E.W. Wylie

[chuck3507]

Tell me about E.W. Wiley out of Fargo, ND? Good or bad!

[Biscuit Lips]

Tell me about E.W. Wiley out of Fargo, ND? Good or bad!

They have a new lease purchase program.:roll2:

[catalinaflyer]

I don't know a lot about them but I just started here on Monday in the Heavy Haul/Specialized/Wind side. We just finished orientation last night and I will hopefully be out of here today (before the blizzard hits). I got to spend a hour with the terminal manager here in Fargo one-on-one yesterday and he comes from a 20 year driving background. There's been a little disorganization with orientation but part of that is we had a class of 6, 2 flatbed and 4 HH and they each have a different program and they said this was the largest group they have had. Overall it went pretty smooth and both the flatbedders are gone on loads as well as one of the HH guys. I was the only one of the six that got put in a 4 axle tractor with a three axle trailer so I already know I'm going to be sitting a little more. What would be a legal load on 5 axles could put me over gross and permiting a load that can be hauled legally with a smaller truck can be a little difficult.

The trucks are mostly Macks, they have a few Freightliners and a couple of Pete's. The Freightliners and Pete's are primarily Heavy Haulers since most of them are 4 axle. I'm not sure how far back the Macks go in age, I have seen a couple of 04's on the list but I can't say for sure. It looks like 90% of the flatbeds are 48X102 aluminum spreads but I wasn't part of that group so I can only go by what I have seen out here in the yard. They haul a lot for thier sister companies, E.W. Wylie is owned by Ottertail Corporation wich owns several different companies, some manufacturing and various others.

The terminal here in Fargo is brand new, they have a nice drivers lounge although there is no showers or washer/dryers. One thing I really like, when you walk up to the main office, there's no jersey barriers around it and no secret service to have to get past to walk in. The terminal manager and all the fleet managers are accessable. The company I just left, the terminal was surrounded by barricades and if you wanted to see your DM face to face, they had to come outside, drivers weren't allowed in the main building and unless you had security clearance you couldn't even open any of the doors.

Wylie is just getting back into the Heavy/Specialized (they sold that division off many years ago) and as such they are having some growing pains so there is going to be some bumps in the road especially in that division but overall they seem to have thier stuff together (the company was started in 1938 so they aren't new). They have Peoplenet communication in all the flatbed trucks and most of the HH trucks, the wind trucks which is what I have, have Qualcom. Right now they are still using Trippak and paper logs but they are moving towards paperless on everything so your Peoplenet will be your log and trip papers will be scanned. Again, that is all new to the company so they are learning right along with the drivers at this point. I got selected as one of the testers for the paperless on the qualcom so I will be having to run both paper and paperless till they get it integrated and certified.

As for fueling, they use TCH and the preferred truckstops are Flying J. If you fuel at a J and aren't getting cash or oil you don't even have to go in, just fuel and drive. Otherwise you can get 50 gallons at any of the other stops listed in the TCH book. There is a weekly cash advance put on your card every Sunday morning but as to the amount, I'm not sure, I think it's different depending on you division.

Don't know what else I can answer, I'm still new here and can't say how the freight is but just remeber, no matter what any company recruiter tells you, freight is very VERY slow right now especially for flatbeds.

[chuck3507]

Thanks for the info catalinaflyer. If you can please post more as you find out what they are about.

[catalinaflyer]

Thanks for the info catalinaflyer. If you can please post more as you find out what they are about.

What are you looking at, flatbedor heavy/specialized. I don't and won't know much more about the flatbed side, we run under the same name and use the West Fargo teminal but thats the end of it. I see the flatbeds coming and going here at the terminal but don't get to talk to many of them.

As or the HH side, you HAVE to be able to run Canada. That's whee they loose a few potential drives, if you can't run Canada they won't put you in Heavy/Specialized/Wind. I think that the flat side may come to that real soon as well. I watch them transferring 1 load right after another of pipe from Wylie trucks to Canadian trucks for the past four days.

[chuck3507]

I am interested in heavyhaul. Canada is not a problem for me. Flatbed will be fine also but, I'm not much on general freight.

[catalinaflyer]

I am interested in heavyhaul. Canada is not a problem for me. Flatbed will be fine also but, I'm not much on general freight.

First off I want to clarify, right now heavy haul/specialized freight is slow SLOW SLOW no matter what company you go to. Flatbed freight is slow as well but Wylie seemed to get everyone out of here in a day or two from the Fargo terminal this past week.

As for the heavy/specialized side there are 4 of us here over the weekend. There are 2 4axle/55 ton trucks (one of which is mine) and 2 3axle 35/40 ton trucks. I could have been out of here yesterday but I don't have a TWIC card and neither did the others setting here.

If you looking at coming here for heavy/specialized what you do will depend on your experience. Most everyone starts off in a 3 axle truck with a 35 or 40 ton RGN then moves up from there. The natural progression if you want to stay heavy and not into wind is to go up to a 45 ton trailer then move into a 4 axle tractor with a 55 ton trailer. If your looking at wind then you would go from an RGN on heavy to pulling blades then back to an RGN on top towers, then up to mid towers and finally the big move would be into a 4 axle tractor pulling schnables hauling bases.

Wylie sold it's heavy haul many years ago and they are just getting back into it. In fact all the equipment is less than 1 year old. Wylie is owned by Ottertail Corporation and one of it's sister companies under Ottertail is DMI. DMI is one of the main tower builders with a plant here in Fargo, one in Tulsa, OK and another in Ft. Erie, ON (By Buffalo, NY). Ottertail was looking at the millions of dollars a year they were paying out to carriers moving the towers and since they already had a flatbed company the natural move was to start a heavy haul division to carry thier own product. The terminal manager here in Fargo come from a 20 year background as an owner/operator in heavy haul and the lead driver on wind has been in heavy specialized for 50 years and has 20 years of tower experience.

To say that everything here is perfect would be a lie, there are some growing pains and bumps in the road right now but as I have said before, they seem really open to input from experienced drivers. I was with one of the "Mega" specialized carriers for about two months before coming here and let me tell you, it's a whole different atmosphere. Wylie is small compared to some of the big players but they have a clean operation and a driver is not looked at like a robot. You can walk into the main building and right up to your driver managers desk. The "Mega" carrier I was with, drivers weren't even allowed inside the building and if you wanted to meet the person on the other end of the phone you had to call inside and see if they would come outside to meet you.

There have been a few specialized drivers hanging around here this week that have not stopped complaining about EVERYTHING. I think that they think they are some kind of premadona and should have everything handed to them on a silver platter. I got tired of listening to all the BS in the drivers room Thursday morning and they were asking all the drivers to go out and pull trailers out of the snow banks so they could plow real good before the next storm. I was the only one who went out while all the others dissappeared. Needless to say when dispatch had a load pop up and they came to the drivers room to find someone, I got the load. It wasn't nothing special, and oversized front end loader needed moved 50 miles and another one brought back but at least it was work. It could have been hauled on one of the smaller RGN's but since I was out there running around in the cold, I got the load. It also helped me out because I discovered a leaking hub seal on my flip axle which I was able to limp back to the yard with rather than being stranded in some shop somewhere out on the road.

I spent the day yesterday swapping out my flip axle for the one that was supposed to be on my trailer. I also found my gooseneck extender out in the snow back, got it dug out and got the shop to set it on my trailer for me. I also found my stinger axle and checked it all out, made sure the lights were all good and that the registration was current on all three peices of my trailer. As of right now I'm not going to carry my stinger with me since that will be used more for tower sections. If I get into a situation where I have a load putting me over gross but not enough to require the stinger there are some states that won't allow me to have it chained to the deck along with the load on a permit. It adds about 3,000 pounds and they sometimes frown on that.

Anyhow, I hope this helped a little, I'm still new but so far I like what I see. Not as much money as the "mega" carrier I was (comparing apples to apples) but at least here we're not looked at like we're robots.

[catalinaflyer]

I'm still setting here in Fargo. It got up to a warm +15 today so I got everything taken care of with my trailer. Hopefully I'll be out of here tomorrow. There's a couple of pilot cars that pulled in this afternoon for loads going tomorrow so I can hope that I'm on one of them. With that being said though I just checked the weather and we are under a blizzard warning tonight and tomorrow morning and it just started snowing while I was uploading these pictures.

Here's a couple of pictures of my new ride.

[Orangetxguy]

I'm still setting here in Fargo. It got up to a warm +15 today so I got everything taken care of with my trailer. Hopefully I'll be out of here tomorrow. There's a couple of pilot cars that pulled in this afternoon for loads going tomorrow so I can hope that I'm on one of them. With that being said though I just checked the weather and we are under a blizzard warning tonight and tomorrow morning and it just started snowing while I was uploading these pictures.

Here's a couple of pictures of my new ride.

And here I was, thinking you had jumped from a red Pete379 into a Mack Vision. (The most commone EWW truck I see)

[catalinaflyer]

Actually the 4 axle trucks here are either Freightliners or Pete's. The Macks are all 3 axle.

[fetterski]

I just wonder what a somewhat small company is doing hireing 6 new drivers with the way freight is now??
maybe just maybe this company stinks right now, and that many people have left. perhaps quite a few more in the last few weeks.

Oh ya Catalinaflyer Don is ok 4 heavy haul, but if you just do fb he is a useless POS. an

Any questions just ask.

[steeringwheelbracket]

Good luck getting out of there during a blizzard flyer.. Keep us updated on how you like it..I am considering that comp but i doubt going through with it..

[catalinaflyer]

I just wonder what a somewhat small company is doing hireing 6 new drivers with the way freight is now??
maybe just maybe this company stinks right now, and that many people have left. perhaps quite a few more in the last few weeks.

Oh ya Catalinaflyer Don is ok 4 heavy haul, but if you just do fb he is a useless POS. an

Any questions just ask.

As for Wylie hiring 6 drivers, they haven't added any drivers for a month over the holidays and are gearing up for wind. There have been a couple of drivers quit the past few days but they were wind drivers that took 3 to 4 weeks off over the holiays then came back and expected to be running full bore day 1. Contrary to popular belief, the wind is still strong, most of the projects currently on the books are already paid for and there's a couple hundred tubes in the staging yard over at DMI. As soon as the ground starts to thaw a little bit it will be turn and burn on wind towers. Hell there was a half dozen Combined trucks pulled in here today for towers.

I'm not going to complain, I got out of orientation a day early, hauled two short OD loads and have been on the clock since. Wylie doesn't pay quite as much per hour as Lonestar did but we get paid for Sundays and Lonestar never paid for a Sunday. It actually works out to be more per week and Sundays are the most popular day to sit in the Heavy Haul business.

Wylie has 240 trucks and hired 6 drives in a month, thats 30% per year, way WAY below industry average. Lonesstar even with all thier hype and glamour is sitting at 70%. On average they do 1 to 2 drivers per week, my group was larger because of the backup from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.

[catalinaflyer]

Well Lonestar lost another one, one of thier drivers that had been with them for over two years just came to work here at Wylie today.

I got a load out of here this morning going to Fort McMurray, BC but when I got there the tractor wouldn't start (go figure, it -26 here) so they are going to drag it inside ovenight and I can load it tomorrow morning. They then had me head over to MN to pick up a tractor to Aberdeen, SD and bring one back but I was 10 miles from where I was supposed to pick it up and again, it wouldn't start so I'm back at the yard on the clock. It's supposed to get colder here as the week goes on so all these darn tractors and equipment that were built during the summer months are now frozen solid. I think te Kerosene dealers are going to make a foutune here this week. I'm running straight #1 fuel and even with the tank heaters it's still a little foggy in the filter.

[grumpy]

I spent sometime up there last year. Not much to see 5 hour trip north of Edmonton Watch out for all the wide loads. Everyting is in Big in Fort Mac. Highway 63 is also known as a race track. The temp right now is in the low -20 degrees C. Oh yeah ft mcurray is in Alberta not BC.

[grumpy]

Should have mentioned Suncor is half an hour north Syncrude is 45 minutes north CNRL is a hour north and Albain Sands is 90 minutes north

[fetterski]

As for Wylie hiring 6 drivers, they haven't added any drivers for a month over the holidays and are gearing up for wind. There have been a couple of drivers quit the past few days but they were wind drivers that took 3 to 4 weeks off over the holiays then came back and expected to be running full bore day 1. Contrary to popular belief, the wind is still strong, most of the projects currently on the books are already paid for and there's a couple hundred tubes in the staging yard over at DMI. As soon as the ground starts to thaw a little bit it will be turn and burn on wind towers. Hell there was a half dozen Combined trucks pulled in here today for towers.

I'm not going to complain, I got out of orientation a day early, hauled two short OD loads and have been on the clock since. Wylie doesn't pay quite as much per hour as Lonestar did but we get paid for Sundays and Lonestar never paid for a Sunday. It actually works out to be more per week and Sundays are the most popular day to sit in the Heavy Haul business.

Wylie has 240 trucks and hired 6 drives in a month, thats 30% per year, way WAY below industry average. Lonesstar even with all thier hype and glamour is sitting at 70%. On average they do 1 to 2 drivers per week, my group was larger because of the backup from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.

Flyer, I know they have lost quite a few drivers lately, I know freight is slowwwww i'm just hanging in there till i can get 2yrs under my belt. the whole not getting paid to sit on the weekends and turning the trucks down from 67-62 just eats at you if you have any time in at the company.

If you are just starting with the company it's probably not bad.

[catalinaflyer]

Flyer, I know they have lost quite a few drivers lately, I know freight is slowwwww i'm just hanging in there till i can get 2yrs under my belt. the whole not getting paid to sit on the weekends and turning the trucks down from 67-62 just eats at you if you have any time in at the company.

If you are just starting with the company it's probably not bad.

As for sitting on the weekends, thats news to me and my DM, acording to him I'm getting paid of I'm sitting for the weekend, I just asked him about it. Now if I'm under a permit load and can't move because of restrictions that's a different story.

As for turning the trucks down, thats a proactive step rather than reactive. Every company of any size at all is going to be turning the trucks down the insurance companies are mandating it. There are only a handful of insurance companies that insure trucking companies and they are one by one requiring it. I think the underwriters are forcing the insurance companies and there are even fewer underwriters. I know of two heavy haul outfits with owner operators that are requiring them to be turned down. If they refuse (or lie) and get a ticket in excess of 65 they are done.

I made the decision to leave and come here not based on weekend pay or the speed of the trucks so that has no bearing on my situation what so ever. If I want to drive fast I will go back to the motorcycle show circuit where he trucks run wide open and get paid a salary so weekends or otherwise the pay is the same.

[fetterski]

I figured I would post some numbers just for the heck of it.

11-8 11-11 Houston to Trona,CA- Bakersfield,CA empty=0 loaded=1776 ($60 drop&tarp) del day early
11-11 11-12 Adelanto CA to Vineyard UT empty=120 loaded=573 (no tarp) del day early
11-12 noon till 11-17 noon layover
11-17 11-18 Vineyard UT to Plainville Ks empty=0 loaded=847 (no tarp) del day early
11-19 11-20 Halsted KS to Conroe AR-Paducah KY empty=100 loaded=755 ($60 drop&tarp) del day early
11-20 4pm 11-24 noon layover
11-24 11-26 Portage IN to Fargo ND empty=355 loaded=674 ($30 tarp) on time
Told me they had a good load if i wanted to stay out over Thanksgiving (ok)
11-26 12-1 Solway MN to Colton CA empty=123 loaded=1925 ($30 tarp) on time
12-1 12-4 Long Beach CA to 2 drops phoenix Final San Antonio empty=68 loaded=1325 ($90 drop&tarp) ot
12-4 8am 12-9 8am layover
12-9 12-12 port of Houston to Schaumburg IL empty=195 loaded=1083 ($60 drop&tarp) appt.
12-12 10am 12-15 10am layover
12-15 12-17 Clinton IN to Ft.Dodge IA empty=138 loaded=492 ($30 tarp) ot
12-17 12-18 Norfolk NE to Winona MN empty-203 loaded=388 9$30 tarp) ot
12-18 12-19 Minneapolis MN to Wausau WI empty=139 loaded=188 (no tarp) ot
12-19 12-29 Home
12-29 12-30 Eau Claire WI to Pekin IL empty=0 loaded=365 ( no tarp) ot
12-30 1-2 Decauter IL to Port Everglades FL empty=78 loaded=1204 ( no tarp) ot
1-2 8am 1-6 11am layover
1-6 1-8 Darlington SC to Hastings PA empty=644 loaded=538 ( $30 tarp) ot
1-9 1-12 McKeesport PA to Houston TX empty=84 loaded=1331 ( $30 tarp) ot
1-12 1-15 Houston TX to Newburg,****erson MD empty=0 loaded=1464 ( $60 drop&tarp) ot



week miles

11-8-11-16 2469
11-17-11-23 1702
11-24-11-30 3077
12-1-12-7 1393
12-8-12-14 1278
12-15-12-21 1548 (2days off)
12-22-12-28 xmas
12-29-1-4 1647
1-5-1-11 2597
1-12-pres 1464

Seems to be picking up


last 68days off=9 driving=38.5 sitting=20.5

[fetterski]

As for sitting on the weekends, thats news to me and my DM, acording to him I'm getting paid of I'm sitting for the weekend, I just asked him about it. Now if I'm under a permit load and can't move because of restrictions that's a different story.

As for turning the trucks down, thats a proactive step rather than reactive. Every company of any size at all is going to be turning the trucks down the insurance companies are mandating it. There are only a handful of insurance companies that insure trucking companies and they are one by one requiring it. I think the underwriters are forcing the insurance companies and there are even fewer underwriters. I know of two heavy haul outfits with owner operators that are requiring them to be turned down. If they refuse (or lie) and get a ticket in excess of 65 they are done.

I made the decision to leave and come here not based on weekend pay or the speed of the trucks so that has no bearing on my situation what so ever. If I want to drive fast I will go back to the motorcycle show circuit where he trucks run wide open and get paid a salary so weekends or otherwise the pay is the same.

It's possible HH is a whole diff story!!! I have no beef, and hope to meet up with you on the road sometime. ( I think your the only Wylie driver I have run into on here in 2yrs) You still in that freezer they call Fargo???