Is this normal with a trainer?

You help the next guy, that's how you thank most of us.
You can send me cash.

 

You can get most of the OTR details in just a few OTR trips.
How to use the fuel pumps (pay at the pump with company credit card and your rewards card for the truck stop chains)
After you fuel you pull forward, leaving a path behind your trailer and the nose of the truck that will be at the fuel pump next.
Go inside and collect receipt, if needed. Use restroom, get a grab & go drink/food, fast-food order if there is no line. Park the truck in a parking spot if you are going to eat inside or their is a line for fast-food.
How to trip plan, don't just follow GPS or Google maps without consulting Rand McNally Motor Carrier Road Atlas for restricted routes. The MCRA is $20-30 any truck stop, 1 year old OK and on sale around end of current year. I usually bought at end of year and used for 1 year.
Practice backing into a truck stop parking spot every time you stop the truck at a truck stop. The sooner you become competent at backing the sooner you won't be too anxious when backing. Always be ALERT when backing.
How to document your arrival/departure times for detention purposes, if any.
How to handle "breakdowns" which is any condition that makes truck undrivable (mostly tires, lights, brake issues).


Usually you may only have an address, phone number, appointment time for shipper and receiver. Read the Google reviews for each address AND also each street address. Sometimes customer change names but it's not corrected on your dispatch message. Read the reviews to see if there is info about which entrance to use or procedure to enter the facility. Sometimes there is very valuable info and sometimes not. Reviews may give you a heads up if the customer takes hours to load/unload, you ca arrive 1 hour early, or on-time only.

OTR is 95% the same few things over, and over, in different places, and 5% unusual things. So OTR training doesn't have to be more than a week IF YOU CAN REMEMBER EVERYTHING the first time you see or do it. The benefit is you see all 809 kinds of left/right turns, on/off-ramps, intersections, etc.

Try to introduce yourself to every driver and the ones that appear knowledgeable, ask to get their phone number to text or call if you have a question. Usually your trainer is that guy, but not in this case. MOST drivers will answer or help but you'll often have to ask because everyone is in a hurry.

 

ALWAYS move over for vehicles, ESPECIALLY tow-truck or cops/firemen on the shoulder, even if you have to brake to get behind someone. If the next lane over is a truck-restricted lane signal, move almost fully into that lane and signal and move right again.

 

It was an accident. We won't let it happen again.

 

One thing tripped me up a few times at the fuel pumps if I was getting fuel and DEF, it's almost never written anywhere on the pumps. I forget the order since I retired a couple of years ago, you can ONLY get DEF before you fuel or ONLY get DEF after you fuel. It is one or the other and it applies to 99% of pumps at the big chain truck stops. Generally, if company policy didn't require something different, I would add DEF fluid either after fueling 2 previous times or when DEF level was down to 25%. You don't use fuel and DEF at the same rate. So you don't need to add DEF every time you fuel. Like I said, about the 3rd time I fuel I'll fill-up the DEF tank.

Don't spill DEF on your clothes or shoes, you will smell like you Pd your pants until you change clothes. Always wear gloves when fueling and if they get fuel on the gloves put them in a ziploc bag and seal them up, if you don't want to smell fuel for the rest of your career.

Truck stop chains give you a free shower credit after you buy a certain number of gallons of fuel. It could be 50, 60, 75, or 100 gallons. Shower credits only remain alive for a certain number of days. Some chains will give you daily drinks and showers next month if you buy X gallons this month. At loves it used to be pump 1,000 gallons in a month and you get a free drink and shower every day next month. It makes you life easier if you reach the monthly gallon target because you don't have to manage shower credits that are expiring. But often you will need to get your fuel only from that one chain to reach that target. I worked at a few companies that allowed fueling at say 3 different chains. At first I would use the company fuel card at get fuel wherever it was convenient and have shower credits at 3 different chains, but those credits would expire so I had to plan where to shower and plan where to fuel. If I concentrated all of my fuel purchases at 1 chain of truck stops then I would reach my monthly fuel target and have a shower credit any time I could find that chain. Concentrating your fuel purchases can also maximize your reward points at the chain. Once you buy X number of gallons in a month then for each gallon next month you may get 1, 2, 3, or 4 points on your reward card. You can use those points to buy food, items, sometimes buy a shower if you have no free shower credits. Most drivers seem to spend their reward points instantly on the terrible food. I saved my points and bought tons of stuff for the truck, including 2 CBs and several antennas, 2 different truck GPS (RM & Garmin), electric shaver, 4 different electric coolers, etc.

OTR tip for showers, it's much easier to get a shower at 4 or 5 am, than 4 or 5 pm. There is a rush HOURS for showers late in afternoon and early evenings as drivers begin to park for the night. It could be a long, long wait around dinner time. There is not a rush for showers before sunrise, but stores are minimally staffed so sometimes even though nobody is occupying the showers there is no employee available to clean the showers until you ask for a shower. BTW showers are individual bathrooms almost always with sink, toilet, and shower. A very few do not have a toilet in individual shower room. ALWAYS wear shower shoes in the shower room.

 

As a trainer, I would not typically have a whole lot to say up front, except your driving. I would tell you if nothong to tragic happens we'll discuss it at the end of your driving shift. If you were getting ready to make a major mistake, I would interject, but minor one's it's good to see if you can work it out.
Second week I run the tractor kind of like a modified team, meaning I take cat naps in the shotgun seat, but the truck has to run miles to make money, lesson one, dont hit anything, lesson two. I will get out and watch you backing, stopping you befor eyou hit anything, again letting you work it out if you can. Teaching the setups for backing is more importanat than the actual back it self. Anyway give your trainers some slack. And there are #### few perfect fits as trainer/driver relationships. Its a short time, deal with it get done, and remember what you consider to be the important lessons.

 

When I went to a mega carrier for my cdl it came time to go out with a trainer after orientation. I saw "trainers" that only had 90 days experience and they were going for the extra 4 cents per mile. I let the orientation manage know I wasn't interested in an inexperienced trainer 20 years my junior. I said I wanted an old driver who had a lot of experience. Be careful what you ask for.
Personalities aside he was very professional and I learned everything I needed to know about trip planning. Try to get ahead of the curve so you don't end up suffering with a poor trainer.

 

This

 

Yeah probably right. Print the text and show them that, it is safer.

Mine comes with a heavier hand and maybe even an implied threat. Wouldn't want that with a newbie.