Said i'd never do this......

Trust me, when you get to 5 years, you have a total different outlook and experience level. You'll understand when you get there. Some mature quicker than others though. I can tell Injun is already there and she's only been driving 3 yrs. But most take 5 years to get the whole picture.

 

6 months . . . .

 

Aaawwwww...... Say it ain't so, Truck Driver! Our DJ wouldn't do a thing like that, would he???

 

CC: thanks for the flowers, but I still have a long way to go.

 

That makes no sense. Sure, 22 days is close to three weeks though nowhere near 2. But it's clear that 22 days isn't close to the time it would take to get in 240 hours. You call it nit pickin', I call it pointing out the obvious but you're right, it does no real good.

 

Playing devil's advocate here, churning out new drivers every 3 weeks would be very lucrative for the mentor. Remember, the first 6 months the student is solo, the mentor gets paid $0.01 for every mile that new driver produces. More than makes up for the $0.05 reduction in per mile pay the mentor gets hit with for taking on a student to their truck.

10 successful students running 8000 miles a month on a rolling basis (new drivers producing that penny for the mentor coming on as older drivers fall off after 6 months) works out to about $800 a month to the mentor's pocket--easy money. It behooves the mentor to put out safe and outstanding drivers, not just to "mail it in".

 

Except if you are an O/O or L/O and the student rips out your tranny, crashes the truck, crunches a fender, bends a bumper kills a motorist, etc?

Think swift is going to fix the tranny when their employee tears it up?

 

It is certainly a gamble. When I look back to the time I first got on the mentor's truck and my skill/confidence level then compared to now, it is like 2 different drivers. I would hold the steering wheel with a death grip and was very mechanical with the shifting. Now I am way more relaxed and the shifting is very smooth, getting smoother every day.

Today the economy being such as it is, with people coming to trucking from all walks of life may not have the natural aptitude for driving the truck. The student my mentor had after me, took a turn to the left too sharp and wrapped the trailer into a telephone pole. He had about 2 weeks to go, mentor was in the bunk. Swift fired the driver. Of all the rest of the students he's had since me, only 1 has successfully completed the training and has gone solo. With the exception of the one who was fired, the rest quit because they could not handle the lifestyle. This mentor did not help things by invariably driving right up to the shipper/receiver the night before and camping out in the lot til pick up time. Often times, no bathroom, no food, no shower etc. We had food, he would stock up on like 6 cheeseburgers when we did stop for food, but eating a cold cheeseburger for breakfast, lunch and dinner, trying to find a public place to pee without getting busted gets real old real quick when we could have stayed at a nearby truckstop with bathrooms, showers, fresh hot food etc.

I guess if the students are tearing up the mentor's truck, that should fall back on the mentor's ability to train properly. Dick has the right plan, put the guy in the seat around the terminal negotiating around tight turns with obstacles, shifting up to 3 gear and downshifting through the gears, backing etc before going out on the big road. Build the student's confidence, teach him/her skills to prevent tearing up the truck maybe.