Prime's TNT (Train The Trainer) CDL Instructor Program

Hello everyone, I'm going to go ahead and to a thread on Prime's CDL instructor program (obviously) as I'm attending it starting today May 4th 2015. As with anything at Prime, I"m sure this will change by the time you decide to become a trainer for Prime but hopefully you will get the gist of what is coming your way when you decide to go. So without further ado.....

DAY 1 MONDAY I arrived at the Prime terminal in Springfield with a load being re powered on Sunday night and slept in the truck. You can check in to the Campus Inn if you'd like but will be paying for the room out of your own pocket that night if you do. ($56.00) Monday morning I grabbed the first shuttle leaving millennium at 06:30 and headed to the Campus for Smith Systems class which was held in the Dogwood room C-5 across from the Sim lab. That class starts at 0800. On the books it's supposed to go until 12:00 but we finished by 10:15. There were about 45 drivers in the class all attending the class for different reasons. Most were C seats upgrading to A. Then a handful of A seat company drivers switching to Lease. Then a handful of CDL instructors (like myself) and 4 people that either had too many critical events reported on their QC while on the road or were involved in an accident. I should mention there was 1 that came over because his truck was in the shop and wanted the $100.00 you get for attending the class.

After the meeting is over you are free the rest of the day. I chose to go back to millennium to grab my laptop and laundry bag that I didn't want to bring over on the shuttle in the morning. Now you may be wondering why I took the shuttle and didn't drive my truck? Well I am a company driver and outbound won't let you out unless you have approval from either FM or Line-up. I asked the guy in Line-up when I got in at 20:30 if I could bobtail over to campus and he said "No. You have to take the shuttle over." After class when I went to millennium I stopped by dispatch to talk to my FM (as I try to do whenever I'm there just to say Hi and let him see my face kind of thing.) If you're company and want to bobtail over, talk to your FM and have him put a note in the system if you want to take the truck. The dude in outbound (and I don't know this guys name) won't let you go, but your FM may, although Prime doesn't like it evidently. If you drive for Prime you know the deal ;)

I then walked over to the testing pad across from millennium and talked to a couple PSD students and a couple instructors to get a feel for what they do over there. I talked to a guy that just finished his first 2 1/2 weeks with an instructor and tested out a the week before but he failed the skills test because his instructor didn't let him practice when they were out on the road. The instructor backed the truck into every dock and every truck stop and didn't make time during the day to let the guy do backing maneuvers. Evidently this was the instructors first student so he didn't have a good handle on how to train someone. Well the guy asked for a different instructor and was out on the pad after getting a "crash course" in backing and was out to test. I mention this because it's a story I've heard too many times. Guys that get instructor certified and pull this garbage is complete crap IMHO. They do it for the paycheck only, without much regard to the person their training. If you just want the extra $300.00 a week and aren't committed to actually "instructing" someone then don't get into the program. You're doing yourself and your student a huge disservice. The guy was ready to give up on his career before it got started because he knew he wasn't ready to test out. I'll be the first to admit that I want the extra $300.00 a week, but I'm fully prepared to go the distance and not just train someone but make them a GOOD driver. I have alot of pride in my workmanship.

I then took a quick trip over to Prime East and watch and talk to a few people over there as well. Prime East is where the rest of your training is going to happen. You only go to the Campus for Smith Systems. So more to come. Day 1 is pretty easy.

DAY 2

I grabbed the first shuttle from Campus at 06:00 and headed over to Prime East for the TNT trainer program that started promptly at 07:00. Not much in the way of facilities over here. One restroom that's a one horse stall for the entire operation with about 20-30 people working here and the 30 or so drivers going thru the program. about half and half either just doing TNT training and the other half doing both TNT and CDL instructor. If you want to just be a TNT trainer, you'll get either a student that went thru the PSD and got their licence and didn't want to continue with their PSD instructor for one reason or another or the instructor didn't want to or couldn't continue with them. Or they're coming to Prime with a licence already from a outside school or no recent experience. If the student came thru PSD they only need 30k miles of driving. (this is total dispatched miles not driven miles. They get credit even when you do the driving) Or if they came from an outside school or no recent experience they'll need 40k miles. PSD instructors are getting a student (they want you to call them "apprentice") with a permit only. Most have never driven a truck.

This is an all day class that is supposed to last until 16:00. Ours went 30 minutes over because of all the material they need to cover and the plethora of drivers wanting to stop and tell their war stories of the road. This takes away from the material and will make the class go longer. Needless to say there were too many drivers wanting to tell stories so our class went over today. This class is all about the "do's and don'ts" of what to do with your apprentice. Everything from how to talk to them, give them positive feedback and encouragement as opposed to just telling them what their doing wrong. Covering sexual harassment stuff from a couple of different people. How many hours apprentices need before you can bring them back in to test. (75 hours behind the wheel time with no less than 25 a week) I'm not going to go into detail about everything they cover because I want to go to sleep tonight so if you have specific questions, leave a comment.

They class is given my Stan K, whom is an awesome guy. If you went thru PSD then you know him. They have a log auditor come over and talk about how to log your times while with an apprentice. And another woman goes over sexual harassment material and also a claims guy talks about claims. Also a guy from Abbacus talks about tax stuff and this is geared solely at the L/O. Don't ask me what the hell he talks about because I"m a company driver and have my own tax people and didn't really pay attention to anything he was talking about. He may as well have been speaking Japanese for all that I got out of that 45 minutes.

They bring you a tiny little turkey sandwich on a crescent roll, a bag of chips and a tiny bag of chocolate chip crackers. Yes you read that right CC crackers. And some fruit and vegetables. They have a vending machine with typical vending food and a soda machine but no change machine so either come over with a bag lunch or snacks and/or some dollar bills for the vending machines. They will also bring bottled water.

The entire class is given on a power point with no videos to watch. Everything you want to know about is going to be covered. This is also when you'll finally get a schedule for the rest of the week. The class ends for TNT trainers on Thursday and Friday for the PSD/TNT trainers. The last thing I'll mention is at the end of the day, Stan will tell you to go ahead, if you'd like and go by the Campus and talk with some PSD's and get to know them and start the interview process. I went into the SIM lab and talked with a few of them and watched them on the SIMS's. This is a real eye opening experience as every single one I watched is hammering the clutch to the floor, staling the truck, running over people and cars. You can really learn alot from watching these people. DO NOT laugh at them. Please remember everything you went thru when learning. One student saw my badge and came up to me to ask a question. He asked me: "Are these SIMS working right? When I was driving I was pressing on the brake and the truck wasn't slowing down." I said "if they weren't working right they wouldn't let you be operating them so I"m sure it was working right. How long do you think it should take to stop a truck?" He said, "I don't know 20 30 feet?" I then asked, "Well how fast were you going when the truck wasn't slowing down?" and he said, "Oh like 70 75 miles and hour." "Ahhhh" I said, "there is your problem. These things don't stop like cars man. And your here at prime and should never be driving a truck faster than 65. Watch your speed limits on these things and obey the speed limits." Then he asked, "There's speed limits on these?" So I don't know what instruction they had going into these sims but it's downright scary to think about. I know its a huge difference between a simulator and real trucks but man. Think real hard about the job you're undertaking when deciding to become a trainer. It's not just your and the students life on the line here it's the general public. This is very serious and should be treated as such. This really isn't about making some extra money on the road, this is about training another person to be able to drive a semi SAFELY and not kill himself, you or anyone else in the process.

And that is pretty much all there is to Day 2.

DAY 3 Wednesday

Wednesday starts at 0700 at the campus in the main orientation room C4 where most of us went when arriving at Prime for hire orientation. This is at the center of the campus building next to the restrooms but if you haven’t been to the campus recently, it has totally changed. All the computers that you used for the CBT’s (computer based training) are now in this room. Prime bought 5 more simulators so there isn’t any room for them in the sim lab anymore.

The class is about the pretrip inspection and starts with a powerpoint going over all the steps your apprentice will be tested on. This was eye opening to me since they have simplified the pretrip so much from when I first took it in 92 it’s almost a laugh now. The last time I took a pretrip was when I took my refresher course in Florida last June. This Missouri pretrip Prime uses is WAY easier than even that one. You’re in class with all the PSD students as well so this is a very huge class. After the powerpoint you’ll watch a 28 minute video of the pretrip itself. You don’t have to point out every component on every wheel and every axle. You start with the first couple of items in the engine compartment then move over to the next side of the engine compartment before you move on the the suspension and brake and wheels/tires. Don’t worry about having to re-learn this if it’s been awhile since you last had to memorize the pretrip. It’s way easier.

After that everyone will have lunch then meet in the parking lot of the campus with the PSD’s and the instructors will grab a student (or several) and start showing them the components on a real truck. Before now most have never seen an actual truck up close. You should be interviewing students now if you haven’t done so yet. I started looking on Monday. If you want to get a leg up on the rest, start talking to students when you get to the campus. Because today it’s pretty much game on in finding someone.

I drove my truck to the campus Tuesday evening, even though I should have had it there from the beginning. However if you’re coming to instructor class with a lightweight truck, let me tell you what I wasn’t told when or before I got here. When you get back to Springfield, check in with Kyla at Success leasing and get your name on the list for a full size truck. I went to millennium after class was over at 1500 and talked to my FM and asked him when and who to ask about this and he told me to go talk to her. I did and she put my name in the computer and told me there were no trucks available yet but would call me when she got one. Had I of done this on day 1, I may have had my full size by now so that I could start practicing with it tomorrow (Thursday) when you start learning the backing maneuvers on the pads at Prime East. I also found out today that you need to talk to Steve Larson about getting matched up with a student if you haven’t found one yet. If you don’t start interviewing and find a student, they’re going to match you with somebody that fits your needs. IE smoker/non-smoker, male/female etc.

I had a perfect candidate in mind, that lives only 4 hours from me but he’s been approached by several other trainers and sounds like he has someone else in mind that talked to him pretty much when he got off the bus. So it’s all about early bird getting the worm in terms of finding a student to take out with you. Like I said before, start working on this as soon as you get here. Find when the PSD have sim time and watch them. The guys in the sim lab don’t seem to have a problem with you watching the students and giving pointers to them. At least they had no problems with it today. A couple of the instructors even got on the sim’s to show a student how it’s done.

Not much to day 3. It’s all about learning the pretrip (again) and talking to students. Use your time wisely to find a good match. Remember, this pretrip you’re teaching the student isn’t about all the finer things we as experienced drivers look for on ours. It’s simplified and dumbed down to make it as easy as possible for a student to get their license. You’ll want to teach only as much as necessary so they can pass the test. The involved pretrip will come after this when they get their license and you take them out for TNT training.

Day 4 Thursday

Thursday starts at 06:30 at the East conference room at the millennium building. This is the room to the far side of the cafeteria. Make sure you are there BEFORE 630. If you get there right at 0630, you’re late! You’ll be in there with other trainers and their PSD’s so go in and sit down even if you see a bunch of unfamiliar faces.

Here you’re going to meet the examiners that grade your students on their CDL’s. They’ll take roll call of the students/trainers and assign them their positions on the test pad. After that an examiner will talk to you about what they’re looking for and re-stress the importance of being on time. If you’re late with a student you’ll go at the bottom of the list. And there is an average of 15-20 students testing out. Also a member of the security team will talk to you about hi-val loads. The meeting should be over in a couple of hours.

From there you’ll all head over to Prime East with your trucks and learn the practice pad. They’ll talk you thru the maneuvers and show you the marks of each maneuver so you can better instruct your student. I recommend taking notes when they’re showing you this so you don’t look like a tool later on, not knowing what to do. You’re not going to instill much confidence in your student if you gotta go around and ask people what you should be doing and asking what the markers are you’re trying to teach. They had a pad truck that stays on the pad and had a few trainers practicing the maneuvers as well. They also had a trainer grab their truck and hook up to a trailer and work on parallel parking. The trainer let quite a few people use his truck to practice. Hopefully if you’re coming in on the company side you’ll have your new full size by now. I don’t have mine yet. Now I’ll have to get evaluated on maneuvers tomorrow in a full size truck I haven’t driven in 10 months. And someone else’s I haven’t driven at all. Can't wait.

After lunch you’ll come back and either practice maneuvers or practice your pretrip with other instructors. Make sure you get that pesky in cab air break check down so you can teach a student. They’re going to evaluate the PSD trainers on Friday that you know it enough to teach it. If you can’t demonstrate you have a good handle on a pretrip or being able to actually do the maneuvers, they may not let you become a trainer. You won’t be tested, you can’t fail, but if they see you haven’t been taking what they’ve been telling you seriously, they won’t let you train. As well they shouldn’t. We have enough not so good people training from what I’ve heard.

This will go on the rest of the day. On the schedule it’s supposed to last until 16:00 but they let us go at 15:00 because everyone was walking around BS’ing with one another. They also inspected the TNT trainers trucks to make sure they’re clean and don’t have illegal stuff hanging on the windshield and dash. And also for cleanliness. Don’t come over here with your full **** bottles lying around and clothes hanging all over and trash all over your truck. TNT trainers are done with the class at this point. PSD trainers will be over here Friday for evaluation and practice.

And that’s all there is to it. Pretty easy day really.

If and when I go through the prime schooling is there any method to ensure to get a decent trainer?

It sounds a little risky to settle for luck of the draw kind of work.

Great read so far. I am stepping on the greyhound bus in Huntsville, TX right now to begin orientation on Monday (new driver).

-Jason

Sorry I'm a day behind on the last day of cdl instructor training. I've got a student I'm working with and was up late. I'll get to it tonight. Too address Jeremy and Jason....

The best way I recommend to ensure a decent trainer is ask this simple question: why did you get into training. If you get an answer of "I need the money." Keep talking to trainers until you find a better answer. If you find an answer like:"I enjoy training" or similar, you're instructor may have you're best interest at heart, not his/hers. Not to say everyone that has their own interest at heart will be bad trainers, but the likelihood is much higher. Ask questions like: "what is your plan to teach me how to drive? How are you going to teach me the pretrip? When am I going to drive?" Keep in mind it's a judgment call by the trainer as to if you're ready to back into a tight dock. Or drive in a city. But you'll never learn and be comfortable on test day if you didn't get chances to do these things. Don't let someone hand you the pretrip handout and say "study it." They need to be working with you to learn it. Not throwing it all in your hands.

Jason good luck to you at prime. I wish I could have taken a TT person with me on my initial outing. We'll see how well I can get my first student where he needs to be.

DAY 5 Friday

Last day of cdl trainer training is for the PSD trainers only. TNT trainers were free to go on Thursday. Started at 0700 at Prime East in the same classroom as Day 1. Here we went over the last things you need to know as far as how Prime wants to to instruct your student. (apprentice) Lead by example, don’t just tell them to go outside and practice the pretrip, you need to get out and go over it with them. When you drive you should be double clutching and explaining how you’re safely driving, hopefully using Smith Systems. And I'll go ahead and plug giving your student a link to the High Road Training ProgramPre-Trip Study Guide This only lasted an hour then we went out for the 2 instructor trainers to give you an evaluation of your pretrip skills and inspection of your truck. They don’t want you having GPS devices obstruction your students view and are looking for your tractor’s cleanliness. They really don’t want you to have a trashed out truck and **** bottles laying all over the place. If you can’t maintain a clean truck then it tells them you’re not a detail oriented person and may not fit as a trainer. I didn’t see them not pass anyone. If you’re weak on your pretrip skills they will advise you to study up on it. If you can’t do it, they may not let you take a student out until you have a good handle on what you should be doing anyway.

After your truck is inspected and they evaluate your pretrip, you’re free to head back to campus and get your student, or head to millennium and see Linda Brown and get a list of students waiting on instructors. The list will have their name, birth year, smoker/non smoker and state of residence and their phone numbers and lastly what division they’re signed up for (Reefer, Tanker, Flatbed). You can call and interview all or do whatever you feel like to make your choice of a student. It’s most advisable to take a student in your geographical location to plan home time. (Unless you like staying months on the road which I do not)

I had talked to a student from Florida but he elected to go with another trainer. I also talked to another gentleman from South Georgia but couldn’t take him because Prime lost his paperwork and he got reworked into next weeks class. Of the 7 I had to choose from there was one from Florida (my home state) however he is signed up for Flatbed so I’ll most likely just be taking him the first couple/few weeks to get him his license and he’ll look for a flatbed trainer after that. Not unless I can talk him into going reefer but I’m not going to force that issue. If he wants to freeze nuts in the winter tarping loads in the snow and wind, more power to him. Not for me. I respect and thank you all that do, that way I don’t have to.

Here is where you can grab your student and sign up for some pad time at Prime East and get him going on his backing skills. Or take him on the road and get them learning how to shift a truck. There is a place just down the street from Prime East known as “The Shifting Range,” that is an industrial street with a couple side streets with hardly any traffic. It’s got a long straitaway and the side streets to teach how to shift and make left and right turns. It’s Mustard Way in case you’re wondering. I also went out Saturday after my truck was in the shop getting a leak on the engine block fixed, which I noticed when I was assigned the truck. The only times available for the East pad were at night and the lighting up there sucks pretty bad especially on pad 3 where we got assigned. We tried for an hour after dark (and the pouring rain) and moved to pad 1 after another trainer and student gave up because of the rain. We worked until 2200 and I dropped him off at campus and headed back to millennium to get my truck back in the shop because they didn’t fix my interaxle air leak which caused me not to be able to lock in the interaxle.

So here it is Sunday, we hooked up to a trailer that you pick up from the East Pad and headed out to the shifting range for a few then I let him drive around Springfield. We went down Kearny then South on Glendale, West on Battlefield, North on Kansas Highway back East on Kearny. You can take your student wherever you like around town, I chose that route because of the many stop lights. We head out at 0300 tomorrow to repower a load heading to Ohio. Good luck to you if you’re heading into Springfield to become an instructor or you’re headed in for PSD or TNT training at Prime.

Excellent post so far. Would love to hear your internal dialog as you build your trainer skills. Over time I am sure you will find that describing or teaching in a certain way is most effective and passing that along might be helpful to all. Tell us the good and bad, the funny and not so funny. You don't need to use names as John or Jane Doe is more than enough. Making the decision to pass skills along to new hires is honorable if done for more than just money and I commend you. Better truckers on the road will result as a testament to your sacrifice.

Thank you for the information I'm trying to absorb all the information I can right now about their program. Right now I'm scheduled for June 8th, and am looking forward to it.

Pack up my belongings, rent a storage unit and park the car at the parents. This is a heck of a life decision but I think I'm finally ready for it. Almost have the permit testing knowledge down pat. Plan on getting the permit here in California in the next few weeks.

Any advice for someone showing up for the first time? What's the weather like in Missouri this time of year?