Coming from the middle of nowhere New Hampshire I rolled into Montgomery, NY last night about 8pm. Checked into the Super 8 motel and thoroughly checked out my room. Now i'm not going to say this is a 5 or even a 4 star hotel but it will work. I made sure the fridge and microwave worked and headed out to buy some food for the week. There's a stop n shop or shop right about a mile down the road. Picked up some food and a few things i forgot. (Paper towels, plates, forks, spoons etc.) The bed was fairly comfortable and I brought my own pillow as I like them firm to hard and have found that hotel pillows suck! I do have the room to myself (Sweet!!) and have been told that there are 6 of us here for orientation.
There is a small plaza down the road which has a Verizon store, dollar store, rite-aid, and a few other restaurants. There is also a Mc D's, Burger King, Subway and a few convenience stores as well as a T/A truck stop in the area.
As I write this I'm finishing up my continental breakfast, you know the usual Sausage, eggs, bread, cereal type of stuff... Not bad I grabbed it about 6:30am so it was still pretty fresh... We have to meet our trainer in the lobby at 8am and then follow him down the road about 1/2 mile to the training terminal at NEMF.
Time to shower and get ready for the day.. I will update tonight after the 1st day of orientation.
Orientation with Eastern Freight ways!
Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by ABRO Transport, Apr 3, 2018.
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Sounds like you’re rare’n to go. Looking forward to your updates.
ABRO Transport Thanks this. -
ABRO Thanks this.
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So 8am rolled around and we met our instructor in the lobby of the hotel. There was supposed to be 6 of us but 2 drivers didn’t show up So class of 4 it is. We spent about an hour in the lobby listening to the instructor go over several things about Eastern Freightways and what to expect. Old school, sarcastic, funny, serious, NO BS are just a few ways to describe Him. (Don)
We then followed Don down to the NEMF terminal where our training will be for the next few weeks. The usual orientation type stuff. A video from the CEO & 3 folders STACKED with paperwork. We worked on this until lunch time (12-1pm) I came back to my room to make a little lunch and start this update.
Went back at 1pm and finished off the monumental stack of paperwork for the first day.. We then watched the CSA Video that I just saw at school about 3 weeks ago and took the quiz afterwards. Don was having some severe back spasms, so we called it a day around 3:30pm. The other 3 and I decided to go play some pool to finish off the afternoon. I got to learn a little about them and their past experiences as well as their plans for the future. It’s a small class but everyone is really down to earth and pretty cool…
Back to the room, some dinner, tv And Online poker….. -
Day #2 of orientation at Eastern Freight Ways
Woke up at 4am. Err My alarm was set for 6am. Tossed and turned for a while and finally started the coffee pot. Had a cup and watched some local news then headed downstairs for breakfast at 6:30. Scrambled eggs and Sausage were still fresh. Back to the room for a shower and headed out around 7:45 to the terminal. The day started with some conversation and then into the Hours of service videos and paper logs. This lasted till noon. Back to the room for some lunch and back to the terminal by 1pm. Possible road tests today or tomorrow.
Got back to the terminal and was told it is road test time. Old 2005 Volvo sleeper with the back taken out and fitted with 3 seats and the flatbed. The other 3 took turns driving through town and the interstate. They were all a little rusty as it’s been a few months since they drove a stick. I nailed it but it helps that I just finished school last week. The road test took the rest of the afternoon. Don gave us a 12-page questionnaire for homework and we came back to the hotel around 5pm. We decided to go to the OCC Café in Newburg for dinner. Definitely recommend it for anyone in the area.
Tomorrow will consist of meeting the GM, taking our photo and doing some backing maneuvers in the yard. I’m off to get this homework hammered out..ABRO, Smut and motocross25 Thank this. -
Day #3 of orientation at Eastern Freight Ways
The usual this morning but I must say breakfast was not as fresh as it has been the last couple of mornings. Oh well, it’s free so….
At the terminal 8am. (Hint- Bring Don a banana and a strawberry Banana yogurt from the hotel..) We had a small roundtable discussion pertaining to the govt. and how politics and certain bills can affect the trucking industry. After that we reviewed the homework followed by a 10-minute break and then 2 JJ Keller videos Safety inspections and backing. Same videos that I’ve already seen in school.
11:45 we headed for lunch for an hour and will have the General Manager come in around 1pm to give us a spiel. Kevin McGuire is the general manager and he drove up from NJ just to stop in for about 1 1/2hrs to introduce himself to us. He was very upfront with no sugar coating anything, Just the way I like it. Seems like he’s there for the drivers as the past years’ worth of changes has been for the driver. We will see going forward but overall, I have a good feeling.
After that we geared up and headed outside. It was a cold windy day to Pre-trip 2 trucks and trailers. After pre-tripping we each took turns doing some backing maneuvers, so Don could assess our backing skills. It was Definitely a little different than what I used in school which were Day cabs also EMF uses split axel trailers which were a little different as well. It took a little bit but easy enough to adjust to.
After yard it was picture time for our badges then the 4 of us went to I-hop to grab a little dinner. Exit 6 has some good places to eat if you’re in the area.
Back to the hotel and started packing up some stuff as we check out in the morning and head back home after training until Sunday evening. We will come back and start week 2. I like the fact that we get to go home for the weekend during training.
Sounds like some road trips will be happening next week. -
Day #3 of orientation at Eastern Freight Ways last day of week 1..
Usual morning routine minus I had to pack everything up and check out this morning which will take some getting used to. Better learn to pack light.
Stopped at the T/A to grab a coffee and water and pretty sure I saw my first lot lizard. She was walking down the parking lot near 1 truck carrying some kind of dish and walked up to a blue truck who was in the bobtail parking lot. She talked with the driver then went around to the passenger side of the truck and didn’t go all the way in for a few minutes but finally made it in and shut the door. I go in, get my stuff and when I came out the shades were drawn.
Today was some more pre-tripping and backing maneuvers. Sight side backing, pretty much the same as Alley docking but getting the trailer pre-set for the angle beforehand. Offset and a little more shifting work. Back to the classroom for some log book training.
Today was travel reimbursement and meal reimbursement day. Eastern Freight Ways reimburses you up to $100 for your personal travel for the week as well as $15 a day for food. Not a bad deal if you budget well considering the hotel has a free breakfast. So, we were able to learn about EFS checks, how they work and how long you have to stand in line at the T/A to cash them. Actually, it wasn’t to bad only about 10-15 minutes.
I filled up and started the normal 4 ½ hour ride home. Unfortunately, today was not normal. Friday with snow showers and 4 wheelers which somehow forgot how to drive in snow. Add the 84W-91N intersection which is a complete mess caused by people not knowing how to be in the right lane early enough. A little over 5 hours and I was home! Unpacked the car and looking forward to the next couple of days sleeping in my own bed and enjoying some home time. Looking forward to next week and learning even more! -
@ABRO Transport I ended up going Eastern myself. This 2nd week you'll likely truck-pool to gather some trucks and trailers that will get detailed and assigned to the last month's class of trainees.
I found class room training to be a breeze as did most. Get all the practice you can especially backing because those trailers are way different than vans and swing pretty different when loaded.
If you need advice to get through Eastern's training... You probably won't make it as a trucker XD.
Don't hit anything and you'll do fine. -
ABRO and Caterpillar6nz Thank this.
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Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!
Back to work, Well training. I Decided to wait until later in the afternoon to head out. Rolled into Montgomery around 8:30pm. Checked in and proceeded to unload my stuff. 3 freaking trips from the car to my room. I’ve really got to learn to start packing lighter. On the way down I was thinking about asking for the same room as I had last week since I cleaned the hell out of it and I knew everything worked. Fortunately, I am in the same room.
Same routine this morning. Coffee, Breakfast etc. Headed to the terminal at 7:50
Week 2 Day 1- We started the day out with Watching the SMITH system video and then reviewing it. From there we went out to pre-trip 3 trucks. As I’ve been learning, change is the only thing guaranteed in this industry.
Time for a road trip. After some organizing etc. we were off to Secaucus, NJ to pick up a truck and then down to the Elizabeth, NJ terminal to pick up 2 more trucks. After pre-tripping those and making sure everything was in order we headed to the Vince Lombardi Truck stop for some late lunch. That stop was pretty big and like the rest of NJ, very littered.
After some Popeyes and Starbucks it was time to hit the road. Rush hour it is. You know, the usual stuff you see at rush hour, Just this time in a truck instead of being one of the crazy ### 4 wheelers who are all jockeying for position any way they can. I guess looking back I was once one of them. Once out of Jersey it was a smooth ride.
Back to the room for some R&R and a little online poker!
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