Training newbies.

actually, when I went to truck driving school, back then, it was 4 weeks solid classroom (8 hours per day), then after that, 4 weeks solid of yard and road (all of this for a cost of $3,300). When I "graduated", back then, trucking companies used to go to the school to recruit, and many of us had so many choices of companies to choose from. Sadly though, many of those companies are no longer in business.

And also back then? The ONLY trucks most companies had? Were cabovers!!!!

My starting pay again, this all goes to back then, was a mere 11¢ per mile!!!

So yeah, I too started at THE BOTTOM of the pay scale.

Do you think fresh meat out of school DESERVES higher wages than an experienced driver??

You only started a few months ago yourself. Right?

YOU TOO had to start at near rock bottom wages. Why would YOU THINK you deserved more than an experienced driver, simply because now you have a CDL? Or are you just asking me how it was when I started driving???

 

I was merely wondering why you think a driver needs 5 months and $20k worth of schooling ( you just admitted you only had 2 months and at an adjusted cost paid maybe $10k in todays dollars) plus a 1 year probation (which is pretty standard anyway). Maybe if you want to be an o/o there is a lot of business management, maintenance, and other issues a company driver doesn't have to deal with.

I never said I deserved more than an experienced driver, but I do believe starting wages and miles are woefully low. My first 3 months if I took home $400 it was a windfall.

 

Lets face it, the schools are there to get the student a CDL and that's their mission. So changing the schools is not the answer. It's what happens after the school that makes the difference.

I've stated this before but I believe it's worth saying again. The training the new driver gets at the company is what will make or break the new driver. So I believe changes need to be made there.

I would first require another endorsement, "Driver Trainer" on the CDL. There's general rules that can be applied just like any endorsement on the CDL. Have the minimum experience level of 5 years safe driving. No tickets, no accidents, a clean record before the driver can apply. Establish a program through the FMCSR of what the new drivers are to be taught after school on the job. Make rules that will hold the companies accountable for the completion of the program before that driver is turned out. The FMCSA must do spot checks on companies that have bad records to ensure their Driver Trainer program is working. Since the Driver Trainer will be required to keep up on all the changes he or she should be promoted to hold that position. Don't pay them a couple of cents per mile while they are training but make it a position where it will be advantageous to that driver. And make it where they must maintain their good record.

So you would have three entities working for safe drivers. The CDL, schools, and Driver Trainers. The Driver Trainer is the last stop and should cover all the operation of the truck along with defensive driving. The companies can add what they need but when a driver completes this segment he or she will have a little more confidence than just being shown the paperwork and then thrown out by themselves. No more Driver Trainers with just 6 months driving experience laying in the bunk telling the driver that's just fine. Just my thoughts.

 

there wouldn't be anyone eligible to be a trainer !!!!!!!

 

If I created a driving school for over the road truckers my school would use simulators for training. My machines would be designed exactly like the inside of a tractor. I would do my best to simulate every thing about driving a semi, from the bumps in the road to force of the wind pushing against the side of a trailer. Drivers would experience tires blown out and skids. The capsule in which drivers sit in would move and feel like driving down a highway. The technology does exist. Drivers would be required to spend many hours in a simulator before they where put out onto highways with a trainer. My trainers would be just that trainers. Training is all they would be required to do. They would be paid a salary and must be excellent communicators and have some degree of mechanical background as well as an above average driving history. Once students were qualified to drive on the highways then they would be allowed to experience the real world of OTR. Hours of service would first begin traveling the country unloaded. Drivers would be required to drive through different terrains like mountains and flat lands and hills before driving with cargo. Once they qualified than they would move forward hauling cargo. Each student would be judged on their own merit. Some may take longer than others to obtain the skills to be a true professional OTR operator. Students would graduate with pride knowing that they have worked hard to gain the skills and confidence required to be professional otr drivers. Somewhere in the middle of it students would spend time in a class room learning the basic mechanics of a tractor trailer.

The problem is I would probably go broke two years into it.

 

You're going to do just fine out here with your trainer,I can tell.You seem like a very easy going guy.Alot of the new drivers are let loose too early.You only have so many hrs you have to do behind the wheel and that's it.If you feel you're done too soon then tell your company,they'll keep you with a trainer as long as it takes.Companies want you to be comfortable not scared and nervous.

 

I think you'd go broke sooner than two years. It's a GREAT idea but very costly. Those trainers are not cheap and you would have to employ people to keep them going. You'd have to have more than one trainer and I would guess you'd need at least 6. That's well over a million bucks with ease. I've heard of bigger companies having one in a trailer that travels around to different terminals so that would be a better idea. Have a truck set up with a trailer with the trainer inside and bill companies for on-site training. But then you have the mind set of the bigger companies of "we already have our drivers on the road so what else do we need?" When you get to be a large company you look at the cost and that's it. If it's cheaper to have bad drivers then they go with bad drivers. Safety will take a back seat to cost almost every time.

 

because the "practical " aspect of it is this, having those training machines like someone else said IS COSTLY. no school would be able to justify the cost then school tuition, and upkeep of the equipment.

Nowadays, schools ARE CHARGING "up to" $10,000 for tuition, again a "famous school" in New England is INCREDIBLY CLOSE to that figure now.

What you NEED to understand is "back then" we DID NOT HAVE the CDL license. People that actually WANTED to be drivers attended those schools. Now a days, all types of wannabe's, deadbeats, felons, etc,etc wannabe truckers. So it is harder now to get good dedicated people to be good and safe drivers.

"Probation" is normal as a newbie.

I don;t know what the dollars I spent over 20+ years ago would equal in today's dollars. DO YOU ACTUALLY KNOW?? Or are you "just guessing"??

Then attend a diesel mechanic school, and business management school.

I think I was asking you if YOU THOUGHT.



$400 is too low, maybe you didn't "hustle enough"??

I do not see any newbie earning high dollars, until he/she becomes a known quality, and if that takes 3 months or more, so be it.

It just grates me so much when "some" newbies think they are owed the frigging world, all simply because they got bills to pay and they were told from the school, and whomever else, they will make BIG MONEY as a driver.

 

I think most people mis understand CDL schools.
They are there to teach people how to get a CDL. They are NOT driving schools. They teach just enough to get a license.
It is up to the training companies to teach a driver how to drive.
I can't speak for others, but the company I drive and train for requires candidates to display minimum driving skills and yard skills such as backing, parking, etc.
If the candidate cannot display enough to meet the company minimums, then they stay at the yard, honing and improving those skills with a trainer until they do meet minimums.
Then they are sent out with a trainer like me.
In our program, the trainee is required to do 5 weeks and accomplish a set program of skills such as going down mountains with and without jakes, drive at least 8500 miles and more.
Then there is additional training after they get off my truck.
Do they make a lot of money? No!
But the company is training them. They have the opportunity to aquire a skill during this period.
This is a business. It requires investment on both the company and the driver's part.
A good driver won't become good without experience. It takes time.
I am tired of super truckers finding fault with new drivers and berating them.
It's been going on long before I started in this business nearly 40 years ago.
We all started somewhere and except for the few that came out of the womb with a steering wheel in one hand and a shift knob in the other, we've had to aquire and hone our skills.
Well let's give the new drivers that same benefit and offer to help them out there instead of sitting back and insulting them as 'steering wheel holders'.
We all fit that description early in our careers.

 

If that's your outlook then you haven't been around good truck drivers. I know hundreds of drivers that could qualify with no problem. There are even some that all of us call "legends". Those are the drivers that have been out there for 30 to 40 years or more and don't have a pile of tickets or accidents. Those are the guys that are setting the standard and it would be worth your time to seek some of these guys out.