Werner Enterprises Allentown, Pa Clarence L Werner Werner Enterprises Internet

I agree with your statement about how the majority of dispatchers, fleet managers, driver managers, or longhaul/linehaul supervisors whatever fancy title dispatchers are called now to appease the egos of the college kids they offer the jobs too lack commercial motor vehicle experience or knowledge.  I have 4 years of military service, 9 years of trucking experience 5 of which is driving and 4 of which is driving and I am 4 months from completing my degree in business.  I have applied to CR England, ABF, Yellow Roadway, Heartland Express, JB Hunt, as well as a handful of smaller local carriers in my area who have terminals and the same comment I get each time is "while you have the necessary knowledge and experience we just really need someone with a degree".  

Thats no joke,  your telling me my 4 years of military service, 9 years of Trucking Industry experience as a dispatcher and driver plus being 4 months from completing my degree means nothing and does not qualify me for being a dispatcher?   This is the reason the drivers in this nation are becoming increasingly hostile for anyone out there you have all seen and heard the industry reports of drivers pulling guns on dispatchers at the terminals and such,  some terminals have barriers separating the drivers and dispatchers now because of this.

I never respected those college kids as dispatchers because they do not understand the business they are supposed to be routing and running plus they feel that a truck driver is a dime a dozen and just some dumb inner city gang banger or hillbilly country person when in reality there are some drivers with more intelligence and education qualifications than they could ever have.  So frankly maybe this industry should start flushing the snot nosed punks down the toilet and get drivers back in the dispatch chair who can relate to and effectively utilize each driver based on their abilities. 

A very tiny percentage of the DM's have any type of CMV experience and at night or on weekends, they are looking at a minimum of 700 drivers and are newbies to the transportation industry.  I was fortunate to have a former driver as my first DM, and had him as my boss for 8 years.  We got along great 97% of the time, and any butt chewing I got was deserved, but we never shouted at each other.

The key is communication, as well has hoping the person at the other end of the phone and/or computer screen has some sort of common sense, as well as a road atlas handy to look this information up regarding bridge laws and such, so they can do their thing with the load to get it to the customer on time.

Regarding hours of service, the rules are there for your safety as well as that of the public.  Kudos on standing up and staying safe and legal.  No one gains from having an accident, from you all the way up to C. L. Werner himself, and you certainly don't gain from running over hours.  Been there, tried that.

I don't have an answer for manipulating the logs, but it is like anything else that is done electronically;  if data can be changed and that person can get away with it, it will be done. Frankly, the only person that should be able to make changes is the driver, and the Log Department should be on hand only for guidance, verification and enforcement.

 You and the department should be the only ones with access to the logs.  I don't know about Werner's relationship with the DOT, but if there had been tampering and abject proof rendered in the course of an investigation, I'm quite sure that privilege would be revoked and some people would be shown the door, cooling their heels in jail.

I had a satisfying 9 1/2 year career with Werner, racking up nearly 950,000 miles and chose to leave due to health and safety concerns which turned out to be justified.  Sometimes I miss being out on the open road (or crawling in rush hour traffic), but I gained a whole lot of road awareness that I apply to my everyday driving, and that has saved my bacon at least once.

Stay safe out there.

I understand totally, you can get your logs changed.

I heard numerous stories of how time can magically appear when you think you are out of hours.

I had someone in logs tell me it was ILLEGAL what a night DM was doing to me but he couldn't report it.

I was continually harassed by that buzzer/light when I was already loggedto line 2 for either a 10 hour break /or 8 hour split. I actually told them that too, (as logs told me to do).

I am to have AT LEAST 8 hours of UNINTERUPTED REST!!!!

That is a clear D.O.T. Violation and I even put that on the Quallcom, to the night DM.

You do know it is a violation for you to have a recorded image of the Quallcom message? (employee handbook).

The DM's don't lose anything by you running illegally, YOU DO!!!!!!!

I had aco-driver put bridge law up to weekend dispatch and got told ...get this one..

"Bridge law only applies in CA".... that worked until they got messaged back we will ask Safety. All of a sudden a miracle happened. The load was removed