The Complete Guide To A Career In Trucking
First Year As A Truck Driver: How to deal with dispatch, and get help on the road
Your dispatcher, or "driver manager", is going to play a pivotal role in your success as a driver. He or she will be the one assigning you loads, and the more your DM trusts you, the longer and better paying loads you will get.
For the first year of your driving career, you will still be proving yourself. Initially, your dispatcher will be breaking you in to see how you handle the job.
Truck driving, especially in the first year, is an industry where you "pay your dues". Your job is to learn how to be safe, efficient, and reliable, and getting along with your management team will pay off down the road.
How important is a good relationship with your dispatcher?
If you want to succeed as a new driver, a good relationship with your dispatcher is pretty darn important. You'll need to prove that you are willing to do what it takes to get the job done, and that you are capable of of doing it safely and efficiently.
Article - You Won't Get Anywhere In Trucking If You Can't Get Along With Your Support Personnel
Even at major carriers a driver will develop a reputation. There may be 5,000+ drivers at the company but you can be sure they're tracking your statistics. They know how hard you run, how safe you are, how often you're on time, how long you idle, and a terrifying number of facts and figures about your performance as a driver.
Forum - The Power of Your Dispatcher to Make or Break You
I've had the feeling for the longest time, that not only has one of my dispatchers "had it in for me" but that he has set me up for failure over and over. It feels like this has been an uphill, almost daily battle.
Forum - Communication is the underutilized tool in your arsenal.
What gives you the best advantage and opportunity after you achieve perfection. Communication! This little gem seems to a long way in ones career. There is a right and wrong way of communicating with others.
Forum - Frustrated isn't the word for this new truck driver!!!!
Night dispatch tells me there's nothing they can do so wait until the am, alright fine but its 20 degrees outside and the truck won't idle. It keeps cutting off and the heat won't get hot and the bunker heat is broken completely.
Forum - 50% chance I get a lousy dispatcher after hours
I usually get a different person everytime I call, so I can't build a repertoire with them like I do with my manager. What would you guys recommend doing when someone gets short with you like that? I'm just trying to communicate.
Where do new drivers go to for help or assistance?
We generally recommend that new drivers don't "rock the boat" if at all possible, but sometimes things spiral out of control and everyone needs some help or advice on occasion. Keeping lines of communication open and honest with your company will give you your best chance of success.
Additionally, new drivers needing advice or mentoring come to TruckingTruth.com. It's what we do.
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Trucker's Forum Topics Tagged "Advice For New Truck Drivers"
Pages & pages of forum discussion tagged for giving advice to new truck drivers, on issues from across the entire spectrum from getting your CDL to surviving on the road.
Advice for new drivers - A Clean and Sober Truck driver!
Back years ago when I first began to drive, many a truck driver were popping pills to stay awake to get that next load delivered. I am sure today that they still do, along with many other dangerous and life threatening, mind altering chemicals and behaviors.
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