My CDL Trainer

A lot of people who don't understand the training program at Prime. This guy does not have his CDL, so he is with an INSTRUCTOR, not a trainer.

Bkkphotog - take it easy. Instead of sharphooting your instructor (looking for every little thing he does wrong in your experienced opinion is what sharpshooting is) and have a conversation with him about your concerns. This is what ADULTS do. My student only drove 1 hour our first day. Circumstances sometimes dictate how much driving you get to do. If it was raining and it was your first day, that would be a circumstance for you not to drive.

This thread so far invites much criticism, so let me share some of mine. The information that you have posted here shows that you are just as bad a student as you try to portray your instructor to be. If you already know it all, why do you need an instructor? Go rent a truck and take your CDL exam at the state testing site and get your CDL smart guy. At this point you have two choices. 1. Be a better student or 2. Return to Prime and ask for another CDL Instructor.

 

Checking his phone is not something he should be doing while driving, once you get out on your own you will learn sometimes you have to look at the atlas or service directory going down the road, or grab directions off a Qualcomm message, however if he is drifting lanes while doing it he shouldn't be doing it

 

You got till Friday to leave and you won't owe a dime. 7 days with an instructor and you can't quit free and clear if you choose to. So don't act like you are buried under this debt until you stick it out past Friday.

You seem to know better. So Take your $4k, which I'm sure you don't have and get yourself the training you are looking for.

75 hours is the minimum. 125 is the average... Guess what that means? That means somebody is doing 175 hours before testing out. Instructor has 5 weeks to get you your hours if he wants to.

Your impatience is mind boggling. Students should only be getting a few hours a day, and build upon that each day.

The more I read, the more I realize you didn't pay much attention at orientation. Every Friday afternoon meeting I have attended, where students get paired with instructors, I have heard the same speeches and information over and over about how this instruction is going to go. Information you seemed to ignore or not absorbed.

A bit of a dramatic too... Expect you to drive 70 to make an appointment? That's odd, our trucks don't go that fast.

Some of the things they cover on Friday. business comes first. We are a trucking company first, training company second. They also make it clear that hitting the 75 hour mark will not necessarily mean you will test right away so don't call them complaining the day you hit that 75 hour mark. Do not just leave the truck unless you fear for your safety. Showers. Student phone off and in bunk. No sleeping in the top bunk while truck is moving. The truck is the instructors home on the road and respect it like a guest. Etc etc etc.

 

Call out the windshield chip and all other defects you find out when doing the pretrip. Just because there's a chip in the windshield doesn't mean it's a defect that requires immediate attention. DOT will pass anything under 1" in diameter (use a quarter to decide if it's too big) and no spider-web cracks running out from it.

Pay attention to what SilentEagle and ChuckTaylor are telling you. They are experienced instructor/trainers. BTW... that "high quality, $4000, driving (not Prime) school?" For $4k, they can barely give you enough instruction to just get you past a state CDL driving test. Nothing more. The level that most CDL-school graduates are at when they come to Prime is nowhere near where you'll be if you take advantage of what the PSD course is giving you.

 

phone, not a bright idea.....but one of these days you will have to check that atlas going down the road...

 

I have to say I for one didn't understand the training program at Prime. I'll also give them Kudos for showing up at Joplin with two trailer loads of water and such, just because, immediately after the Tornado hit there. Not mentioned very much here or on the news. I only heard about it because I was there.

That being said, I'm not a big fan of being a slave to company for your CDL. I think you're better off borrowing the money and getting your CDL elsewhere then going to a company. If you are in their training program, make it work for you. be proactive.