The Tough Reality Of OTR Team Driving

How do people take time doing things like hiking and seeing the sites when they are working? Maybe I just have a intolerable instructor. It seems like we park at shippers and receivers much too often and go without meals constantly.

I'm actually losing weight out here. I think I've lost about 10 lbs in 2 weeks.

How do people take time doing things like hI king and seeing the sites when they are working? Maybe I just have a intolerable instructor. It seems like we park at shippers and recievers much too often and go without meals constantly.

Jeremy, you are with your trainer right now, and he is in charge. He's making money by keeping those wheels turning, and unfortunately he is probably more interested in getting the extra miles that he can out of you than he is in helping you to become an efficient and professional driver. That is the sad reality of being with many of today's trainers. He may be a lease operator and really struggling for money, or he may just be a little on the greedy side, whatever the case you just hang in there and do the best you can. You will have lots of chances to do it your own way after you are set loose from him, but I will warn you that as much as you may dislike his style there are going to be moments in your first two or three weeks solo that you will be desperately wishing he was over there in that jump seat so you could ask him "what the **** do I do now?" He is also teaching you some of the strategies that are used by successful operators in this business by showing you how you can sleep at shippers and receivers.

You will find time to do some fun things when you are on your own. You can check out my thread where I have my youngest daughter with me, we definitely took the time to have some fun on the road. I put all that stuff in there to show people how you can take time to do some fun things along your way.

Training can be very tough - I understand because I had a trainer that was nuts! I still learned a lot from him though, and if you hang in there it will pay off. Training very seldom goes like people expect it to, in fact most people's introduction to this whole career is usually completely skewed from what their expectations were. You feel free to jump in here and ask us anything that you are confused about. We will shoot straight with you, but the main thing right now is just hang in there, and it will soon be over. Then a whole new set of challenges will arise when they hand you the deys to your own truck. The learning never stops, the challenges never keep rising to the forefront, and the winners at this game are the ones who can roll with the punches.

Sounds like you guys know what your talking about this is getting bad though. Some of these dispatched loads are incredulous.

For example I was awake for 17 hours one day because of "training", and driving. Went to bed at around 1am then woke up at 1pm then dropped a load off at a recievers and sure enough next appointment was at 1am so dude had us park in a industrial area. No bathroom no food. And sure enough I cant sleep 24hours. I'm not sure who can. So driving through chicago rush hour traffic without eating and driving till 11am the next day? It's 9am right now and I have 2 more hours left on my clock. How the hell am I suppose to learn how to drive if I can barely keep my eyes open?

Maybe I'm just negative but being awake for this long isn't necessarily safe. This whole experience has been terrible so far.

Jeremy, I went through all that same kind of stuff with my mentor - there were times it seemed more like torture than teaching. I don't remember him ever even complimenting me but one time, and I was worried what he was going to say about me when we finally went to see the people in the office about me getting put into my own truck. Here is how it went down:

I was seriously worried that he was going to tell them that he didn't think I could cut it and they would send me home. Instead he starts singing my praises and telling them how great a driver I was! My jaw dropped, because I had never even had a clue from his actions during our time together that he thought I was even half way any good! There were two men in suits in the room that we were talking to. I had been introduced to one of them, but the other one seemed busy with something on his computer and he hadn't even looked up at us yet. After a few rounds of those unexpected compliments from my trainer the guy that I hadn't met yet starts getting a big grin on his face and interrupts my trainer by speaking to me - here is what he said: I want you to go out there in the yard and find an older gentleman named Delbert, he is gonna road test you - in the mean time I will be trying to locate a truck for you. Any time we have a driver make it all the way through with this trainer we know we have found someone who is tough enough for the job. Only about half of his students manage to make it through with him, and they have all turned out to be good drivers.

The point of what I'm trying to help you with is that often times what you consider to be a training time they are considering it as testing time. Many of these training times at a company are designed to test your resolve and your ability to handle tough and draining situations. If you break down and can't handle it then they are concerned that you can't handle the pressures of the job. If you hang in there and keep a good attitude, then they are impressed. It's just a few short weeks Jeremy, but it seems like it will last forever. Hang tough, you will be glad you did come this time next year.

This isn't a test, it's horrendous and should be illegal. I'm pretty sure it is "allowed" through the dot regulation rules but for Christ sake it should be avoided. How can you have someone sleep, wake up then find out they need to sleep again to make their next delivery. How is that safe? No wonder people are getting killed by drivers.

I told dude I was spent and he was gonna need to drive the last 12 miles. There's no way I'm getting in a wreck because I was too tired. I'd rather fail the "test" than kill someone. And once I get going on my own I'll be the same way. I'm not going to prison because I was suppose to be sleeping for 24 hours in order to make a appointment the next day.

Sure I can flip my schedule around alot and do some pretty resilient work. But I'm not able to sleep for 10 hours wake for 2 hours then sleep for 8 more hours so I can drive for another 11 hours. That's preposterous, especially for someone learning all of this and not even accustomed to it.

Jeremy, I never proposed that you do anything unsafe.

I merely want you to realize that you need to hang in there and keep from losing your composure. That is what they want to see - how you react under pressure. If you react with "man, I'm spent, it would be unsafe for me to continue" - that is good. If you react with calling names and loosing your cool - that is a bad sign to them.

It will be completely different when you are in your own truck running solo - you'll be the captain, and as long as you are getting the job done, they will be proud to have you on their team.

Jeremy, the food thing is simple of course.......stock up on some dry goods and bottles of water so you have them for the long waits. There will be times you're going to sit for 12+ hours without a bathroom or food supply even when you're solo so you have to be resourceful and plan ahead.

The sleeping thing is something you'll learn to adapt to. Most truckers can famously fall asleep or wake up like the flip of the switch. Why? Well you're experiencing it right now. You normally won't know very far in advance when you're going to be sitting and when you're going to be running. So you sleep when you must so you can run when it's time. It's difficult in the beginning because you're stressed out with all there is to learn and you haven't adapted to an erratic sleep pattern yet, but you will.

About a year ago I literally fell fast asleep in the chair while my dentist was drilling a cavity. And I don't mean he was preparing to drill, I mean he was in the process of drilling. I was lying there one moment trying to just daydream about flowers and unicorns and the next thing I hear, "Uh oh. I think we're losing Brett" and sure enough I wake up and realize I had fallen fast asleep. The dentist laughed and said, "I take that as a compliment." As he should. I told him, "I was a trucker for 15 years. I can fall asleep and wake up on demand."

And by the way, you did the right thing by tapping out when you were too tired to be safe. If you know you've reached your limit then refuse to drive. Ideally of course you want to be ready to run when it's time.

One thing to keep in mind for future reference is that you want to avoid having to tell dispatch you've been sitting for X number of hours but couldn't sleep so now you can't run. That doesn't cut it in this industry. They won't make you drive if you say that, but you won't be hurting for sleep anytime soon either because they're not going to give you any freight. "If he needs sleep we'll give him all the sleep he could ever ask for" will be what your dispatcher mumbles under his breath as he removes you from "available" status and lets you sit for three days.

Trust me, the veterans here understand fully how difficult this is for you right now. Everyone is in the same boat. This is just part of the training process and it's why so many people never even make it to their solo career before dropping out of the industry altogether. It's a super demanding job and not everyone is willing or able to do it. Even those who really are cut out for it struggle in the beginning to learn and to adapt. But hang in there! Just take it one day at a time and focus on safety.

Hmmm...note to self: if I make it through training, buy a bucket :) I hate to say it out loud, but maybe I should, while I can get some good advice. I have a chipmunk bladder and actually have a battery implant for my condition, which helps a lot, but there's no way I could go 12 hours without a bathroom. Snacks and baby wipes are a no brainer (I have two kids), and I'm not afraid to find a tree, but I'm guessing that's frowned upon in a city lol.

Well, seems the problems are answered. But there's no flip side to this in my eyes. If the instructor had communication skills I'd be stocked up on food, I'd be prepared. But as it is nobody is telling me where we are going when we are stopping, the stance or time frame. Looks like I need to consider something else.

Jeremy, you started off so well and patient. You seemed to demonstrate the qualities of a perfect student. At what point did you decide to forsake those great characteristics and become an excessive complainer?

I mean give me a break, you're driving with a qualified experienced driver and you're telling everyone how the show should be ran. You haven't even dipped your toes in the water yet but you have it figured out based on your observations.

You labeled your instructor as having anger issues. Heck, I would be labeled an angry madman if I had a student who *****ed about parking at shippers & receivers. Truth be told I would have droped you off at the terminal a long time ago.

You're a good guy and I have sympathy for how long you had to wait for an instructor, but now you have one and you're totally blowing it. Put your big boy pants on the PSD phase is only 70 hours then you can get someone else for the next phase.