Help a trucker wannabe out!

Aftershock,

Thanks for the continued vote of confidence! The thing I'm worried about most at this point is learning about all of the parts on the truck. We have to learn this 111 point pretrip, and we'll be tested on it in about 4 weeks. Since we are going over it in detail tomorrow, and will be doing a pretrip everyday thereafter, that should allow things to sink in. I'm going to spend this long weekend getting some chores done, and also reading about the pre-trip and where all of the various parts are located.

 

Hey ORG! Welcome back!! Sounds like everything is going great! I bet you have a huge grin on your face when you finally get to sit behind the wheel! Good advice to respect the truck.
Keep doing your research on the companies. The job of the recruiter is to make the company sound good!! I know you have spent time on here looking and just remember that alot of big companies are just that BIG! I still think attitude is huge as you find many posts that are positive on here about the big companies -just seems the bad posts stick out. My husband is at one of the bigger ''bottom feeders'' not one with alot of bad posts on here thankfully. He is into month 6 now which is a ''milestone.'' It's been a long 6 months learned alot- lots more to learn.

Keep posting! I can't wait to hear your post after you get to finally drive!!

 

And that right there is a bold faced lie. They are NOT the only company with paperless logs. As a matter of fact, there has been a lot of discussion (and cussin') about Knight going to paperless logs.

Most, if not all recruiters lie to you about one thing or another, or a whole bunch of things. Don't be sucked in by their BS.

 

Got that right Big Don. Trucking company recruiters are like military recruiters . . . promise you the moon, and you get moonshine instead.

Recruiters are paid to get people into their training programs after all the little noobs get their CDL's from the schools. The more drivers they sign up, the more they get paid.

 

I know I'm going to be estatic when I get to drive a truck for the first time, you're right! Unfortunately, that is going to have to wait until next week.

 

Well supposedly they are the only company to have paperless logging that's fully approved by DOT, and can be accepted by DOT. I don't know how true that is because Schneider claims to have paperless logging as well. I'm sure I'll find out.

Hopefully we'll have more then just 1 recruiter come to visit us. I'd be disappointed if the only company who directly represented themselves is Werner.

 

So today is a fantastic day! Not only do I have a 3 day weekend to look forward to in the absolutely beautiful Poconos, I attended the best class I've ever had in my life!

After we finished up the rest of the curriculum for today, we were able to go out to the yard for the first time today! We started with a pretrip inspection of the truck, tires, and trailer which was very detailed. I'll remember a lot of the parts on the truck, but I have a long way to go.

What made the day so amazing was I got to sit in a truck for the first time in my life! Not only that, I got to do an air leakdown test of the truck including turning it on, putting it in neutral, first gear, giving a general tug, and going forward at 5 MPH to test the service brakes. I then go to back the truck up for about 50 feet and had no problem keeping the trailer straight! I'm so pysched right now, I can't even express it with words. I'm so happy I made this decision, I'm loving it. I'm going to have a job that I love, not one that makes me feel trapped!

So to sum things up, I got to drive a truck today (more or less)! I can't wait until Tuesday, I'm so looking forward to going back on the yard.

 

all i'll tell you, even if you think your the perfect employee in trucking...........think again..........because they won't, your just a piece of toilet paper to them, maybe someday when the truckers unite........things will change.....but untill than bro, your just a piece of toilet paper

 

lol, ok your in the poconos...............alone............so what..........get use to it, where ya gonna go, what ya gonna do...............cost money to get out of your now paid motel............even if ya do..............ya don't know anybody there and certainly can't share it with the ones you want to....tellin ya bro, don't get overly excited about trucking, esp with a family

 

ORG, you're making me smile.... not in amusement or derision either. Just real nice to see someone enjoying the learning. Please try not to lose that.

There are lots of people in this industry (and elsewhere) who begin and end every day mad and sour. They hate trucking, they hate trucks, they hate everyone including themselves. These people will never be happy anywheres.

Tell you what, trucking at it's core is just plain cool. Tonight I want you to do just one thing for me. Wherever you are, just look around you and click off all the things you can see that once were on a truck. Look careful and you'll discover your list will include just about everything.

Sometimes, when I'm stuck in traffic or somesuch, I'll look at the people around me; scurrying to their little lives in their little cars and pitching their little hissy fits and say to myself (or even out loud).... "Without me all you people don't have one #### thing". Feels pretty good.

Sometimers