I've read numerous bad trainer horror stories on this forum.

What I'd like to know is what percentage of the total number of trainers are bad ones?

One could get the idea that most trainers are bad from reading the anecdotal evidence here, but I suspect there are far more good trainers than bad ones, at least in terms of temperament.

heh - that would be interesting to know, eyah! break it down by carrier, too.

Me - only the one trainer at May. He and I got along famously. Of course, as soon as we discovered we disagreed on something serious, we - by mutual unspoken agreement - stayed off that topic.

Only raised his voice at me once, and he was right to do so.

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Keep the big doors at the back!

It is ard to break that down...Alot would depend on the company and the training dept. If you have a trng dept who does not care and all they want is people to fill trucks its a push them through the door thing. Their are good starter company out there that will train you up with good trainers. bottom line is there will allways be that one bad apple in the bunch.. trick is if you happen to get stuck with one is to let your DM know, get back to the yard and get a new trainer.

My guess would be that there are more good trainers than bad trainers at most companies and that we just hear more about the bad ones.

I do wonder, however, how much it is stressed in orientation that a trainee can report a trainer's bad behavior and be assigned to a different trainer.

I've read several bad trainer stories where the trainee seems to have been under the impression that he had no option but to endure the bad trainer.

Is it possible that trainees DO understand this option but feel that they will be seen as "crybabies" if they complain?

Are they afraid of perhaps having to wait weeks to get another trainer?

These are rhetorical questions, but feel free to answer them if you want to. I would appreciate any insight you can offer.

I started my training a month ago, and took a week off. My first trainer was very good. My second trainer is just as good. I have heard the horror stories and was worried, but you just have to deal with what you are given, within reason of course.

My husband has one of the trainer horror stories you've probably read on here. I can tell you that in his case it was mentioned in orientation that you had the right to request a change of trainers if you did not feel like you were getting the training you needed but with that request came the realization of an undetermined delay to becoming solo.

He spent almost two weeks waiting to get a trainer. He was scared, nervous, unsure of himself and all the other things that go along with starting a new job not to mention one that involves driving a huge truck in rush hour traffic! So even though it was said you could change trainers he wasn't really sure it was acceptable to do so and certainly didn't want to start out a new job being labeled a complainer. And mostly he just wanted to get finished and complete the upgrade.

Since surviving the training ordeal he has had a chance to talk to several drivers and it seems that although some have had bad trainers there are many that had great ones. So my guess is he just got unlucky and his personality being the way it is he just gutted it out.

If he had it all to do over again knowing what he knows now would he get off that truck? I can honestly say probably not. His personality is the type that he now believes because he withstood that situation and saw it through to the end he is prepared for whatever the trucking industry might throw his way. Personally.....I would have been off that truck by day two! LOL! But that is just the difference in how he and I deal with things.

I am also sure that trainers have plenty of horror stories of their own about students that have stepped onto their truck. Maybe this trainer has had his share of those horrors and it turned him into a psycho! Who knows. But good luck. Hope you get a great one!

Well i went with Pam and i never had orientation but i got out of truck in ohio 5 hours from my home. Let's see i got yellled at and told i could only eat on fuel stops we couldn't stop any other time even though we had 60 hours to deliever and it was only 500 miles. Then of course there was lieing on the log books i didn't like this at all espically seeing how i was just starting out. Then he showed me a knife and then told me if i told company he had it on truck he would track me down. Then there was sleeping all but my first hour on truck and i had never driven in mountains before and he was sleeping while i was driving in mountain and rain and fog what a experience. Now i couldn't get hold of anyone at pam cause it was holiday weekend but i got off truck anyways and told guy to #### off and i called only number i had for pam student liason office. I never had orientation for them or was told i cold get different trainer i did finally today after searching internet find corporate number and call them and got hold of someone who complained i waited so long to call after explaining i didn't have no other numbers and that i called sat when it happened to that number he asked what happen and i explained he told me to call back next morning. So if this ruins my chances with Pam so be it i will find different company i will not tolerate this i woudln't tolerate it here in factory work let alone in a truck with someone i got to live with for 30 days in tin can so yeah there are bad trainers and good trainers i just got bad end of stick.

Howdy Rod!
Long time --- no read.
How ya been?

Let's see if I can answer your questions, and thanx for asking.

I suspect you're correct in that assesment, Rod.
It also depends on how one defines "good" and "bad" trainer.

A clash of personalities doesn't necessarily indicate a trainer is "bad", nor does getting along well necessarily indicate a "good" trainer. The measuring stick should be are you learning anything?

There are certainly trainers with less than stellar training methods, but one should consider that they're Big truck truck drivers and not always well versed in communication skills. But many times a sharp trainee can learn by observation as well as the spoken word. Sometimes more is said when they say nothing at all.

I can only relate trainer experience from one company, Schneider, where I had my original training and then driver trainer training. Three trainers all totaled, and they were all excellent trainers.

After completing driver trainer training in Green Bay, and becoming a trainer myself, I realized that I didn't agree with some of the other trainer's methods --- mostly that they used their trainees as another log book and ran training like a team operation. IMO, a trainer needs to be awake to properly train. My priority was a quality product, that being a well trained trainee who would be more likely to stay with the company for awhile. Too often some of the other trainers who pushed their trainees burned the trainee out in short order and they left the company, and possibly trucking all together.

Schneider made it clear that if a trainee wasn't satisfied with the trainer assigned to them, they had the option of going with another trainer. I'm sure there were many who exercised that option for various reasons.

No doubt.
But it's also possible they WERE told they could request another trainer, but that information went in one ear and out the other.

Quite possible, and possibly true to some extent.
Schneider mentioned that if another trainer was requested it WOULD reflect somewhat on the trainee if the request was made for trivial reasons. How a trainee reacts and/or relates to instruction is being watched by the front office.
If a trainee requests another trainer, I'm sure how the request is presented makes a big difference. Too many times a trainee complains about things presented during training that ARE a part of the learning process and normal to truck driving.

For instance, The trainer only lets me eat when we stop for fuel when we had plenty of time to get the load to it's destination.
That may be true, but the trainer is trying to drive a point home, that being to utilize time in a productive manner. A trainee may not understand that, and probably isn't trying to see the bigger picture. Randomly stopping on a whim wastes valuable time, especially if for some reason their progress down the road is hampered by traffic, weather or a road closure. Rather than obtaining a few snacks to take along with them in the Big truck to tide them over, all they can think about is a sit-down meal at their usual eating times. And believe me, that ain't the way driving a Big truck works. Get close to the destination, THEN relax. To burn any extra time needlessly along the way is just asking for trouble.Trying to get that through their heads isn't always possible, and a trainee like that is likely to wash out early IF they make it through training.

In some cases I think so. They're understandably anxious to complete training and be on their own. Who can blame them for that? But again, as long as they're learning SOMEthing from a trainer they'd rather not be with, they're headed in the right direction.

Imagine, if you will, a trainer who more than a few trainees ask to be replaced, and a trainee who manages to see it through to the end with that trainer. What do you think that says about the trainee to the front office? That trainee is a whiner, or the that trainee gits 'er done?

"Rhetorical" questions or not, Rod, they were good questions.
As another poster pointed out, trainers see their share of trainees from down under, too. Some trainees are hard headed and don't like authority figures "telling" them what to do and/or how to do it --- not understanding or realizing that their trainer is Captain of the Big truck they're in. What the trainer says -- goes.
Some come out of driving school with the opinion that they're all-knowing and the trainer is just picking on them. Not to say that SOME trainers don't delight in lording over trainees, but I don't think that's the norm.

If a trainee can't cope with a less than ideal situation with a trainer for a month or two, I'm sure the company will question, or at least wonder, if that trainee will be able to handle the circumstances yet to come when they're on their own. And rightfully so, IMO. There WILL be a LOT of give and take in the trucking industry. Those who can't, or won't, realize that are headed for a hard time. Those who can, and do, roll with the punches and bend like the willow WILL have a better chance of success in the trucking industry, and life in general, I would think.

Aftershock, may I ask what you would consider valid reasons for requesting a different trainer?

The shorter training period is one of the reasons I am strongly considering SNI. Personally I am very laid back and can get along with just about anyone (doesn't mean I have to like them), unless they are just determined not to get along with me.

Aftershock after reading your post i would lilke to comment on it not personally to you but your not all trainers are like that. Let's see my trainer gave me no where to put my stuff i slept with my bag of stuff cause there was no where to put it. I had no place to put food nor could i stop for food except truck stops where bag chips cause as much as value meal. I wasn't allowed ot have soda on his truck complained when i bought bottle of water and brung it on. He did have cooler full of lettuce and crab meat foods i don't eat or like. Never once did he say hey buy you some food and put it in here so we don't need to stop. I dont' need sit down meal i usually don't eat sit down meal i could run in gas station grab few hot dogs and i good to go. Or run in wendy's or anything like that at truck stop or gas station and grab me quick sandwhich but i wasn't even allowed to do that except at fuel stops only other time truck stopped was places we picked up at and dropped at and rest area's so now tell me where was a person suppose to it. Conflict of interest nah i am one of the most easy going people you could ever meet. I got friends from all walks of life. I got redneck friends i got friends who think there gansta's you name it i get alone with 99 percent of people. But when someone threatens me and puts me in unsafe conditions team driving is not training in any way shape or form i wish government would control that more cause it is unsafe in every way. Now the lieing on log books was told that only way you make money well i don't need money illegally and thats what it is your robbing a bank so to speak cause if you get caught your in trouble and pam didn't agree with me on this and i told them that maybe i should call that number they offered me new trainer and apologized and we moved on from there. So in my opinion probably 75% trainers are good trainers. 10% are good but get bad rap from conflict of interest. Then the other 15% there for nothing more then money and suck!!!