Packing for training with a trainer?

Buy bottled water instead of taking a water filter, until you get your truck. I typically buy two 1 liter bottles of Aquafina for $3 and it's already cold. You will be stopping at truck stops 1-3 times per day. Bottled water is available everywhere, even if it's not crafted by monks while saying prayers on a mountain. I store water in my truck but it takes up half a cabinet and I'm the only one in the truck.

You will be driving, not walking to customers. What are the arctic explorer clothes for? You will be outside the truck to fuel it (10 minutes), open/close trailer doors (2 minutes), walking from truck to shipping/receiving office (5 minutes). Take/wear 1 pair of boots. In case of breakdown, make a phone call and wait for a service truck.

I have not found any practical way to receive packages on the road. The Amazon Lockers that exist are in big cities in crowded areas and you will not be there. You might be able to have packages shipped to your terminal, but you'll only know that later.

You will not have room for 1-2 dozen eggs until you have your own truck. They are too fragile and take up too much room in the other guys fridge/cooler. Training is about surviving and learning, not bringing your whole life into a truck. You will drive and sleep. That will be your life until you get your own truck. No story you tell will change any of that, even if it's true. I don't know what food replacement powder is but I'm sure you'll be in the hospital if you go without it for a month. There is no food shortage in trucking. There is even healthy food if you look for it.

I recommend clothes, boots, sunglasses, phone & charger, toiletries, a winter coat, rain gear. If you are very lucky you will have your own bunk. Imagine anything you bring being in the bunk with you while you sleep. You won't have half of the truck space to store stuff. You will have ONLY what the trainer agrees to do without in HIS truck. IMO

 

Call your recruiter, ask if it possible to speak with who your trainer might be so you can talk to them before you meet each other and live in a truck together. You could talk to that person about what kind of space you would have, you would know if you will have to ability to cook on the truck too.

 

Husbands company was great about letting me send Amazon packages to him at the terminal. Find out from your company how to address them so they get to you.

If available try to get fresh eggs that have never been refrigerated. They don't need need to be kept in the fridge so more room for other stuff.

 

Take whatever you would on a bus meaning you're not going to wanna lug a lot around one large suitcase and one small is enough.

 

No offense what so ever, but I think you might be looking to get into the wrong type of work with all of those special needs with water, eggs and what not. Again, no offense here.

 

I'm a pack-rat by nature. I understand the feeling that more stuff leads to more security. But you aren't getting into an empty truck. You're getting into a man's truck who has been doing this job before you showed up. A truck is a small place and he's not saving half of it for your "what-if" supplies. It's already equipped to do the job whether you bring anything or not. You just need to clothe yourself and probably sleep in it. Everything else is extra. Toiletries take little space and make your life so much better they are virtually mandatory.

You and your trainer are going to be on each others nerves even if you don't bring a storage unit worth of stuff with you. I promise if you bring more stuff than your trainer thinks is necessary you just speed up the day you two are scraping nerves which is not going to make being away from home, and trying to sleep in a bouncing truck any easier. You two will be sharing the space of a typical 1 bedroom apartment bathroom. That's not an exaggeration.

Every truck I've driven has a heater. I've never been asked to walk 5 miles in a blizzard to get the job done. If it's cold and windy I simply put my rain gear on over my cold weather gear. If it's near blizzard conditions, somebody is not getting their freight. Half of the snow days I have fought my way to a customer, they customer went home because the weather was bad. I'm not delivering medicine to stop an epidemic. I'm delivering car parts, LTL freight, general freight, and now acid to factories. I've seen too many drivers wear themself out trying to deliver suntan lotion in Dec and being told it's a "hot load." They're all hot loads to someone and those someone's are not living away from home for a week or more and being expected to live like a stray dog. It will get there when I can safely get it there. They don't give gold stars for dying on the job.They just replace you and clean out your truck, even at the very good companies I've worked for.

I'm not asking you to give up your supplement religion. I'm asking you to understand your trainer may not want his space wasted by your stuff. You get your own truck when your trainer is happy you are good to be on your own. Let's say you don't P out 90% of the stuff when you P. What happens if you develop a small unnoticed cancer while you are supercharging your nutrition? It's like dumping gasoline on a fire. There is no medical proof vitamins make you healthier. Taking vitamins are an artifact of people already making healthy choices. It's very similar to confusing getting a college degree and future success. The latter isn't caused by the former, they are both symptoms of the overall choices being made. The supplement people have a specific exemption in law that as long as they don't claim the stuff cures a medical condition they can sell you sawdust and you can convince yourself it will make your hair shinier, your "pencil" stronger, and your children better looking. I am sure your brand of stuff is a cure-all not like the other stuff sold in stores normal people can find.

Call your trainer and ask him how much stuff he will tolerate. Some trainers tell you when you show up "that's not coming with us and that's not coming with us. You can take that and that. You'll have to decide if you are going or not."

 

I have to agree.

No offense either but there is no room for chickens in a truck and stopping at a Whole Foods for water is unlikely.

You are there to do a job, the company will not make allowances or worry about your special diet. The customer is paying for you to move their products and could give two craps about what you need to eat.

As for toxins, you drive a truck and you are exposed to a lot of toxins in a truck.

I think you should really consider not becoming a otr driver.