Driver With Multiple Preventables In First Few Months But Clean Record Recently

I have been able to find posts in the forums of others that have faced a similar challenge but they all appear to be from 7 years ago so I’m starting a fresh new post for this age old question that I’m sure others have been through. So I know specifics are important so I will try my best and hope you forgive me if my post gets long. I currently have 22 months driving experience with my class A CDL.

I started out during the tail of the COVID-19 pandemic by applying with Schneider in 2021 at one of their get your CDL training academies. In 2021, as you may recall, our country was having supply chain problems and there was an extreme shortage of truck drivers.

I thought some of these companies were even advertising 100k p/yr so why not give it a try? But attending Schneider driving academy right at the tail end of the most extreme pandemic in US history turned out to be affecting the training I received. Specifically Schneider was extremely short on instructors on one hand while on the other they were ramping up recruiting of new drivers like crazy.

The result was per 1 instructor that might normally have 10 students, they suddenly had 20. The reason I mention this is because now that I been in the business for almost 2yrs I can say the one thing Schneider did NOT teach me in driving academy was that it’s extremely important to take your time when you are doing an alley dock back and do it as slow as possible.

Instead because of the 20 trainees to 1 instructor Schneider was doing super fast ally dock back training that had a time limit so they can let 20 trainees practice in 1 truck before the AM or afternoon shift ends. As soon as I passed my CDL road test and got my CDL, Schneider put me to work right away. I was solo on the Target dedicated account, delivering mostly in MD and VA.

Although it might not have been as tough as Dollar General, this was still a very tough account to throw a newbie on in my opinion. Right after the pandemic Target was expanding their receiving capacity by parking numerous cargo containers in their receiving areas leaving less room for truckers to ally dock back. Also Schneider would often jam pack 3 drop and hook assignments into one work day of 14hr (11hrs driving) without being able to use Personal Conveyance. So you had to complete all your work in a rush.

As a newbie who was not taught to ally dock back slow and in my case my career fresh out of GYCDL training 8/21-9-21 from Schneider resulted in 2 preventables in 12/21. 1st preventable, I was bobtail in Target dist yard waiting for my trailer to load for a delivery near the end of my shift and rushed to follow the mule jockey who took my trailer after it loaded and I forgot I was parked next to a pylon that I hit with my tractor which just cosmetically damaged the passenger side fuel tank cover molding.

2nd preventable happened again during another rushed 3 drop n hook day where I had to alley dock back in one of Targets tightest receiving yards that was made smaller by 4 cargo containers parked there AND the driveway to the receiving area was shared with the entrance to BoJangle chicken restaurant next door. In the rush of waiting for hungry BoJangle customers, I accidentally slightly bumped the empty trailer I parked to take away.

Preventable #3 was actually a real vehicle accident where I was on a 4 lane highway approaching a tunnel, my navigation had kept repeating “stay left” but the sign for the tunnel said all trucks must use right 2 lanes, so I was in a middle lane looking first to change to the right 2 lanes, I didn’t see any vehicles in my mirrors, so I turned on my turn signal and started to change lanes and a passenger vehicle must have been changing lanes from right to left out of my view in my blind spot and it made contact with the front passenger steer wheel of my tractor. There was no injury, no tickets issued, and no vehicles required a tow. However there was damage to the drivers door of the passenger vehicle.

Then as for preventable #4, again it was a 3 drop n hook day at the very end of my shift I was just about to hook the last empty trailer I was to haul away when I noticed the store did not complete unloading merchandise. So the client made me un-do that last set of drop n hook I just completed at the end of my shift and asked me to put the empty trailer back and bring the loaded trailer back to the DC. So with not enough time left on my clock, and no option to use Personal Conveyance, I rushed. Somehow there ended up being damage to the 5th wheel release arm. So Schneider let me go after 10 months.

I know I am extremely lucky that Western Express hired me after only job searching for 3 weeks. The good news is that everything at Western Express is WAY better than Schneider. No micromanaging safety directors breathing down my neck about setting off an accident avoidance sensor from almost hitting a shadow. Best of all my most recent 12 months of my driving record is clean. No preventables, no moving violations and no accidents.

However Western Express pays per mile and their rate is low in the industry and like others they seem to keep recruiting tons of new drivers. They are also getting less and less freight delivery orders so my paycheck has been shrinking for the past 2-3 months. So I have applied to switch to several trucking companies that denied my application. Which companies should I try instead?

Welcome to Trucking Truth. I am going to get right to my opinion of what your driving career needs, which is 2 solid years of incident and ticket free driving.

In my personal opinion, you need time out with a trainer on the road. I think you have just been lucky not to have any more incidents. Maybe you are more careful now, but I think there are habits you may have that a trainer could help to improve.

Just to pick something out for the sake of discussion. Your roadway incident when you were changing lanes. People don't realize it, but that front right steer tire is a truck driver's worst blind spot. It's the hardest blind spot to double check. I don't think that vehicle came in from another lane. I think you just didn't see the vehicle. It takes 1 or 2 seconds to check that spot by raising up and looking over. That's just an example of something to learn from a trainer on the road.

I am not going to suggest any companies because I think your best play is to stay with WE and tough it out, unless you are willing to try starting out in a refresher program with a training company.

Thanks for your feedback. I myself agree that there must be a blind spot for when a low profile passenger vehicle is sitting just next to your passenger side steer wheel. I’m not sure if standing up every time I need to change lanes towards the right would be safe for me to do. The adjustment I have made instead is, 1). when possible just stay in the right lane always, 2). As corny as it seems, literally follow the 10 second rule of changing lanes meaning I allow my turn signal to be blinking for 3 full seconds before I even start to transition to the right lane, then I slowly and gradually use the remaining 7 seconds left to transition to the right lane. I’m at a truck stop now and noticed there are so many truckers that appear to add on an additional mirror above their passenger door tilted down. Is that mirror meant to see the blind spot that the side mirrors and front fender mirror usually misses?

Welcome to Trucking Truth. I am going to get right to my opinion of what your driving career needs, which is 2 solid years of incident and ticket free driving.

In my personal opinion, you need time out with a trainer on the road. I think you have just been lucky not to have any more incidents. Maybe you are more careful now, but I think there are habits you may have that a trainer could help to improve.

Just to pick something out for the sake of discussion. Your roadway incident when you were changing lanes. People don't realize it, but that front right steer tire is a truck driver's worst blind spot. It's the hardest blind spot to double check. I don't think that vehicle came in from another lane. I think you just didn't see the vehicle. It takes 1 or 2 seconds to check that spot by raising up and looking over. That's just an example of something to learn from a trainer on the road.

I am not going to suggest any companies because I think your best play is to stay with WE and tough it out, unless you are willing to try starting out in a refresher program with a training company.

I currently have 22 months driving experience with my class A CDL.

Congratulations on that accomplishment! It is something a lot of folks never realize.

We welcome you, and really appreciate the time you took to load up your post with details. One of the most damning things about the trucking industry is that they just cannot afford to spend a lot of time on training new entry level drivers. They have found a convenient balance that works for them, but does not give all new drivers the confidence they need to get out here and immediately be performing like a professional. The trucking companies understand that, and they allow a certain amount of grace for new drivers. You were allowed four accidents, which was very generous by most standards.

The one thing they insist on from their new drivers is personal responsibility. After all, you are out here by yourself with no one supervising or watching what you do. Almost all new drivers have a minor accident or two. There are two things the trucking company wants to see when a driver has an accident. First is whether the driver accepts responsibility for their mistakes. Second is whether the driver turns the accident into a learning moment. If the driver can do these two things they can almost always keep their job.

I read through your post carefully several times. Every accident was blamed on either the training you received, or particular circumstances at the location of the accident. You also rather bizarrely placed some blame on not being able to use Personal Conveyance. You never shared anything that you learned from the incidents, and you always tried to minimize the accident by stressing how minor the damages were.

Lets just take the crowded conditions at the drop and hook locations. You basically blamed the fact that you bumped a trailer, which you had placed in a certain position, on crowded conditions and anxious Bojangles customers trying to get their chicken and biscuits for lunch. Do you realize how that sounds to a safety director as you are explaining it to them? Just in case you don't, it sounds really bad. It sounds like, "Here is a driver who is not taking his time to do things right." Remember, while you are playing bumper cars at the DC, there are tons of other drivers (both new and experienced) who have entered the same scenario and taken care of their business without incident. Had you talked about the mistakes you made, and spoken of how you realized you could have gotten in and out without incident had you done it a different way, you would probably have kept your job.

To be fair with you... I don't know how you spoke to the folks at Schneider. I only know what you shared with us. Typically we can gather a lot from what you post here. You can correct me if I am wrong, but they sure gave you a lot of chances to prove you were improving and learning. You just didn't put up the kind of performance they were needing.

I have every bit of empathy with you. I understand how you can be frustrated with a low paying job when you feel you can do much better. The hard fact is that due to the state of the economy, the trucking companies are really being particular about their new hires right now. You have a record that is counting against you. Your recent record is awesome! I congratulate you on that.

I agree that you just need to stay where you are for now. Keep building that safety record and get some more time built up on your record of safety. The tide will turn eventually. I don't know how long this will last, but it is difficult for folks with blemishes on their record to just up and change companies right now. You can always be putting out feelers and applications, but your focus needs to be on building your reputation and making sure you are learning from your mistakes.

Your current record says volumes about you. It shows that you are taking responsibility and learning from your mistakes. That is awesome, and I see real potential for you in the industry. Just keep it up. Keep moving forward and establish yourself while you are employed at Western Express. I started my career there and built a great foundation for my future trucking career. You can do the same.

I think it's great that you have found consistent work with a carrier. But as I read through your post, as well found a glaring lack of personal accountability and responsibility for the accidents and incidents. In my opinion, there's simply no excuse for a preventable.

In regards to the training, I too began my career at the tail end of the pandemic. I had a scant two weeks of training and was then solo. I picked up and delivered in hazardous places as all of us do.

One of the key differences though is that in keeping failure is not an option mindset, I called my supervisors if I didn't feel safe in an area, I got help for it. It's our duty to asses and mitigate potential hazards and respond accordingly.

They question of how to make more money should be "how can I maximize my income potential at my present company safely?"

I have a feeling that you are not yet maximizing ypur earnings potential.. some questions would be: Are you developing strong relationships with your driver manage?, Customers? Are you running as much freight safely and on time as possible? Since you are being paid piecework (by the mile) are you efficient and effective?

While I don't want to rehash a debate on hourly versus piecework, the core of this Industry revolves around your personal performance as a driver. Being paid based on that performance is a powerful indicator of how you are doing in this career.

I agree with everything Old School said so I won’t repeat any of it. My advice is also to stay with WE for now but for an additional reason. You admittedly had a rocky start to your career but you’re finally on a good track and building that great track record that’s going to eventually land you essentially whatever job you want…if you stay on it. Whatever you’re doing at WE is working for you. I’m assuming you’ve started taking your time more and you said you’re being more careful and that’s excellent. But changing jobs right now comes with a whole new set of challenges—different routes, customers, routines, equipment, dispatchers, etc. These things have the potential to trip you up. Not saying they will but you’re doing so great right now I’d honestly just encourage you to keep at it for a while longer until you have more distance from those incidents so when you do switch jobs you won’t just be looking for anyone that will take you. You’ll be looking for exactly what you want—hometime, pay, hours, type of freight…you name it.

I’ll also throw out there that things aren’t particularly great at a lot of trucking companies right now. We have a few members here with very good jobs who have been slower than ever the last several months. So if you jump ship you may not end up improving your situation after all

I agree with the others, Keep working on being a productive safe driver. Stay with WE. Because freight is down with every company. Companies that are recruiting can be very picky. My employer requires 2 years minimum experience, 5 years accident free, no more then 3 minor violations in last 10 years, no speeding tickets 9mph and over.

Thank you to everyone for your advice. I do take some amount of responsibility for the incidents I had straight out of GMCDL academy but as someone has also agreed upon, some companies are doing just the bare minimum to quickly throw warm bodies in trucking jobs and that is seems dishonest to pretend that is enough to properly prepare a newbie to perform perfectly straight out of the gate. Anyway my MVR is screwed up for the next 1 1/2 years and after being rejected by most of the higher paying companies I probably have no option but to stay at WE or else find another career. WE has been pushing me to become a trainer for them but since the health benefits are almost non-existent, I’m not sure if I want that increased risk of another new driver getting us into an accident. I know that sounds selfish but I doubt becoming a trainer will honestly pay anymore unless I go sleepless to supervise the trainee or go to sleep working like a team leaving trainee unsupervised. I think I’ll just need to cut back on living expenses. Maybe give up my rental apt since I’m always in my sleeper cab anyway.

I agree with everything Old School said so I won’t repeat any of it. My advice is also to stay with WE for now but for an additional reason. You admittedly had a rocky start to your career but you’re finally on a good track and building that great track record that’s going to eventually land you essentially whatever job you want…if you stay on it. Whatever you’re doing at WE is working for you. I’m assuming you’ve started taking your time more and you said you’re being more careful and that’s excellent. But changing jobs right now comes with a whole new set of challenges—different routes, customers, routines, equipment, dispatchers, etc. These things have the potential to trip you up. Not saying they will but you’re doing so great right now I’d honestly just encourage you to keep at it for a while longer until you have more distance from those incidents so when you do switch jobs you won’t just be looking for anyone that will take you. You’ll be looking for exactly what you want—hometime, pay, hours, type of freight…you name it.

I’ll also throw out there that things aren’t particularly great at a lot of trucking companies right now. We have a few members here with very good jobs who have been slower than ever the last several months. So if you jump ship you may not end up improving your situation after all

Schneider was very lenient with you. I would have thought they would have let you go sooner than they did.

Thanks for your feedback. I myself agree that there must be a blind spot for when a low profile passenger vehicle is sitting just next to your passenger side steer wheel. I’m not sure if standing up every time I need to change lanes towards the right would be safe for me to do. The adjustment I have made instead is, 1). when possible just stay in the right lane always, 2). As corny as it seems, literally follow the 10 second rule of changing lanes meaning I allow my turn signal to be blinking for 3 full seconds before I even start to transition to the right lane, then I slowly and gradually use the remaining 7 seconds left to transition to the right lane. I’m at a truck stop now and noticed there are so many truckers that appear to add on an additional mirror above their passenger door tilted down. Is that mirror meant to see the blind spot that the side mirrors and front fender mirror usually misses?

Welcome to Trucking Truth. I am going to get right to my opinion of what your driving career needs, which is 2 solid years of incident and ticket free driving.

In my personal opinion, you need time out with a trainer on the road. I think you have just been lucky not to have any more incidents. Maybe you are more careful now, but I think there are habits you may have that a trainer could help to improve.

Just to pick something out for the sake of discussion. Your roadway incident when you were changing lanes. People don't realize it, but that front right steer tire is a truck driver's worst blind spot. It's the hardest blind spot to double check. I don't think that vehicle came in from another lane. I think you just didn't see the vehicle. It takes 1 or 2 seconds to check that spot by raising up and looking over. That's just an example of something to learn from a trainer on the road.

I am not going to suggest any companies because I think your best play is to stay with WE and tough it out, unless you are willing to try starting out in a refresher program with a training company.

You don't have to stand up every time you change lanes to the right, but in heavy traffic, it would be wise to take an extra couple of seconds or so to check all mirrors AGAIN and to raise up a few inches in case that front mirror doesn't catch a passenger vehicle in that front corner. Something to consider is possibly raising your seat to give yourself a better view of all the areas around your truck. Without being able to see you in your seat and its position, I don't know if you are in the optimal position, but raising the seat is something you may need to consider.