My 1st trip on the big highway!

That is what irks me. Trainers can not train from the sleeper. They need to be up front with the trainee. You are in a bit of a jam. It happens to a lot of new drivers. School will basicly get you a CDL. The trainer is suppose to help fine tune you. Ten minutes of you driving and he dives in the bunk he might as well not even be in the truck. You really do not start learning until you are solo and don't have a trainer to ask questions, but that sounds like what you are now solo. Insurance should have covered the incident. 10 cents a mile is crazy I remember seeing the back of trailers saying they paid their students 10 cents a mile 30 years ago.


What might hurt is if they report it on your DAC. That is just not right. I would tell him I am new and the trainer is getting bed sores while I am driving. You made a miscalculation with your trailer. $50.00 a week out of a dime a mile is not much of a check. It would have been nice if your trainer was not in a deep sleep and could have told you to watch your trailer as you were leaving. I wish you well, but I don't think to much of your company and trainer.

 

That is because they want to use you like an extra log book. Teams is for two drivers that have been trained. If he is up front he has to log on duty not driving. I am seeing red flags from where I am.:smt023

 

No trucker here, but why you so upset about that “Tide bottle”. You could get much worse company than the guy that uses Tide bottle. As I understand really good thing that you should be looking at is that this companion is not for long. As soon as your training will be over you won’t have to deal with “Tide bottle” if you do not want to or just carry a “Tide bucket” to do more serious business right there, not leaving your birth if you’ll choose to do so. Also you’ll take showers as often as you want. Just turn around that you do not see that ###### Tide bottle.

Well, pay, insurance and so on that’s up to you to decide, but I’d not switch jobs because of that “Tide bottle”, as when you’d get with your new trainer in your new company it may get much worse (like “Tide bucket” for example. ). You know different people have different habits; some of them are not commonly understandable, acceptable.

 

You've already got your CDL's, theirs no reason for you to have to tolarate such abuse. This is one of the reasons why the trucking industry is going south in a hurry. This so called trainer is a sorry excuse of a human being. You are in training so any damage that occurs to the truck or trailer should be his responsibility because he was not doing his job. If you were okay to drive by yourself whats he with you for? If he would have been training instead of sleeping, that mishap could've been avoided. As far as showers, you don't ask anyone if you can shower, you shower whenever you get ready. Personal hygeine is very important, really important when theres 2 people in a truck. It may be okay for a driver who is solo to be pissing into bottles and leaving them in the truck for breif periods of time, but when you are sharing a truck with someone else, esspecially man/woman anything that makes you or him uncomfortable should be avoided. Its just a matter of respect. I'm even sorry that you have to be exposed to such foolishness and your just starting. 10 cnts a mile is highway robbery, even though you're new you can do much better. Leave as soon as you can and never look back. If the move is questioned by a future employer, just explain the situation and I'm sure that they won't hold it agaist you. Good luck

 

I am another one who believes you are being used. You shouldn't have to pay for the roof repair, and should be making more than 10 CPM - maybe not much more, though, because I assume they are paying you for all miles driven, yours and his. Our company starts newbies like that, only its 12 1/2 CPM. And the truck will move about 4,000 miles/week.

Like Tarps, I don't like the method of training used by most companies. I think the trainer should train. Right from the passangers seat. If he had been doing that you would not have had what is a very typical newbie accident.

Talk to some other companies. Do it quietly, though, and don't let the slick outfit you are with know what you are doing. That way they won't have time to mark your DAC.

TIDE BOTTLE??!! HE'S OUT OF HIS MIND!....water jug is a lot better That's just something you'll have to get used to.

 

It's a shame that trainers behave that way. He should be paying half the costs himself. I agree with a previous poster. Red flags should fly! But at least you're optimistic!

 

Thanks for this post Joy,

I am getting ready to start school at the community college here. I now know some of the things to look out for when I start interviewing companies.