May Trucking, My Newbie Adventure begins

Well, Mike from May picked us up at the hotel at about 8:15 am and took us to the Layton Terminal. On the way I asked what we were in for today. He said first a drug test, then a road test. So I started chugging my sprite as I had just hit the bathroom before we left.

Did the ole pee-in-a-cup thing, then I was second in line to take my road test. The truck was a late-model Pete. I had never driven a Pete, just Freightliners and an International at Sage in Casper. Luckily it had the Eaton-Fuller 13 speed that I was used to. He had me leave the yard, and turn onto the fairly busy street out front. Went down to the next street with a right turn. There was no room with oncoming traffic to make my turn, (I needed to cross into the adjacent street's left turn lane to make the turn without scraping the curb) so I had to wait for their light to turn green, traffic to clear, and then proceed. I'm very glad I did it that way, more on that later.

Essentially we took a long trip around the block, over a RR crossing and back to the terminal. Once back, he had me go around the building to the back and back the truck into a slot marked with barrells. He said "Back into that slot however you need to." I pulled around, backed once to set up, pulled up once, then slipped it right in. We pulled back around the front, parked, and he said to go inside. I passed! Yeah

The third guy passed, as did the one before me, but the last two that were at orientation with us today, both failed. They both didn't wait for traffic to clear when attempting the right turn, cut it too short and hit the curb. Instant fail! They didn't even get to the backing.

Mike then took us all to lunch at the Golden Corrall, dropped off the other two back at the hotel, and the remaining three of us headed back to the terminal.

The rest of the afternoon was spent filling out paperwork. Insurance info, company policy sheets and direct deposit info. Another guy came in and talked briefly about a few policies, and then they sent us back to the hotel in a company van. They gave me the keys, pretty trusting! LOL!

We'll find out Wednesday morning if we passed the drug test. (no problem here) and then we'll be assigned our trainer.

BTW: we get $350/week while with a trainer, then .30cpm once we solo out. The average time with a trainer is 14 days. some take longer.

Will post again after tomorrow's orientation.

Clutch

 

Thanks, looking forward to it, and the tv here in layton is still broken! LOL

Clutch

 

Well day two of orientation is over. Not too exciting, mainly going over some company policies in the classroom. Also learning the QualCom unit. Watched a couple videos on accidents and the comdata card.

Lunch was at the Golden Corral agai9n. (nice buffet)

it looks like we're going to get trainers from Denver sent here to pick us up to go start with. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for our trainers. We should find out tomorrow.

Should be getting our May ID badges tomorrow as well.

That's about all I have to say about today, will know much more tomorrow, I hope.

Clutch

 

Well day three at the Layton, Utah May terminal orientation has come to an end. The three of us from Denver that were left after two got the boot on Monday have all been officially hired. (meaning: we passed our drug tests) Today was going over more policies with the terminal manager and getting assigned our ComData card.

One Driver will be getting his trainer tomorrow, while the other driver and I wait until Friday. A much better deal than taking the bus back to Denver.

The other driver and I are going to practice chaining up a truck and doing some driving around their course to brush up a little more before we get our trainer.

They say we'll be doing 90% of the driving during training, but it won't be treated like a team. once our 14 hours are up, the truck stops.

Will post more tomorrow after our lot practice stuff.

clutch

 

Well one of the drivers who came from Denver with us left with his trainer today (thursday). The other guy gets his trainer tomorrow morning, but I won't be leaving with mine until saturday morning. My trainer has maintenance scheduled on his truck for tomorrow afternoon, and figured he would rather wait until saturday morning so that he can start with a fresh 70 hour clock.

The other newbie and I spent the morning with the trainer of the newbie leaving with him to gain some more info. He was very nice and a wealth of knowledge. about 11:30 the first newbie left with his trainer.

After waiting around a while, the other guy and I were given a truck to "play" around in in the yard. It gave us a chance to look over the equipment, see how it shifted, and practice hooking up a trailer.

The second guy leaves with his trainer tomorrow morning. I'll be spending the day driving around with one of their local drivers to gdet more practice.

Then Saturday, I'm off with my trainer.

Will post more tomorrow.

Clutch

 

Thanks for the support Larry.

Clutch