Trainers?

It is according to the company. Some companies the l/o does not make any extra money till the loads are being driven like a team load, and then the trainer does not get much sleep because of the trainee not being that great in most cases.

Some companies want the trainer to be dedicated to training and watching the trainee to make sure they stay safe. I believe these companies pay more to the trainer to do this to make up for the missing miles.

Some companies also have 6mo to 1 yr needed to be a trainer, some don't; therefore the blind driving with the blind that is seen in a lot of companies.

 

I was a Trainer for USX for almost a year....May 2011- Feb 2012.....they changed things a little in March and a current trainer can explain those changes better than me...but.....

It's 120 hours of driving, 10hrs of backing practice......the first 75 hours the trainer sits in the jump seat and can drive if the trainee gets tired, nervous, etc., or they need to run the full 14hrs to get the load in.........after the 75 hours then it is up to the Trainer whether they go Team or Super-Solo....Super-Solo is where the trainee drives 11 and the Trainer drives 3 (it's a modified Team sort of thing).

The changes they made is that after you upgrade you will then team for another 8 weeks.....and I think it is with another newbie.

You will get told that after upgrading your FM will get you home to get your things....DO NOT count on that.

 

I think it's garbage that companies run trainers and new drivers as teams UNLESS they pay accordingly. Giving the trainee $58 a day, like some companies do during training, or other substandard pay, is just wrong. Now, if they weren't running teams and the trainee was doing all the driving, or the large majority, I don't see a problem with the "training" pay. But running them as teams when training a driver is not even taking advantage, it's full on exploitation.

 

Training pay is just paying your dues. Feel good if you run teans at that point. It means your trainer trusts you while he/she (politically correct) sleeps. It only lasts about a week and then you are on your own so to speak.

 

Correction on the Super-Solo.................basically you run two different shifts, but they are not completely opposite like team......for example, student starts their 14 at 0700....trainer can start theirs anytime they want......I didn't run team with my students and we very seldom had the miles where we needed to sun Super-Solo.....so I would start my day a couple of hours later and then we kinda stayed on the same schedule as before.

 

It's not the trainer's choice it's the company's choice. There's companies out there that make you drive 6-8 weeks as teams for training. THAT is exploitation.

 

Since this thread was started in the US Xpress section, I have been answering according to US Xpress....it was, is, entirely up to the Trainer as to whether they run team or not. The FM may argue and try to make you run as a team, but it is still the Trainer's decision. I know there were a few times when they tried to run my truck as a team operation when we hadn't even finished the first 75hrs and I had to flat out tell them "This is not a team truck" even when I had an Fm tell me "There are two of you on the truck."