Cracker Jack box CDL

For a true understanding of this complex dynamic,your best bet would be to go get a degree in cultural anthropology. Probably a doctorate. You could do your dissertation on the subject. Title it "Negativity and the Newbie" People might read it.

In WW2 you were called a "replacement" or a "90 day wonder." in Nam, you were labelled with the acronym "FNG." In logging we call them "greenhorns." Lots of historic precedence here concerning teasing at the entry level.

Make sure you take a real good look at the schools too. What promises do they make to the masses seeking employment in the transportation industry? Are they truthful and honest in discussing attrition rates? Do they tell it like it really is? Is there really a driver shortage like they tell everyone? Maybe this will help.

 

I dont have a problem with rookies, for the most part, but the rookies with the (I know everthing) attitude, I heard a swift driver say, (I went to the swift school and thats like having 20 years driving experience right there!) or the false stories to try and make you think there not rookies, and most cant tell a believable story, If a rookie need help, Ill help if they ask, just be honest, stop the fake stories

 

FNG,

There is a term that we should revive !!!!!

 

Yes numbers, its such a nice phrase. Much too complete to leave in the past!

 

Incompetent drivers endanger us all as well as our families and all those who drive 4-wheelers. In addition to putting our lives at risk they contribute to a bad reputation that most of us safe drivers don't deserve. And of course everytime they're involved in an accident it causes huge delays on the roadways costing us time and money.

Now not all incompetence is due to inexperience as there are plenty of 20+ year drivers who still follow too closely, drive when they are tired and don't read road signs. But the newbies haven't yet acquired the skills so there are a higher percentage of them that cause damage, delays and injuries to others.

And yeah, the whole "supertrucker" attitude is really annoying regardless of how long they've been driving and is really ridiculous when the newbies try their stories out and it's obvious they're just spouting BS.

The best way to get your CDL is to research and find a good trucking school and pay for it yourself. Once you have your CDL you need to find a good training trucking company that won't dispatch you and your trainer as a team but will allow the trainer to take his time with you instill good habits in you and give you plenty of seat time while helping you adjust to a new lifestyle as well as teaching you how to be safe.

 

The main problem isn't the CDL mills, in my opinion. I think it's better than some of the old timer stories where they were just thrown the keys and told "go deliver this load". The problem is the student companies and their training programs. I hired on in Feb 2000 to a student company. My trainer had 20+ years of driving experience and had been training for over 5 years. Training was a 8 week program at orientation, was cut to a 6 week program by 2 weeks in and then became a 4 week program by the time I had 4 weeks in and passed my testing. This was company wide, not just because I was exceptional. To top it off, after a year of driving for this company, I too could become a trainer. Looking back this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. At one year of driving and some 150,000+ miles under my belt, I didn't know sheeet.

When you couple this with the fact that a huge percentage of new drivers won't be out here after a year, an intolerance builds in those that have made it a career.

 

I really did get my CDL out of a Cracker Jack box. I was hoping for a Superman secret decoder ring though.

 

We were all in your shoes at some point in the past.

Our current complaint is that this field is being FLOODED with NooB's that don't want to drive, and already hate everything about this job. They came here broke, scared and humiliated by life and just want some way to pay their bills. Some of them don't care about themselves, the company that hired them or the drivers that they have to work with. They spend their work shift talking on the phone or E-mailing on a laptop- even watching DVD's or their favorite TV show while steering a truck down the road. Don't EVEN try to tell any of us it doesn't happen, it's becoming pervasive.

Us old guys are watching the way Uncle Sam and the big trucking companies are destroying this career field with over regulation and draconian style punishment. Safety is the last thing they're concerned about, profit and "job creation" are the name of the game. The government believes that regulation is creating jobs. Between the two, you new guys are running in the front door to start driving then stumbling out the back door crying. What good is a job with turnover so high that you most likely won't keep it for more than a few months? Is that what you want? Is that something trucking schools, recruiters and safety people warned you about?

In the old days too, this job was hard to get and hard to keep. NooB's had to prove their desire to keep it by being tough enough to keep doing it the right way. Unless you've been living under a rock, you must be aware that Uncle Sam is emptying our prisons because he can't afford to house bad guys any more. So he's putting thousands of freshly released parolees into Driving School at OUR EXPENSE. And not telling anyone about it. By the way, I have no problem working with felons that have cleared the system entirely and successfully cleared probation. I DO think it's wrong and unfair (to them) that an early parolee can take the job (while still on probation) that's being denied to a man who has paid his debt in full and cleared the system. Uncle Sam is wasting money by paying for training for recidivists, then paying trucking companies a stipend to employ them. Don't believe it? Google "Trucking Jobs for Felons", you're going to get an education.

In the end, old guys like me are surrounded with drivers who don't know, don't care and will never improve their skills because they would rather be making millions of dollars designing computer games.

We've been dodging NooB's cutting us off with turns from the wrong lanes, making U-turns right in front of us, driving behind us while we're backing into parking spaces and docks, cutting in front of us on the fuel island, blocking the fuel island by using it to park while shopping in the truckstop's C-store, and a long, long list of stupid moves and decisions that are a direct result of an apathetic, Me First attitude.

And drivers that don't care won't change or improve in the future.

So, maybe you care. Maybe not. In any case NooB, shut up and take your lumps. Just like we had to. If you haven't figured it out yet, teasing NooB's is supposed to shame them into not making stupid mistakes. Trouble is that lately the old system doesn't work because the new crop of drivers does not care, does not want to. They only want to earn a paycheck until that million dollar job programming gaming systems gets dropped in their laps.

So NooB, when you see someone being a danger to himself and others because of inexperience, how will you make the roads safer? Ask him to please don't do that anymore? Yeah, right. Before our day, drivers would drag the idiot out of his truck for being rude and give him a beating on the side of the road.

So start doing things the right way. Start showing respect for old school dudes that won't change. Yes, we complain and tease you guys- if you can last- or if you want to last- for twenty or thirty years, you'll be doing it, too.