Life Post FedEx Freight... as a Local Cryo Driver

Met the safety director for my region today because he was there to do an evaluation for another new driver (mine won't be for a few more weeks). I like the guy, he clearly takes his job seriously, but seems to be not so rigid as to be naive to the day to day issues that drivers and employees within the company face. Refreshing to meet a safety director that holds a current CDL AND used to drive for the company. While I was eating lunch in the office today after finishing the route with my trainer he was on a conference call at the desk next to me, and from what I gathered of the context, was based around an incident/accident that a driver was involved in. I specifically remember as I was stepping out to my pickup hearing him say on the call "maybe, but remember we always need to protect and support our driver". I don't know where the rest of the call went after that.

This company is unique to my previous road test experiences. I've only known of companies to do the road test/drug/physical during the hiring phase. Here, they do your drug/physical during the hiring process and then you do your road test AFTER you finish all of your training. The road test, in this case consists of a safety employee tagging along with you for running an entire route, so I'm potentially looking at a 6-8 hour road test depending on what I'm dispatched for that day.

 

My center had me do a road test during the hiring process with a 48' van since I already had my CDL-A. I did a road test on the last day of DDC consisting of hooking a set, driving around for about 20 miles, then breaking the set. My 60 day evaluation consisted of the exact same thing I did when I finished DDC after coming back from NJ.

 

Correct, that was one of my trepidations when starting this new gig, but it was quickly squashed. They basically said, "look, up to the point of your assessment, we've spent 8-10 grand on training you in your salary alone" and also reminded me that because of how selective they are in the hiring process, when they hire someone, they want them to work in the company.

Basically, unless I do something egregious I don't have anything to worry about. If the person evaluating me questions whether I have a solid foundation of safe vehicle handling and material handling, they'll recommend another four weeks of training, likely at a different facility (I assume to see whether it is an issue of being with a trainer that isn't giving you what you need, etc).

 

Did my road test with the fuel company today. 10 speed Cascadia and a tanker loaded to capacity with diesel. Felt AMAZING to have a shifter in my hand again. While slightly rusty, it came back to me quick enough for double downing and floating up the range (I never honed the downshift floating). Backed into 4 spots on first attempt with zero pull ups. I will say, the driver they sent me with was a real cranky guy.

"Look, you made it out the lot without stalling the truck or missing a gear, thats better than most of the people applying for work here can do. As long as I make it back in one piece and you don't #### my truck up, you pass. Relax and take it easy, just remember that you weigh about 98k."

 

Spent the last two days with a service tech who will also be the guy that I spend the next 2 1/2 weeks behind the wheel with. Interesting guy, been in the company for a couple decades. I'm practically dying to be behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle right now.

Today after a solid 12hr day, I finished the company's internal process for authorization for tuition to begin finishing my degree, so I'm pretty stoked about that.

 

I don't think it's misleading at all. To say over securement is very costly for efficiency is a bit of a reach. To throw an extra strap or extra chain or spend a few minutes adding an X strap you might not have needed doesn't cost a huge amount of time or severely degrade efficiency. An efficient flatbedder that over secures already incorporates this into his routine, most likely.

TMC's internal formula for a 40k coil required six chains in the securement, which is more than what DOT required. I threw 7 chains when I had those coils. Mainly because the thought of one of those breaking free if I had to stop hard terrified me. The five to 10 minutes spent on the extra chain never put me at risk of not making it to the consignee or running out of hours before finding parking. I get the basis of what you're saying though.