I am trying to find out the best way/advice to how I would go about to train with an O/O instead of taking a job with a starter co. which is like flipping a coin to see if you get a trainer who ACTUALLY cares or just wants the extra cpm. and could care less, or worse, give you only bad advice because they feel threatened. I live near Tampa Florida, and wondering how to get the "word-out" to train with an o/o. I thought about taking an ad out in the local paper, calling the local trucking co.s in the yellow pages, or going to my local truck stops and posting my information or asking the truck drivers face to face. Does anybody have any advice on how I could go about this in a productive way?
It will be ALMOST impossible to get an O/O to train you. The main reason being insurance. For someone to take the risk of letting you drive with no experience would cost them a fortune. There is a reason people have to go to the "starter" companies......they can do it cheaper. It's that simple. I guess you could offer to pay for their insurance for as long as you were on their truck......which would probably cost more than paying for school......
Let me also point out that a lot of O/O's are leased on to companies rather than having their own authority, nd a great many of the leased operators get their insurance through the company they are leased to. It allows them to take advantage of the large fleet as a coverage pool, but it also means that they often operate under the same set of insurance restrictions that the company trucks do. And few O/O's are going to be willing to take on a total stranger and allow them to learn on their equipment unless it is a relative or very close friend. Should you make a mistake while learning, or simply have the bad luck to have an accident happen, the O/O has to pick up the tab for the repairs, and he is the guy out of work in the meantime.
My neighbor, an O/O, used to do training but he got tired of newbies grinding his gears and not listening and learning so he stopped. The insurance difference was covered by the company he works for. He owns his own truck but works for a company and has their name on his truck but still has the freedom of an O/O.
I was trained by an O/O. He was a jerk. O/Os that are also trainers are only doing it because that makes it easier for them to make at truck payment. If I where you then I'd let a company driver train you. It's not their truck so to speaks, so they're not going to freak out as much if you say for instance, let the RPM's build up more than they like before you shift.
Yeah....I've seen guys get really bent out of shape. One of the things I like about the way Prime has their training program set up is if the student breaks anything....or hits anything....the company fixes it. Takes a lot of the worry out of it. I told my wife when I was training her...."Don't worry...Those gears are new....that'll just help loosen them up"....LOL
