What's up with the poor quality of all these mega carrier cdl apprenticeships?

i thought that was a common trucking term.

 

Last thing first - on the turns your instructor is are too wide, how far are your tandems from the curb? At what point are you entering the oncoming lane and how long are you in it? If your tandems are no more than 4 feet from the curb at any point, then even money you're not squaring off initially and needing the oncoming lane for far longer than you should.

On the philosophical side - both Roehl and Schnieder are for profit entities. They have no incentive or desire to spend time (read money) coddling students along. You'll find a similar environment at most cdl schools. If you want to be treated as a customer, look into tech school cdl programs.

Even at a tech school, I suspect that you're going to run into problems. If your trainer is giving you a laundry list of issues, get past the tone of the delivery and focus on the underlying message. You may think they're nit picking, but I guarantee you they are not. Once out on your own you will be expected to perform and there won't be any one to lean on. If you struggle on the range then you will fail on the road.

Final thought, if you think the instructors are being condescending and lack professionalism, just wait until your incompetence wakes me out of my nice, warm, comfy bed.

 

I'd never heard that term until I read it on TTR either and I've been out here quite awhile. I knew what they were talking about, I was just unfamiliar with the word.

If you came to work for me and I told you to put the turkey rack on the narrow nose Pete, take some extra wrappers , go up past the dam on Little Grass and bring back a cleanup load of small piss fir and get at least 5000 feet on but don't bring anything that was short bucked because the belly robber at the mill will just short thumb it, you probably wouldn't have any idea of what to do, let alone what I meant.

 

1. Measure the hood width of all the Petes, take the smallest.
2. Find a log trailer that has posts spaced less than 8 feet apart.
3. Grab some extra chains/securement dodads.
4. Go to PLACE X, try not to have to ask the wildlife for directions. If you do, ask a goose, because it may be silly but it's not a ducking liar.
   
5. pick up small diameter pine trees that add up to at least 5,000 feet, making sure each tree is 8 feet long otherwise the mill will reject it.

That's with no googling, how did I do?

 

Not bad for a young fella'. You shouldn't have to measure the Pete's nose, a turkey rack sits on a regular long log truck and dolly, it doesn't need to be less than eight feet between stakes...but it's handy. Never ask directions from woods critters, unless you're btalking about the rigging crew and then you'll need to speak fluent grunt and point.
Piss fir and pine are two different things. Get sent for fir and bring back pine you get demoted back to the tire shop.
With no Google and relying on common sense...kinda like life...you get a B+

 

Sounds to me like the trainers need to be trained as well, what so there having a go at you for simply turning to wide, assuming your referring to making a right hand turn at an intersection. It is rather easy to do if you've been driving for a while you take up both lanes that allows no one to use that lane, pull forward as far as possible till your back axles are near the corner then turn do this if your turning into narrow streets, I found most 2 lane streets were usually fine to turn into without going out to wide. But I see nothing wrong with using that method, after all you've got a 53' trailer behind you. So what that driver needs to consider is what if you do the opposite and stay really close in the right hand turning lane then you can't make the turn, or take out a post on the side? Which is why taking up an extra 1/3 of the left lane as well will work wonders when turning right into a narrow street. Personally I'd rather get into trouble for taking too wide of a turn than either getting stuck at the intersection then having to back up and go out wider anyway which is much more dangerous, or bumping into a post or pedestrian.

 

Maybe on communicating exactly WHAT the guy did wrong, but I'm guessing this guy doesn't listen for meaning.

I like to play "if you were going to do XXX over again, what would you do different?" with my trainees. I'm trying to get them to be more observant and self critical, but it's also useful to avoid the trainee offering a myriad of excuses as to why they didn't do things correctly.

I had a trainee who on every turn would cut the steers just after entering the intersection. He never cut them much, or for very long, but it was enough that he would need to hold the second lane longer than needed in order to clear the tandems. It took me 'panic stopping' him and grabbing the wheel before he could recenter it for him to understand WHY I was criticizing EVERY FRICKING TURN. He THOUGHT he was keeping the steers straight, but he wasn't. The OP THINKS he's doing as well as his classmate, but I'd bet if you or I took each of them for a check ride there would be a clear winner.

 

I went through Roehl GYCDL 2 years ago and my experience was very positive, in fact I was truly impressed with every bit of training that I ever did with Roehl transport. I think all their trainers are actually very good but some are certainly more effective than others and get better results consistently. My class had nine people: 3 passed their CDL on first try (I was one of them and we all have the same trainer), 3 failed the first time but passed the second time, and 3 washed out before they could test.

There was one trainer that everyone hated and while I think he was a really good guy he just did not do a particularly good job overall. I will say that I got to work with him a little bit and he helped me with backing more than anyone else, the way he explained things resonated with me as much as any other trainer I worked with.

A lot of your success comes down to your attitude, I think everyone struggled quite a bit in my class but ultimately it was very clear who had a good attitude and was focused on the goal and who is not and the results spoke for themselves. Roehl is willing to give everyone two and sometimes even three and maybe more chances to pass the CDL test if you have the right attitude.