Training pay?

April 10 2011






Hello Chefy 79:


I was just released from them 3 Weeks ago and they were paying me $475 per week gross and altogether $360 per week net.

You will get a ComData card for $75 pay advances if You need them, if You lose Your ATM card and they can hook up the direct deposit quickly.

I always like to get the SUBWAY discount cards from the Truckstops in order to save a lot of money, if You will be eating there, because they are supposed to give You a free SUBWAY for every 10 that You buy from them.

There is a ONE card that You can get from the TA's for a lot of things, and It's Good in the Country restaurant that they have in them, the restaurant will also give You unlimited amounts of Food for breakfasts, that they always have available.

I like the Flying J and the Petro Cards, if You buy Your food there, because It will save You a lot of money, with rebates, that has to come out of Your pay.

Loves Truckstops also have a Loyalty card.

The only problem with getting paid is that You always have to spend a lot of money on Food and then some soap and pens and log book supplies don't forget to get some erasing fluid. I used to write on Legal Pads with a big black sharpie marker pen so that I could actually read all of the information that came off of the People net monitor and this was helpfull for going in to the Shippers and Recievers. I also bought a lot of Post It's for use in writing down Waypoints and distances and routes, but You will need to have some tape in order to fasten them inside of the Truck. I bought a lot of Trucking shirts in the Truckstops and paid for a few sheets and hats and Trucking Atlas books and things like that.
It all adds up unfortunately, but If You keep Your Logbooks You can write it all off.

 

April 11 2011





Hello Chefly79:


To be really honest with You I don't know exactly the reason for why I was laid off, and It all happened so quickly It was sort of pathetic the way that they did It.

I guess that You could say that I have had a Low aptitude for learning how to drive anything, and It took me about 3 learners permits before I could pass my MC license and another 3 before I could pass my Class C Automobile license. I passed my CDL A+P on my Third try because of my shifting, having stalled them out twice.

Well, I got a clue about why I probably did'nt pass the FFE Driving Academy. They sent my partner an E-Mail over the People net machine, that I should work harder on doing my required Pretrip, Intertrip and Postrip inspections to the 15 Min. mark, as well as manually placing myself on Line 3, the driving line, rather than letting the computer do It for me. The computer would also often place somebody else, my trainer on duty, as we were on the roll, and we would'nt find out about it until after we had finished a leg of the trip.

My Trainer is one of the Best, but his family was constantly giving him a hard time over the Cell phone, so I think that his personality and tolerance for training me changed quite a bit in times like these. I don't want to go into details here of course, but It was no more than whatever common B.S. that Over the Road Truck drivers have to deal with more often than not.

Like I say, Curtis was an excellent Trainer, but I am also a slow learner, like when I would drive at night at first, and in the Pennsylvania mountains and on the Applachian parkway, I drove 50-60 a lot of times in those areas and then on curves at first. We were driving in winter weather conditions a lot of the time and I guess that I completely refused to speed up whenever the road was covered with snow and/or Ice. This I am willing to admit to.
We passed a lot of wrecks and jacknifes in the past winter and we once had to step in and to rescue (shelter) a family in our tractor, who's pickup truck had rolled over because the road was a sheet of Ice.

My Trainer was a champion Motorcycle Motorcross rider, so he did not care at all about traction, and he was really a genious about driving on slippery surfaces. We once crossed the Sierras in Flagstaff AZ during a particularly hazardous storm, and at full speed, something that I just would not do, and something that we had some differences about, as well as a lot of other similar situations.

I don't know if that describes my situation about getting laid off, the other problem is that the GPS numerical printout on the people net machines was really small, and I just could'nt read it, much of the time to begin with, and I had mentioned that I have diabetes, and that did'nt clear up until after we stopped at enough SUBWAYS and I had to stick with a RAW food diet. I bet that Curtis thought that my eyes were going bad. I origionally had to ask him for a lot of help in doing everything, but we never had any citations or any accidents.

The Truck that we were given was a beautifull Green 2010 Freightliner Century Class with a Detroit Deisel. It was in excellent condition and It had a lot of power at about 210,000 Miles. It had a Nine Speed and It was expertly maintained. We were able to get everything that we needed and requested repaired on It at any point in our Trips.

We both got very sick with the Flue for at least 4 weeks, where we both needed to rest and take some extra time off to sleep it off, but basically we just pushed it and we were rewarded with a lot of extra Miles. FFE does have a policy on Sick time and most drivers have had to use It. You only have to call the Driver manager or dispatch and let them know what's going on and let them know that You can't work and then they will send You another driver, to a Safe Harbor, like a Truck stop to do an "Interchange" and then You can hang out for as long as You need to.

 

April 11 2011





Hello Chefy79 and the Group:


I just wanted to say that I finally recieved my DAC Report from Hireright.com and the FFE Driving Academy, where I have been employed as a Trainee did not report anything at all about me, and I have been away from them for a full 31 days.

This has to be a Good sign about this company. I have always liked FFE and I have really believed that they were a Professional and Safe company to work for, in all of the time that I have been with them, in this past Winter so, I think that this goes to prove It.

I would say, do all of Your work with the FFE and Don't worry about anything!

 

Can anyone tell me about FFE Rider Program and how it works? How is the training with FFE?

Thanks