Training time 50K miles at current company- any company recommendations for new drivers

I'm walking funny for a reason... I have 48500 of 50000 miles.. was told would be routed in when close to completion.. NOPE .. NEWSFLASH .. Heading to Portland Oregon. From Miami this is not one of those yahoo's telling me to " suck it up" this is a good old major penetration with no LUBE
. Limp Limp Limp into truck stop I go..

H

 

Companies who send new drivers out as team driver copilots for “trainers” aren’t doing anyone any favors. It’s rare that their better drivers will want the hassle, it’s generally the guys who are just getting by and need the pay bump. To have driven 20k miles without mastering backing to at least a competent level means you’re just being used to eat up highway miles.

I started truck driving five years ago after 20 years of bus driving, and I freely admit that backing trailers was a nightmare for me at first. Two things saved me: first, I spent a long day in our truck yard with a truck and trailer, practicing over and over again backing the trailer into various spots between trailers and finally getting a feel for controlling the direction of the back of the trailer.

The second thing was three weeks of training with a trainer who never left the shotgun seat. I did all of the trip planning, driving, backing, parking, and paperwork. It would have only been two weeks except that they didn’t have a truck ready for me that Monday. My trainer was there to advise and help AS NEEDED (and I sure needed the help that first week), but as anyone who knows will tell you, the fastest way to learn is to do.

 

That's a good run. Which company do you drive for.
Miami to Portland, OR - I'd love that as a new driver.

 

Yeah -- that sounds pretty cool to me, too.

Runs like that are part of the appeal of OTR.

Schneider never ran me west of I-35.

-- L

 

You probably can't spend too much time with your trainer, It will be over soon. Fill up your coffee and enjoy the ride.

 

I'm not buying the "team right away" unless they've severely downgraded their training. Used to deal with tons of Prime, and their model 2 years ago was several weeks running solo with trainer in the jumpseat. Return to Springfield or other yard to take a driving test, and then back out with a trainer to run team with those miles. The drivers who tried to make a trainee immediately team were removed from being trainers.

 

I have a hard time taking any complaint seriously from new drivers, especially ones that do no research before joining a trucking company. I don't know if the OP is one of those examples or not. Lots of newbies are like some rich girl ordering a $30 cup of froo froo coffee the details and the demands take longer to say than to drink the darn thing.

 

1. So, he made you do EVERYTHING but didn’t teach you ANYTHING? Did you hit anything or have any accidents?
2. If you went on a drug binge, would you tell a trainee that you don’t know, who doesn’t like you and whom you dislike?
3. What is this “trucker community” that you have so much experience with?