more of a statement than a question.

Oh of course, every one has to start someplace. Then as time goes on, you can be picky and choosy as to where you want to work, provided of course you have a good background and all other things a new employer wants. Everyone that is hiring, would like all to be experienced drivers. However, that just cannot be. Newbies must cut thier teeth someplace, and since this is so, many carriers, whether they be large or small will not pay top dollar. However by not offering a better pay then some companies, they can retain newbies for years and years. Right now as I see it, I have no reason to go to any of the mega carriers. I just have too much time in, to be getting the lower pay they offer over a company that primarily deals with and hires only experienced drivers, and takes on NO newbies.

Sure, us guys with (say about) 5 years and up, CAN get into accidents, but those numbers are smaller than the new people, and that is pretty much a fact. Statistically it has been known, newbies make mistakes, some small, some large and when an accident happens, it's costly. But so can an experienced driver have a bad accident because many times, we can get complacent. Now we have (for the newbies) the plain simple fact, that when they are on the road, they are ON the road for weeks at a time. Some cannot handle this. I can see why. They never left home, or they never had to take care of themselves, or they never thought life on the road was going to be the way it is, as they only "dream" of being on the road, from what they see, read, hear about.

So yeah, put your time in somewhere, suck it up, do the job, get the experience, move on, or stay. No one puts a gun to anyone's head to get INTO trucking, or to get out of trucking.

 

Well said sir, agreed. Especially on the part about the new fellas that get out here and have never had to REALLY take care of themselves, or have never really left their home town or been away from home for any substantial period of time. I consider myself a quite straight forward and honest person, and the "new guy" I just described fits me to a T. I live in a moderately sized town/city about 60K people, nothing outrageous and I've never really left home for long periods of time. Never been out "on my own" to the equivalent of a truck driver, and you know, while trucking goes totally against my personality, I think that's what draws me in.

I like the idea of being tested, seeing if I really have what it takes to get out TRULY on my own for once with absolutely no one to rely on but myself. I could just go and take my state and national real estate exam since I've passed all required courses and basically make easy money like a few of my friends that are realtors, take time off whenever the hell I want, work from home if I please, and for some reading this, they are probably thinking, "what an idiot, you have to opportunity to do something like that but you're over here fascinated by trucking". I know it sounds foolish, but there's just something about it, and I have no "dreamy" thoughts about trucking like a lot of new guys. If I DO in fact, go with trucking, will my first year be rough? More then likely, will I get home sick? Sure. But I know that much of my career IF I choose trucking will be very rough in the beginning, and I accept that.

 

I think the trucking industry is unlike any other job out there. Everything about it is different, and a new driver really doesn't know what to expect going in. After getting hired on with a supposed "good company" you feel you are in good hands and this recruiter leads you to believe everything will be fine. The recruiter has filled your head full of b.s. just to get you into orientation and only will the truth come out as you are out on the road with your trainer. When the recruiter tells you that "our trainers don't team drive with students", that is likely a lie and you will find out different as you are the one driving when the trainer who is sitting in the passenger seat says "well looks like you got it from here, I'm going to go lay down and take a nap". When the recruiter tells you "You will only be out 4 weeks for training, and we try to get you home once during that time", you'll find out that is a lie too after you've been out for several weeks and the trainer laughs and says "yeah that never happens". As the trainee you will learn that once you have left the yard with your trainer you will not likely hear from anyone in the office until you go back to test out. There are no phone conversations to see how you are doing or how you feel about the job, no answers to your questions, and you most certainly don't feel like you are part of a team. If you are lucky you will get a trainer who showers more than once a month and I don't mean just when he gets caught out in the rain. If you are lucky the cab and sleeper of the truck won't smell like sweaty gym socks, and if your lucky your trainer won't snore like a jackhammer on the occasions where you both get to sleep at the same time. Thats all if you are lucky, and the bad part of it is there are a lot worse scenarios that I have heard but was fortunate enough not to experience.

I burned out in training with two different "good" companies because I actually believed the b.s. that I was told by the recruiter. If I had known better I would have only believed what was on the printed material that was handed out during orientation (which wasn't anything that the recruiter talked about). Both of the companies that I left didn't really care, my DAC record wasn't trashed just says I didn't complete training. Main thing is I didn't abandon a truck or a load anywhere. I still get monthly even weekly calls from the bottom feeders wanting me to come work for them and the strange thing is i am actually considering it. If I do go back, I full well know what to expect. Training won't be an enjoyable experience and I just need to take whatever happens and figure its part of the job.

 

Well, both of you have some idea, especially Charles. You been there, done that. Up to the time you left each company.

You Dave, have yet to be a part of the training, recruiter fiasco, nightmare of the beginning. Training can be fun of sorts, if done properly. You Charles say that the trainer goes to sleep. (I had to edit for space, reading purposes) but there is a RIGHT TIME for him (or her) to do that. That times comes, say in your last week as a trainee. This is when some team running can be of a learning, confidence building experience.

Here's how. The trainer drives his hours, say only 5. then he/she "decides" to take a nap. So he/she tells you so, pulls over and jumps into the sleeper, and you start driving. Ok, he/she is in the sleeper, but the curtain is still open. He does this to let you know, he still has his eye on you. Then during the course of your hours behind the wheel, somewhere's past say the 3rd hour, you look back, for whatever possessed you to, and you see the sleeper curtain fully closed.

You don't know what this means, do either of you?

It means he feels safe with you driving, and has trusted his life to you. This is called the silent compliment. The best compliment you will EVER receive as a driver.

But sadly, from what I hear from newbies, this teaming up, happens with-in the first week, and that is NOT good. You have no chance to shake out your nerves, or to build up your confidence. You are thrust right into the fires, and if you do not do well, the trainer from that point on, finds reasons to get you fired. The days of the "silent compliment" have long since gone. Neither of you may never get to experience such a confidence boosting , euphoric feeling.

But yet, you ARE expected to be out of the box professionals and if you cry, whine, make a fuss, you get labeled, with a description you will never know about, except to another trainer, should you be re-assigned one.

Yes, sadly, it's part of the job nowadays. This is (what I believe to be) the killing factor in any newbie, making it beyond his/her first 3 months of this industry. You go in, blind, I mean really blind to all things, you hope for a good trainer, let alone a great one to guide you. You hope, you hunger to learn more, do more, so you can survive out there when you are on your own. The failure you experience is not entirely yours, but of the moron calling himself/herself a trainer that leads you down to self destruct.

In the end, trucking is what you can make of it, not what someone can make for you in short time, as that person (the trainer) is no better at training you to be a professional, then he is at wiping his own arse, which is why there is such a stink in that truck, when the temperatures rise. Necessitating in daily washing rituals.

 

I see from your avatar you're a newby.You'll find out with exp and the different companies that you never trust a recruiter and you'll use your own judgement.Recruiters get paid on commission plus some receive hourly pay as well so they're going to promise you the moon if that's what it takes to reel you in.Companies know recruiters lieThey don't care,say what you want to get drivers to orientation.Recruiters are sales people just like the ones that sell cars they'll say anything you wanna hear.Same with the ones that sell lease purchase programs ,all sales ppl.Finding an honest up front recruiter in the trucking biz starting with schools are very remote.Keep in mind,recruiters have no clue what happens once you start driving once ppl go thru training ect ect.So if they promise you a certain amt of miles don't believe them.There's always loop holes which unfortunately drivers find out the hard way.Websites,ads don't get taken in by them either.

 

I agree with you in principle, but in reality it just doesn't happen. The last time on the road, I was out for about a week when the trainer said we were going to pick up a load that was time sensitive and HAD to be delivered on time and the only way to do it was to run it straight through. When I asked why we were doing this, that I was told that they company didn't do team driving during training, he said that they don't have many teams in the company and this is how they manage to get team loads done so they don't have to turn them away. He would drive his full 11hrs while I attempted to sleep in the top bunk (what an experience for someone who has never done that). After he was done driving we would often stop for a restroom/food break and then I'd hop in the seat and get going. He'd stay up for a short while and then retire to his bunk with the curtain closed and sleep most of the duration of my driving. Keep in mind I was driving at night. He had said to wake him if there was an issue where we had to get off the freeway or missed our exit, but waking him was more trouble than it was worth.

Having him awake wasn't always a blessing either, he was very much a speed freak and thought he was supposed to be the fastest moving thing on the road. When I was driving his expecations didn't change much, even though there were trucks going slower than us up and down 6% grades. I told him I was going as fast as I was comfortable with not knowing the road and driving at night, but was told not to "worry about it, the roads are designed for it".

Probably the worst thing was coming down a fairly steep grade between California and Oregon when the engine break failed. Wasn't able to downshift going down the hill, engine break kept cutting out, and he kept yelling to not use the foot break that we'd burn up the brakes. For some reason I was more concerned about getting killed that night and having a memorial marker with my name on it than I was worried about the brakes on the truck. Managed to make it down the hill and lived through it.

What is killing it for the new drivers is being told one thing and then having to do something entirely different out on the road. In orientation safety was impressed a lot, several times a day during each day. On the road we NEVER completed a full pretrip, the trainer would do a walk-around of the truck looking at the tires and for anything falling off but that was about it. While driving we did talk about a pretrip once, and his reply was "well you know more of it than I do, you should do fine".

 

What I told you in my posting, number 24, was the way IT WAS back then. I do know things are way different now. Which to me sucks big time, as you newbies do not get the chance to build up your confidence in your abilities, and learn your limitations which you would learn to correct. I do believe today's trainers are no more a steering wheels holder than a newbie. Heck, if memory serves me, Swift I believe was making trainers out of drivers with what, 3 months of seat time? That IS a case of the blind leading the blind. I think a trainer ought to have at the very minimum, 5 years seat time, before he/she is offered such an awesome responsibility.

Which is why everyone needs some time behind the wheel, but if the only one's taking a chance on a newly licensed driver is a mega-carrier, then what does one do? Maybe some local companies will take a chance on a new driver, but unless they are self insured, and can take a big hit from an accident, it just isn't going to be easy. A cushy job IS out there, you will find one. I wish you well.

 

i was collecting unemployment at $250/week when i started with trans scam so anything was looking up
all OTR aint bad 68000 this year with benes paid by the company for wife and i
of course some things are not perfect my truck is over a month old now
but my trailer is just on its second run

 

I agree, no one forces anyone to get hired so somewhere along the line the driver themselves are the responsible for their actions.