I've been driving for 3 months and my last employer said i wasn't cut out for it!

It's already been mentioned ...several times...driving is not for everyone...it's stressful , and mentally hard to do sometimes....folks that have trouble focusing , have trouble driving , shifting , backing , turning...in other words TRUCKING....

 

I really have to wonder If you have not figured it out in 3 months .
I tend to think that your last employer might be right .
This might not be the job for you .

The basics are not that hard to figure out .
If in 3 months you cant decide when to start slowing down or how to turn a simple corner or how and when to shift then do us all a favor and save a life like yours and just admit it aint for you .

 

And the Church and the General public said AMEN!!

 

While some people have a knack for all things mechanical and pick it up easily. Others truly struggle. Then there are those that honestly have no business behind the wheel.

For me it was easy. I started very young and it was something I honestly wanted to do. I got out of it for 15 yrs and am now only back in trucking because its something I can do very well and still earn enough money to provide a good life for my family.

When I was in construction, I was a heavy equipment operator and worked mainly on pipe crews doing underground work. Supers and forman would come to me all the time and ask me to watch a guy try out on a machine. Many times guys wanted to become equipment operators and though they could bluff their way in. The higher ups would see them as an opportunity for cheap worker if they could figure out how to operate the machine efficiently enough. They would ask me,.. "What do you think Jimmy?". An experienced operator can spot an inexperienced operator within 2 mins or less. "Think you can teach him how to run the machine?". My answer was always,.. "You cant teach anyone how to operate the machine". "You can show them how the machine works and what it can do,.. but it is up to the individual to teach themselves how to become an efficient operator". "Only time in the seat will determine the outcome".

In my opinion its the same for trucking. Only time in the seat will teach a person what they need to know. A good trucker is aggressive enough to know how to handle his rig, yet docile enough to know his limits.

Trucking schools sell dreams. Travel and see the country while getting paid! People looking for an easy way out from living week to week think they can go to school and jump in the seat and just drive. Driving is the easy part.

The only advise I can give to the OP is to ask yourself. Is this something you really want to do or is this something you need to do to earn a better living? Because if your forcing yourself to become a trucker based on the pretenses that the trucking school or others who are not truckers have sold you, then I think you are in a world of let downs. Unless this is something you really look forward to doing and cant wait to jump up in the seat because the excitement from the night before kept you awake all night, you are following the wrong path.

Trucking requires 100% of your attention 100% of the time. No other career will take so much from you with so little in return compared to the time you invest in doing your job. If we all logged 100% of the hours we really spend doing our jobs,.. log books would need to show 100+ hours a week. That and trucking has probably ruined more personal relationships (Short of going on tour in the military) than any other career that I can think of. Its one of the most thankless jobs there is. Everyone wants their goods delivered on time, yet they regulate everything to make it more and more difficult to do so.

Make no mistake,.. trainers are not there to be your friend. They are there to teach you to safely and efficiently operate a 40 ton death machine efficiently enough that the company wont go broke paying you to deliver a load. Its up to you to either step up to the pace or get left behind. Dont be timid when behind the wheel. Visualize your bearings to get your truck and trailer exactly where you want it to be at all times. No such thing as taking a corner too wide. Dont expect a pat on the back for every corner you dont curb,.. but do expect to be criticized for that one that you did as it will not be forgotten. Thats trucking.

Hurst

 

What is the name of the school you attended (including location), before you got hired by these said three companies? I'm not saying that you are or not cut out for trucking, but maybe you just did not go to a good school, where the teachers and trainers taught you well. It sounds to me like a fly-by-night school. Before giving up, I might suggest going to either company training CDL program, or go to a better private trucking school again. If it's what you want, it won't be a waste of money.

 

So you can't turn or shift.. I am going to give you 3 tip/pointers on each..

Turning
1. This thing bends in the middle.. Remember that..
2. You are 68 feet long and bend in the middle..
3.take as much room as you can.. I straddle lines.. and take as much forward space as possible..

Shifting..
1. Some will disagree but shift earlier rather than later... When I am on the low side of the transmission I shift very progressively..
2. when downshifting.. here is a trick that worked for me.. When you throttle the truck up.. stand on it for 1 second. just floor it(while out of gear).. while doing this hold the shifter against the hole(not grinding it) you want to put it in...don't get a dirty mind.. you will feel it fall into the hole.. when you feel the resistance go away.. gently push it in the hole..
3. Remember that there is a 400 rpm gap if you up shift at 1600 rpms.. then at 1200 rpms the resistance(grinding) goes away.. never force a gear...

This is the last bit I got for you.. I was born in a trucking family.. We have had them since 1940..( I am not that old).. I could drive a truck at age 12.. but I had to go to a school to get a job back in 97... There was an old man there that was a part time trainer and he had 50 years experience working for Yellow Freight and Consolidated Freightways..... He had been driving so long he started out in a gasoline truck...(not diesel).. He said when he got his first diesel motor he was lost couldn't shift for poo... He said a guy told him this trick.. and it works...

When you shift that truck from the second you pop it out of gear count and 1...If upshifting give it fuel.. and count and 1.. and it will go in gear.. and give it fuel.. don't be afraid to use the foot feet.
and when upshifting pop it out of gear and say and 1.. and it will go in gear..

people will thing it is stupid and doesn't work. but if I am ever having a bad day I still use it.. and it never fails.. or atleast it hasn't me..

 

also remember the will trail inside of your turning arc... It does not follow you directly... SWING WIDE

 

I can back any trailer any where its the going forward part thats hard

 

This is NOT good advice at all. The left foot should be for the clutch and nothing else. The only time I'd advocate using the left foot on the brake is to keep from rolling backward from a stop....IF YOU DRIVE AN AUTOMATIC. Telling a new driver they can use the left foot for the brake is setting them up for even more confusion.

 

No doubt... in a manual the governor will carry the clutch out so you can start rolling forward while you hold the brake to keep from goi.g bacwards never use left foot on brake...