Comments By Tesserae

Maybe he will be a good driver or maybe not but not having the ability to do basic math will be a very big problem in all kinds of ways. Appointment times....log books....figuring up hours....trip planning..... And another other kind of problem that requires basic math skills. He maybe the best driver in the world but if he can't do basic math he will miss a lot of appointments and he will be out of a job in less than a month.

Do you best to train him and teach him all you can but if he can't do basic trip planning or figure out how to do the basic math needed to do this job then don't ya be passing him as you will be setting him up to fail.

Exactly right. Case in point- next load will be ready for pu @2300 tonight. First stop tomorrow between 1500 and 1515. Final stop window from 0500-1900. I gave him trip info, gps,calculator, and atlas and asked him to tell me when to pickup so that we can make both stops and get back within 100 miles of the dc before the end of his 14. Total round trip is about 680 m. His best guess after 20 minutes of thinking had him picking up at 0600 for a 300 m run to first stop at 1500. Several times I've explained my method for trip planning, and asked him to explain how he arrived at 0600 and he just says its a guess. The driving aspect of course is critical, but it will be instant failure once he goes solo bc there won't be anyone else planning his day. I'm just taking the aapproach of teaching what I can and doing an honest eval at the end.

Company asked. I said yes. I know its risky, but really, no one gets outta here alive anyway, so I'm giving it a shot. I used to teach adult computer app continuing ed classes at a community college, so I'm fairly tolerant, patient, etc. So.....

First student just out of cdl school. Grinding gears, can't back. Fully expected that. Was only on the truck for 5 days had to go home for guard duty. Nice kid, took to the Qualcomm like a fish and no prob understanding HOS. Problem maintaining lane .

Second student can drive just fine, backing a little rough. Problem is that he's numerically illiterate. Can't understand how to calculate driving hours based on miles and mph. I want to help this guy learn but I only have him for 25 more driving hours and he absolutely has no concept of trip planning. I'm pretty sure he has a learning disability.

I'm supposed to do an evaluation that includes HOS and trip planning and there's no way I can pass him, and it seems beyond my scope to teach basic math. I've tried simple examples like how far would you travel if you drove 5mph for 1 hr. Based on company expectations he should already be able to read QC trip info and plan his time around load times and know when to start his 14.

We are nowhere in the ballpark. I need suggestions on how to help this guy! I'm his second trainer. The first would never let him touch the QC. It took 15 mins for him to do a 'loaded' macro even with me coaching through every keystroke. Thanks for the input ya'll! Sorry for broken English. Using cell phone.

I swear, most days I don't even have the time and/or the energy to use my laptop. I've had mine with me my entire time and never once used it, I just use my IPhone. When you're busy you work all day and pass out, at least I do. I usually start driving 3-6am, I'd rather get a little more sleep to make sure I won't be drowsy while driving when it's dark.

Ditto. I had an apu in my cascadia. It died in denver in January. Every truckstop sells inverters that are more than adequate for laptops for 30 bucks that plug into 12v cigarette receptacle. Have a prostar now that has a bunk heater/cooler. Haven't needed it much since I'm running in the southeast exclusively. in cdl school I was really worried about apu vs. No apu, only to get rolling and discover that it was a tempest in a teacup.

Been awhile since I posted. I've been on a home depot dedicated account for a couple of months, and have been driving 8 months since getting my cdl and ran 48 states for about 6 months. There is a subtle shift of psychology that I've noticed over the past few weeks that makes me think trucking was the right choice for me. Maybe its 'muscle memory' from dropping and hooking so much, combined with starting to actually feel a flow while out on the road even in city traffic, combined with feeling at home while in the sleeper on break. Just feels correct. That said, there are frustrating aspects. Currently sitting at a store waiting for breakdown service. The trailer I hooked up to after a swap and drop has a very bad hub seal leak. Crud pooled deep on the rim, and spun all around the rim as well. Which means the previous driver ignored it. I get it. It sucks to babysit broken equipment bc I don't get paid for that. But really guys. I've had to do this twice in the past few weeks. I've been asked to be permanent on the account and be a trainer. 8 months of driving and I still have some days where I couldnt back into the grand canyon. But looking back its amazing what I've learned in those months. Miles are ok, not great. Some days I run over 600, sometimes in the low 3's. I know its not my performance on loads that is leading to that. Never had a service failure and am friendly with the dispatcher, who I actually see face to face daily when getting load paperwork. Just the nature of the biz I guess. So there it is.