truck driver

driver

tractor trailer driver

lease operator

heavy equipment mechanic

KAG Canada

Westcan treated me great. They are a very safe company to work for, but you also need to stay proactive with being a professional driver.  Also, do your daily pre and post trips, so to be on top of mechanical service if needed. They don't expect the driver to eat the extra little costs, and that is huge when it comes to making a living. They always worked with me if I needed to take a bit of time off. They know the importance of mental stability, and know drivers can get over whelmed at times. If your honest with how you are doing, they don't mind you taking an early weekend if it's gonna be a safety issue..as long as it's not all the time, they are cool with it. They treat you as if you are the top professional for the position, so you gotta be on top of things, or maybe it's not the company for you. Several times I've tried to do a sit down to talk more production over a month by trying a few different ideas out, but they always ease back into the motto of "the turtle wins the race". it's true I guess.  I've learned more about prestige in doing it right the first time, and getting the product to the customer, on time, and in a safe manner....can't beat that for being professional. Anyways, I'd definitely be proud to work for them again, if I needed to, and am thankful for the couple of years I spent there.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people. I believe that people make the difference, and this terminal is not short on good people. From the office to the shop, to the drivers; it's a great team to be apart of. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Transportation and stress go hand in hand. Usually, the biggest stressor is equipment. Whether that be equipment is continually scheduled to go in when not enough is coming out. Or, equipment is being taken onto other lanes and then there isn't enough equipment available to cover last minute load request. Or, when equipment breaks down and we don't have enough equipment because it's been moved to other lanes. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
To be honest, it feels as though it changes from terminal to terminal. In Calgary, the office is light and even though it can be stressful the team seems to be able to find some humor in it. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Loads of problem-solving (pun intended), supporting the office while meeting company deadlines for KPI reporting. While each day has similar tasks, the issues that arise are not always the same which is great for anyone needing to be challenged at work.

I mostly have good things to say about Paul's Hauling. Pay was reasonable, good paid training and usually low stress. I worked 4 on 4 off, which was nice and I mostly felt valued in the company. My only real issues was a lot of the equipment they have is past its best. The truck I had was regularly breaking down often with the same issues (ultimately this is why I left when I did), the money they must spend keeping old unreliable equipment on the road would be much better spent updating their fleet. Also I found driver support not very supportive, their attitude was always all stick and no carrot, then when I left I asked driver support for a reference. The chap I spoke to said he was OK with that but then ignored my new employer, when my new employer did get hold of him he said he would only answer "no comment" I  don't know what was wrong with him but he definitely changed his tune to what he said to me. There has been a lot of management changes and maybe he is now overstretched and unhappy in his role. Often when I tried calling despatch no one would answer. I guess this is evidence management are doing too much with too little. Sign of the times I guess.

I worked in the tractor shop (There is also trailer shop and Commissioning/Decommissioning shop)

Decent place overall to work at overall. 

Pros:
-Great co workers willing to help
-8 on 6 off or 4 on 3 off. (Wednesday to Wednesday)
-Decent benefits package
-Job security for those who want to work
-Lots of OT in the winter road months (December-March)
-Lots to learn for new apprentices.


Cons:
-Management comes up with ridiculous rules and statistics to follow (which might get forgotten in a few weeks)
-Pay is a relatively lower compared to competitors
-Tooling: >Biggest company of it's kind yet they don't have a wheel alignment tool, they do alignments by marking the floor. Inefficient and inaccurate.
-Tooling: >Shop tools are often abused/damaged.
-Tooling: >Parts washer doesn't work.
-Parts Department is absolute junk. They're supposed to work for mechanics, instead they work against. Very inexperienced and confrontational about parts they should stock but never do. (Think bulbs, certain common types they only stock ONE)
-Some shifts are terrible (4/3 Night shift Wednesday to Saturday)
-Favoritism of certain employees
-You might get stuck in the pit doing nothing but oil changes for months.

Uses to be a  very good company under the westcan/paul's hauling banner till KAG took over, since then it's just keep getting worse.
Management don't see/treat you as human beings but just a #.
Very biased / Favoritism, some (favorite) drivers are working 6 days a week(65+ hours), while majority of us are only working 5 days & getting 45-50 hours & sometimes even asked(forced) to take a day off due to shortage of work/equipment & they would rather have their fav driver to come in on their day off to work. 
They even have driver working M-F with weekend OFF while all the senior drivers are working at least 1 day of the weekend.
No pay increments since 3 years.
They've Drivers come from NB/SK & even BC (Terminals) to come & do local work/run (QC/ON) but won't have the local drivers do that job/run.
(horrible decision makers)..

Westcan is a very large company which is in turn part of another very large company now owned by a Pension Fund. The attitude now seems to be to standardize everything, including the drivers. In other words, lowest common denominator. They are quite capable in the standard work environment in standard terrain, but are incapable of adjusting to different more challenging circumstances or terrain. They are a 'cookie cutter company'.
Payroll can only handle the 'cookie cutter' part of the company, anything out of their normal, paychecks will constantly need correction, a slow process.
They run safe equipment, training is good. Although, as with all large companies, the political people that talk the right lines will rise to the top, regardless of how competent they actually are in real life.

Really really bad people to work with ,equipments are good but sadly people are bad,they sing safety song all the time just to show ,in busy time thy close their eyes and when slow they open their eyes then they start blaming driver ,if busy keral lake loads driver can do in a day even violating  hour of service ,no problem,as soon as slow down then driver to blame ,they even cheat to dot ,top level management is really bad ,some discrimination is also their ,dispatchers are mostly family or friends  each other ,if you are not a yes boss kind of  person then not a good place to work ,some mechanics are also bad attitude,they sing this 27 dollars per hour song all the time but at least driver work 1 hour daily for free,they cheat systematically,favertism also a part of the dispatch and manager as well ,but I came to conclusion nothing is going to change because the problem is the top person he is the one  encouraging all this 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Decent pay. Good benefits and bonuses. Office staff are friendly and approachable. Dispatch is friendly and will listen to you if there are concerns or problems with a load. Shop manager is good to deal with. Good work life balance and you can plan your holidays and days off months or a year ahead. You know when you will be home. If you follow all of their rules and don't drag your feet and waist company time they will leave you alone and you just go and get the job done at your own pace. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
It can vary depending on what commodity you haul but fuel haulers slip seat including highway drivers who sleep in the truck their whole shift so you have to be prepared to share trucks and trailers and clean out all of your belongings at the end of your shift because other drivers will use your equipment on your days off.

start time was at 8:00am, but due to the fact that i have children, they were very lenient with my hours. i was able to start at 9:00am.I, along with two other co-workers went through all the bills of lading and driver trip sheets and matched them with what the computer info gave to us. It was transferred off the satellite GPS from the semi trucks. The co-workers were pleasant enough just a tad catty at times. Management skills and professionalism lacked a small amount. The hardest part of the job was only to achieve the exact number of bills needing to be done in a day. it was not impossible, just difficult. The most enjoyable part was talking with the drivers and making sure their needs were all meant.

Worked there for around 5yrs now. Average pay if you lucky to get on the right product. There is very little driver appreciation here. Witnessed a lot of really good people leave because of the way they were treated. You are only a number that will get replaced. Thats their strategy. Thus, company will hire just about anyone which in turn leads to a number of incidents and very high turnover rate. Safety became very heavy handed, threatening to cut your bonuses for every minor reason. Payroll has to be mentioned too, every pay there are "mistakes". Many of the perks have been cut or replaced with something to little value. 
    There is too much focus on PR, score card numbers, targets and not enough attention to basic daily operations, planning, driver support and appreciation. 
    Not recommended.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Truck driver 129 salaries reported	$30.67 per hour
Driver 1 salary reported	$36.42 per hour
Tractor trailer driver 37 salaries reported	$67,973 per year
Lease operator 1 salary reported	$187,500 per year
Heavy equipment mechanic 7 salaries reported	$39.29 per hour

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