Profile For Joe Y.

Just a quick note about the trucks we drive. I was issued a Volvo with a 12 speed automatic which is a very nice truck and very roomy inside but to me and a few of my friends who work for the same company it just doesn't feel like truck driving to us unless we're shifting gears. Probably grinding a few ever now an then since we are rookies. The company is in the process of switching all trucks over to KW 680's and there's a few brand new ones in the yard every week that still have the plastic on the seats. I sat in one the other night when I got back to the yard and let me tell you they are really nice trucks. I can't wait until I'm issued my new one and take the first trip with it. Time can't move fast enough knowing there's a brand new KW 680 with a 10 speed in my future. Wish I was getting one next week but I guess I'll just have to wait my turn.

Hello JakeBreak. Welcome to the wonderful world of commercial truck driving. I'm new to this career myself as I just finished CDL school on May 4th and I've been working since May 5th as a truck driver. Did my couple weeks of company training and will be starting my 3rd week of driving in my own company truck as a solo driver come Monday. It can get frustrating and confusing at times as well as having both good and bad days, sometimes in the same day. I read your previous post and I believe that you asked for some input on parallel parking. It's really not that difficult as long as you know the correct procedure and what moves to make when. I was feeling the same way as you in the beginning.

What some of my fellow students and I concluded was that no mater what manouvor you are attempting to do it is critical that you set up the same exact way every time you attempt the move. We had a painted box in the lot that we used to practice our parallel parking and there we're traffic cones placed at each corner. So when we would pull up to get into our starting position I would try and place the trailer tires the same distance from the cone every time. I liked to be about 9 inches away from the cone where other students would set up 14 inches from the cone. Each was correct in its own way as we figured out that it depends on who's driving. Some of us might have been putting more pressure on the steering wheel as we began to move to get that extra turning out of the truck. Others might wait a second befoe giving it that extra "tug" on the wheel. As long as you set yourself up exactly the same way each time it seemed to make it easier when trying to perfect the move. You eliminate one potential problem by setting up the same each time. I hope this is making sense to you I'm not sure how good I am at writting instructions or suggestions and getting my point across.

I found once I had my turn points set I would try and duplicate it in the exact same position each time so that if I wasn't perfectly straight at the end of the move it made it easier to figure out what I needed to do differently to get it right and make the adjustments and get it right each and every time. Just remember to completely stop the truck then turn the wheel for your next part of the move. If you try to turn as your moving you'll never get it exactly the same each and every time. Once you figure out all your "set points" the rest should come realitively easy. Then it's just as easy as setting up, stop, turn the wheel all the way to the right, as you start to move keep pulling on the wheel to get that little "extra" turn out of her until you hit your set point with the drive wheels and your trailer landing gear frame. Stop, turn it all the way to the left, stop. Get the steers straigh and back into the box, stop at your set point. Turn all the way to the left, stop. All the way to the right, stop, finish backing into the box, stop. Your pretty much done.

With some trial and error we were able to make adjustments for any of the manouvors we needed to do. Just remember that everyone has a slight variation from driver to driver so don't hesitate to try something a little different if necessary to be successful. I hope this helps you be a little less stressful next time you're on the range. I'm no expert, not by a long shot and I have a lot to learn and will probably never stop learning new things. Jut keep a positive attitude and tell yourself you can do this. If you can stay positive you'll find things will fall into place and you'll be a better driver because of it.

I'd like to thank my driver trainer for his dedicated time and effort he put into teaching me on this trip and for not only building my confidence but for also making it a point to say that I'm ready and he has full confidence in my abilities to not just drive but knowing I'll do it safely.

The only downside so far is that I asked to run regional which for us is from PA to GA and FL but he placed me on the local board. I found out from my friend that works for the same company that the local driver manager has been asking for some better drivers because he feels he doesn't have but a few good drivers. He's has worked hard to get a major home improvement chain on board as one of our clients and I know where he's coming from. So I was handed the fuel cards and gate pass along with the keys. Well I knew that the company is in the process of buying all new KW trucks and the old ones are being fazed out of the company fleet. The old ones are Volvo automatics or as most drivers call them "junkomatic" and although they are nice trucks it's not the type of truck that I want to be driving. Call me old or old school or whatever you like but my vision of driving is floating gears in my 10 speed manual shifting truck either a Pete or a KW. Now the coast and the regional drivers are given the 10 speed manual trucks because the company claims that the fuel economy is better and the Volvo trucks were last to phase out for the local drivers. Now local with the company doesn't mean your home ever day, so far I've been home 1 night during the week the past 2 weeks and home for 1 1/2 Days on the weekends. Hey I'm the rookie and I have to do my time and pay my dues.

So the only thing I'm not happy with is the truck I'm driving. Don't get me wrong the Volvo is a very comfortable and very nice running truck, just not my idea of truck driving. I also wanted to run regional because new drivers pay is less so I figure if I could get onto the highway and run down the road most of the day I could get enough miles to make what I need to be making. The safety manager said try it and if you want to run regional I'll move you to the regional board but you'll be home more often from the local board. Well not from what I'm seeing so far but I'll give it a few weeks and see how the paychecks are before I make a decision on being asking to move over to regional.

One last note and more of an observation on my part. With the shortage of truck drivers and every company in the country looking to fill positions for drivers with not much luck I can't understand how drivers pay is not much higher than it is currently. I've read recently that drives pay hasn't changer much in the past 25 years and I'm a little suprized that for the amount of time and effort as well as time away from home that this career requires that companies haven't yet raised pay significantly for drivers. My friend and I have been discussing this topic

Have not been on the site for a few weeks but I've been pretty busy with the start of my trucking career. As I told you in my last post I had a couple options for my next step in training and I chose to do the California trip. What a great decision this was for me. Not only did it give me the opportunity to finally see this beautiful country by driving across it but it also got me into my own truck after the trip. I had a great driver trainer who's name is Ron an he's been training for the company for about 8 years now. He had just taken a freelance writer on his previous trip and I just found the article that was written about trucking on our company website. I'll try and post a link to the article so you can read it if you're interested.

So long story short we did the trip from Pa to the Bakersfield area and back in 10 days which was pretty quick considering that our company does not run new drivers as a full team like some of the other large companies do that I've read about. Started training right from he time we left the yard, Ron tells me to start he truck, find the trailor were supposed to take and hook up to it. This was more training I received in the first ten minutes than I received on my first short trip that took 3 days. With all do respect to my first trainer he was not a trainer and realized that it wasn't his cup of tea within the first hour of our trip.

So we hit the road and start to talk to get to know each other a bit. I started to slowly ask some questions that I had about trucking and Ron was more than willing to share his knowledge and experience with his students as I soon found out. He enjoys giving back as he put it because of the time that his trainer invested in his training and he likes training new drivers especially if they are new to trucking in general. On the third day he wanted to push me a bit to see what I had to give and see if I cold handle the long days that I might face when I was on my own. He did something he had never done with a new student before, he said he was going to take a nap while I was driving so we could put on some miles for the day. Now this not only made me feel very comfortable and confident, but I took it as an extremely good compliment to my driving ability. He told me that in his 8 years of training that he never felt this confident this quickly with a student driver. I though he was pulling my leg af first but later that day when he called his wife and I heard her reaction to the fact I knew he wasn't bull shi@@ING me. So off to slerp he goes for almost 5 hours. Really boosted my confidence and put me at ease for the rest of the trip. He mentioned that his previous milage record with a student driver was 846 miles for the day and I said let's see if we can break it. I'm happy to say that we finished the day with 1109 miles for the day. Another conference build for me. Now some of you are probably saying big deal our trainer due that all the time and rightfully so but this isn't one of those large companies that use training students as a way to boost productivity out of a truck. So regardless I'm still proud of this small accomplishment on this trip and so early in my career.

If was a great experience driving cross country with a trainer who genuinely cares about training his students and to say I've driven the mountains out west. Now we didn't run rt 80 or go through Donner Pass but for a rookie like myself it was a great learning experience. I learned a lot on this trip and someday I'll ask to run to the west coast again and take the wife for the ride to see this beautiful country first hand. Pictures definitely do not do it justice, you need to see it for yourself to really appreciate it.

I explained to my trainer several times during our trip that I have a lot to learn and I didn't want to be given my own truck unless my trainer felt 100% confident that I was read both from a safety stand point ax well as the ability to drive. While we were doing our 34 hour reset we spent the day working on docking manouvors and practice, practice, practice. Until this trip no one had showed me how to manouvor the rig into position to dock similar to the procedure you use to do a parellel park. I mean you have to be given the basics before you can work on getting better at it. After the first few backs he told me I have the moves correct I just need practice and experience and that this will come with time driving and having different situations to figure out how to dock. I think that the years of driving my 1 ton dumb with my 21 foot landscape trailor has been a great help in making some of the driving skills needed to move a big rig easier for MD to learn and accomllish. By the end of the day he told me that I'm ready to be put out on my own which I felt was a little quick but it's also the hope I had after taking this west coast trip.

So the day we return he speaks with the safety manager about my driving ability and when i finally walk into the office area the safety manager asked how the trip went along with the usual questions you might expect to get. After a few minutes he said well you probably want a few days off so how about I call you as soon as I find you your own truck and you xsn come in and take it home to set it up for yourself and we'll get you out on your first trip. Yahooooooooo I made it to where I wanted to be when we got back home.

Not sure what he did but you are legally allowed up to 20,000 on you steer axel in most states. The reason the 12,000 lbs is used is because it's the weight that is best for the tractor as far as wear and tare on the parts. Im not sure about this but I'm thinking that at 12,000 lbs it's probably the best weight range to have the best control of the truck.

Called my manager this morning to talk about a new trainer for me. He gives me two options, one is he can assign a women trainer doing the east coast runs to GA and FL or I can leave Saturday and head to CA but I'll be gone for almost 2 weeks. The wife isn't happy because she's still recovering from her accident and radation treatments. My friend at the company said it's a tough call but I should do the CA trip and maybe when I get back they'll assign Me my own truck and I can really start my career. I guess I have a decision to make before this afternoon. I'll keep you all posted on what I decide to do and if anyone reading this as any input it would be greatly appreciated.

Day 3 of the new career.

My driver trainer and I got up early and hit the road about 6 am. I could tell he was in a rush to get our back haul delivered and get back to the yard before the manager left so he could talk to him about not wanting to be a trainer anymore. When we got to the drop off he was tired so I drove the rest of the way home. Again he did the drop and hook and even went as far as pulling out of the yard before letting me in the drivers seat. As I stated earlier he just can't sit in the passenger seat and not have an anxiety attack. I totally understand where he's coming from. When we get back to the yard he let's me back the empty trailer into a spot, which again I was nervous as heck because knowing his anxiety was making me very uncomfortable. I get it straightened out and unhook, pull the tractor around to the parking area and park it. Help him get his stuff out of the truck and we head Inside. I clean out the garbage and by the time I get inside he's already talking to the manager. what I did hear him saying was all good about my driving.

On the way home part of the highway was closed and detoured onto a skinny two lane windy country road. I knew he was shaking and was nervous as hell with me driving. The speed limit was 40 but I drive down it at about 25 to 30 max. A lot of winding curves, and down hills and very very dark. Not a house light in sight. The detour was about 20 mies and he didn't peak a word but he did tell the manager how he felt and that I did an excellent job in handling the truck though it. He said he would be nervous himself if he were behind wheel. After explaining that he just couldn't be a trainer because of his anxiety I was told to call in the morning and he'll hook me up with another trainer.

Day 2.

We get up and fuel the truck up, hit the wash room to take care of some quick personal business and off we go. I ask the trainer when am I going to start driving. He tells me he's not sure I'm reday yet but it'll be soon. This is my first clue that something is just not right here. This guy was an owner operator for 25 years and retired out of Snider I think after 10 years With them. He's only driving part time until his wife retires in two years Plus he's just starting back to work after being off on injury the last 7 months so this is his first trip in a while. He is teaching me as we're going down the road and he's a really good teacher. He has the experience and the know how of the job because he's been around so long. After our first stop he finally tells me to get behind the wheel and drive for a while. It's about time I'm thinking. So off we go getting onto the highway and down the road. As I'm looking over at him he's not saying anything which seems strange because he's been telling me things about trucking ever since we started out. By this time I've already learned more from him in one day than I did in 5 weeks of CDL training school. So after about 5 minutes I notice his hands are shaking and he's still not saying anything. I asked him if anything is wrong and he tells me he just doesn't think he can do this. I don't know what to think so I ask him what he means. He tells me he doesn't think he can be a trainer (I'm his first student driver) and that it has nothing to do with me. Talk about putting pressure on me, my nerves just exploded and I instantly become very uncomfortable and a little scared that if I make one small mistake it'll get blown way out of proportion. He reassures me that he thinks I'm a great driver and that the manager that road tested me told him that he wouldn't have a problem with my driving because he though I was a very good driver and all I need is to learn the ropes and practice with my docking manouvors.

So I drive for about 3 hours and log about 200 miles. Speed limit is 70 so it adds up fast. We make a stop and he takes over again. We make our delivery early and swap trailers and take the empty about 70 miles to pick up our back haul. Once again he does the drop and hooks and all the docking which is what I need the practice at. Well by the time we get loaded with our back haul he's just about out of hours. It's getting late and will be dark soon so he tells me I'll have to drive. Off I go gain and head through town towards the highway. I drive for another 3 hours or so most of which is during dark and where we were the lines on the road you could hardly see. I think they used black paint to do line stripeing on this section of road, it was that bad. Had me shaking in my shoes for a while. As soon as we crossed the next state line the lines where white and bright, I thought I had just left my home state of PA because the lines were that bad. (Actually PA does a great job with road markings it's just all the pot holes and construction all the time)

Long story short he tells me we're stopping at the truck stop off exit 11 to spend the night. As soon as I cross the state line he said get off exit 4 and we'll spend the night there. So I exit and pull in the truck stop and start looking for a place to park for the night. There were a lot of open spots so I pick one and start to back it In. My trainer said in a bit of a snippy voice why don't you just let me do this so we can get settled for the night. I move over and he parks the truck. After we get settled a bit he tells me that he think I'm a great driver and I'll do very good as a driver the problem is that he is having anxiety attacks whenever he sits in the passenger seat and someone else Is driving. He again assures me that it has nothing to do with me or the way I drive, he said even at home if his wife is driving he gets the same attacks. Now we're 600 miles from home why didnt you just not offer to do any training. He told me several times he thought he would be able to do it but he just can't stop the anxiety attacks. So now every time I drove I felt very nervous not because of my driving but became of his attacks. I felt that if I made a mistake I would be marked as a bad student driver.

We ended up talking about it for a while and he again assured me it had nothing to do with me. The end of day 2 was very nerve racking but I got some driving hours in and we will be taking our back haul towards home tomorrow then back to the yard to speak with the manager. So far I'm feeling pretty good about my new career and I can't wait to finish my training and get assigned my own truck. Still hoping it will happen quickly but only time will tell when.

I'll post more later but for now it's late and I'm tired, tomorrow's another day hopefully with a new trainer.

Just got home a couple hours ago from a 3 day road trip. So my new career is officially under way and I'm hoping to keep it going as quickly as I can. Let me start with day one. We left the yard at around noon, (I know, late start but thats what the man wanted to do) and head to a Walmart distribution center to pick up an empty trailer. My driver trainer is doing the driving so far. With empty hooked up we head to our next stop not to fall away and drop the empty and pick up our load that's heading south. So far we've logged about 50 miles. We head for the highway and travel aabout 50 miles and a warning light comes on about the DEF system. The truck is loosing power so he pulls off the highway and stops on the side of the off ramp. I read an article and have watched several videos on these systems and I knew that it needed a forced regeneratiion to clean it up. While I'm reading the manual in the truck my trainer is on the phone with the shop. The mechanic said a regeneration is not going to fix it correctly based on the codes that it was giving us. so he tells us to go to the Volvo dealer back up the highway about 25 miles. Trainer doesn't think we'll make it but tells him we will try. We get there at about 40 mph and the dealership tells us that he thought we were going to get towed from there after we think it'll be fixed there. Back on the phone and over to the truck stop about 2 miles away to wait for a tow truck. They had another tractor towed up for us. So 4 hours later he shows up and tells us he told the mechanics that the truck was unfit for him to give to us but was told that's all thy have so take it Anyway.

They should have listened because I've never seen a truck so filthy in my life. Fifteen empty soda bottles filled with "P" a Port-a John with I don't want to know what still in the bag. It stunk to high heck and if you touched anything your hands stuck to this sticky dirt all over everthing. Don't know how the driver lives in this thing. He is out on sick leave and based on the cleanliness of his truck I can see why he's sick. The smell is enough to burn the hair out of you nose and it was hard to get any sleep when your smelling what we were smelling all night. I started a maintenance sheet on the truck but was finding so many things that needd to be fixed i ran out of room so i stopped and figured they'll figure the rest out. Plus its 80 degrees and the AC doesn't Work. Well by the time we cleaned it out as best we could and transfered our stuff over it was midnight so we decide to get some sleep and start in the morning.

So much for my first day as a trucker. I was so bummed out but kept a positive attitude and told myself tomorrow is a new day.

Thank you Mr. Smith. Can't wait for Monday to get here and hopefully getting on the road finally.

My friend that works for the same company has been a great help. So far he's given me his old CB (to borrow until I get my own), a booklet with a listing of truck stops for ever state which he has made notes in about other useful things in the area. Today he gave me his old (2014) Rand McNally deluxe road atlas with lamanited pages. That alone saved me about $50. So I'd like to thank him, ( thank you Buddy) that's his nick name.

All I need now is about another $1,000 or so when I get my own rig assigned to me and I'll have everything I'll need to be comfortable and entertained in the truck. lol