Orientation

I would be more concerned with how much pad time they give you before they toss you out with an instructor who will run you 10 hours a day with 3-4 hours of sleep instead.

 

No, it is not. My "interview" was anything but. He never asked a single question. Instead, I heard everything about the Rocky movies. I'm not kidding.

 

As opposed to be a solo driver driving 11 hours a day?

 

Oh, I'm sorry. I was going by Prime's rule of thumb that if you are tired, pull over. When I explained to my instructor that I had four hours of sleep in 27 hours, he didn't want to hear about it. But you will continue to wave the proverbial Prime flag even when the evidence suggests otherwise. If I sound defensive, it is because I know company drivers don't want to hear any complaining so call it a pretext in preparation.

 

We complain plenty! That's how you can tell when a driver is happy - he/she's biotchin' about EVERYTHING!

If I was your instructor (I'm not one though) I'd be concerned about a newb who had only 4 hours of sleep in the last 27. Question: Was that because you couldn't get to sleep, or were you doing things?

Adjusting yourself and especially your sleep rhythm to the necessities of commercial driving is one of the hardest things your going to have to do. What we do is completely different than life in the world you're coming from. U2 isn't "waving the Prime flag." What he's getting at is that to succeed in driving a CMV (this means at ANY company) you must be able to put in long shifts behind the wheel, day in and day out. Driving for 4 hours and then taking a day off doesn't cut the mustard. Taking a short power nap and then getting back with it is how this works. Getting used to sleeping in a moving truck is a necessity.

Prime is concerned about the fatigue level of their drivers... they don't want tired drivers moving an 80,000 lb weapon down the highway any more than anyone else does. But the reality of the job is that freight needs to be moved, efficiently and promptly. What we sell is service - that's all we have. You as a driver must be able to deliver - if you can't, it's just not going to work. The reality is that you have to adjust to the situation - the job isn't going to change to meet your preconceptions of how it ought to be.

 

It was because I ran all night the night before. We got to the shipper around 1am. When we drove to the scale and arrived at 2am, we were overweight. So we had to drive back to the shipper which would make it 3am. Slept until 7am. He woke me up so HE could back up to the door and have them rework the load. I then drove for another 10 hours after that. What was he doing half of the time? Catnapping in the passenger seat.

I have no problem driving and sleeping to the schedule accordingly. But the fact of the matter is, we were hours early for every appointment. I kept hearing about how time is money (true) and less about what I need to do to better my skills. There were no four hour days, unless you count the one where he spent most of the day hanging out with relatives while I sat in the truck.

I'm not bashing Prime as a company because with the little experience I have, it would be foolish to do so. I do, however, have little faith in their instructor selections. When I was first assigned to his truck, dude #1 (I'm not going to mention names) handed me his card and told me to call if I had any problems. When I did, he quickly transferred me to dude #2 who cut me off any chance he could because in his view, I had a great instructor. This very same thing happened to my friend who works for Prime. He ended up going to a private trucking school and I am doing the same because yesterday, dude #2 told me I had to wait four months for a new instructor. See, he ignored my complaints about my instructor all while calling him to get my evaluation from him.

He was plain nasty. He objectified every woman he saw. Swore more in a sentence than I have in ten years, told me by day three I should have had my shifting down pat and said I wasn't cut out for it. Keep in mind, day one was a straight run from MO to Ohio. No shifting involved except to come off the exit. Day two was from Ohio to NJ. That's where I started running into problems. Day three he tells me I should have gotten this by now? And I like how he made me get out and ask for directions to the town we were dropping off in NJ, even after I told him how to get there because I only live here.

My preconceptions are only based on what I was told during orientation, which evidently was a glass half-full.

I will apologize to U2 and yourself for coming off a little harsh.

Again, NO backing up. NO pre-trip. Just being his little grunt boy. I went into every shipper/receiver to fetch his paperwork. I poured his coffee. I was always unhooking and hooking. Always doing the fueling. I learned more about that than how to actually drive the truck. Whenever I messed up, he took over. Whenever I asked for more practice, he threw the "no time" crap at me.

 

Also, I don't mean to make it sound like we had personal problems. I never hated the guy and I'm sure he is and has been a good instructor for others. I just have a problem with the way I was ignored and cut off when trying to discuss my problems.