My May Journal

Hey Joker, I want to apologize since you took my.little jab offensive. I thought you had thicker skin. On a serious note I appreciate you wanting to ensure that you keep risk, and public safety and training with high standards. Schools are greedy, Hr wants to fill slots, so it is up to trainers to fig have for skills figure out what these trainees need improvement on and are they skilled enough to make decisions with [/COLOR]ittle thought process in any situation.

 

For some reason, I can't edit my.post properly my cursor will not move to correct position. Not sure if its this forum messing up or my phone. All trainers in every company jobs is important. You could be saving someone's life includi.g your own. I researched my school to make sure it was not flooded with students. The high price of fuel also contributes to schools cutting corners also. People need to want to learn this job rather than need. You must be willing to learn and teach yourself and listen to everything. So thank you to the trainers who contribute to public safety So we all can go home to our families. 10-4
Be safe- plat

 

my biggest hurdle as a trainer is how absolutely unprepared/trained these guys are after school!
I hear 'mill' the horror stories, but never imagined!
I chose mine carefully, and it happened to be in my own backyard. We had to complete 130hrs of online courses before we could even attend school. Then, within an hour on the first day...BEHIND THE WHEEL! 4 instructors, 25 people. ALL instructors EACH having 20+ years of driving experience. Anything less than perfect was failing. Road test...2 grinds FAIL, 2 gear searches/out of gears FAIL! Rub a curb, FAIL! 2hrs/day x 2 wks for HOS training...
It was my only CDL school experience, so I just assumed they would all be at least similar...I have never been more wrong in my life!
My last 2 had little no understanding of HOS (one looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language anytime I mentioned ANYTHING related to 11/14/10/70)
And neither could even shift into ANY gear without me having to check behind the truck to see if we were losing transmission pieces.
I think training is taking years off my life, but I really so want to see safe and competent drivers out there, especially driving with the same logo on their door as I have!!

 

You didnt offend me, its just u cant tell the context of something online. Believe me i joke around alot its all good. i really wish i knew what everyone looks like on here im sure i ran into all u guys before but just dont know it.
And i know where you re coming from bout sitting i just sat for 34 hrs in southern alabama waiting for a load but now im in rockmart ga with a good one to washington so i guess it pays to sit sometime i have a clear 7o now and a good load but i hate sitting because u spend money not rolling out of boredom

 

I know what you re talking about, im fresh to training only 2 students so far.

But when i went to school i went to AIT in phoenix. I believe its a good school. I worked full time while going to school so i had to go part time 4 hrs a day which turned my school into a 4 month process but i did 8 weeks of classroom first. Taught about everything HOS bridge laws etc etc with tests every fri and a ffinal at the end. Then it was 2 weeks on the range and 6 weeks on the road with 4 students to one instructor which came out to bout 45 min of drive time a day for 6 weeks and for the people who werent catching on could come early or stay late. Trained on 48ft trailers i talked to some guys in denver and they re like we did school in 2 weeks and on 36ft trailers and im like wtf ok here we go

 

AIT Phoenix is a good school, it's PTDI certified. I met with a few people there and was very impressed. I'm returning to trucking for the 3rd time in 30 years and the 2nd time required I attend a driving school. At that time, and after careful review, I chose a PTDI certified school in NE Pennsylvania (where I lived at the time). IMHO, a PTDI certified school offered the most comprehensive program. In addition, a PTDI certified school was required by several of the companies I was considering driving for. For my 3rd and latest go round (hopefully my last), I met with AIT and another school (I won't name here), and chose the latter, solely because it was less expensive and May had already offered me a pre-hire as long as I completed a 120 hour refresher course. I was absolutely amazed at the sparse training and instruction the 16 students in the class received. The school also conducted the final AZ state road test, and it's my opinion that the schools sole focus was on getting the students to pass the test. Nothing more....and just barely that. Just barely. For example, two students from the previous class failed the May day 1 skills test and came back to the school to get more wheel time. Nice guys, but they were closer to day 1 or 2 school drivers, than drivers that should have been allowed to pass their CDL test. They were a long way from getting behind the wheel of a truck with a trainer. I feel it was more a reflection on the school than the individuals.

Now all that said, no doubt there are non-PTDI certified schools out there doing a great job getting drivers more than a new license to put in their pocket.

On a different note, I was very lucky to take 3 "loop" loads (PHX to LA) with TruckerSteve before testing out. Great person! I pick up my truck in Phoenix this Saturday and hit the road with May doing 48. I'm looking forward to it! I've been lurking on the May forum here for 2 months, so an overdue thank you to the regular May posters - Thanks!
See you on the road. Cheers, GD

 

Welcome to it Gd

 

And the thing bout AIT I ever get out of trucking which I never see doing, is the refresher course is free for life

 

Good point. I'd forgot about that with some (all?) PTDI schools. I had that available to me as well, where I attended a PTDI school, but I would have had to made the trip to NE Pennsylvania and incurred the expense of travel, lodging and meals for the 3 or 4 weeks of refresher school. I opted to stay in Phoenix as it was about the same cost in the end. Cheers.

 

I have incurredrd the cost of school thing for a lodging, meals, transportation , all that the whole time I was in training . all together bout 5000 dollars