they're putting me under a load I can't deliver on-time. All I have to do is focus on my driving. They take care of the rest.
Having said all that... ...this is a BRUTAL business, including Werner. Even running legal like we do, the schedule is mind-numbing at times, traffic is horrendous, and there's plenty of abuse from customers and others along the way. But those things are universal in trucking, especially "random dispatch" OTR trucking.
I suppose my biggest complaint about Werner (aside from their predatory pricing and the declining wage it's helped create) is any lack of human personality or warmth what-so-ever. Werner is stone-cold, no-nonsense business. Except for your individual dispatcher, nobody knows your name and couldn't care less anyway. You're a number in the computer and easily replaced if you decide to leave. Dispatchers and others are encouraged to NOT get involed with the drivers personal problems. They play it safe, and I undrstand that. But it sure makes you feel unappreciated when you could really use a little atta-boy after a trip to hell and back.
I suspect this antiquated corporate culture is a hold-over from founder C.L. Werner's era when positive reinforcement and the science of employee motivation was something for "sissies". I this regard, Werner is very 1956. The only time they'll make an effort to critique your work is when you screw-up. Shame too, cause they lose a lot of good talent over nothing more than the absence of even the smallest bit of lip-service appreciation.
Of course, werner's take on this is,
"Grow up. An accurate paycheck, good equipment, paperless-logs, running legal, benefits and job security is all the thanks a professional driver needs."
And in fact, for me...I guess it is all I need. Still there.
Ifyou have any specific questions, let me know. I'm in a motel tonight (out of hours - again but will be back on-line on my hometime in about 11 days.
Picking a place to be a newbie is kind'a like deciding whether you want the mumps or the measles. You'll probably survive either if you have the determination.
.
[This message was edited by Shuffler on May 12, 2003 at 3:08.]

Answer:
In my small mind your posts in general get my interest and attention. Continue to educate all of us Newbies.