Training

AS a new guy, if you need help ASK! Most driver will jump in and help you in a heart beat! If you are not sure ASK someone! May I add a couple things, State/ DOT scales, if not sure pull in; not all are the same(roll down both windows, so you can hear Trooper), some weigh whole truck/trailer, some only weigh one axle at a time (Montana) so you have to roll one axle at a time. Some scales have a post or have Marks are Painted on scale where to stop your Axle/tires. When you do get assigned your truck and fuel card. THROUGHLY check your truck for any defects damages and annotate on forms; you must call in and activate your fuel card before using it! Sliding Tandums move axles TOWARDS the weight problem 250 lbs per hole. Drive Axles move 5th Wheel AWAY from the weight, 500lbs per hole. Thanks, just trying to help.

 

I guess, if you believe no one before had covered the complicated procedure of sliding the tandems for him, or it isn't mentioned in his company driver handbook/manual, or he didn't have a cell phone.

I believe he "gave up", on himself and his other resources, and immediately resorted to the easiest solution; trusting the first stranger who would give him the time of day in a truck stop.

YMMV.

 

It sure doesn't help, when these mega companies, only have a 60 or 90 day requirement, to become a trainer. Talk about the blind leading the blind. I've helped many a new driver, including 1 that had no clue how to turn his reefer off. *sighs* If I just wasn't so much of a loner!!!!

 

Driver training for the important part, the "driving", is pretty much irrelevant. Everyone is already a superior driver, born that way. The rest isn't so critical.

I imagine most are similar to me, I made most and my most egregious mistakes in the first 60-90 days, so I could tell a trainee "whatever you do, don't do that".

 

Without a doubt the very best advice a trainer can ever give , and a rookie can ever receive.....learn to read everything....it will be one of , if not the best tool in the box!

 

True.

But then again there are some trainees out there that might be a few sockets short of a full set.

 

Very well said Clyde07. It's just like, if we don't teach our kids how to read properly. How will they ever be able read.

 

a lot of trainers don't give a crap and I have been there... if I have a student who doesn't get on my truck wanting to learn there isn't much I can do... I fire more students for not listening to me then anything else...
it's refreshing to get someone every once in a while that actually wants to learn something ... so the entire process is two fold in my book...
if you just want to do your time on my truck to learn enough to pass a test then get your own truck and learn the hard way ... it's all on you
you can put them on you truck but you can't make them learn

some get the message at the beginning and actually learn what they need to learn quickly and then I get some time to teach them how to make money doing this job... but not very often

 

it's all greed ... nothing else... they are making so much money running these schools with huge washout rates it all comes down to percentages ... bottom line...everything is an acceptable risk ... even an accident... they don't want to keep new drivers per say ... because they wouldn't have the fleet to support them ... so whatever means of attrition they have its acceptable

 

what an awesome post ... I couldn't have said it better... talking about signs and using them ... I have something short I would like to tell you guys
I picked up a student from another trainers truck who told me his trainer just kept yelling at him like he was a 3 yr old ... I told him he would be fine ... I will only yell at you like a 4 yr old .. so you are making progress ... Just Kidding ... anyway after talking to this student I realized the underlying problem ... it so happened he was from Dominican Republic and was having a difficult time in the translation ... so I started having him read the road signs out load in his language so he could understand what it was he was actually reading then translate them into English for me so I knew what he was reading ... problem solved