My Move From Regional To OTR, Rollin With The Punches
Topic 3551 | Page 1
Im going through training right now, also left a good job because I felt the call of the open road. My personal philosophy is is, just ride it out. Soon we'll be on our own and it will be a different story. Just learn what you can because remember, they do have that all valuable experience.
Funny thing is that I have been driving class A longer than my trainer I just never done flatbed before. You only need 6 months with Prime to be a trainer. I acually learn more from watching other flatbedders when we are at shippers or recievers. I even talked with a Western Express flatbed driver and asked a few questions and felt he knew his stuff. I will stick it out and when I get my own truck I will be ready. I will continue to watch and talk with other drivers as I feel my trainer is not qualified to train.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Yeah, TNT only requires 6 months experience. Pretty bad... But then again that is the "easy mode" type of trainer.
That's unacceptable. As a trainer we are required to provide our students with a clean living environment. Our trucks are inspected before we are certified.
If Stan found out about this he would revoke that trainers 'Trainer' status.
TNT:
Trainer-N-Trainee
Prime Inc has their own CDL training program and it's divided into two phases - PSD and TNT.
The PSD (Prime Student Driver) phase is where you'll get your permit and then go on the road for 10,000 miles with a trainer. When you come back you'll get your CDL license and enter the TNT phase.
The TNT phase is the second phase of training where you'll go on the road with an experienced driver for 30,000 miles of team driving. You'll receive 14ยข per mile ($700 per week guaranteed) during this phase. Once you're finished with TNT training you will be assigned a truck to run solo.
Even though my training experience sucks I like Prime as a company. We have been getting good loads and been running pretty much nonstop till last night when one of the airbags on the trailer started leaking. Down for repairs at the moment. But the TA I'm at is good and got a shower and did my laundry. Got stuck in that traffic in Cali from the bridge fire.
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After school I started with Sygma doing a regional route, home 2 days a week and good pay made $55k in that first year. Sygma puts is up in hotels and have two weeks vacation a year. So it was my brilliant idea to leave and go OTR.
So after reaserching and talking to several recruiters I decided to go with Primes flatbed division. 19 hour bus ride and 3 day orientation turned into 5 days waiting on a trainer (have to do 15,000 miles with trainer before I get my own truck). My trainer picks me up and turns out to be a chain smoker, I don't smoke, and no fridge in his truck. We been eating terrible junk and fast food. Stinking real bad in his truck and several bottles of pee pee on the floor, and he has an anger problem, always yelling at the four wheelers throws his phone when the service is weak. I need to get off this stanky a$$ truck.
Sygma said I could come back within 30 days and keep my seniority and I will get my one year raise. They actually tried to talk me out of leaving. So sounds like the answer is simple right grab a bus and back to Sygma. Heck no I'm a OTR flatbedder and love the job so far! Just don't care for the training situation. But I can see past all that and am half way through my training miles. I love the challenges of flatbedding and look forward to getting my own truck.
Only about a week and a half left on this stanky truck and I'm free. I will be upgrading in Springfield, can't wait.
Regional:
Regional Route
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.