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Originally Posted by Silent1  Hello all...
After taking a CDL class at a local school and getting licensed by the state I spent awhile looking into a company to get trained. I have heard many horror stories and alot of negative word about most of the companies that'll take on student drivers, but none the less, I have to start somewhere.
Just wondering if anyone might have some pre training advise or tips for my road ahead? |
Head somewhere else.
If you can't take that advice, then I'll try to help a little.
1. They claim to provide breakfast and lunch. Breakfast will be a small muffin, an apple or banana, and a small carton of milk or juice. Lunch will be a cold ham & cheese sandwich, a small bag of chips and one can of soda. Bring money or your own food unless you want to starve.
2. Don't let them send you out with an owner/operator as a trainer. While I have nothing against O/O, they tend to do things a little differently and not always in the name of safety. Many of them choose to use the trailer brakes only when stopping to save their own brakes for example. Ask for a company driver trainer only. Granted, it's Werner so that won't be much better, but at least you'll learn the proper way to tear up company equipment and you won't have an O/O screaming about your driving killing his truck.
3. Pretend the guy giving you all the information at orientation is actually funny. He'll be in a better mood and might let you out early if he thinks someone actually enjoys his idea of witty humor.
4. Head the other direction. I can't say it enough. There are a lot of bad companies out there, but I really can't think of a worse training program than Werner's. Instead of quality trainers and training, they try to make up for it by requiring 275 hours of driving. It doesn't help and you'll be a trainee for a lot longer because of the sheer amount of sitting you do while waiting on a load or while your trainer is on his hometime. I went through a full month of training, and at the end of that month I had 106 hours of driving time and less than 6,000 miles. You'll be in training for a LONG time.
They'll also make you run as a team operation rather than a solo driver/trainer. So when you first start out and think you're going to get training, what you actually get is some guy that tells you not to wreck the truck and then goes back in the sleeper and goes to sleep. How they can do that with a brand-new rookie at the wheel is beyond me, but they do it. So instead of getting sage advice from a seasoned driver, you're white-knuckling through Atlanta with nothing but snoring to help you. (This is exactly what happened to me).
If you haven't left for orientation yet, I highly suggest you don't go. While I didn't care for US Xpress, I can at least recommend their training program over Werner. Just don't go to Werner.
Advise for a guy headed to Werner Orientation? 
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