Former May Drivers Lounge...

I am a new May driver, soloed out about three weeks ago. I was with my trainer for three weeks. He had a regular loop and was home every other night. We pretty much split the driving half and half. He got restless and bored easily, and I could tell that he didn't want to be sitting in the passenger seat. That was fine with me.

He told me he doesn't like to keep students longer than three weeks, especially if he thinks they're roadworthy by then. If they aren't, he'll keep them another week, but three is average. I was ready after two (I had previous driving experience but not enough for me to solo out sooner), so it was no big deal.

My previous experience was with Werner, whose training policy is just insane: 270-something hours, half of which is team driving where the trainer earns all the money while you're stuck on your student "salary," but this isn't a Werner-bashing forum, so I'll stop there.

I was happy with the trainer and the training I got at May. Overall, they seem to be a pretty good company, but I'm still new, so I'm keeping an open mind.

 

Did you ever consider Schneider at some point? Luckily they had the truck school I attended on their list as I hear they normally don't take newly graduated CDL holders.

 

If your Trainer sucks, talk to Carol and get switched.

 

Well I think I am going to go with Schneider. Does May allow inverters? I hear they don't allow Idling.

The only comforts I would need are being able to run my laptop and being able to use AC when needed. Possibly have a cooler as well.

 

I believe that the inverter policy changed recently, that they're installed in the trucks at no charge. But even if they're not, they make it real easy on the Drivers to make it happen.

As far as the idle time goes, I would simply send in a note on the Qualcomm to my DM stating (a.) where I was (b.) how many hours that I needed to idle, and (c.) the ambient temperature.

This shouldn't be necessary, but there are so many knuckleheads that will idle their trucks (and waste fuel) all night long when it's only 75 degrees.

 

All May trucks have inverters in them now, and they don't charge you for them. As for idle time, it's been expanded greatly for the summer months, up to 45%. I'm stuck in Iowa right now waiting to deliver, and it's 90ºF, 65% humidity, with a heat advisory, so I'm idling whether they like it or not. I'm from California, so the 90º part doesn't bother me as much as the humidity. Everything is wet. It's just gross.

 

That's when I would use a battery powered fan. At night at that temperature. I would only need AC if it was very stuffy, humid or during a thunderstorm. I have slight asthma being the reason why.