10 day training? Are you high?

I'm all for firing the driver. Since you cannot attached an amendment to an eLog if a driver refuses to acknowledge his/her falsification it's going to become an issue that needs clarification. Elogs are going to create a whole different world for drivers and carriers. If the carrier accepts and notates falsification on 1 day, it can easily spill over to violation in the next 7 days.

If I were the boss, it would be made very clear that falsification would not be tolerated and termination would be the result if the driver did not correct their log.

 

Forcibly altering logs is called "log falsification", even if the carrier is doing so under the good faith belief that they are correcting a mistake. Termination & notation are their tools for CYA, they have no business at all forging entries and that's why I hate e-logs.

 

It's going to open up a lot more guidance, and more than likely more regulations. There will need to be better ways to audit elogs. It was easy on paper because everything was 2 weeks plus out from the date of the incident. The information from the eLogs is nearly real time. So you can prevent, by micromanaging, violations sooner. If a carrier can do it real time, wouldn't they be obligated to do it real time?

I would be interested to see the outcome of a case where a motor carrier falsified a log to represent the actions a driver performed without his consent on a log that he submitted that was falsified and the driver refused to change. I think it makes for an interesting topic and should be addressed.

But enough about this, Watkins and Shepard. Minimum of 10 days of training. Why is that so bad again?

 

Sure... with consent. Otherwise, nope. However, they could take disciplinary action quicker than with paper logs, so they still have that benefit.

Carriers are not responsible for creating logs, and they took on the responsibility of editing ON THEIR OWN, it was never GIVEN to them. Log accuracy is driver responsibility. Employing drivers with accurate logs? That's the carrier's job.

As for Watkins-Shepard, 10 days training is more on the job training than I had back in '03, so more power to 'em.

 

Concerning Watkins-Shepard; reading comprehension helps:

Recent Graduates

FULL PAY as a driver after 10 days Training

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Recent Graduates

Watkins-Shepard Trucking has competitive pay for student graduates that have attended an approved CDL school that has prepared you to be successful in our 10 day advanced training.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

See, not everyone can cut it with Watkins-Shepard. It plainly states, "student graduates that have attended an approved school "that has prepared you to be successful in our 10 day advanced training."


Pretty simple; they hire new drivers that don't need baby sitters for weeks or months.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

I had a 2 week crash course sponsored by crst. We had maybe a total of a hour driving and maybe 20 minutes backing. Just enough to pass the driving test for the dot. Then we went out for 30 days with a trainer. My trainer had just over a year of actual driving experience but he had went to a 8 week truck driving course before that. He was awesome. Did we team drive? You bet. If I had a question or a problem was he in that passenger seat in 5 seconds flat to help me? You bet your ### he was.

Some guys could be with a trainer for 3 years and still not get what it takes to do this correctly. Some guys could be with a trainer for a day and go 4 million miles without a scratch. I don't think training is the problem. I think the people are the problem.
People don't want to work for minimum Wage flipping burgers or punch a time clock every day. So they try driving as a way to make big bucks.
You can't do this just for money, you have to want to drive. It's a lifestyle, it's a way of life. You have to take pride in it.

 

ok everyone knows knows by now that I am the first to throw the bs flag out, and again another statement and or comment that deserves the bs flag, why would one especially me throw the bs flag well here it goes.......

student graduates that that attend an approved school.......bs......

again, in, one pays the school to do two things....
1) teach how to drive a truck
2) get their cdl

thats it, no more no less, the schools I don't care if they are approved or not by any particular carrier, the point is one pays the school to get there cdl....they teach the basic requirements and nothing more and nothing less, I have seen drivers who have failed only to find out that a week later they acquired their cdl.

there is no way that cdl schools imitate real life, ok maybe on the driving part when one drives in the city or freeway, I never hit or backed into a dock at school just cones, now how many shippers and or receivers, or even truck stops have just cones for people to back into..

the only purpose of a school is to teach the basics, and give a person a license to drive, it's up to the carriers to train and fine tune a student into a competent and professional driver.

 

Why would someone ever volunteer to be a trainer? What is in it for them? I'm not doubting you, but I don't get what the motivation would be for trainers.

I love the feeling of helping people out, but for me, two people in a truck would turn it into a prison cell. Different strokes I suppose.

 

Many trucking companies only hire from certain schools. For example, call a top notch company as a new grad and they will ask which school you graduated from. If it's not on their list, they won't hire you. Some companies even only hire the top two in the class from the schools they hire from.

 

Agreed, but it doesn't matter the name of the school. No matter what school you look at or really goto you are paying $3500 or more to get your license and nothing more the whole point is you paid for your license. It's not like going to college studying for your degree and if you fail have to take the whole course over again.

you paid them to get your license their goal is to give you the skills to get it. Nothing more and nothing less. You think if you paid your money and failed, they would make you pay again and take the whole course over again? No, they give you another week and you get your cdl.

when I got my cdl I asked the instructor if we stopped the test now would I pass he said yes I set the brakes and said test over, didn't even do the backing part, why because I knew my backing sucked and therefore was afraid I would fail and that it was easier to take the pass. I still scored a 98%, and got what I paid for which was my cdl.