USA Trainer Shortage?

Most likely you will wait 5 to 7 days on a trainer, a lot of this is driven by your smoking preferences. It's my understanding a lot of the more experienced trainers have left USA Truck. As far as getting a new trainer if first one comes up a dud goes, Yes, but it's not automatic.

 

I won't know if I'm hired until tomorrow, but today I was given the name and cell number of a trainer who comes off home time 1/2/13. I left him a message saying who I was, and that I'm available and ready to go whenever he is. I'm a smoker, so hopefully a skilled trainer is still there who smokes.

The topics covered today were enlightening - setting the mirrors on a ProStar to remove blind spots, and how the mirrors are different on Cascadias, etc. Converting mph to fps and the details of why one should never follow too closely. How and why to replace bad car driving habits. And for lunch I had a grilled chicken burrito that was at least 1.5x the width of my fist. It was a good 2nd day.

 

Hired! My trainer responded via text and said he will be in touch soon. Oh, and lunch was a Chic-fil-a sandwich with cole slaw and a cookie. Best day since passing the road test at the DOT in Between.

AFAIK every student except for 1 was assigned a trainer by the time I left @ 1pm.

 

Did ya'll have to get in a van and drive around Van Buren? You have to tell them all the stuff you see and such.

 

They still have some quality trainers. They also lost some veteran trainers to the new restarted lease purchase program. One of my friends whose been a trainer for 3 years just turned in his trainer truck to become a LPO. Unfortunately, many of the newer trainers are younger and greener than ever. Down in Houston two weeks ago, I had to help a trainer get his truck backed into a dock while his student watched. :/ Nice guy but he was jerking and shaking the truck on the clutch while trying to back and was almost refusing to do any other backing setup than a 12 and 9. He learned after several attempts that the 12 and 9 was (as I had tried to tell him) not possible in this location.

 

Klatu, not yet. Just made it through orientation.
chemsoldier1, what's an LPO? (nvm - lease purchase operator)
Learning from an unseasoned trainer would be okay as long as the guy is level-headed, walks me through Qualcomm use by correcting any mistakes I make, stays alert while I drive and points out things I could miss, shares good time management tips, etc. Maybe that's asking a lot...

 

They are starting to use the T660's that just got retired for the lease program.

 

Just got off the phone with my trainer and it was a fruitful 45-min conversation. We covered a lot of ground including how the training process works, what he expects of me and vice versa, corporate restructuring, and more. He values his credibility, and said that having a good relationship with one's dispatcher is paramount - a good sign. He even has a good attitude after having a pretty bad month - another good sign.

He mentioned that some trainers are being cut because when their trainees are assigned a truck they need retraining in key areas. Unfortunate, but at least the problem is being dealt with.

Best of luck to other trainees out there.

 

Im glad he wasnt my trainer.

 

Speaking of that 12 and 9.......sometimes USA Truck is stuck on stupid with that backing method. I see recently they are ACTUALLY teaching other more difficult backing maneuvers. At least they are in the Van Buren parking lot. I don't know whats going on at Forest Park and Vandalia. I've had plenty of arguments over that 12 and 9 backing method over the last almost 2 years. Its always preached as the second most preferred/ideal backing setup after a straight back (to which I agree), however I've found that the vast majority of times I've had to back the truck up on this job that it was not feasible for one or more reasons. Usually because of lack of space to perform the setup but sometimes because of a curved road or obstacles in the way requiring a 90 degree or some other type of situation. Yet for a long time, thats all the trainers were teaching students. Countless times, I've seen people struggle to get parked at a truck stop or back to a dock because they were unwilling or incapable of setting up for anything other than a 12 and 9.