Follow me through Central Refrigerated training

That work well was a pain.

How many are in your class? Lost any yet? I'm always interested to hear the attrition rates of students.

Im in line to roll in to WVC right now. Think ill enjoy some breakfast tomorrow morning before heading to Fontana for home time.

 

We started the first class this morning with 45 or so. They kept saying between 45 and 47. Only saw one guy go home from that group, and many in that first meeting were drivers heading into regular orientation.

After lunch we had 32 if I heard the count right. Guess we'll see how many we have in the morning as about twenty of us had to do the DOT with the rest doing ours tomorrow.

I didn't find the work well to be too bad. I've been unloading trucks at my local Walmart for the better part of a year. In fact I wish when I worked there that they put potential hires through a similar type of test lol.

The afternoon instructor did mention that there were a lot more people in the room than he was expecting before adding, "our recruiters are doing a good job!"

We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Unloader

 

Day 2

Back to the classroom at seven this morning. Instructor was late but we still got out on time. Introduced to hours of service and the written log book. Kind of confusing even though I tried to read up on that before getting here. Regardless much was discussed.

Several videos were shown, including the crash of the out of control rig heading down donner I believe. We went over some PowerPoint slides and then discussed downhill shifting during the mountain driving portion of the general knowledge section.

Basically be in the right gear before your descent down the grade, but if your not here's how to keep you alive... But basically be in the right gear to avoid having to do a downhill shift. That's pretty much how the conversation went down.

Finally we took a test on general knowledge, combination, and air brakes. Did well on the practice test but will still be reviewing the manual and instruction materials. Nothing would be worse than getting over confident and failing the permit test.

Stay safe out there.

Unloader

 

Unloader. You have an added asset in that you know how to load/unload a trailer. If you get a little short on cash Central will pay you $15/30/hr (co/%). This is not great if you have a lot of miles in the pipeline, but if you know it's going to be a slow week you can always tell the lumpers to shove it. Personally I only unload rolloffs and I try to do one during training.

 

Keep up the great posts Unloader! It's great you're keeping this wonderful thread going. Good Luck...

 

Day 3

Instructor was late to class again this morning. Once we got rolling at about 8am it was more power point slides on combinations and air brakes, followed by more sample tests.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we head to the DMV to get our permits. Confident but will still be studying tonight. Nothing would be crappier than having to go back on Friday and miss valuable time with the trucks.

We also went to the yard today and watched some backing maneuvers and walked around a trailer. Then we got to crawl in and around a tractor. Havent been in one since I was a kid (my step father was a driver) so that was pretty cool.

Thus far the experience has been good. If there one complaint it would be that our classroom discussion often gets off course and pretty soon we are discussing things not even relevant to the prior discussion and often these off course discussions do not even pertain to trucking. So for those who are focused on learning all that they can about truck driving, there will be plenty of times to test that focus.

That's all for today. Time to refresh the mind to ensure I get my permit and am on the yard on Friday.

Unloader

 

I think the waiting is good thing. You are going to have a lot of information thrown at you in the next few weeks. It will be hard for some to process in 8 weeks, dont worry they dont make it. Not even the best student will know everything though so take the off topic moments to garnish info from your trainers and at least get something out of the "wasted" time. I asked questions about job histories, good companies, stuff you wouldn't think to take out on the road, and tried to get a feel for Central even though I had already found this site before going through training. Patience is going to be your best friend now and especially on the road. People seem to plot on creative ways to slow you down. I had a lumper tell me two days ago that even though they unloaded my truck a guy had to break down the 3700 cases before I left. I called dispatch and amazingly someone came out shortly after and told me the other guy didn't know what he was talking about. When I came through last year I was serious about getting the most out of the class and I still feel like a student some days after 8 months out here. Good luck, you seem to be going in the right direction. Oh one more thing, if the conversation seems hopelessly lost or they're working with a small group doing something, ask if you can go look at the parts of the truck for your pretests. Good luck!

 

AF if that happens again, assuming it is a customer we do a lot of business with, and they verified the seal was intact. You can get them to sign it "subject to count" and they will let you go as soon as it's off your truck. Not always, but if you need to get moving it may help.

 

I kind of knew, (Hammond, LA), that's why I called. I just wasn't 100% b/c they're slower than Walmart there and I just wanted to grab my preset and get to CA before Friday so I wasn't stuck on a repower for Monday or some other unfavorable load. I ran 633 miles yesterday and finished making up or the shorter day when I picked up. It all works out if you stay proactive and don't just sit on your hands tellin, "Why me?!" lol

 

Day 4

Today we all headed down to the DMV and took our written tests for the permit. I passed and felt comfortable with my scores.

Tomorrow we head out into the training yard to begin shifting and pre trips. Saturday we will begin both straight backing and offset backing.

For me the easy part is over (gobs of paperwork and studying for the written) and my biggest challenges definitely begin in the next week.

PSUmoose when will you be here picking up your student?

Unloader