Question:
My husband started solo with Werner the end of May this year. He got plenty of miles and easily made his mileage bonus each month, but the last 3 weeks he has been sitting alot. He was in St. Louis for 3 days this week with only a 40 mile trip before he got a trip out West. He took 4 days off home time in October and will be about 3,500 miles less for the month than he usually gets. Last weekend he worked, but only sat in the Indy terminal all weekend. His dispatcher did give him $60 and thanked him for working the weekend. I guess over the summer I got used to some nice paychecks, but not this month. Was this just a fluk, wrong place at the wrong time, or should I get used to smaller pays until summer comes round again? I need to know what's happening from some more experienced drivers. What should I expect in the coming months? I need to adjust the household budget. Thanks!

Answer:
Originally posted by sbenedi:
My husband started solo with Werner the end of May this year. He got plenty of miles and easily made his mileage bonus each month, but the last 3 weeks he has been sitting alot. He was in St. Louis for 3 days this week with only a 40 mile trip before he got a trip out West. He took 4 days off home time in October and will be about 3,500 miles less for the month than he usually gets. Last weekend he worked, but only sat in the Indy terminal all weekend. His dispatcher did give him $60 and thanked him for working the weekend. I guess over the summer I got used to some nice paychecks, but not this month. Was this just a fluk, wrong place at the wrong time, or should I get used to smaller pays until summer comes round again? I need to know what's happening from some more experienced drivers. What should I expect in the coming months? I need to adjust the household budget. Thanks!
Well, it could have been just a fluke, but yes, some types of freight slow down this time of year. The x-mas freight is already flowing, and it will dwindle down closer to December. Plus, with many people being off on the holidays, like Thanksgiving, and Xmas through New Years, many companies slow down, so they don't receive as much freight either.
Bad weather in other parts of the country upsets things too.
The freight really slows down between New Years and about March. That is usually the worst time for general freight.
Answer:
Definately tighten the budget and tell your sweety to get used to getting stuck or short miles over the weekend. Squeaky wheels get the grease, but whiners get no respect. Its a fine line pressuring dispatch into keeping you loaded and being understanding. Don't know if it even matters at a company the size of Werner. Shuffler could probably give you some tips on working with Werner, he's been there awhile and is happy.

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i thought freight had to pick up to slow down?? Definatly do be careful, I wasn't last winter and almost got me and wife evicted. Is he flatbed or van div?
If at first you don't suceed, get a bigger hammer

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wonderful world of werner...I know how that goes....thats what happent to me also...4 months were great and it just die out..I was sitting like 4 days at a truckstops....3000 miles away. I had no accidents,everything was on time.
But the freight does go in spurs-
I been having a hard time myself finding a job---after I lost mine. There was certain companies-- that I was considering and they would straight out say to me- N.Y. State freight is there anymore..and we cant hired you. Which is great for being honest and everything.
But it sort like walmart around here. U see hundreds of walmart drivers pass though here everyday till mid Jan. and then it dies down again.
But I like said: skiffman- Shuffler could probably give you some tips on working with Werner, he's been there awhile and is happy.

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What should I expect in the coming months? I need to adjust the household budget. Thanks!
Well I don't know exactly how Werner operates, but from about now until early January is known as "rush" or "peak" in the industry. This is when the retailers really start kicking into gear for the holidays and freight picks up by a good margin. You'll get some freight moving throughout January because of the markdowns by retailers and then the returns from customers who didn't like what Santa brought them, but then things really die down until about March.
From a macro-economic standpoint, the economy has pretty much stalled from it's peak in 2000. We're not in a recession, but then again there's very little growth on the horizon even with super-low interest rates (a situation that can result in "hyper-inflation" which is what has happened in Japan). Consumers have grabbed all of the low-hanging fruit from the initial 0 percent-financing from automakers and low-interest home loans, but now spending is being reigned-in because of higher unemployment and an uncertain economic future. So things look to be slow for quite awhile but eventually the economy will pick up steam. It always has and it always will!
The problem with a big company like Werner is that they hire to fill trucks, not necessarily to give drivers miles. If a driver is sitting in a truckstop, it's not costing them anything, but it does cost the driver in time and lost wages. Werner may have all the freight they can handle, but if they have some idle trucks sitting, they'll just hire more people off the street. Open up the Sunday employment section in your local paper, and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that all the big companies like Schneider, Werner, Swift, JB Hunt, or US Xpress will have an ad there!
My advice for your husband would be to get the experience he can at Werner but in the meantime keep looking for other jobs. Look for local companies that have dedicated runs that might pay hourly with overtime. He will make about the same as he makes going OTR and best of all you will be able to see him nightly!!
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Hubby drives dry van, (though he been hauling a lot of Busch Beer recently). I wondered if some of this slowdown is the economy. Basically hubby wants to stay with Werner at least a year before he moves on. He really has had no complaints with Werner until this last month. He did just get an easy trip to Maryland over the weekend, so maybe things will pick up for us. Thanks everyone!

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One month of being slow is not a trend. Too many things happening to say for sure its the nature of doing 48 states. Some months or weeks are good some are not happens in every company.
If you want a some what steady pay check than look into a dedicated run. Good dedicated runs have little or no slow down during the couse of the year.

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Well, if like you said, it's he's not being ignored because of poor performance or yelling at his dispatcher or anything like that, then...
It's a combination of flukes that all pile-up together. It eventually happens to everyone in a large 'random dispatch' company like this, and it'll happen again. It goes like this:
He's sent somewhere where there's temporarily too much freight going in and not enough going out. Owner/Operators and teams usually get priority for the few available loads out -- O/Os because most are (literally) business partners with Werner (truck financing) and teams because they make more revenue and (good ones) are harder to replace than solo drivers if they get too pissed and quit.
As this situation starts, trucks will be given longer and longer deadheads to where the freight is. But this starts to saturate the freight opportunities in those cities too, until the only available freight is so far away it eats-up too much profit to deadhead trucks there.
Then your husband arrives and gets put at the end of a long list of drivers waiting to get out.
Werner will take brokered loads, skim stuff of the internet, and all sorts of other creative ways to get those trucks out of there -- even if it only breaks-even or creates a loss. But the problem is, if Werner's going through this, everyone else probably is too. So even those loads are in short supply.
But eventually, everything gets back to normal again, loads become available, and things level out.
This sort of thing is a major frustration -- and one of the most stressful parts of the job, in my opinion -- for just about every driver. Sometimes you just shake your head in amazement at how the company gets into these temporary jams. But the fact is, the companys don't like it either. If the driver's not making money, the company isn't either. Meanwhile, the truck's burning fuel, depreciating in value, the driver's getting angry, and most of the other costs continue.... These folks use the best talent and technology available. Tremendous effort is put into maximizing the productivity and effeciency of load planning. And it still happens. The reason is simple. The company works for the customer. We respond to their demands and needs, and despite the best laid plans, stuff happens. And in trucking, stuff happens a lot!
When you've got a load, run with it!
When you get a good paycheck, save some of it!
When it's slow, just remember: It'll get busier.
When you're busy, just remember: It'll get slower.
It's hard not to look at just the individual weekly paychecks. Some drivers literally go off the deep end obsessing over how much "money I DIDN'T make today".
Keep your eye on the big picture. Things go up and down. It's the monthly and quarterly income averages that count.
There is one more thing he can do in situations like this. He needs to make it known to his dispatcher that he can't afford to sit around too long. This is tricky. Never follow the advise of those who suggest yelling and making threats. At Werner, this a sure way to guarantee you get bumped to the bottom of whatever waiting list you're on. But at the same time, the wheel that squeaks respectfully and professionally, might get a little more oil sometimes. Despite all the technology, human decisions are made daily about who gets what loads. The drivers who perform the best and are easiest to work with, obviously get treated a little better, if only because those who are difficult get treated a little worse. Your husband should make his dissatisfaction known, in a respectful manner, that avoids any personal attacks, innuendos of dispatcher incompetance, etc. He really needs good productive loads that make good miles -- and when he gets them, he needs to follow-up by running them hard and early. Not just "on-time", but early! The way Werner matches loads to available hours, any dummy can be on time -- you rarely get anything that's very tight. To set yourself above the rest, you want to run as EARLY as possible, especially if it's an open-window trailer drop, or where they might let you drop the load to be shagged later while they get you on another one.
[This message was edited by Shuffler on November 07, 2002 at 01:18.]

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Werner must be a forced dispatch company. That can make you end up in slow freight areas. Right now is actually a busy time of year for most carriers with the addition of holiday freight. Refrigerated companies really start moving right now until after Christmas.
I haul a lot of produce. Most drivers don't like it but it can keep you busy if you know where to go. If I take loads to a slow area I could end up sitting or accepting some cut rate load from one of the big companies logistics dept's. If you had the ability to choose your loads it would be a good idea to learn where the companies freight is and keep your truck pointed in that direction. Under a forced dispatch, as alot of companies are, you can end up in areas that are very slow.
If your loads are dependant on your relationship with your dispatcher and his/her moods have a strong bearing on your work I would let them know their number one in my opinion and go somewhere that actually needs me as a driver and will show me some respect. A good company would just fire a rude ignorant vulgar driver and not starve them and waist their equiptment on them. They also tend to fire disrespectful moody dispatchers. Working for a company where you have a name and not a number is a very good idea.
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of all who threaten it"

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Shuffler and Stuffiu, it couldn't have been said better. If you want respect as a driver then you have to be as repectible as possible while still getting your point across.Very Good Advise Gentlemen!!.