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Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by JohnBoy, Apr 10, 2013.

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RebelChick Road Train Member

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ExtremeUnction said: ↑

Same. Those are easy miles, the PFJ in Chillicothe has a Moe's, and there are two different places for me to get Indian food between Wytheville and Indy. What's not to like?
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When you have a truck that you could get out and out run it up the hills like I do (and I DON'T run!), yeah, you can have those loads. It's not easy miles for me. They beat the heck out of me and take almost my entire 11 hour clock to get them there. I keep telling the shop there is something amiss with this truck, but, hey, what do I know. I'm just a dumb truck driver AND a girl to boot, so I don't know anything.

JohnBoy said: ↑

I guess the only 2 people at Abilene that know I’m finishing up a reset is my FM and myself. I’ve had 3 QC messsges and a phone call from 3 different people asking me when I’ll be picking up my San Bernardino load going to Columbus for Thursday. 2285 miles. I’m thinking I could get in a 60 hour reset and still make it on time. But, the hood driver that I am, I’ll be leaving st 3am.
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You mean there's actually people <gasp> working today? OMG!!!!

RebelChick, Aug 25, 2018

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Silverdriver Road Train Member

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RebelChick said: ↑

When you have a truck that you could get out and out run it up the hills like I do (and I DON'T run!), yeah, you can have those loads. It's not easy miles for me. They beat the heck out of me and take almost my entire 11 hour clock to get them there. I keep telling the shop there is something amiss with this truck, but, hey, what do I know. I'm just a dumb truck driver AND a girl to boot, so I don't know anything.

You mean there's actually people <gasp> working today? OMG!!!!
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I was at Richmond at 7:00 AM standing in front of the window and there was only one. Maybe the big boss started making calls?

Silverdriver, Aug 25, 2018

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Chrisnva Bobtail Member

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JohnBoy said: ↑

Ok, as my wife and I are sitting at the pool, cruising back to Miami after spending yesterday in Cozumel, I will answer all your questions pertaining to training here at Abilene. I can only speak for myself, and based on my track record as a trainer, you might want to put some faith into what I will share with you. Right now, I have 8 trainees that have gone through the training program with me and are still here driving. The longest is 2 years, the shortest is 9 months. After almost 6 years driving here, 40 years doing this, and 4 million safe miles, I’m pretty sure I can share some useful knowledge with you.

Let me give you a little insight about me. I tell everyone, including the people in operations, the light at the end of the tunnel is not the train, for me it’s the end of the tunnel. I have 3 years and I’m retiring. If Abilene doesn’t run me off, I’ll finishe here. My wife and I are very fortunate in our lives, I train not because I have too, but because I want too. Abilene had been very good to me, I feel as though I can give something back by training someone new that wants it. The 8 that are here all want it, they all made my job as a trainer very easy, the ones that were on my truck taking up space and didn’t want it, well, they aren’t here. So, here goes.........

Our training is based on 3 stages. Stage 1 is for someone like yourself. On my truck, you will not drive the first 1-2 days. You will sit in the passenger seat and observe me. Hopefully, you will ask questions and take notes. While in stage 1, it’s my job to get you use to the truck, trailer, load and of course policies and procedures about the company. I pride myself on knowing how Abilene runs and how they do things. During stage 1, after you start driving, you will work on building your stamina. You’ll have very little night driving the first few days. You will not be given the truck at 7 pm and be expected to drive until 7am. We will work on what areas I think you need help in and what areas you think you need work in. The length of your training in stage 1 will be based on your progress, usually 1-3 weeks. I’ve had trainees graduate to stage 2 in as little as 10 days, then others as long as 5 weeks. It’s all based on you.

Stage 2.......
In this stage, you will now have customer interaction, drive at night, and depending how the logs are running and the particulars on the load assignment, you will drive some overnight. This stage too is solely based on your progression. 1-3 weeks is the norm.

Stage 3......
You are required to do 2 turns to Brooklyn NY to our big customer, Boars Head. In this stage, you go with one of our north east driver. This stage only lasts the most 4 days. Here’s the issue I have with stage 3. I was born and raised in the Bronx but for whatever reason, I don’t take trainees up there. My second load I ever did back in March of ‘78 was to Boars Head in Brooklyn, for me it’s a no brainer, but the company sends them with someone else. Brooklyn is exactly what it is, the 7 th largest city in the world. It is what it is. Do it, then get a good working relationship with your DM and if your lucky, you’ll see it once a year. I’m from there, the city doesn’t bother me, I go there with no map, and deal with it, but yet, this year, I’ve been up there just once, and that was 2 weeks ago before I went on vacation.

Now, with all that said, here’s what happens while in training. When it’s time to graduate from stage 1 to 2, you will have a sit down, 25 question test in order to move on. It’s a verbal question and answer. Same thing going from 2 to 3. When you are done with stage 3, you wil have a very short road test.

While in training, including orientation, you will be paid for every day, whether the truck moves or not. My suggestion? Before taking hometime, finish each stage. This will be worked out between you and your trainer.

I’m sure you’ve been told by Trish about what to pack and bring. Bring 10 days worth of clothes, shower kit, a towel and shower shoes. Leave everything else home. Your trainer will have the map, GPS, truck stop book. Myself, I always have 2 cases of water on board. My fridge is always stocked with 2 weeks worth of food from the house. As we go on, there will be space in the fridge for you to put things in. Have about $100 per week for living expenses. The last thing me as a trainer needs is to eat my food while the trainer can only afford a Mountsin Dew and potato chips. Showers will be provided by me off my rewards card. As you go through training, you will get your own rewards card to build up points. Me personally, will make sure once off my truck, you will have $20 in points and shower power. Hope this helps with your fact finding and questions, need anything else just ask, there’s s bunch of us that will answer your questions. Time for a swim.....
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This is a lot of the info I was looking for. I tentatively stately orientation on the 17th. My one question is how many trainers smoke? I am a non smoker. And while I am not against smoking or being in a smokers truck and will not let that hold up my training.i relize this is your home when working and I am a guest. I would like to get a non smoker. Is this something that is possible?

Chrisnva, Aug 25, 2018

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ExtremeUnction Road Train Member

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Chrisnva said: ↑

This is a lot of the info I was looking for. I tentatively stately orientation on the 17th. My one question is how many trainers smoke? I am a non smoker. And while I am not against smoking or being in a smokers truck and will not let that hold up my training.i relize this is your home when working and I am a guest. I would like to get a non smoker. Is this something that is possible?
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They will specifically ask you if you want a smoking or non-smoking trainer, so you're okay there.

ExtremeUnction, Aug 25, 2018

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Chrisnva said: ↑

This is a lot of the info I was looking for. I tentatively stately orientation on the 17th. My one question is how many trainers smoke? I am a non smoker. And while I am not against smoking or being in a smokers truck and will not let that hold up my training.i relize this is your home when working and I am a guest. I would like to get a non smoker. Is this something that is possible?
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The real question should be how many trainers don’t smoke. I know of 2. Me being one of the two. There’s only 10 of us that train. Right now I’m solo, doing a reset in California and will be leaving at 2am. I have hometime next week into the following week. If you aren’t on board by then, I’m quite sure by the time I get back to Richmond off of hometime, I’ll either be assigned a Trainee, or going out solo. I don’t ask for trainees, they are given to me. I’ll go months without one and that’s cool.

JohnBoy, Aug 25, 2018

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Finfn1372 said: ↑

Heading to Terre Haute for Monday morning,been a rough week.
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They’ll take it early. D/H.

JohnBoy, Aug 25, 2018

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Finfn1372 said: ↑

Heading to Terre Haute for Monday morning,been a rough week.
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Rough week? You want to talk about it? What's up?

5speed, Aug 25, 2018

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Chrisnva Bobtail Member

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Most everyone on this thread work at Abilene? Trish did ask me wether I smoked or not and asked what I preferred. I told her I preferred nonsmoking. But was not going to let that hold things up. I deal with a lot. It’s a short amount of time in the big picture.

Chrisnva, Aug 25, 2018

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Finfn1372 Road Train Member

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JohnBoy said: ↑

They’ll take it early. D/H.
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I wish,this is a broker load not staples.

Finfn1372, Aug 25, 2018

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ExtremeUnction Road Train Member

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Chrisnva said: ↑

Most everyone on this thread work at Abilene?
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Most of us, yeah. We get a few folks coming through here who don't, but the bulk of the posts here are done by Abilene drivers.

ExtremeUnction, Aug 25, 2018

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