How much do trainers get paid?

Well one thing that you may notice in some of my posts, which I harp on a lot is learn how business works.

No real secrets once there is an understanding how it works. The same things apply to all businesses, there are very few exceptions and more so the same thing applies here.

One doesn't worry about rates until one knows where they stand and what it takes to break even. One can't figure out where the Break Even Point is unless one knows how to account for their operation - which pile of pennies got to go in what pile.

the knowledge that I have about how to get work is learned through experience outside this business, where competition is really really hard but I can't expect others to learn that skill, especially from someone who just sits in a seat commenting on how to do basic things - can I?

But this isn't about new owners, it is about trainers and what I see is a huge problem with this industry, turning out steering wheel holder who are trained by other steering wheel holders <=== to put it bluntly.

One reason why my driver thought it would be a good idea to pair people or have two students for one trainer who is trained to train go form start to finish with this is that it builds consistency, not allow gaps to form and adjust behaviors and issues before the student is actually in control. This allows the BS that we are seeing like those who can't back into a dock without hitting something, be either filtered out or better yet taught how to do it right.

 

Amen @Ridgeline!

The sum total of preparation to become a mentor at Swift was a two day orientation, almost none of which had anything to do with HOW to teach. Fortunately I had experience as a teacher, including teaching high risk skills (ice and rock climbing).

Especially for a teacher you need to have a plan, then alter it according to the needs of the student. I had trainees get on the truck who already had experience as Class A drivers (the hardest to teach correct driving skills) and I had trainees get on the truck with almost zero skills in driving, geography, or basic life management.

Regarding your comments about increasing the level of teaching in this industry, I absolutely agree. IMHO it boils down to "contingencies of reinforcement". Reward good teaching behavior. Right now the big reward for most companies is to run miles.

Period.

If the trainer was rewarded according to teaching skills instead of miles, the outcome would improve. Skills should include backing, strategies for dealing with traffic (Smith System), general courtesy (especially to fellow truckers), and how to maximize earnings within the company system. I taught all these and more.

It was often an embarrassment to observe fellow mentors "work" with their trainees. It seems like they were using them to build up their own egos and pocketbooks, instead of doing their ####ing job.

 

It's a good post, I say Amen to that too. I don't always say things that are correct or makes sense but I guess in a roundabout way, I see that many newbies are steering wheel holding people when trainers get through with them. When I think back to my trainers, they would not stop or rest until they hammer many things into me. Some of which I have not forgotten and other things I have unfortunately.

To be a Trainer should be a awesome responsibility and for the Newbies they should learn. When you have a stable of truckers in your company capable of hauling anything you assign to them with a reasonable expectation that there will be no problems beginning to end, it is a good thing.

There has been a rash of posts recently by people who have had some training but not enough. I don't know how to say get more training. Do you? ANyone?

I love these discussions and I learn something every day, sometimes several times a day like today. Thank you for taking the time.

 

And there we have it. Trainees being abused by trainers who want to get the extra dollar out of them. I have not been a trainer too much because half or more of my trucking has been outlaw side and wild. Im just happy I made it this far but sad that there is so many newbies thinking that they are trained. They don't understand that the first year is not enough to learn all there is to learn.

 

Not enough

 

I am surprised that nobody commented about this! You have driven one winter season, and you think you're qualified to train someone how to drive a truck?

My trainer had 23 years of experience before he let me take the wheel, and that was only on his lap! He had 33 years before he let me drive it to go get a license.

I realize that is no longer the '70s, and drivers who learn on the farm or in their daddy's truck are few and far between, but honestly, how can somebody who is still on the steep part of the learning curve, train someone who is not that far behind?

 

It was about 19 years before I had my first student. And not very long. Some of my trainers had only 5 years on but were very good at what they did and rightfully deserved to have that job.

18 months is nice but it's not enough. You will be given students around the 15 year mark.

Now in the recent postings I noticed some tension from some of you younger ones thinking somehow we old ones are responsible for your troubles. Not so. 1994 and before was a wild west and it went through people of all ages really fast. Weeding out those who cannot right quick. There were even laws in place (I forget the exact title...) that shows a company needed to prove that there is a established traffic lane for running of big rigs before they got to run big rigs and put drivers into them.

After 1994 all bets were off. JBH and Schneider were the first major carriers to close training schools right afterwards because they think best guess was about a half million drivers getting trained by these two majors and then taking the knowledge with them elsewhere for better pay, equiptment, working conditions etc. Most of my job changes was specifically involving upward improvements in equiptment, then mileage pay. If I was making .25 and you offered me .32, guess what? Im in your orientation in a few days that it will take me to drop the rig in a company yard, clean it out, pack up and travel to your orientation at a moment's notice and be running with a load within a week. Sometimes it was to improve the equiptment. No more steel suspension, Airride baby. Then power steering, air conditioning etc. Finally Qualcomm was the big attraction. No more ten dollar rolls of quarters stuffing into a payphone for a hour or two waiting on dispatch or broker or worse, the customer's secretary for directions that are iffy. This was way before Cell phones. I actually carried a balance on a ATT Credit card that was designed to facilitate long distance calls anywhere in USA and canada.

Things have changed and not all for the better. The war on drugs is the biggest single issue affecting trucking. Worst I ever did was a box of caffinee until my mind simply quit staying awake and put people's lives at risk that day on 95 near Quantico and US1 before the huge construction work south of DC. Dumfries was a major major headache scales in those days until I learned to bypass the entire DC on US 15 which became a sort of pernament road as far as Im concerned. Still is. I used to watch drivers get handcuffs put on them inside Dumfries. Click click and click.

Then Dispatch started to change things taking away the so called Captain of the Ship freedoms in everything related to trucking. Gone are the days you saw the boss during a weekend shop work getting your rig ready for battle in the NE next 10 days before you see him again GW and Hunts Point in particular. That is probably one reason I like old iron so much, throw down a new gauge into the dash and then follow the sensor to install that also. That was how you learned. Computers pretty much took all that away.

 

I totally agree. Trucking is a career, a skill, a trade, a lifestyle, a job. Most careers require you to take many more hours than it is required to get a CDL. Many require you to have at least an Associates degree. Which is 2 years not 2 months, and trucking shouldn't be any different. Not saying you need 2 years to learn how to make it as a driver, but you get the point. If the government wanted it to be safer (like there actions imply), they would start at the root of the problem. Instead of messing with HOS and things as such. Courses teaching things as simple as doing a logbook on up to courses teaching you to do diesel repairs and all.

Thus eliminating the "steering wheel holder" (for the most part). The roads would be safer, and because of the higher standards it would take to be a driver maybe we could get a wage that is deserving..
Even though I know it would never happen, cause its a "driver shortage".