Rookies training Rookies

Now I know most people here will think "well idgaf" but idc... I trained several students after a year of driving, 4 students total were kicked off my truck, and 2 passed and have been driving for over a year with no problems (prior service army, so I expect a certain level). And with less than 3 years experience I have done way more questioning, reading and learning than I see other drivers doing. From that, I have been independent for a year, I have 2 trucks now (keeping an eye out for a third) so I assume I've learned a good bit so far... but yet I catch #### from drivers with 30 years experience about how I shouldn't have been able to train.... and he'll I know I was green then, and will allways be... but where do some of you drivers come from with that "oh well new drivers don't know nuthin" bs... Look just hop back in your truck that is puking oil, has tires in horrible condition, and illegal ### brakes.... yes some people should not and I repeat should not train and that goes to highly experienced drivers as well... cuz just like a new driver I'm sure we could watch you rolling down the road and tear you apart for every one of your mistakes and bad habits.
Why don't you more experienced drivers stop hassling and playing this "us vs them" child's game and put your experiences to these newer drivers instead of be rating and belittling them, teach them! Stop playing the superior victims, and help these drivers that are trying as hard as they can to instill safe driving habits into newer students. And please remember training can be the biggest learning experience, and you as well Mr 30 years driving, you might learn something new aswell if you really are a professional.

 

Two trucks going on three,,how much do you pay your drivers and are you doing payroll and workers comp?
Hard to pay a good wage to your drivers if you have the trucks leased to a company or you are hauling only for brokers,not saying it can't be done,, I mentioned it before should be minimum federal standards to become a trainer and a CDL endorsement to become a trainer,,Imagine if there were not autoshift tranmissions . Think all trainees should learn to chain a tire, put on chains and learn with no power steering,,
DOes not take much to be a driver but takes many years to become a trucker

 

Driver (myself included) is paid percentage after fuel (keeps him motivated to keep out of the fuel) 60% solo, 32% if he teams (for the time being). I do not 1099, I was paid 1099 by a prior employer and couldn't do that to anyone else, besides the legality of it. Payroll through wells fargo business, workers comp is required, and a card for needed expenses (fuel/oil/hotel/ect), and joined ata for group discounts.... but good Lord payroll and workers comp eats finances lol.

So what was that? Oh I'll answer your next question... llc.... As s - corp requires meetings and logs of when the meetings take place.... too much hassle to keep track of.

Oh and I'm getting this started up, and going back to finish my education and work as a physicians assistant. (Took a break after leaving the army as a 68w m6, I was highly stressed at the point)

As for minimum standards, I agree completely. But I want to stress competency should be the defining factor, not years of service.

OH, also thank you Mr experienced "trucker" for proving part of my point, instead of contributing to the development of new or less experienced drivers in this post, you made a choice to dig into me and question how i run my business because you feel I must be cheating.

 

no did not feel you were cheating,, many small start ups do cut corners, I always did full payroll an workers comp,,You need to be a corp,,saves you personal liability from actions of your drivers..cope meeting can be done by phone,,keep notes as corp records,,very simple,,,you don't even have to have meeting..no one ever will look at your corp records,
I have worked with a lot of military drivers active and retired ,,found many very good the guys driving M915s were good,,companies do not want to recognize military experience because the want an excuse to pay them less..

 

Well , here is what I learned this morning. It only takes a short period of time for a know-it-all rookie to make a complete fool out of himself on a forum full of experinced hands. Good Day....

 

Put him in a 13 axle low boy and see if he can break down load a 110 Ton piece of equipment and reconnect, secure it and then for the easy part drive it. Are your hands sweating yet.

 

I'm in the camp of, all things being equal, and experienced driver should be the better trainer. Not saying you don't know most of it after your first year, but as things happen over the years you will always get more experience and learn more. Hard to teach someone about something you know nothing about because you have never experienced it.

That being said, I don't think it's the most important part of being a trainer. You need to have patience, an ability to teach, and most importantly a desire to train and actually have them learn something. I'd take a rookie driver with this desire any day over an experienced driver without it.

Guess it kinda relates to why I was a trainer. Took the trainer class with the company, not because I wanted to be a trainer, but because I wanted to get the knowledge from it to hopefully make me a better driver (class actually had none of this information). Only used it in the beginning as a favor to my boss during the times we got overwhelmed with doing our six month driver evaluations. I never felt like I was at the level I thought a trainer should be, but after looking at what the other trainers were doing I felt like I had an obligation to the trainees because I knew I was doing it better than they were. After that, I did start training more often and ended up getting several drivers through the rough time starting at our company and hopefully made a difference that would last the rest of their driving career.

 

Those here who think that years' of experience or lack of it in a trainer don't matter have not encountered a good trainer. Depth of experience and training skill matters. A lot.

Gordon required a trainer have 5 yrs, had a Train-the-Trainer program.

Spent a 24-hr day with one after I messed up.

Learned a lot despite that I already had some years of experience, mostly learning on my own. All trucking jobs are not the same. Some require a lot less (dedicated, local), some require a lot more (OTR, specialized). This Gordon trainer, had all sorts of good habits built into his every day, short cuts to get to shippers/receivers and highway sense. Did not allow GPS on truck. Knew the lanes cold, the curves, hills, where things 'tighten up on you'. A really great experience--all because I messed up.

Would have happily run another 2 weeks or more with that trainer because of how it would have shortened my learning curve. At one point he was on phone to another driver. "Who's that?" I asked. "Oh, one of the drivers I trained." "Really?" I said. "So how many of the drivers you've trained do you stay in touch with?" I asked. He had trained lots of drivers.

"All of them," he replied. "They call if they have a problem, need directions or just to chat." That's Jim, still with Gordon (Heartland/GTI) last I saw him, lives in or near Mahomet, IL. And I still feel indebted to him. Saved my job.

 

That's a good attitude. Just because someone has done somethin for 30 years doesn't mean they are now QUALIFIED to actually TEACH. its funny that the company might train a driver for 2 days to become a trainer. How about a 30 year experienced driver go through a 6 week course on how to properly teach/instruct someone on the how business works. Two days, some videos, and some paperwork, and now you are a TEACHER. That's funny.