So is it normal for Swift mentors to expect you in your 1st week to drive through the night?? I wasnt even used to the truck and my shifting was still rough, and now I had to deal with nighttime and fatigue. Seems to me to be stupid to expect this from a rookie.

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It all depends on your load. Expect to do alot of night driving when you 2 start team. My mentor didn't let me have coffee in the truck so I would just pull over at around 4 or 5am and told him i'm taking an hour nap. Just remember it's only 6 weeks then you will be out on your own. The mentor training is not really good but once you are out on your own you will have to drive nights sometimes. With the 14 hour rule it's hard to get a nap in so you have to learn to keep yourself up. Just be safe and the rest will come together.

What's a mentor? Is this suooosed to be training? You say "in your first week". Is this your total driving experience? If it is supposed to be training how can you be trained when the trainer is sleeping? All you are going to do is have your bad habits ingrained. You are being used as cheap team driver cannon fodder.

Has this industry really sunk so low? I'm glad after 52 years in it my career is ending, not beginning.

This is not meant as an attack on you and I sincerely wish you the best.

I agree 100%. It's BS how they are doing this but all they care about is can you run from place to place. It's ashame that the only training I got on mountains and bad weather is from what I read. Didn't make for a fun time over donars on 80 fully loaded. Been solo for 2 months and thank god the only mistake i made was trying to turn around in a spot to tight and had to unhook and get wrenched out. Still takes me 20 mins to back into spots and longer in tight spots. Trainer never taught me how to back just made sure i didn't hit stuff

I was glad to get out too. However, I was lucky and landed my dream job and didn't have many opportunities to come in contact with the companies that use drivers with 6 months experience as trainers. It does bother me to hear stories like this and it seams to be the norm rather than the exception.

I have an idea that I believe would help if ran properly. Make another endorsement on the CDL as driver trainer. The driver trainer must have at least 5 to 10 safe driving years. Manadate the companies to use these driver trainers and hold periodic inspections with the companies to ensure their program is working. The driver trainer should get paid more and not just when he or she is training but all the time.

Before I retired we had driver trainers that had many years of safe driving and they were responsible for the drivers at their terminal. Sometimes the terminal might have two or three depending on the size. The company, years ago, bought the Smith System and the driver trainers ensure that each driver is up to speed on all the key factors. They go with each driver for a day each quarter. All of our drivers have experience prior to hire so it wasn't like new drivers. Plus the company through alot of money our way at the end of the year for safe driving.

A note for LogsRus. I wish you could have seen the old drivers that have 20 to 30 years with the company being told they had to drive differently. Once they saw the program and knew it would work they became leaders in the program. So sometimes when those old drivers are set in their ways they can change! They just don't want to change for the sake of change.

When I was doing the night driving he would fall asleep, while I had no idea what exits I may have to take. I mean hell, this was only my 3rd time behind the wheel and this guy is snoozing. Then he got mad when after 5hr I had to take a exit to pee, I couldn't wake him up so I just did it on my own.

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Kilroy:

While he is driving and falling asleep on your log book if anything went sideways it would be on you. You would quickly find you had NO friends and would be hung out to dry. You are gambling your future. It is not worth it. I would like to believe what you are saying is not true as it is my life on the line when this is going on but I believe you are telling the truth. These pukes need a dime dropped on them.

GasHauler:

An excellent idea that would go far to get some professionalism back in this industry. Unfortunately the large carriers that are looking for steering wheel holders in their race to the bottom would never go for it.

Thanks for the advice man. I understand how to do my log book now and can promise that this will not happen again!! He made it sound as this was the way that Swift mentors did things, so I went along with it for the time being being a rookie.

__________________
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Giabyte GA-P35-DS3L-Intel Q6600 # 3GHZ
Zalman 9700 -4GB Crucial Ballistx Memory
EVGA 8800GTS -XFI Fatality
2 Seagate Barracuda Sata 300 320GB HD's
Corsair 620Watt PSU -Thermaltake Soprano DX Case

Either stick it out or see if you can change mentors.

Im changing mentors.

__________________
My baby!!
Giabyte GA-P35-DS3L-Intel Q6600 # 3GHZ
Zalman 9700 -4GB Crucial Ballistx Memory
EVGA 8800GTS -XFI Fatality
2 Seagate Barracuda Sata 300 320GB HD's
Corsair 620Watt PSU -Thermaltake Soprano DX Case