What is the difference in today's drivers, and yesterday's drivers?

Chip on my shoulder... Honestly, I'm just tired of being told how to deal with issues from people that don't understand what they're talking about. The mods here always side with the guy that puts the most years of xp on their profile, no matter what nonsense they're spewing. Tony, I'm sorry that I've come off as defensive, but the honest truth is that you don't understand the problems that most first year drivers and trainees are facing. How could you? You know who's advice I'm looking for on this site 90% of the time? The guy that went through what I did last year.

Don't think I wouldn't love to sit and talk with one of you older guys and hear all your stories and learn from you, believe me I would. But when you're telling me how to deal with a starter company and trainers, how could you understand that..?

 

That is a valid point, you are right I can't. I haven't been there done that honestly. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a truck and one of the last few who believe driving a slick ol Pete is the next best thing to dying and going to heaven. I never really had the mentor experience like the mega's provide. I got my license and was put in a truck with him in front of me coaching from the radio. Lots of differences there.

 

brand

i came up thru the megas, i was supposed to do 4week training, i did two, i was supposed to go out and do another four weeks, i did one

i told dispatch, if they didnt put me in my own truck, i was leaving

my trainers all said i understood the basics and there wasnt much more they could teach me (they werent on the road that long themselves)

every company i worked with after that, i let whatever dispatcher i had knew that "i was a runner", and they all loved me

once you get a good rep, you can demand more and not take any shorts from them, men respect men, and they step on wusses

so in this industry, too many mouths, not enough action, i listen to the horror stories from dispatchers about how stupid some drivers are, and it gives me a good feeling

i will never be out of a job

 

No need to say that you're sorry for speaking your mind Brandson , no need at all. That trait is admirable in a man. but thanks. Your point is well taken , only thing is that while I never really had to experience the trainee/trainer thing as you experienced it , I had to listen to a family member ( my Dad's brother ) who owned a dairy farm. He had a 40 ft. milk tank and an old model tractor to haul milk to the dairy in those days. I started out going with him on trips from his farm in Va to a dairy in NC , mainly to help keep him awake. This was in the 60's and I was around 15 or so. As I grew older I asked him to let me drive , and he started teaching me....now I thought a lot of my uncle , but a teacher he was not. Lets just say he sort of talked loudly , as I began to get the hang of it. But in a couple of summers working for him after school was out I finally was allowed to drive home after delivering a load , while he slept. So I do know kinda how you feel....Times were definitely different then , but learning hasn't changed too much I'd wager.....Whether you're taught by an uncle...or by a perfect stranger. While most of go through the learning process differently , we all have to start somewhere....in your case you had a couple bad trainers , and I completely understand that...I guess the best thing I can tell you is to start with with a trainer , set some ground rules , be respectful , but also ask to be respected. You're there to learn....the trainer is there to teach. Sometimes personalities can get in the way , but always try and be adult about it , and I'm sure you will do fine.

I only wish you the absolute best in your coming career...I really do...my sincere apologies if I came off too strong. It was not my intention, my sole intention was to let you know that we've all had to walk the same road you're traveling now....Good Luck to you , and I hope your experiences only get better. Be safe...... TTTD.....

 

I do believe a hearty round of, "KUMBAYAH!" is in order.

"Seems like everyone is getting along" - Rodney King in an alternate universe

Well said. Similar to my experience, with the exception that I had a little of Tonythetruckerdude's experience from decades ago with the twist that I was thrown right into the deep end with my brother giving me the wheel for my first driving experience EVER going eastbound over Cabbage Patch in a 13 speed Ford cabover... with narrow lanes because of the road construction.

Flash forward 30+ years, getting back in the industry and renewing my CDL without attending school, I went through the 240 behind the wheel hours of training and got into my own truck and ran hot and heavy. Along the way it was sometimes amusing and a bit surprising to meet fellow "new drivers" that complained about not getting the miles while bragging in the next breath about how they "put their foot down" and refused to run east of the Mississippi.

Yep, sure showed them...

 

I think ink I heard the same conversation you did but I was SB.

Heres a major problem, you have Billy over here who started out in 1950 driving a single screw White. He loved his job and the whine of a 290 Cummins. But here's Joe he started out in 2008 driving a Freightliner Cascadia, he left computer programming to get rich quick.


You have guys like me who will always make sure that the trucks clean I'm clean and I'm curteous, then you have Joe running 62 in a 70 running up your grandmas rear end with his truck and listening to the radio blaring. While moaning about how he drove a whole 5 hours yesterday and ain't making any money.

You either need to do something you love and do it right or leave it alone.

 

Most of the driver's now are 180 degree's oposite from the way you are thinking.

 

other than to many trucks and cars or the road there is no real diff the country would starve with all the good old boys out there haveing fun as they say it

 

Other than regulations this industry hasn't changed much as far as moving freight. I don't have all these fancy electronic gizmo's that are suppose to make trucking life easier?. With one exception i have a cell phone a basic cell phone that does nothing except make calls. I don't have gps, tv ect crammed in my trk. Just a road atlas. I make it just fine. You either love the job and do it well, and or as some others have said your just out here as a last resort because it's a job. It does show in a persons demeanor. I try
to help the younger drivers when i see them struggling but usually get told that is not company policy for a particular company. Try to explain to them perhaps an easier way or effecient way but some won't take the advice so i just give up.

 

During my first stint driving in the late '70's to early '80's I don't seem to recall so much tire scrap from blown truck tires laying all over the roads. Seems every day, especially early in the morning before the scrap collectors get all that rubber, there's piles of rubber all over the shoulders and strewn into the median and across lanes of travel.

I was taught to use a tire gauge back then and still use it today. I got away from it when I returned to trucking a couple years ago, started getting into the bad habit of relying on tire thumping. Two blown tires on drop and hook trailers last year and getting the gauge out again to discover I wasn't so good at judging tire pressure from thumping as I thought I was and I'm not going back to that bad habit anymore.

So what gives? Was I just not paying attention back then, or are there just more blown tires today and far far less people carefully doing pretrip inspections and KNOWING what pressures they are running?

My trainee said something the other day. "You know, I haven't seen anyone else use a tire gauge, only us." I thought about that, and that's true. Nor have I seen anyone break out a 40' air line to inflate a low tire either. We've cracked that puppy out at least half a dozen times in the last three weeks.

Is monitoring tire pressure a lost art? Seems like this new breed of driver just rolls on out, hopes for the best, and calls road service when a tire blows... that is if they don't end up wrecking and need to report an accident if they survive.

I followed a driver for almost 60 miles on I-30 from Dallas toward Little Rock last week, running on a blown trailer tire throwing off sparks and smoking the whole way. Eventually the tire next to it couldn't take the added weight and it blew as well. I passed him when I came over a rise, telltale burning rubber skid marks as he was forced to pull off in a bad place on the shoulder.

No CB, no looking out the rear view mirrors to check and see if your rig is okay, and no tire inspection on a pretrip. This wasn't some mega carrier steering wheel holder, it was a smaller company steering wheel holder.