The Trucking Industry Sucks, espec. WERNER and USIS,DAC
 

Werner promised me a truck and 500 bonus after completing 275 hrs with a trainer, at the 255 hr mark they asked me to stay another 3 weeks while they readied trucks for gradutes. I lived like a slave for 8 weeks and I said no I would rather go home and wait fo a truck. The next day they started asking me about my application, and me pulled off the road with 272.25 hrs just 3 short, and for 2 days I sat at the Lakeland terminal with 8 other guys that were waiting for trucks. They fired me for falsyfying an application. I had a case where adjudicatin was witheld but my background check shows Convicted by Plea. I had papers proving it was a mistake but one nebraska asshole (EDITED) wouldnt even look at them. All that and now Ive had 8 companys call me but wont touch me untill my DAC is cleared up . USIS says it might take up to 30 days to clear. The Trucking Industry sucks, Now I have to take a job with Waste Mang. Im gonna be a garbage man because a reporting company screwed up. The killer is I told Werner all about the arrest and outcome before going. We NEED TO UNIONIZE the truck drivers

Truck drivers have a union. It is called the Teamsters.

Yes it is Teamsters. And yes I agree with you as far as union. I joined with Sysco uphere in NY and yes I work my tail off but its a union shop. I get paid for EVERYTHING I do.

I was OTR for 14 months and I will never do it again. Its agreat gig and I had fun. But the pay is a joke. Sit for 2 hours before detnetion time kicks in and all the other crap these companies pull.

I bet no one would do that with their last gig before becoming a truck driver. Work for free that is.

Anyways enough venting on it. It is what it is. And it will stay the same until truckdrivers either get fed up and stand up for themselves or find a different career because they realize they are getting robbed.

As far as Werner goes. Yeah they pull some shady stuff. I never worked for them but I had two friends that did. One was happy and the other one got jerked around. I thinks its luck of the draw if you get the jerking around.

DAC the concept is good. But the program needs to be rewritten for more explanations of what circumstances transpire in a driver situation. My DAC is clean but again I have heard the horror stories.

My 2 cents

I'd rather work for waste management.
Its better pay and benefits and its all you can eat!!!

Your anger is understandable, but keep people's names out of postings. Thanks.

i do not think we need to unionize because you lied on an app. or because you had a bad experince with someone...do we??

Re: The Trucking Industry Sucks, espec. WERNER and USIS,DAC
 

Kc is right, even though with the adjudication, your record is felony free. Meaning that you can still vote and buy a gun. As far as employment in the trucking industry its going to be treated just like a conviction. Also if you ever try to get a concieled carry permit for guns....quite a few states wont give that to you with that conviction. To be blunt....its not werners fault you committed a crime and then didnt put it on your app.
Perhaps you might not understand why companies do this and why they dont hire people with records like that. Its about liability. Even that adjuticated charge has a paper trail and that paper trail makes you a liability. I dont know anything about you or your charge. But I will give you an example of why this is. Say a big trucking company worth billions gave a person with a drug record a chance. And then say that driver got high and then ran over and killed a busload of nuns and orphans. This is how the lawsuit would go.
Lawyer: You mean you hired a person with a known drug record? You mean, you saw the adjuticated conviction on his record and you hired him anyway?
Company rep: Well yes, he seemed like a nice guy so we thought we would give him a chance.
Lawyer: Here is a blank check.....just sign it and we will fill in the amount.

Liability...This is why companies have to protect themselves.

Sheepdancer:

I'm not taking sides WTH the O.P. or against him. But, this does smack of an intentional practice of bringing an applicant up JUST a bit short of the "legally obligated" policies based on miles, then using that as justification to "find" a way to fire an employee who doesn't accept the company's will. (Meanwhile GAINING a driver for a short time to make a profit.)

Since I actually enjoy, and value your opinion on this board, how about addressing the following relevant topics for me:

1) Tort reform. Would the insurance companies slack up a bit? Or take their increased profits to the bank and continue on as usual?

2) Recruitment practices that are designed to put a bonus in one's pocket for getting someone there, with little regard for what it costs him when he fails to pass muster (which takes far too long to cook.)

3) An increased responsibility on the part of the recruiter to ENSURE that the applicant UNDERSTANDS beforehand, how to answer certain questions on the application.

4) Your opinion of the real BASIC requirements for being a driver. (i.e: Your true feelings - not based on hiring criteria as it stands now - on how much of a person's past should REALLY matter.)

5) Company responsibility. Meaning just how well do you think THEY are passing muster concerning their concern for those whose lives and livelihoods they have so much control over.

Thanks!

I think they would a bit. Tort reform would reduce the liability. Im for tort reform however I cant say if Im for reducing the hiring requirements trucking companies have.
You are right, Im paid to get the driver there. I get my commission when he gets in that truck and drives. However there is much more than that too this job. It actually does make me more money if the driver comes over here and succeeds. A high % of my hires come from referals from drivers Ive already hired. There are companies out there that pay their recruiters in different ways. Personally, I like the way we are paid here.
Like us JB Hunt recruiters or not, we are the most successful recruiting operation in the industry. So much so that other companies have been asking corporate to outsource us out and hire for those companies too.
Strangely enough, that is about to happen. We are going to start recruiting for other companies too. Mostly companies that dont compete with us. Tanker jobs, class b jobs, flatbed jobs, autohaulers...stuff like that. Something to keep in mind for any of those drivers who like to cuss us out or just hang up when we Jb recruiters call you 1000 times a month :evil: ....In the future you might want to listen. I might have another company job that you might want.


Hell, we are supposed to have that now. However I feel that its more of the drivers responsibility to know what everything means. Reality: and this happens: if I get a phone call right now and a driver says. I need a job, sign me up. Im going to quickly sign him up without wasting any time telling him details. I will take as little or as much time as it takes to get a driver on. But being a commissioned employee, the less time the better for me. if I driver has 1000 questions I will take the time to answer every single one of them. Whether the driver asks those questions or not is up to him, not me. If that makes sense.

This is a tough one and very hard to answer. Kind of a contradicting duality here. You know me the rabid right wing conservative who wants to be very very tough on crime. That part of me says screw the criminals and screw those 5 drivers of mine that failed the drug test this week and last week.
The recruiter part of me, Sure, i want to hire everyone. Uh oh...does this make me a liberal recruiter? The HORRROR! :shock:
Reality, my core belief system overrides the greedy recruiter in me. I honestly feel the hiring standards should be higher.
oh man, we are going to differ big time on this. I think the truck driver still has control over his life, not the company. The responsibility remains there. I have had this debate before here and me and drivers are going to always be at a disagreement over this. Drivers think the majority of the time the company screws them. I personally think the majority of the time, the driver screws himself and blames the company. I came to this conclusion after working here for so long and when we started getting emails everytime a driver leaves us. And we were also given the ability to pull up his or her record and see what he did when he was here. Ive seen drivers fail the drug test who are now saying the left because JB screwed them on miles. Ive seen people get fired for service failures and they said the recruiter lied to them....In other words the stories dont match the truth. I said this before. The MAJORITY of the high turnover rate at large companies DOESNT come from unhappy drivers quiting. Its drivers being fired. Like I said, this is my opinion and the drivers and I will never see eye to eye on this one.

This will be interesting for you and will demonstrate why I think the way I do. Im going to copy and paste the last 10 reason codes why drivers Ive hired have left in the last week or so.
1.Termination Reason: Failed drug / alcohol test
2.Termination Reason: Declined - Other <dont know why he quit, havent looked it up yet.
3. Termination Reason: Violation of Rules
4. Termination Reason: Min Req-Moving Violations-MVR
5. Termination Reason: Family Reasons/Domestic Oblig
6. Termination Reason: Pay
7. Termination Reason: Violation of Rules
8. Termination Reason: Failure to Meet DOT Standards - JBH
9. Termination Reason: MVR- Accident.
10. Termination Reason: Declined - Other < this driver was moving out of the country.

10 drivers left
4 out of 10 quit.
1 quit because of pay. Honestly we dont known if he just didnt work hard or it was the company.
1 quit for reasons we dont know at this time.
So when you start talking about turnover rate, if I dont hire 10 drivers in that time frame ( which I didnt....#^#%@$% drug test failers)...I have over a 100 turnover rate. Over 100% turnover rate looks bad on paper, especially when you assume that its all drivers quiting. Reality: 40% of those drivers quit and only 10-20% quit for what might or might not be valid gripes.
Side statistic. 99% of those drivers who were fired will blame the company or me the recruiter.

Drivers need to be prescreened BEFORE they get the Ok to come to orientation. From what I have been hearing J.B. flunt doesn;t even do a background check before approving drivers for orientation.

True, drivers should be screened prior to traveling hundreds of miles to orientation. But, I do understand why some companies don't do complete checks prior to orientation.

Most drivers will send in applications to 3 or more companies and then select the comapny with the best offer. So you end up with 3 recruiters spending time and money doing background checks and the driver can only drive one truck. The other 2 recruiters are just spinning there wheels.

In fla you have Police Fire and Teachers unions. Fla is a right to work state Republicans control the house senate and Gov. In otherwords workers dont have any rights

Thanks for the replys Hey Sheep you sure your just dancin with those sheepLOL. Fiqured your answer was from a goose steppin Conservative. But for your info I guess you never broke the law, never cheated on your taxes or bought somthing that was stolen and never used an illegal drug. The states attorney defines a withhold as the "Judge witholds the judgement of Guilt or Conviction in a case" In other words gives someone a second chance, and yes its used often that like recruiters they just want to move the bodies along. But I told my recruiter word for word of my arrest and outcome and they still brought me to orientation. Now it turns out Werner got bad info from USIS and that is being fixed. But to run someone to 272.25 hrs of a needed 275, is criminal. And I dont thank they will respond when USIS sends them a letter stating I was never convicted of anything. Werner has one of the highest rate of drivers leaving in the business I think. Why didnt they look at the court papers I sent them proving I didnt falsify my app

No we will prescreen before a driver gets to orientation. Its actually pretty simple to do it that way. I tell the driver he has to find a fax machine, I will fax him a form, he will sign it, fax it back and we will run his stuff before orientation. If he doesnt do that, he will sign the form at orientation and we will run it then....ITS HIS or HER CHOICE. How hard is it to find a fax machine? Obviously many think its reallly hard because only about 1/2 of my drivers actually sign it before.

I have never been arrested, I have had about 3 traffic tickets in my life....does that count?
NO


No....that is as bad as stealing it.

Nope never....I have never needed to be high to enjoy life.


Sorry, i was just telling you that many employers our going to count that as a conviction. And that in many states you cant get a concieled handgun permit with an adjuticated charge. Ive held concieled carry permits in 3 states. VA, TEXAS and ARKANSAS. Virginia, will NOT issue a permit to anyone with an adjudicated charge. Until a couple of years ago, Texas wouldnt allow a permit with an Adjudicated charge, now they do. Arkansas allows permits on a adjudicate charge on a case by case basis.
As far as companies denying employment for an adjuticaded charge, it happens...... Its not my rule as a recruiter, I dont make policies, I just have to go by them.
if its criminal...procecute them. I think you should.

sheepdancer \ orientatin
 

Sheepdancer, I was reading these post from you guys that are from last year. But, I'm sure this question still applies. So, when we're waitin to be sent to orientation they haven't done the necessary background information yet? I thought they were doing that while the new potential hire is waiting. And you being a recuiter and all probably will know this; when are newbies officially hired? When called to attend orientation, or once we are with the trainer? My recuiter didn't give me much to go on. And I have gotten their voicemail like three times. So I decided to waite it out. They said a few weeks. Whatever!

I don't think sheepdancer posts here much anymore. I know he's not with JB Hunt any longer.

Heard from my recruiter today. He says my file is with security, so I imagine they're doing the background check now. If not...wtf am I doing sitting around twiddling my thumbs?

I don't think most companies count you as 'hired' until you are in your own truck. Until then, you are just in training.

Sounds like your company was running behind a little on his background check.

I have a few questions.

This poster went thru a recruiter.

This poster went to orientation.

This poster went thru 8 WEEKS with a trainer.

I'm sorry, but I find for the poster. In no way, shape, or fashion, can you make me believe that Warner did not know about the man conviction.

They waited 8 weeks to do a background check? Can you say BS? Smells like :dung: to me.

They knew he was convicted, and decided to use this as an excuse to get rid of him after he didn't want to play their games. The fact that he didn't tell them on the application is moot, due to the background investigation they would have done at orientation.

So hiring him was final, and this can not be used against him because they already knew.

If there was any problems with his DAC, he should fight the entry, and have it stated that Warner knew about his conviction with the background check they did before they put him with a trainer.

However, that's not going to be much help for him. He can argue that they knew.

But it doesn't change the fact that he has the conviction in the first place.

I have to agree, even though this post is from last year, and the players are all gone, the point remains.

Im sure they knew about his record, why not tell the trainee that there MAY INDEED be a problem, and that he is under review? Give him a chance to work it out, or leave, or whatever.....at least decide if the training was worth the gamble to go forward.

If it happened like the poster says it did, they just stole 272.25 hours of work and said......"Next".

Being Hired
 

"When are newbies officially hired? When called to attend orientation, or once we are with the trainer?" I'm not Sheepdancer, but this is my experience. Newbs aren't "hired" until after completing training with a company trainer and have passed all final written and skills tests and are upgraded to "solo", "first seat" or "lead" driver. Having passed drug test and physical exam at front end of orientation is assumed. BOL

Re: Being Hired
 

This is actually a pretty easy question to answer. If a company is paying you to attend orientation or go through training, then you are, by law, considered an employee and must be treated as one.

If a company is simply covering orientation and/or training expenses, but not paying you any actual money, you are not technically an employee.

Could very well be. But then again, it could also be a by-product of their hiring procedure. I'm not sure how Werner works with trainees, but there are a lot of companies out there that will put a driver through orientation, but will then review the completed driver file when they finish training. Most of the time, those guys are hired, but sometimes they are not. Again, not sure how Werner works, but that is standard operating procedure for some training companies.

That's actually incorrect. If he didn't list it on the app, then technically they are within their rights to terminate him for falsification of employment app, even if he told them about it. Yeah, this one sounds pretty low-down, but the labor laws are going to be on Werner's side.

I don't disagree that the original poster got a raw deal, but some of it is on his shoulders. The big one is that if he was just a few hours short of finishing up training, why wouldn't he just shut his mouth and get it over with. My guess is, and I'll lay money that I'm pretty close to the mark, his training manager and/or driver trainers considered him difficult to work with, causing Werner to decide it was in their best interest to get rid of him. From there, it was a simple matter of going after the obvious.

Keep in mind, it's not in Werner's best interest to cut ties with a student driver over a measly $500. They'd get a lot more from a government training stipend to have him graduate and add that driver to the national driver pool.

I'm sure it feels very wrong to be considered a "trainee" who is receiving compensation for their labor time (although less than minimum wage) and not considered an employee.

I think a pretty easy way to determined if you are hired as an employee;

When you complete a W4 tax form for the company, you are on the payroll.

Trucking industry
 

I've said it before. If drivers dont stick together in some way we will continue to get screwed. Nothing will change. The well known truck driver crying and moaning will continue. Perhaps we deserve it. One upset driver is nothing for the industry to worry about. A organized group of 100,000 drivers singing the same tune will get some attention.

I'm certainly not holding my breath waiting for the day when we stick together. I agree the industry as it stands does suck, at least for drivers. I have found myself giving some very serious thought about what else I want to do outside of trucking. It used to be a little bit of fun, but not anymore.

kc0iv said:


BMiller said:
While I agree that we (Truck Drivers) have a hard time agreeing on anything. You here them disagreeing daily, especially on the CB (but generally write that off as garbage). But, the problem isnt that we disagree, because everybody seems to agree that we would have a much improved lifestlye if we had a Union. The key is exactly what BMiller said in the closing of the above quote, and that I believe and stated. "A organized group of 100,000 drivers singing the same tune will get some attention." We need organization, whether we agree or disagree about aspects of Truck Driving, whether its 100,000 drivers or 1 million. We have no organization.
How do we Unionize all the careers drivers? (Mostly a rhetoricale question.)

Sheep just out of curiosity who do you recruit for ?

Sheepdancer used to recruit for JB Hunt. He no longer works there. In fact, Sheepdancer no longer works in the trucking industry.

I think its bull that there is a paper trail if someone has a dismissal or found not guilty. I have a charge that was dismissed and its still on my record.
My brother has an attempted murder charge on his it was dismissed because the guy broke into his house while he was home. Big mistake. Anyway its still on his that he was charged. It says dismissed beside it, but it shouldn't be there at all.

I totally agree. Somethings just need to go unsaid. As a teen (bout a million yrs.-ago or so) I was attending a rock climbing class. The overzealous sort that I was as a teen decided to go try some of the techniques out. So myself and four other teen classmates went to a "Under Construction" building (no windows, doors etc.) and were happily repelling from the uninhabited roof when a Sheriff's cruiser pulled up. As teens would do,,, We all scatted and hid. The deputy found me and two of my friends hiding on the roof. We were arrested and charged w/ attempted commercial burglary because of the ropes and professional climbing equipment.

I tell this stupid story to emphasize how inappropriate some charges may be. Further, that we need the opportunity to explain or at the very least address the issue in a profession manner. Consequently this is still on my record - some million years later.

We were honest good kids and theft never entered our minds. The overzealous deputy was an ass. The charges were dropped as " Unfounded" per the Sheriff's Watch Commander - post meeting with our parents.

Let me tell you that being the teen of two parents in the military suck'd worse than the conviction would have. TRUST ME!

So I must agree that some things just need not surface and taking the time and $$$ to expunge is prohibitive at the very least.

As to the organizational proposal, we need to put the screws to our elected Representatives first. 100 K plus Drivers hounding our Reps w/ a request for a Prof. Drivers bill of rights Maybe!

Just a note: I would have kept my mouth shut and waited for my truck.

Just my .02 worth.

Enter, Enter, Enter

How's that MATANGCOBRA....what is a mantangcobra anyway, is that kind like a whimpering crybaby....seems like it with your complaining about my post....get some reading glasses.....I got rid of it, and beacause of you and your whining about my writing skills.....I QUIT!

Not gonna take anymore of you GREAT WRITERS FLACK and CRYING!

Forget what I said about students and what I know about that situation!

To many of you criticize without merit, get a life


Enter , Enter, Enter KEY

Exit stage right

Exit stage left
EXIT!!!!
C YA'S

Them Other Truckrz
Please use the enter key every couple of lines.

Whatever. You blew that way out of per portion. I won't stoop to name calling. So have a nice day

Let 'em go. They claim to be "musicians for 30 years." You suggested they tune their instruments and they came back at you like teenagers. Nothing wrong with a bit of decent grammar and making posts easier to read.

Nice truck in your avatar.