Oh How I Despise Team Driving

All in all it took my trainer 10 hours to go 289 miles. I finished up the last 630 in my 10. Yes my trainer is a lease op, he claims to make 6 figures a year, which has me interested in lease. But there are so many horror stories on here about lease. And to call my trainer an actual trainer is a joke. During psd I did 0 pretrips, in his defense I could say the entire thing word for word. Also during psd he wouldn't let me back up. I drove every minute so I did get my 75 in 11 days. When we got back to campus his girlfriend showed up and I had 0 backing practice before my test the 3rd day. I failed, then he decided to get me pad time at 10pm that night on East where you can't see squat. He gave up about 30 min into it and I failed again the next day. When he walked out of the shack with his hands up I threw the keys at his head and went off to get me a ****ing pad and a truck. He did manage to get one of his buddies to give me his pad time. Then he dropped me off to use a pad truck while he went to dinner with his girlfriend. I figured it out and passed the next day. He's a nice guy but a horrible trainer. His fleet Mgr knows all this but told me I may have to wait a few weeks if I wanted another trainer so I decided to suck it up and just get it over with.

Sounds like what I've gone through with my PSD training. Went 5 days first week without a shower, then 4 days, then 4 again.

Funny I got to missouri same day as you and I'm just now here at the prime to practice testing. Got about 4 hours of sleep and I'm suppose to learn how to back. Woke up not hungry cause I haven't slept and haven't had a shower in 4 days now. Hoping to get a hotel room.

I'm pretty sure people get away with this because prime brings in so many people. And the instructor to student program they have has limited regulations.

What would someone do? Report an instructor if they feel it is necessary and possibly get a new one? Or just suck it up and try to get **** over with as much as possible.

I'm pretty sure this system is messing with alot of people's lives in a negative way. Before I came here I was positive as hell about alot of things. I'm a goddam veteran just like you Sam. And I'm capable of handling alot of bs just like you.

But the truth is I've seen the training the instructors get. It's pretty much equate able to maybe 1 week of work. A few days in classrooms. They need to teach them how to help people adapt to trucking, not throw them into the fire and watch them burn.

Don't let it get you down Sam. Adapt and overcome. I dont think this is all of Prime. I think it's just a select few that need to be identified and weeded out. Unfortunately trucking is high demand and it's hard to find instructors and drivers. So this is what happens.

Try getting some baby wipes and a bottle to **** in. Look for a solution, that's your only way to deal with this emotionally. It's hard enough being cramped in a truck with some other dude and it's normal to be angry. Testosterone does that. Try to go for a walk blow off some steam if you ever get a minute. Eventually your gonna hit that 70 hour Mark and your gonna need to take a break.

Don't go lease! It's a trap!

And to call my trainer an actual trainer is a joke

Sam, I agree completely.

I'm pretty sure this system is messing with alot of people's lives in a negative way

HudsonHawk, I agree completely with you also.

This is how training has always been in the industry. It's a little worse at Prime because most of their trainers are lease drivers and most of those guys are only taking students on for the cheap labor. Let's tell it like it is, right? And the reason Prime is having those lease drivers train students, knowing many of them are terrible trainers, is because it's the best way for the corporation to make money. Again, let's tell it like it is.

Honest to God the person that comes up with a way to recruit enough genuinely good trainers to keep the students rolling while paying the students enough to survive on should get a tickertape parade in Manhattan. And a billion dollars. But I don't know how you go about doing that and obviously nobody else in this industry has figured it out either.

There are companies that only dispatch student trucks as solo operations and require the trainer to stay in the passenger seat, not the bunk, and only the student does the driving unless the trainer feels he/she should take over for the sake of safety. That's the proper way to train people. The problem is that it's extremely expensive to do that. Not only is that truck not making the company any money, but having a trainer sitting there doing nothing is costing them a fortune. So those companies pay the students next to nothing and have a heck of a time recruiting anyone.

Now you might be able to justify doing that if you knew the trainee would stick with the company for a year or two and the company could recoup that investment. But how many drivers do we have right here in this forum that continue to encourage new drivers to get their training and move on against my advice? A lot of em! And they know who they are.

This is what's creating a situation where the companies have their back against the wall. They know no matter what they do a lot of students are either going to fail to pick up the necessary skills to become efficient drivers, they're going to quit the company quickly and move on to someone who pays an extra penny a mile, or they're going to drop out of trucking altogether. Why? Because drivers who are new to the industry don't understand the big picture or don't have what it takes to make it out there. They don't understand how expensive it is to train them or what it takes for a company to survive economically. They don't understand how stressful and difficult it is to live on the road and do this job day in and day out. So they do whatever they want to do for themselves and say screw everyone else. Well what that does is screw all of the students that come after them.

Prime has even taken the initiative to pay their student drivers the highest salary of any students in the industry. Part of that is because they want them to stick around. But part of it is also because they know they're going to keep you out for two or three months when you first go out on the road, which is shameful in my book, and they're going to let a lease driver run your *ss into the ground which is dangerous and stressful. They also know once you complete your training you're going to be stuck in a lightweight truck with far less room than most drivers in the industry get. So they're hoping the great pay will make up for it.

Other companies pay their students next to nothing but give them much nicer circumstances to train under as I had mentioned earlier. But many of those students bolt after two months for a better paying job elsewhere.

The bottom line is that nobody has ever found a true winning formula. There is always some degree of risk and suffering. Either the company pays dearly for trying to make things safer and more enjoyable for the student or the student pays dearly because the company wants to protect their profit margins. And regardless of how you do it, nobody seems to be able to recruit enough good quality trainers to do the job right.

It's a terribly difficult problem for all involved and it isn't anything that I believe will be fixed anytime soon, if ever. The companies simply aren't in a financial position to take it upon themselves to do something about it. They're doing everything they can to compete and survive. The fix is going to have to come through legislation of some sort but I just don't know if that will ever happen or not. Nothing has been done about it in 30+ years so I don't know what would motivate anyone to get it done now.

Tell me about a company that pays a trainers a good living wage and allows the trainer to concentrate strictly on training and not miles plus training and I would be all over it.

The problem is the trainers are supposed to train, which means being awake during the students drive time but also supposed to turn miles for the company meanwhile only getting very little sleep cause they have to be up during the students driving time. It's a balancing act.

It leads to stressed out trainers due to lack of sleep trying to do 2 jobs. And throw in being a lease OP on top of all that. It do not make for an ideal situation.

Tell me about a company that pays a trainers a good living wage and allows the trainer to concentrate strictly on training and not miles plus training and I would be all over it.

The problem is the trainers are supposed to train, which means being awake during the students drive time but also supposed to turn miles for the company meanwhile only getting very little sleep cause they have to be up during the students driving time. It's a balancing act.

It leads to stressed out trainers due to lack of sleep trying to do 2 jobs. And throw in being a lease OP on top of all that. It do not make for an ideal situation.

I agree completely with all of that.

Brett posited,

Honest to God the person that comes up with a way to recruit enough genuinely good trainers to keep the students rolling while paying the students enough to survive on should get a tickertape parade in Manhattan.

The trainer problem goes hand in hand with the driver problem. Driver demand is so high that companies will take on nearly anyone with a CDL , school training, and can pass a drug test, regardless of their ability to do what a truck driver does.

Now with all these newbies needing road training, the company will take on any of their drivers willing to put a student in the driver's seat. No ability to teach or much training in how to teach is needed.

I'm looking to mentor at Swift, myself. But I understand the training is more or less 1 day. That's not enough for "how to mentor".

I'm looking to mentor at Swift, myself. But I understand the training is more or less 1 day. That's not enough for "how to mentor".

I agree with everything you said. And regardless of how long you train someone to be a mentor, if they're only in it to pad their own pocketbooks and they don't genuinely care about being a great mentor they simply won't be. No amount of training can make you care about helping someone else.

And to call my trainer an actual trainer is a joke

Sam, I agree completely.

I'm pretty sure this system is messing with alot of people's lives in a negative way

HudsonHawk, I agree completely with you also.

This is how training has always been in the industry. It's a little worse at Prime because most of their trainers are lease drivers and most of those guys are only taking students on for the cheap labor. Let's tell it like it is, right? And the reason Prime is having those lease drivers train students, knowing many of them are terrible trainers, is because it's the best way for the corporation to make money. Again, let's tell it like it is.

Honest to God the person that comes up with a way to recruit enough genuinely good trainers to keep the students rolling while paying the students enough to survive on should get a tickertape parade in Manhattan. And a billion dollars. But I don't know how you go about doing that and obviously nobody else in this industry has figured it out either.

There are companies that only dispatch student trucks as solo operations and require the trainer to stay in the passenger seat, not the bunk, and only the student does the driving unless the trainer feels he/she should take over for the sake of safety. That's the proper way to train people. The problem is that it's extremely expensive to do that. Not only is that truck not making the company any money, but having a trainer sitting there doing nothing is costing them a fortune. So those companies pay the students next to nothing and have a heck of a time recruiting anyone.

Now you might be able to justify doing that if you knew the trainee would stick with the company for a year or two and the company could recoup that investment. But how many drivers do we have right here in this forum that continue to encourage new drivers to get their training and move on against my advice? A lot of em! And they know who they are.

This is what's creating a situation where the companies have their back against the wall. They know no matter what they do a lot of students are either going to fail to pick up the necessary skills to become efficient drivers, they're going to quit the company quickly and move on to someone who pays an extra penny a mile, or they're going to drop out of trucking altogether. Why? Because drivers who are new to the industry don't understand the big picture or don't have what it takes to make it out there. They don't understand how expensive it is to train them or what it takes for a company to survive economically. They don't understand how stressful and difficult it is to live on the road and do this job day in and day out. So they do whatever they want to do for themselves and say screw everyone else. Well what that does is screw all of the students that come after them.

Prime has even taken the initiative to pay their student drivers the highest salary of any students in the industry. Part of that is because they want them to stick around. But part of it is also because they know they're going to keep you out for two or three months when you first go out on the road, which is shameful in my book, and they're going to let a lease driver run your *ss into the ground which is dangerous and stressful. They also know once you complete your training you're going to be stuck in a lightweight truck with far less room than most drivers in the industry get. So they're hoping the great pay will make up for it.

Other companies pay their students next to nothing but give them much nicer circumstances to train under as I had mentioned earlier. But many of those students bolt after two months for a better paying job elsewhere.

The bottom line is that nobody has ever found a true winning formula. There is always some degree of risk and suffering. Either the company pays dearly for trying to make things safer and more enjoyable for the student or the student pays dearly because the company wants to protect their profit margins. And regardless of how you do it, nobody seems to be able to recruit enough good trainers.

Makes complete sense. All I can say is is that it is worth it once you get your own truck. At least it was for me and I know lots of prime drivers that are definitely happy. I hate to laugh but these stories bring me back to when I was psd. I never backed on the road and spent hour after hour learning formulas with zero real world value so I could pass the test. And thank god I trained during the winter because we could go days without showering too. I drove almost 10 hours every night till 4 in the morning but got real used to it and enjoyed the peace. I promise you once those 2 months are over it'll seem like it flew by. I just kept my eye on the prize. Job security and I very much enjoy the job.

It's the simple things I love about my body. I swear my bladder was built for road trips. I can drive all day long and not have to pee till I get where I'm going... it's freakin awesome. Once I get where I'm going though (within about 10-20 miles) I have to pee real bad all the sudden.

that doesn't make it ok in my opinion for your trainer to make you hold it (or use a bottle which is just unsanitary and gross to even think about). if he doesn't have time to stop for 5-10 min to let you pee then he needs to manage time better.

talking about making 6 digits a year... uggghh yeah cause he team driving in ways that are torture to those he's driving with... lets see him make 6 digits (net) per year solo...

if it were me while I was driving I would not stop to let him pee or eat or shower or do anything he doesn't let you do for the same length of time under the exact same excuse he gives you.... give him a taste of his own medicine... "oh you need to pee? I don't so we're going to keep going because we don't have time." buuuttt that's just me and i'm an eye for an eye type person. I get a long with people real easily but you **** me off to a certain point my attitude turns to "revenge is sweet", you cooperate with me and i'll cooperate with you... mutual respect.