New Driver Problems

Hey so to start I just wanna say this site has been a great resource for me figuring out about what it takes to be a trucker, what company to go for to get my CDL and whether I'd be good at it. Ok onto the content and questions.

I just finished my training with Swift and everything went pretty smoothly up until now. My first week solo has been kind of a rude awakening that I don't think my mentor really prepared me for. He's an owner/operator so there are a lot of things that work very differently for him compared to a company driver that I may not have caught on to.

I'll admit most if not all my screw ups this week have been my fault... My first load was a timed run with no set delivery date, should have been easy for a newbie, no real pressure but I pushed myself into a situation where I ran hard on my hours and ran out of hours during the delivery so I had to go to a "safe haven" down the road and return in the morning to finish and get an empty trailer.

The second load I feel like a planner kind of screwed me on but it's my fault too. I got this load of paper rolls from a mill, the trailer is filled pretty much at maximum weight and it took me forever and multiple tries to scale first off, and I finally had to just drive until I burned the excess weight of the diesel off of my drives in order to be legal. The planner also sent me the preplan to pickup at this place that was 3 hours away when I was already behind the pickup time. So I felt pressured to get there and didn't take time to do trip planning... My fault because the suggested route on the Qualcomm took me a couple hundred miles out of route after the pickup for fuel and this morning I got a call from my dm who did not seem too happy about that or the fact that I'm going to be late because of it.

So I'm not gonna make this delivery on time, my dm rescheduled it but I feel like I was really short on hours in the first place and I don't know if I would have delivered on time with any route because of the time it took me getting to this place, scaling it, and nearly running out my 70 every day. I'm getting like 9/10 hours back most days​ but starting from almost 0 on my 70. So by the time I do my pretrip I have about 8/9 hours a day to drive, starting from midnight most trips. I wanted to set my PTA to do a 34 hour reset after this load but apparently that's out of my control too as my dm also explained to me. It's about 1200 paid miles so it could be done in 2-3 days but I had to do lots of hill climbing in this very heavy load with a truck governed at 62 and in wintery conditions some places. Maybe it's my fault too for accepting the load or not countering it with a more reasonable delivery time.

I guess I wanna know first off if anyone else has experiences like this that they recovered from or do I sound like I'm just not cut out for this job? I've definitely taken away some hard earned lessons but I feel like I've made a really bad first impression and I don't know if I'll ever make up for it. I've staked a lot of time and money on this so obviously I don't want to back out until considering very carefully and giving a this some more tries. And the other question for you Swift company drivers is do you have any tips that could help me to improve? What I'm really most confused about is fuel routing, I don't feel like my mentor went over this with me. I understand that the Qualcomm routes and fuel stops are just suggestions and I should be making my own but what if I choose a route that doesn't have any of the approved fuel stops on it? There was something he said about authorizing fuel stops but he couldn't show me really, he buys all his fuel wherever and whenever he wants. I don't want to call my dm and sound like even more of an idiot which is why I'm posting this here...

I may have been in too much of a rush to get off my mentors truck because he had a very grating personality... But I feel like he was knowledgeable and I got the basics down. I know what I should be doing but I guess I was a bit too eager to please and show that I could drive long hours and miles without bothering to do the other parts. Thank you in advance for reading this and for any helpful information you might give.

I think it may be more of a matter if time management than anything. Surely you aren't staying on duty the whole time you are doing a live load or live unload, but I've heard of rookies actually doing that, eating up their hours on things that don't pay.. Check in, get in a door then go to bed, logging yourself in the sleeper or just show "off duty" if it won't take that long. If you have any questions about elogs and HOS rules, ask away.

Yes you're definitely right about that, and my mentor did show me lots of tricks with logging, only showing 15 minutes for pickup/delivery, showing breaks if you are held up a little on a live load/unload so you can leave with a full 8 etc. I'm a little wary of doing that too much as a new driver because I feel like I'll be under extra scrutiny, so yeah I did end up showing a bunch of time on duty scaling that load because otherwise I'm afraid someons gonna wonder what I was doing there all that time.

Preserve your 70 at ALL costs. That is your livelihood and the ability for you to move freight. No one will question what you are doing as long as the freight is on time and delivered safely.

Geeky, welcome to the forum. You came to the right place. First breathe. You did the right thing by taking responsibility for your actions and inexperience. If you read through these forums, you will see you're not alone. Just type rookie mistakes in the search bar. You DM knows you are brand new. Don't be afraid to ask your questions. Take your time and plan. Use everything you have available, GPS, quailcom directions, atlas, google maps, and anything else you can come up with. Then go. Take the time to plan, it will make your trips shorter in the long run. Good luck to you.

First things first, BREATHE and RELAX. I want you to do these 2 things. Next you are doing good, everything in the beginning can be very overwhelming. I know exactly how you feel.

My mentor taught me alright, but I had to teach myself how to trip plan. Make sure to always accept loads and counter them, the only time I declined when I was OTR was when a load would keep me away from home or send me farther from home when my hometime was near.

When it comes to routing follow what they want unless the fuel will take you farther out of route. Sometimes this is the case because there may be nowhere to fuel in an area or they are just trying to save a couple more cents. Once you get more familiar with places you can make the choice, but I usually try to fuel where they want me to. Only time it changes is if I have enough to make it delivery and there is a place close enough to fuel at near delivery if I'm pushing my fuel lower or if the truckstop they want me to go to is a fustercluck.

Also another thing with routing, shorter doesn't always mean better. Shortcuts can be suicide. I take Shortcuts on my route with walmart out here in new mexico, but only because I am from here and know the road I am taking. Being that you are new you should definitely follow the Swift routing as closely until you get more familiar with things.

Scale every load, especially if it's over 35000 pounds. DO NOT take a shortcut on scaling, SCALE, SCALE SCALE. Now why am I a lunatic in saying this? Well I got a 1200 dollar ticket courtesy of the state of Illinois on my birthday! So always scale!!!

Mac 22 is your friend when running late. Things happen, just let them know so they can let the receiver/shipper know.

When in doubt GOAL! No need to look cool, I rather hold up someone by being safe backing in, then holding up the whole lot because I hit someone. Which I did on my 9th month solo. It's not worth it.

My best word of advice to you is this, TAKE YOUR TIME! I AM dead serious, do not rush yourself. When you rush yourself it will lead to doing unsafe things. All the mistakes I have made were due to this.

The first year is tough. Just hit a year one week ago. It's an emotional Rollercoaster and will be very testing. It is up to you to be as safe as possible and survive. As long as you don't hit anything, you have won.

We are here to help man, everyone helped me and now it's my turn to help others. What terminal are you out of btw?

Good luck and be safe!

This is how I was taught to log... Your mileage (or company) may vary lol.

7 min pretrip 7 min post trip 7 min load or unload 15 min drop hook 5 min scaling Actual time fueling

Everything else was driving, in the sleeper, or just off duty

An 8/2 split can save a delivery or load appointment. Basically, if you need a 10, but that will make you less than 2 hrs late, go into the sleeper for 8 hours. It will stop that 14 hour clock during that 8 hours, preserving all your remaining driving time plus any off duty time you logged. Then, before your remaining time is up (after your 8) take a 2 hour break off duty or in sleeper.. makes no difference, but it will be like you took a full 10 hour break (from the time you began driving after that 8 in the sleeper).

Confusing I know, but for giggles try a split break sometime so you can see how it works. Check your HOS at the end of an 8 in the sleeper.. can be a huge help in a pinch.

And like others said. Breathe, relax, and take it slowly. When you feel rushed you will be more likely to make mistakes and if you get flustered, that in itself can cause even bigger troubles. Hang in there and it WILL get better. I promise. Those first few months are very overwhelming even when you know what you were getting into. We've all been in your shoes and yes, scale everything (that's my company's policy anyway) because that's one less thing you have to stress about when you know a your legal-- its a good feeling and such a relief when you near those DOT scales.

We're all here for you and cheering you on!

First things first, BREATHE and RELAX. I want you to do these 2 things. Next you are doing good, everything in the beginning can be very overwhelming. I know exactly how you feel.

My mentor taught me alright, but I had to teach myself how to trip plan. Make sure to always accept loads and counter them, the only time I declined when I was OTR was when a load would keep me away from home or send me farther from home when my hometime was near.

When it comes to routing follow what they want unless the fuel will take you farther out of route. Sometimes this is the case because there may be nowhere to fuel in an area or they are just trying to save a couple more cents. Once you get more familiar with places you can make the choice, but I usually try to fuel where they want me to. Only time it changes is if I have enough to make it delivery and there is a place close enough to fuel at near delivery if I'm pushing my fuel lower or if the truckstop they want me to go to is a fustercluck.

Also another thing with routing, shorter doesn't always mean better. Shortcuts can be suicide. I take Shortcuts on my route with walmart out here in new mexico, but only because I am from here and know the road I am taking. Being that you are new you should definitely follow the Swift routing as closely until you get more familiar with things.

Scale every load, especially if it's over 35000 pounds. DO NOT take a shortcut on scaling, SCALE, SCALE SCALE. Now why am I a lunatic in saying this? Well I got a 1200 dollar ticket courtesy of the state of Illinois on my birthday! So always scale!!!

Mac 22 is your friend when running late. Things happen, just let them know so they can let the receiver/shipper know.

When in doubt GOAL! No need to look cool, I rather hold up someone by being safe backing in, then holding up the whole lot because I hit someone. Which I did on my 9th month solo. It's not worth it.

My best word of advice to you is this, TAKE YOUR TIME! I AM dead serious, do not rush yourself. When you rush yourself it will lead to doing unsafe things. All the mistakes I have made were due to this.

The first year is tough. Just hit a year one week ago. It's an emotional Rollercoaster and will be very testing. It is up to you to be as safe as possible and survive. As long as you don't hit anything, you have won.

We are here to help man, everyone helped me and now it's my turn to help others. What terminal are you out of btw?

Good luck and be safe!

Well I can safely say I haven't hit anything... I did send a mac22 that's when my dm called to chew me out. He told me don't trust those computer generated routes; it sent me from Eastern Washington on i-90 to get to i-15 south to LA. I can kind of see how that's inneficient compared to another route I could have taken but not by much and thought I was following an approved fuel route. I had another fuel route in Las Vegas I guess I was supposed to take.

They must have wanted this on time and I guess the problem is I did it from a location where no drivers were available for a t call to come get it from me... But then a few minutes later I get a Qualcomm message saying it's been rescheduled so it doesn't seem like too big a deal.

My impression coming into this job and from the orientation was that they just had a "**** happens" kind of attitude when it comes to freight being delayed or late. My mentor and I used mac34 all the time to adjust the ETA on loads and it didn't seem to be a problem. I don't know if I wanna say what terminal I'm out of lol. It seems like a really small one and maybe they are trying to improve their image because my fleet leader is always putting out these messages about the wrecks people are getting in and too many people are bronze status and ****. Maybe I need to move terminals.

I can definitely say I scaled it correctly that's the one thing I made sure to get right, Iam not getting fined. I reweighed on a cat scale to be sure. Just have to be sure not to buy too much fuel or it will put my drives over.

This is how I was taught to log... Your mileage (or company) may vary lol.

7 min pretrip 7 min post trip 7 min load or unload 15 min drop hook 5 min scaling Actual time fueling

Everything else was driving, in the sleeper, or just off duty

An 8/2 split can save a delivery or load appointment. Basically, if you need a 10, but that will make you less than 2 hrs late, go into the sleeper for 8 hours. It will stop that 14 hour clock during that 8 hours, preserving all your remaining driving time plus any off duty time you logged. Then, before your remaining time is up (after your 8) take a 2 hour break off duty or in sleeper.. makes no difference, but it will be like you took a full 10 hour break (from the time you began driving after that 8 in the sleeper).

Confusing I know, but for giggles try a split break sometime so you can see how it works. Check your HOS at the end of an 8 in the sleeper.. can be a huge help in a pinch.

And like others said. Breathe, relax, and take it slowly. When you feel rushed you will be more likely to make mistakes and if you get flustered, that in itself can cause even bigger troubles. Hang in there and it WILL get better. I promise. Those first few months are very overwhelming even when you know what you were getting into. We've all been in your shoes and yes, scale everything (that's my company's policy anyway) because that's one less thing you have to stress about when you know a your legal-- its a good feeling and such a relief when you near those DOT scales.

We're all here for you and cheering you on!

They briefly mentioned the slit sleeper to us in the academy but I guess they don't teach it because they think it's too complicated for people. I was thinking of doing one but didn't know how to log it. I'll have like 10 and a half hours in 4 hours, I could make the original delivery window but probably not have enough time to get in and get out to a truck stop or terminal in time.

In that case what I would do is to make the originally scheduled on time delivery. Check in log your check I time and go off duty. If it only takes them an hour, you've got an hour to Jill before you can roll again. Certainly not the end of the world. If they drag their feet and take 2 hours, your golden.

Even if it's one of THOSE places that says you can't take a break there.. it's not like you'd need a full 10 and they can't legally demand​ that you move your truck off their property. In cases like that, we call our company who then contacts them to inform them of the rules and also kindly tells them if they tow the truck, they will be eating that bill.. not my company lol. I've never known one to tow one of our trucks.

If you do have to take a break there, just try to be cordial and stay out of their way as much as possible. Call your company if they insist you move your trand and have no legal time available to do so.