Trainers, what is your method?

Perhaps you just don't understand the method to his madness ?
I don't know about the trainer in question, but my first trainer met me at the terminal yard already hooked to a trailer. He drove first and did a running commentary while negotiating late afternoon LA traffic and up and over the Grapevine. At the bottom of the north side we stopped at the TA for a bite to eat. After dinner, as we approached the Big truck, he tossed me the keys and I figured it was my turn.

I-5 north is about as straight as a highway can get. Knowing that, my trainer asked if I thought I could handle it for the next four hours while he took a nap. I felt confident, especially after he told me he'd be only a shout away if I needed him. With that he crawled over the doghouse and into the bunk, "to get some sleep", he said. But after he released me he confessed that he wasn't really sleeping and was quite aware of what I was doing and how I was doing it. Doing that can also be relaxing for a trainee, as well as a confidence booster.

A good trainer can spot confidence and ability from the jump seat or the bunk IF THEY'RE AWAKE.

My first few trips down steep grades were without the Jake, --- until he was satisfied I was capable of descending with brakes and gearing-down. Only then did he allow me to use the Jake.
For incentive, he had a yellow sign with black letters that read:

CAUTION

STUDENT DRIVER
​

and threatened to hang it on the back of the trailer if I screwed up too bad, too often.

I learned a lot from that man, --- things that, a few years later, I utilized when I became a Big truck truck driver trainer. Only difference was, me being a bachelor, my trainees were about 80% female, --- and I probably learned as much from them as they learned from me. It's quite interesting to experience Big truck truckin' from a different perspective. Many of the things I learned from my female trainees I still rely on to this day.

A good trainer is flexible. No two trainees are like. The methods that work for one trainee may not work for another trainee. The more methods a trainer has at their disposal the better.

Do they claim that they'll "teach students how to drive a truck"?

Actually, most training facilities have the same "main goal", --- and that's to turn a profit. If their goal was to teach a wannaBee how to drive a Big truck, classes would last for months, even a year or more. How many wannaBees would be willing to put in that amount of time, --- and expense, to learn?

Not everyone is cut-out to be a Big truck truck driver.
There's no shame in that.
If one desires to be a Big truck truck driver badly enough, --- they'll find a way to git-er-dun.

If a student receives their CDL-A, the school did their job, --- gettin' ém past the DMV test.
A school can only do so much in the time frame they have to work within. As far as the money spent, what did they expect?
Ever crunched the numbers for attending an institute of higher learning? Several thousand dollars, ..... a semester, .... with six to eight semesters to attend, twenty to thirty thousand dollars for three to four years of absorbing information isn't unusual at all. Compare that to three to five thousand bucks total, with two months or less from first day to graduation.
If they're broke financially before or after graduating, who's fault would that be? The school's because they "took his money"? ---
And "gave him a CDL"?
What is he supposed to do?
First, quit whinin'.
Second, quit blaming the school.
Third, do what he's supposed to do, --- seek employment.
If no Big truck truckin' companies are interested in hiring a newBee, perhaps the newBee should face the facts
and acknowledge the truth.
Ya reckon.

 

Whip and a chair.

 

I like your style, can we conjoin it with a shock collar?

 

If I may make a somewhat feeble attempt at getting this back on track, and realizing that every trainer is going to be a little bit different, is there things that would generally be true about the process?

Probably my naivete, but training is what I am most nervous about my career change. If you are with your trainer for 5 weeks, what if you don't get along?

I used to sleep like a rock but now in my 50's, am much more easily woken up and have a harder time getting back to sleep. With 2 people in that close of proximity for that long and with at least one of us peeing in the middle of the night, I'm concerned I'll be able to get enough quality sleep. I assume most trainers are going to teach you their way and on their schedule?

 

In my experience....you aren't going to be getting much sleep....Back when I was a rookie 100 years ago we pretty much ran all day and all night.....I remember trying to get a hot meal OR a shower every other day rarely both.....We once ran 7000 miles in six days including stops loading and unloading...and don't forget the time lost on two check calls a day back in those days...

 

Schools advertise that they will "Teach you to become a big rig truck driver".

Just look at the multitude of schools who give the 'impression' that you will be ready to drive for any company out there once you complete their classes.

http://www.sageschools.com/
The CDL training program at SAGE schools provides thorough driver training and trucking job placement assistance for the trucking industry. Every student receives extensive truck driving instruction and maximum truck driving time behind the wheel.

http://www.roadmaster.com/
Roadmaster Drivers School provides you with Class A & B CDL license training and truck driver training in as few as 3-4 weeks.

http://www.greatcdltraining.com/default.aspx
If you're considering a career as a professional truck driver, let Driver Solutions make the decision easier with our truck driver training opportunity. We'll put you in a new, great-paying driving career in about 3 weeks with our exclusive company paid CDL training program. New truck drivers straight out of our truck driving school program can earn up to $40,000 during the first year.

http://startruckdrivingschool.com/
Trucking has always been one of the most lucrative careers and we at Star Truck Driving School have been committed to efficient truck driving training in Chicago,...... This way you get a real life trucking experience and a glimpse at your future career in trucking.

.

How would you interpret all that? Sure looks like they are making a lot of promises to guys who are desperate for work. $40k right out of school? Who wouldnt sign up for that?

I could go on an on with links from these schools offering empty promises that they simply can not deliver on.
Unless you have had previous experience, no one can just jump in a truck and be ready to hit the road in 3 weeks.

There needs to be industry standard training that actually delivers what people are expecting when they sign up for these schools. They should focus on at least 4 - 6 weeks minimum seat time on top of what ever class room time they provide. They should provide trucks with at least a 10 spd and should expose them to the difference between a fully loaded trailer and an empty trailer. Inclines, down grades, city driving, speed control from interstate speeds to off ramps (With a loaded trailer) etc etc.

Like I said,.. they give these poor guys just enough to hang themselves.

I do blame the schools for taking advantage of naive people who need work so badly they will readily sign up and go in more debt with the promise of a better future. Unless you have been out of work for any length of time and have gone hungry so that your kids had food and the electric stayed on, you will never understand my point. I never went to any trucking school in my life. But I have been out of work and desperate for any opportunity to get back to work. Why I work for the meager salaried driving position I have now. To get my foot back in the door to an industry that shut me out because I had a lapse of work history. Yet they would gladly hire a new student vs me who already had 6 years of heavy hauling experience. Now I have to crawl back up to where I was before.

Hurst

 

First off, don't feel bad for trying to regain control of your thread. I'm bad about this sort of thing!

Secondly, I am in complete sync with your feelings about the training phase. It is also my biggest hurdle as well. The trainer you get will make a huge difference. I just would like to encourage you to go into it with a positive outlook, and deal with it as it comes. Don't "project" too much (something I have a bad habit of doing). You'll do fine. Good luck in your new endeavor.

 

That would be nice but unfortunately they can't. Not sure if it is a national rule or just IL but they aren't allowed to have a load in the trailer with a student at the wheel. Since it has already been mentioned that some schools do not have the student's best interests at heart, imagine what they could do if if they could actually haul freight? They could pretty much just be a trucking company disguised as a school with "drivers" paying for the privilege to haul their loads.

 

Hey, guys let me tell you a story about how it was done in the 70's and 80's. My trainer was the greatest person in the world handsome, sweet and intelligent. You may have already figured it out that it was me. You did not have to have a CDL all you had to have was a chauffeur's license which you could obtain by going to the court house and giving them $8.00. As for ELOG's I was on them even back then or I think I was ELOG's stands for ( extra logs) right? The speed limit was 55 in very state. California highway patrol (CHP) did not even have radar back then. They had to sneak up on you and time you. My theory was drive so fast they anyone coming up behind you was suspect. Last truck I owned was a 1986 pete with a 3406 @425hp at 3;55 rears at 2200 rpm on level land 86 mph getting 4 mpg. Then in 1989 wife left I sold out. Then I went to work in a factory for 20 years now I just wait for the mailman to bring my retirement check. I thought about looking for a part-time trucking job. However, I refuse to drive for less than I was making 30 years ago!!!

 

I started out in the mid 80's with a class A chauffeurs as well (I still have 20 yrs before I can even think about retirement). Around 91 or 92 the company I worked for sent me to the DMV with company letter head that stated I had been driving for them for X amount of time. All I had to do was take the written exams for my CDL class A. Then any endorsement I wanted was another $10 and another multiple choice test. Took me all of maybe 1 hour and I left with every single endorsement they had on the books at the time. Tanker, hazmat, doubles/triples, passenger etc. They called it being grandfathered in.

We were supposed to have log books. I never kept mine up to date. The few times I remember being checked out by DOT they NEVER asked to see it.

Things were a different back then. Yes I remember the 55 mph speed limits everywhere. They sucked and I was never ballsey enough to exceed 60mph, afraid I would get nailed coming over the next hill or bridge.

As for training. I worked for a large tow company that also did heavy hauling and transported heavy equipment for construction companies. I was never trained per say on how to drive. They started me out in their International 1600 with hydraulic brakes and then occasionally I would jump in their L9000 which also had a roll back bed and at times pull a dove tail trailer with something like a D3 or 450 John Deer on it. One of their drivers for their drop deck quit and I was told to get in it and go get a CAT 235 excavator (About like a 330 today). I knew how to operate the drop deck and secure the equipment. I had been along a few times and understood that much. The closest thing to training was a 2 min crash course on how to shift the Spicer 21 spd. So I was basically thrown into it with no formal training at all. From there I hauled everything from komatsu PC1000's to 110 ton Generators and everything in between. Oh,.. and all of this before I was 25 years old. I made $15hr which was #### good money back then. I was making $23hr plus per diem when I quit in 96.

Hurst