Well this is my first post on the website so a little about me....
I was living in northeast ohio and working 2-3 jobs and barely paying the bills when i had a fight with my wife and thought i need a change in my life... i need to get in a job that will get me away from her :P (because at the time she kept starting all the fights and then coming back when i wanted out and saying sorry and stuff... u know women?)
So looking in the paper there it was... TRUCK Driving... OTR ... only one company had paid training in there... and im from an area that well... you dont see many semi's and i didnt drive past any truckstops... .i didnt know there were thousands of companies to choose from... So I went to C1 in indianpolis for training... was a joke but after three week or four i had my CDL and was assigned to P.A.M.
Made up with my wife... she didnt like the idea i signed up for trucking and would be gone... it was very very hard... but it worked out in the end cos we both love each other. I didnt get picked up by P.A.M. I got picked up by A.F.S. a division of pam
located out of florida so i moved to nashville TN because after being with the trainer i thought id get home much more often by being in the middle of all the routes. 8) I was right. Lived there... it was expensive for 1 year then moved her back to her family because my absence at home was killing her, she wasnt making any friends.
Still in debt i was making 27 cents per mile... and for 8 to 9 months i had a total average during that time of 2400 miles... almost exact. but i had no complaints about miles because they were running me nonstop... it was the loading/unloading that was killing me. Then i became a trainer... I was training for 6-8 months.
Ahh... Training... what to say about that... being 23 many guys dont want to take my advice... I only had an accident my first week of training.. pulled into a 23' truck shipping/ rec area at a nursery in poughkeepsie NY and didnt know they wanted me in the parking lot instead.... took an hour trying to turn around before i hit anything :P with 5 guys helping me. anyways... i am a pro at backing up now and i drive legal and safe at 65 mph. Training was alright... i found it more calming when i wasnt sitting up front :P i made Less miles at the start... teaching them to do stuff slows you down... taking them half an hour to do a log book in the morning and resisting the urge to tell them to HURRY IT UP!!! TIME IS MONEY!!!!! was a pain... knowing i do that stuff in 60 seconds or less.
average mile training was around 3500. I had 4500 solo once... surrounded by 3000 mile weeks... it was actually good.. and no long runs... it was just a bunch of 700 or 800 mile runs every day... nonstop.
last week i made 1824.24 For one week of training... 5900+ miles or so...
Now most trainers i hear turn 6k miles.... some even 7 or 8k miles per week with students... i dunno how they do this... even fudging the logs wont get me those miles... cos once again it was the appointments and loading/unloading that slowed me down usually.
Anyways they just informed me that during my free time... after i drive 11 hours... and i am comfortable enough to have the student drive while i sleep?... that free time of oh... say... 10 hours? where i only need 4 to 5 hours of sleep anyways like most of you probably? that free time... i was on my computer too often... and now they are not going to let me train anymore... so my 1800 pay check will be the last ill see for a long time... and go back down to 1100 if i bust my butt AND THEY GET ME GOOD LOADS... and i mean loads.. loading/unloading
Now then If i had spent 4-5 hours a day readinng the bible.. they wouldnt tell me im not gonna train anymore because i spent too much time reading the bible... im 23... yes i like computers... i do bills... watch movies... listen to music.. play games... look for jobs everything... on my computer... some trainers have xbox.. nintendo... dvd players... tv... i have a computer... and i even offered it to my students... ive only had it last 2 months and i think its a load of B.S. So.... I dont care if they were to let me train anymore... Im through with this company. A.F.S. is the best division of P.A.M. in my mind from what ive heard... but its a training company at that... and my year was up long ago.. They have told me to not type so much in qualcomm... precious cents being wasted... told me not to call in... and to use qualccomm... told me not to suggest places to pick up because "they have been doing their job a long time and not to think... leave that to them..." Well this comment pissed me off royally... I mean sure... i dont bug them that often... but when im sitting for 10 hours to get a load... and they aint got one... im gonna start poking around... why do i not have a load? we are never predispatched... only 10-20% are drop and hook... Theykeep taking me out of brand new trucks when they break down... yet if i have an old truck and its in shop every few days... i am stuck with it for a few months...Ill make new post for what i really want addressed...