Truck Driving Jobs

choperbob · Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 700 Location: Tucumcari,NM

too many experienced driver sit at truck stops putting down us new drivers as rookies, duh, we are rookies. as long as experienced drivers sit on their duffs and just complain about the level of training we get, they are going to get cannon fodder for their bellyaching. uhh, maybe this industry is growing faster than they can understand. i am sure it is, otherwise us inexperienced drivers, millions of us, wouldn't of suddenly appeared. ok, we are here! on the road! at truck stops! at the shippers! jeeze, what you gonna do now? watch out one of us is gonna back into your front fender, we are gonna take out your whole front end. what you gonna do about it sucker? call my insurance? swift will pay .25 cents on the dollar. now i am gonna stop blasting america's true truckers. because this industry is growing so fast and pushing undertrained drivers onto the roads maybe they need a little help??? i have been given more training sitting over coffee from you old farts than the schools ever gave. us new drivers are easy to spot, we have yet to learn the best clothing. also who we drive for gives us away. any driver with any experience should watch out for us and maybe do whatever they can to pass on what they have learned when they were rookies. i saw a 30 year old tattooed mohawk haired driver with 10 years experience training a 55 year old short haired ex- teacher to drive. yeah our industry is changing but the favt remains that the older guys train the newcomers.

Uturn2001 · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject:

Nothing new there. It was that way when I was a wet behind the ear rookie almost 10 years ago and from listening the the CB for years before that it has been that way for a long, long time.

The problem, IMHO, is not so much in the quantity of training (though it does play a part in it) as the quality of training new drivers get. Far too many are placed on the road after 6 weeks of OTJ when in fact it should have been called 6 weeks as an extra log book.

When I first went solo I met quite a few experienced drivers who took the time to help and teach me things that I should have known but did not. The percentage of drivers though that did this was small compared to the ones who would simply sit back and do nothing more than bash.

A lot of people like to talk about the "old" days when new drivers were really trained by friends and family for months before going out into a truck alone. What they forget to mention though is how many drivers were on the road with no training at all. No school, not even a state road test, because their employer wrote a letter that said they could drive and they took that letter to the DMV and got a chauffeur's DL and off they went.

On the whole are things better or worse now? IMHO it all balanced out. Things are no better now, nor not any worse, than they were 25+ years ago.

choperbob · Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 700 Location: Tucumcari,NM

gotta agree, things are still the same. a few do try to share and most just complain. thankfully for me i met some of the few. is josh finally retired?

TomB985 · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 214 Location: Columbus, OH

So...what exactly are you trying to say??? :?

First, you are attacking experienced drivers, saying they sit at the truck stop and put new drivers down...then you go to a form of hero worship talking about how much you learn from a casual conversation with one...

I don't get it....

Your subject line mentions there "oughta be a law"...a law for what?

honestly...most "experienced" drivers I run into out here show me more what NOT to do than the other way around...

BigWheels · Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 560 Location: Milwaukee, WI

...was listening to a talk "show" today. The host mentioned that a study revealed that employees who were most satisfied with their jobs were able to "control" much of their job responsibilities/job environment. In other words, the more they were able to control their job responsibilities and environment, the more they were able to enjoy life.

Let's face it, OTR truckers--in the grand scheme of things--can control (arguably) precious little of their job responsibilities/job environment. Therefore, it stands to reason, that highly satisfied OTR truckers who relish their jobs embrace change -- and lots of it.

Certain OTR veterans-of-the-road will primarily encourage newbies, others will primarily whine/bitch/complain, while others are in-between.

Here's hoping that if you're a newbie, you can find plenty of drivers who will give you a healthy dose of encouragement (the good/bad/ugly) of whatever advise you need!

DaveFromColorado · Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 75 Location: Chaska, MN

I gotta say, even tho I'm not an OTR driver, I'm local with less than 200 miles a night, I haven't run into any drivers complaining. I do a lot of lot sweeping of docks and such, and I've always got drivers giving me pointers about backing, better mirror adjustments, shifting techniques, and the one thing that always seems to rattle my nerves - lane centering.

I've found in ANY industry, it's all about YOUR attitude. If you're friendly, and appear willing to take advice, and criticism - both good and bad, then people will be more willing to help.

Ask questions - even if you get blasted for what seems like a "stupid question" it's better to ask it anyway, and get advice and help.

As an example - one of the other drivers at my job offered me some pointers about how to position the sweepers on the trailers to make the ride more "comfortable" - after listening to his advice, I gave it a shot, and what do ya know - it worked perfectly. It's not that I was doing it wrong, it's just that this more experienced guy had a better way of doing it - now I know the better way - and I'll share that with new people too.

--Dave.

TomB985 · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 214 Location: Columbus, OH

DaveFromColorado wrote: As an example - one of the other drivers at my job offered me some pointers about how to position the sweepers on the trailers to make the ride more "comfortable" - after listening to his advice, I gave it a shot, and what do ya know - it worked perfectly. It's not that I was doing it wrong, it's just that this more experienced guy had a better way of doing it - now I know the better way - and I'll share that with new people too.

--Dave.

Stupid question time:

what's a sweeper? :?

Stainless · Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Posts: 49

The sad part is that alot of these new drivers who were once targets will one day be the ones on channel 19 doing the b1tchin (if they're not doing it already) because they think its some sort of right of passage of something.

Colts Fan · Joined: 10 Aug 2007 Posts: 541 Location: Indianapolis, IN

Just turn off the CB and you'll have nothing to worry about.

Stainless · Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Posts: 49

I don't even own one anymore.

lurchgs · Joined: 03 Feb 2008 Posts: 83

I have discovered that I don't NEED experience to whine and complain and (so forth). But then, I DO have 50 years practice at it! :D

DaveFromColorado · Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 75 Location: Chaska, MN

TomB985 wrote:

Stupid question time:

what's a sweeper? :?

That's not a stupid question :)

I'm talking about Elgin Pelican broom sweepers. Big ol' street sweepers. I still gotta get a picture of my whole setup, dump truck, tilt trailer, and sweeper all loaded up.

--Dave.

Windwalker · Joined: 22 Oct 2005 Posts: 2822 Location: Holiday, FL

choperbob wrote: too many experienced driver sit at truck stops putting down us new drivers as rookies, duh, we are rookies. as long as experienced drivers sit on their duffs and just complain about the level of training we get, they are going to get cannon fodder for their bellyaching. uhh, maybe this industry is growing faster than they can understand. i am sure it is, otherwise us inexperienced drivers, millions of us, wouldn't of suddenly appeared. ok, we are here! on the road! at truck stops! at the shippers! jeeze, what you gonna do now? watch out one of us is gonna back into your front fender, we are gonna take out your whole front end. what you gonna do about it sucker? call my insurance? swift will pay .25 cents on the dollar. now i am gonna stop blasting america's true truckers. because this industry is growing so fast and pushing undertrained drivers onto the roads maybe they need a little help??? i have been given more training sitting over coffee from you old farts than the schools ever gave. us new drivers are easy to spot, we have yet to learn the best clothing. also who we drive for gives us away. any driver with any experience should watch out for us and maybe do whatever they can to pass on what they have learned when they were rookies. i saw a 30 year old tattooed mohawk haired driver with 10 years experience training a 55 year old short haired ex- teacher to drive. yeah our industry is changing but the favt remains that the older guys train the newcomers.

I can't speak for the other guys. If you've read a couple of MY threads, I have tried to give out good, sound, information about driving in bad weather.

In the truck stops, I've usually been one of the guys that will get out of my truck and help you back into a space for the night. But, I've also seen you guys pull into a space, and back into someone else's grill when backing out in the morning. Idle-Aire spaces are especially good for this. Some fool designed them so that you must pull in, and back out.

I've also been a trainer for new drivers. "UNDER-TRAINED"? I've had school graduates that could not even find reverse on the shifter, much less back into a space. I've also had to reach over and pull the "trolley bar" to stop them from taking the fender and hood of the next truck with them on the way out of a space.

It's not the drivers I tend to complain about, but the level of training they receive. And, DOT is considering relaxing the requirements even more. Yet, they MUST go through an approved school. They'd get far better training going "ONE-ON-ONE" with a seasoned driver in a truck. Seasoned meaning at least five years experience... YA HEAR THAT, (not so) SWIFT AND C R ENGLAND??? Six months is not nearly enough experience to be a trainer.

As to the mohawks and tatooes, you'll find that there are as many types of people driving a truck as there are people driving them. I guess we're a lot like SNOWFLAKES... No two are exactly alike. That also means that ANY ATTIRE IS APPROPRIATE.... Well, that is... As long as it's not a collection of dirty rags.

Ironturkey · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 8:30 am Post subject:

I think that in every trade the rookie catches crap from the experienced, and it may seem that you are catchin more than anyone else but yer not, only seems like it because yer new. When will it cease? It wont, but it will slacken, and in time you will become the thrower instead of the catcher.But remember when you do become the thrower,and take heart that you were once in that man er womens shoes.

I still after 14yrs consider myself a rookie, and I probably will till I die in my sleeper.

I spent 3 days with a cdl book and an old COE Ford then went an took my test an the only training I received was a drawing of the shift pattern. Nobody sat beside me an showed me what to do. Everything that I have learned I've had to do it by myself. An I think I've done a pretty good job of training my self.

Have I given crap to rookies? I have, but mostly to the ones who will not listen to free advice given and insist that they were taught the right way.
If you will not listen then I have nothing to offer an you can learn the hard way.

Eric

Walking Eagle · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 1:45 pm Post subject:

Many years ago when I started driving a big truck it wasn't a pretty sight. I just turned 16 and had a learners permit. One afternoon Dad's C/O Pete was sitting there in the yard and I figured "Hell I can do this, I've ridden and seen him do it, I've been driving his P/U for two weeks and know all this s@@t". Wellllllll ended up kinda leaning in the ditch on the side of the driveway :sad: No way to hide it when he came home. Was kinda pi$$ed. Well, after the wooping, he said "You wana drive truck you are coming with me for your summer vacation". Spent two month with him and got lots of windshield time, right seat, turns out my job was securing all the loads, tarping all that had to be, all P/T's, tire changes etc. The last week we came out of a truck stop and he climbed in the right seat and said "Drive. Grind a gear and I'll bang your hand, curb a trailer tire and I'll bang your head", and he did. When we got done he said "Next year we will do it again, maybe I'll let you drive more" and we did.
After all these years, 48, I'll still be driving and catch a trailer tire and hear him say "Goddamit you curbed a tire" and will duck to the left :D Oh, my name is Goddamit, my brother was Jesuschrist :D :D
Don't knock the newbies, offer help and advice. In my day it was a wack on the head that drove it in, today it is more "Don't you think it might have been better if ???". We all had to learn some way or another and in 48 years I have yet to meet a driver that climed into his cab for the first time and did everything perfect.

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