Traffic Jam And Averitt Express

While I do not speak for Averitt Express it does look like one does have to have a CDL to work at Averitt Express. I say this as I did not notice in any of the literature or web site an ad for a truck driving school for via Averitt. I wa snot lookin for that specifically though and I would advise you to ck out their web site. My experience was I came as a recent graduate of a truck driving school(Midland College, Midland TX). For those types of drivers Averitt has a "student program" and like many companies that use recent grads it involves a few weeks of driving with a "finisher/trainer/mentor" before you are issued equipment. This is reasonable as a student has no real track record when it comes to professional driving and one of course needs further training after school.

I finished orientation and came home on Thursday and was assigned a trainer and met with him that day. I was able to get a nap in before I met up with Ken and we hit the road for that day and Friday. Friday evening I went home for my days off-Oh I think I am going to like this! I meet up with Ken again on Sunday afternoon and we will drive to Ardmore where Dollar General has its distribution ctr. We will sleep there and so we ready for a full week on Mon morning. We load up and then go out in TX, OK, and NM to different Dollar General stores to make deliveries. I am in training but normally am paid a cpm wage, a stop wage and a unloading wage. Most of the pieces are in roller carts and so unloading is not to big a chore. That is once one gets "in shape" as I guess I have been as my brother says a "couch potato" too for too many weeks. This will get me is shape for hiking I can say that-at least the upper part of the body and I will probably drop some weight. That will be good too.

One word on Averitt Trucks: WOW! Man that automatic transmission is fabulous! I have been shifting perfectly every time I drive. It took about 5 minutes to get used to and from then on its smooth sailing. I did not notice that I lost any of my Macho Man truck driver image at all. In fact, I think it helped it. I start out from a stop, no grinding, shifting at the right rpm and speed, down the road I go it looks good, feels good, is good. The truck has a brake pedal and a accelerator. That's it. No clutch or big gear shift. Some models still have a clutch I have heard. I noticed that the trans still assists in slowing down by shifting down when you slow, it's just the greatest thing. A driver still may shift manually but there is no conventional stick shift. I think this might get more folk into truck driving perhaps. Anyway, I use the cruise control also and it just works great. I am having a blast so far.

Thurs we went from Amarillo to Ardmore, OK. Friday morning we left Ardmore and drove to a small town in Texas called Childress for a del. Then on to Amarillo for additional deliveries and then home. My trainer says we will end each evening in Ardmore where I have a separate truck to sleep in. I turn it on as its APR unit (APR, EPR, anyway you know what I mean) is not working. So I fire it up and sleep like a baby in the bunk. I leave all my stuff there and work out of it each morning. My own little truck bunkhouse, ha, ha. This training is going to be nice with getting a break to go home each week. My wife picked up on Friday and we stopped at Taco Bell and headed down the hwy. One piece of advice-I have read talk about different drivers, students, trainees, etc., abut what kind of shoes or boots to wear and talk about steel/composite toe boots. I had a soft toe shoe on and one of the carts mashed my toe. No injury it was just a "little mash" if you know what I mean but I could tell that more was to come if I was not careful. Well, if you have read my web site you know I have had one toe amputated already due to a congenital birth defect. I have some feet problems and can't afford to make it worse. So came home and ordered a pair of composite toe boots. While Averitt has a catalog where one may order uniform shirts, pants, etc., from they also offer several pairs of name brand shoes and boots at a good discount. I took advantage of that last night and ordered me a pair of the lace up boots. I just mention this as it was on my second day that I kind of mashed a toe. And I was trying to be careful and all. So this is just my two bits on this discussion. OK, take care and in your driving be careful and don't create a

-Traffic Jam

One other thing-While I was waiting to start orientation last week I started over again with the High Road online cdl training offered here on Trucking Truth. Thanks again to Brett and all involved for this web based training that is made available here on Truckingtruth.com There is nothing like it and I really appreciate it.

Welcome to Averitt Traffic Jam! I was in Cookeville last week too. We were doing the finishing school training. We came over to where you guys were to steal some lunch Wed and Thurs. Yum.

Glad you are having fun up to this point. I have not met one bad person yet at Averitt. They, er, we really do try to make everyone feel at home. You are at what may be the most difficult point, riding with a trainer. Just be positive and understand he WILL test more than your driving skills and you will do fine. The first week or so is him evaluating you. After that, it is game on! It will go fast and you will have some fun along the way.

Looks like you are going to be a dedicated driver, right? I am regional out of Clarksville, TN.

Great job! Averitt is a good company. Used to deal with the local boys on LTL everyday. They worked their butts off, but the benefits out weighed it all. You definitely have a good start in your career. I wish you the best as the days go forward.

You will have some bumps in the road as they say, but stick it out. Use this forum to vent. It's a good tool. I'm thankful that it is here.

Good Luck. Looking forward to seeing how things go for you. We're here for ya. You have a whole team of drivers, TruckingTruths-Knights of the Road routing you on.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. One thing about this training is that each week I get to go home for a day or two off. That is a nice break from your trainer and so that part is great. Today will be a good day as I leave to re-join the trainer this afternoon AND the Cowboys and Rams are on! I wonder what the score is . . . . Oh, and so Thanks to Rolling Thunder and Tracey K. I'll re-visit TruckingTruth in a week or so. Until then be care in how you drive remember "All good kids love milk" and don't get in a

-Traffic Jam

Yes, I am dedicated supply chain driver. Dollar General account. I have just completed a week with my trainer. So I first did a thurs and Fri and then Sun-Fri and so only have 17 days left to train! I am still having a great time and my trainer is someone I really respect and like. This week we had some time to kill on Mon and so we went out into the DG yard and for 4 hours he had me practice Dock parking/backing up to dock from an angle. Ken did a great job and sure has a lot of patience. I can do it really good now and the other night we pulled into a Love's and he had me back into a slot between a couple of trucks. I put it right in the middle of the lane! Hats off to my trainer, Ken. Averitt seems just fine and I am making friends and having lots of experiences. I just bought a Road Carriers Atlas (Rand McNally) at a Love's. They have a rebate offer on right now that makes the price in the end as: $19.99 We had a busy week and I am very tired and that is ok. We were in OK and TX. Have not make NM yet but I think I go that way this next week. Each day of training we work out of the Dollar General yard at Ardmore and return there each night. Averitt has offices there and etc. I sleep each night in my own truck! I just fire it up on idle and snooze away. This is the accepted practice there and it works for me! We were coming through Clarendon, TX today and traffic was backed up for miles due to an oversize unit on a Truck. They actually had three trucks attached to this rig! One pulling and two pushing! It took quite a while for traffic to start up. We sat there and watched them lift wires over the truck and trailer AND disconnect the two stop lights so the vehicle could pass under. We had to wait while they re-attached them and got them to working again! All in all it was kind of fun watching all the action with the city, county and state and all the trucks and cars and vehicles. Stay of of a -Traffic Jam

When I say sleep in my own truck that is what it is. It's one that is not being used and I lock it when I leave. I am the only user in the truck and this is what they do there. Kind of nice. I had to stay out at the Dallas Service ctr one night and they arranged for me to use an Averitt truck there. These are clean and working trucks. Keep cool and stay out of a -Traffic Jam

OK, I am doing real well and things are going real nicely. I finished my second week with a trainer named, Brendan. So that gives me 7 days with Ken and 5 with Brendan and I have to do 25 days. This week I had to do my reset in Albuquerke, NM which was real nice. We were able to stop in Amarillo and meet up with my wife Sarah and that was really neat. That was on the way here. We had four deliveries here in Albuquerke and then I was able to retire to a real nice motel. I talks with the office I found that this week I will be assiged my "own" tractor and supposedly will continue to train but in this truck. We will return to Ardmore each evening and so my mentor/trainer will retire to his own truck to rest in. Cool, huh? Also, fuel card, etc., etc. Things are going so well that I bought a GPS for trucking unit and am just real excited and all. I feel my body is responding to the unloading and am slowly getting in shape so to speak and all. I think that the unloading is actually a real nice break from the driving. And as we are paid for it its just fine. It fits in with my plans to return to hiking in the Spring. I drove on Sat from Ardmore to Amarillo and then my instructor took over for the run to NM. I drove from Ardmore to and in OK city this last week also. Also on Sun did a lot of the driving here in Albuquerke and so I feel like I am getting good experience. I find that my backing is getting easier and easier all the time. I guess my confidence is growing. I decided this week to watch that overconfidence and all and continue to be REAL careful. Take care all and watch out you do not get stuck in a

-Traffic Jam

Hey sounds really great! I was on the Dollar Tree account with US Xpress for a year one time so I know exactly what your job is like. It can be brutal at times, but it does indeed pay pretty well. Just be super careful! A lot of guys get hurt on those accounts because they're not being careful enough when unloading. Junk falls on your head or you get your hand squashed or whatever. So just be real careful.

But it sounds like things are rolling along nicely for ya! Keep doin what you're doin!

Thanks Brett. I already wear my contacts when unloading as I had a box hit my glasses one time. I now added some other stuff to make life more enjoyable on the road. I did get a truck assignment-a Volvo and it is swell! I've got it mostly all cleaned up and everything. It has almost 250,000 miles on it and works like a dream. I purchased a SiriusXM today to add to it and just feel like things are going smoothly. I only have about 9-10 days left of training and then I'll be on my own. I feel real fortunate and blessed to have this opportunity so want to make the most of it. So far I have had a couple of trainers-both excellent and real supportive: Ken and Brendan and I have enjoyed both of them immensely. I have learned so much from being with them and working side by side with each of these fellows. It's been a great process so far but I do look forward to it being over with. This last week we returned from Albuquerque to Ardmore, OK. Then did some runs around Ft Worth on Thurs and then returned to Ardmore. Picked up a trailer and ran to Amarillo. Made the dels today (Fri) and I am home now. The trucks I have trained in and the one assigned to me have qualcoms and so we use electronic logs. I feel this is an advantage as it helps in communication with dispatch and all. This ought to have a positive impact on my work and assignments. Saw a store today where I driver was straight backing and ran along the end of the roof shoving the rain gutter to pieces. It looked like wadded up tinfoil. Dented the metal bldg also and left some rubber streaks on the sidewalk/curb. I hope I don't do that and plan to GOAL a lot (already do) and mainly I am going to try to not be in a hurry. I think that will help avoid this situation a lot. OK, thanks for reading and don't get into any or around any or make a -Traffic Jam