Seeking Advice About Backing

It's time to go solo. That's your solution. You'll learn to back by doing it on your own. That's the way we all learned it. That's honestly the only way you'll learn it. It's one of those things that has to be done repetitively before you can grasp the concepts.

Cut the cord. You're ready.

I’m another tnt trainee that can’t back and I’ve got 40,000 miles and still making 700$ per week. I drive between 550 to 600 miles per shift. When I ask for help backing he backs. I think maybe I’ve backed 4 or 5 times. Honesty I don’t see this going any where. When I asked him about upgrading he just says I’m not ready.

When I asked him about upgrading he just says I’m not ready.

Screw that trainer Donna!

You need to call Stan and tell them you are ready. You are being played. Get off that truck!

When I asked him about upgrading he just says I’m not ready.

Screw that trainer Donna!

You need to call Stan and tell them you are ready. You are being played. Get off that truck!

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your trainer is a lease operator Donna.

I'm in the reefer division.

As SOON as I completed my. 30,000 TNT training miles WITHOUT going back to Springfield to UPGRADE I started receiving an additional $300 in additional "Delay Pay" for a weekly total of $1,000 gross per week.

But let's you and I play a game if "What If?"

What if you and I went back to Springfield?

What if you and I up grade?

What if you and I Non ~ backing, TNT Upgraders ~ Upgraded and were to team drive with each other or someone else.

According to Prime itself, team drivers average around $1300 per week. Automatically you've put an additional (on average and potentially) an extra $600 per week / $2400 per week ($600 × 4 weeks)

That's right here on the very cusp of the beginning of the Holiday Season. A potential extra $4800 (or more) before the first of the year.

That alone would go a long way towards a lot of things. Catching up, holiday shopping, allowing you to take home time, outfitting your own truck for own truck when you go solo

My Lease Operator tells me then next month and half is the busiest part of the year for reefer.

He also likes to brag about how much net income to the tune of $4 to $6k a WEEK he taking home?

I to have been on the receiving end of negatives illtempered, and given very limited opportunities to back (10 half of which I was told to "Get the $%÷= out of the way)

Mind you I'm doing just FINE running The Interstate every night for up to a combined 5500 to 6000 miles a week. In other words TWICE what he would be able to run on a good week SOLO.

He's saying your not ready? I've been told I'm not a truck driver. A long with sone other language, words, comments, expressions ANYONE familiar with being in abusive relationships would recognize.

Call your FM and tell him to route you back to Springfield. Speak with Stan, if HE feels your not ready? Ask for ANOTHER trainer.

Good luck

Dan

I am not a driver, so let that be clear. But, looking from the outside, let me offer you and possibly Donna a small piece of advice. I agree with all the people who have told you to get off the truck and go solo. In my unofficial opinion, what is going to change if you stay on the truck? If you have driving all the miles necessary to upgrade and have received little backing experience, I highly doubt things will change in the next 30k, 40k or 50k miles. In my military career, I have dealt with impossible, toxic leaders and the best way to deal with them, is separation if possible.

You have endured the dreaded training, why not reward yourself, and upgrade. Best of luck.

Chris

Also, to give a little perspective on the timing for upgrading to solo, after graduating from truck driving school I went on the road with a trainer for two weeks before going solo and I was perfectly fine. There are still companies, I think Schneider is one of them, that only keep you with a trainer for a couple of weeks after getting your CDL before putting you solo.

Again, in this industry you learn by doing. You'll pick up some important and helpful insights from your trainer for a short time, but after that it's just a matter of getting out there and doing it yourself. It's always going to feel like you're in way over your head when you go solo no matter how much time you spend with a trainer because you haven't been running the show yourself. The sooner you start learning to handle things yourself the better.

Dan wrote:

I just dont do so we'll under pressure from a "trainer" who hasn't any patience, tells me to "Get the #$^^ out half the time, (I should mention, another Prime driver witnessed one of these episodes at a SAM'S in California. Called Safety. The result was he was told he couldn't do THAT, and I was considered a "Co-driver" even though I've yet to upgrade and still drawing TNT training pay + $300 A week "Delay Pay")

I totally agree with your safety person; your trainer backed the truck with you logged-in as the driver. Wrong. Don’t let anyone do that to you again. If something happens, you could end up responsible for someone else’s mistake.

I actually stopped my truck because this thread is on my mind. I want to add a few comments in here concerning training and getting to the point of being ready to go solo.

Most everyone who makes a start into this career has misconceptions about the training. We think our trainer is going to "teach" us everything we need to know so that we can become successful drivers. Once we learn those things we will then be good to go solo. In reality the things we actually "learn" from our trainer are things like how to communicate effectively with dispatch by using the proper macros on our communication tablets, the proper procedures for fueling at our designated fuel stops, and how to check in and out at various shippers/receivers and get our paperwork processed properly when we finish a load. We basically learn our company's policies and procedures for being dispatched, getting the customers served properly, and doing all that in such a way that payroll knows what to pay us come payday.

While we are learning all these important details of our new job we are continually being exposed to handling a big rig. We came into this with the rudimentary driving basics already established, otherwise we wouldn't hold a CDL. It is all a "learning" process though very little of it is an actual "teaching" process. What I mean is that the exposure to the driving is what helps us develop our skills and understanding of how to commandeer one of thes wonderful machines. It's not so much what our trainer is teaching us, but the exposure we get to the experiences. After all, most of our trainers are sleeping while we are driving. How does that benefit you? It benefits you because you are being exposed to the experiences that help shape you into a professional driver.

Here recently we've had several of you complaining about not being taught to back the truck. That's unfortunate, but very common. Did that trainer teach you to drive forward? I doubt it. You can see what's going on when driving forward, so you knew to make adjustments if you were getting out of your lane or maybe if traffic was slowing ahead of you. Your trailer naturally trails or follows you when going forward and you quickly learn about off tracking when you see in your mirrors that your about to take out a light pole or a parked truck. You learned by doing. Oh, I realize you had a trainer there with you, but think about it - you learned it by experiencing it repeatedly.

Now for some reason we all think the trainer should be teaching us to drive backwards even when that is not how we learned to drive forward. The two big differences are that we can't really see what's going on too well, and that whole concept of the trailer following us gets thrown out the window. Now we are pushing the trailer instead of pulling it. Now instead of us steering the tractor, we're actually required to steer the trailer. That is completely contrary to everything we've learned by experience so far and it throws everything into confusion. You've got to keep making yourself try it, even though every thing about it is contrary to the way you've been processing your learning this far.

Your trainer can only explain it, or tell you which way to turn the wheel, and that still will not "teach" you to do it. You will learn it the only way you can, and that is by continually exposing yourself to it. Fear keeps us from making ourselves learn this. I don't think we can lay all the blame on the trainer. We have got to make ourselves learn to back the truck, and it's far more comfortable to just not face the music, laying the blame on the trainer. This is the reason I encourage people to go solo. C'mon, you've driven 500 - 600 miles a day now for months! You are ready. The fears associated with going backwards are keeping you at earning about half of what a good solo driver can make. The only way to overcome those fears is to face them. What's happening now? You don't face them because your trainer berates you anytime you try. They know they can keep you on their truck making money for them. and this vicious cycle continues while you learn nothing about backing into a crowded truck stop or a challenging dock.

So what's the cure? You go solo, and you learn to back, because now you have to face your fears. Guess who else will be facing their fears? Your former trainer. They are comfortable having you on board. It's ludicrous for them to tell you that you are not ready to go solo when they are willing to sleep while you knock out 600 miles for them. They now have to face the fear of taking on an unknown person and their abilities or lack thereof. That's pretty scary. Fear is keeping everybody from moving forward, or backward, however you care to look at it.

If you want to develop your skills in this career you work at them daily. The actual skills of driving are not the ones that help you make money at this, but they need to be developed before you can move on to the greater accomplishments like trip planning for success and moving your appointments forward so that you can get more accomplished than the average driver. You guys can do this, but not if you allow fear to paralyze your progress.

Don't count on your trainer to get you any further along. Make it happen on your own. It will mean so much to you when you slay the fears that are holding you back.

What Should I Expect From Training?

Not ONLY Most EXCELLENT and OUTSTANDING Suggestions and Advice?

But Precious Petals of Wisdom which can ONLY come from YEARS of hard labor, thought and EXPERIENCE of those that spoken them.

Although it's hard for me to imagine at this point of ever seeing myself becoming a Trainer? If and when that day arrives, the Words spoken here would be some that I I would pass on to each and every one of my nervous, self doubting trainees. Indeed they should be inclusive in the training of each abd every new trainee.

I find them not only highly motivating but inspiring, as I'm sure many others do and will.

They ring true with TRUTH, and it is those Words that fortify me in my resolve to move forward.

I have three Main Goals at this early stage of early career.

1. Become and always strive to BE the Best that I can be and always be a Professional.

2. Dovetailed and hingelocked with the above, ALWAYS be vigilant, attentive and SAFE

3. To always be as highly efficient and productive as possible.

(Please feel free to add or suggest any others)

I may be wrong in my THINKING? But I believe if i focus on these three principals, daily identify my weaknesses and seek self improvement, dedicate and open myself up to never stop learning, improving?

The financial side will take care of itself.

Again Thanks for all the replies, suggestions, but most of all, the insights.

Truckers Truth and it's member's have always steered me in the right direction and shown me the correct path.

For that I will be always be indebted, and will repay you by passing it forward to others as you've have shared and passed it down to me.

An Early

Happy Thanksgiving

Merry Christmas

Happy and Blessed New Year to All

Be Safe