Going on I80 through Nebraska

bigshow345 · May 25, 2012

I delivered a sleeper cab body to my old stomping grounds Werner enterprise. I ran into my old dispatcher Gairy who did not know from his *** when it came to reading a map.

I am so glad I left that company, but I seen Werner is getting into straight trucking. At there yard where I picked up my company truck back in 2005 it is filled with straight trucks with sleeper cab body's. With the price of diesel, cant say I blame them.

Moot · May 25, 2012

I'm having some difficulty making the connection between straight trucks and the price of diesel fuel. My guess is that Werner has a dedicated customer that requires this configuration or maybe they are getting into expediting.

Brisco · May 25, 2012

Are you sure you weren't looking at a few of their "Service" trucks that run around the country performing maintenance on their Tractors? Werner does a have a small fleet that does just that. They either go from Terminal to Terminal, or hit the Drivers in Truck Stops if needed.

Plus, I believe Werner uses these things for Local Picks for their LTL Division too.......

I've seen a couple myself....and I haven't been out there OTR since late 2007.

bigshow345 · May 27, 2012

2007 FREIGHTLINER Columbia

The trucks looked kind of like this, as far as the fuel savings when I drove one of there company trucks they either used Detroit diesel engines or Cat engines. If you Idled them they burned 2 gallons of diesel an hour or they were configured to shut off after 10 minutes if you enabled the engine idle over ride. The connection I make is when a semi pulls something that weighs as much as a school bus empty eats alot a fuel. A sleeper straight trucks is not pulling anything and weighs alot less when loaded compared to a semi that is fully loaded. Made me think my old employer is getting into the expedited market or reducing its semi fleet.

Moot · May 27, 2012

bigshow345 said:
2007 FREIGHTLINER Columbia
Made me think my old employer is getting into the expedited market or reducing its semi fleet.

Correct on both assumptions! I have a friend that does the bicycle courier thing between Omaha and Lincoln. Last week he delivered a sealed envelope to the Reuters office in Lincoln from Werner HQ in Omaha. Well it was supposed to be sealed, but there was some kind of seal malfunction, possibly a blown seal. It was messy, might have been melted ice cream, but who really knows in a situation like this. The best he could deduce from peaking at the messy message was that Werner was buying Panther.

The straight trucks you saw at Werner were old Werner tractors stretched to straights. These previously owned and gently used trucks will be sold to entrepreneurs entering the expedite industry at below current market rates and will include friendly financing options. These "new" trucks will replace all current Panther vans and can earn up to .80/mile, plus a generous fuel surcharge based on the azimuth of Uranus during the Winter solstice as viewed from Earth in the Northern Hemisphere, minus 23º. For trucks operating in the Southern Hemisphere, due to the weak Coriolis force and the weak dollar, omit the clockwise conversion and stay with -23º azimuth. Viewing this declination through a mirror may result in an f.s.c. appearing smaller than actual size. Go Baby Blue!