Profile For Alex

Gator, I agree that that's the policy with Werner but that wasn't the case with my trainer. This is what happen to me, Did my 3 day orientation in Dallas back in late July of 2003, last day of orientation met up with my trainer, picked up my bags from the room got in his truck, got the load assignment and off we went to pick it up in Arkansas. He drove down I-30 going east bound, first rest area we came to, he pulls over and tells me to drive. I drove for maybe 20 miles or so while he sat in the front seat and observed, then he said, it looks like you know what you're doing, tells me that there are no hills from there to our destination which was a suburb of Little Rock, Arkansas. Tells me to wake him up before we get to Little Rock, goes back to the bunk and falls asleep. Policy states that for the first two weeks you're not supposed to drive after midnight, well he had me driving all night while he drove during the day. We arrived in Jacksonville, Arkansas at a DC, did a drop and hook, and got rerouted that load was going to Tacoma, Washington. On the way up there, he left me at a truck stop in Sacramento, Ca. For two days and nights while he went and spent some time with his wife, I didn't mind that so much since he did leave me at a truck stop where I could at least get something to eat, take a shower and use the restroom. Delivered in Tacoma were told to deadhead to Portland, Oregon to pick up a load of batteries that were going to Denver, Co. While at the shippers in Portland, he hit another truck and blamed me, he told the driver of the truck he hit that he had not slept very much because of me. By this time I was pretty much done with him, I had to just figure out how I was going to get back home to Deep South Texas without any money. After we delivered in Denver, God was looking after me, we got a load assignment picking up there in Denver, a load of insulation and going to a town about 10 miles away from my house. I felt so relieved knowing that I was going to get off this guys truck, but once again, unlike the last time though, he left me in El Paso in the middle of nowhere, no food, no restroom or anything all while he spent a few days and nights partying. Came back to the truck one morning still smelling of last night on his breath told me to start driving to San Antonio while he slept and tried to sober up. After 10 hours of driving, finally arrived in San Antonio @ the Petro, got fuel, parked the truck and went inside and got myself some food. Mind you, all the while I drove for 10 hour, fueled and ate supper, he was asleep. I got back to the truck,I realized that I was close enough that if he wanted to kick me out, I could call someone to come pick me up. So I woke him up needless to say, he was furious that I had woken him up, I didn't cared, told him, it's your turn to drive, I'm out of hours and the load needs to be there by tomorrow morning. I went back to the bunk and slept while he drove and when we arrive at the truck stop about 5 miles away from my house, I called my nephew to come pick me up then I told him to go f*** himself. Next day, Omaha calls me and asks me what the heck is wrong with me, so I asked them about their policy about rookie drivers, when they're supposed to drive, for how long during the first two weeks and asked how long were trainers being trained and told them everything that had happen, they asked me if I wanted to go back out with another "trainer", and I said no. Got hired as a team driver with my brother-in-law with a local company.

I've done both team and solo driving in the past, therefore I can tell you that I prefer team driving to solo driving hands down. I completly understand about not being able sleep while the truck is moving, I can't speak for anyone else but myself but I got used to the truck moving while I slept, in fact, I couldn't sleep when the truck wasn't moving. Obviously you have to be paired up with the right team driver otherwise it's not going to work, in my case, my brother-in-law was my co-driver and also my trainer, I learned a lot from him. One of the things he would say was that "it's always better to have a second pair of eyes", having a team driver allows you to back in or out of tight spots much easier because you have someone guiding you, it allows you the flexibility of being able to depend on someone else if you get in trouble in certain situations or during the Winter Season and in my case, having him as a trainer as well as an experience driver, was invaluable. I'm about to start my solo career with Schneider next Monday 08/03/2015, I'm excited but also apprehensive to get back driving after being off for 7 years.

Hey Chris,

I've kind of understand where you're coming from and how difficult it is to make a decision that ultimately will have some consequences, but from what I've gathered, if you go into one division then wanna transfer for whatever reason, you can after 6 months of driving with Schneider. All you have to do is get approval from your current Driver Manager/dispatcher/driver engineer whatever they're called and your transferring Driver Manager/Dispatcher/driver engineer. I'm in the same boat, I also have a decision to make between regional-Southeast Texas or Bulk Division out of Houston.

Bryan D.

I also will be attending their "refresher course" in Laredo on Monday July 20, 2015. Keep me informed about what to expect, I've also been out of trucking for a while now after doing team and solo driving , I'm looking forward to getting back in.