Comments By New Beginning

I have officially become a trucker. This site has been a great contributor to my becoming a truck driver. From learning what to expect, to learning the alley dock, this site has answered all the questions I have had and a lot I would have never thought to ask. From the layout of the pages, to the truth without judgment, this is a site that should be used by everyone who has anything to do with the trucking industry. Thank you Brett and all the moderators for helping us as we travel the roads. Been safe every one.

Are you leaving us? Say it ain't so! Your best deal is to pay it forward. Hang out, give suggestions and help the newer noobies & rookies. Get your posts quoted by Brett or Old School! That's how you thank TruckingTruth.com!

Please don't go!

Didn't mean to sound like a "dear John letter". Just giving thanks to friends who have helped me thus far. This site is my "Facebook". I will continue to follow this site daily as I begin the real training in my trucker career.

I have officially become a trucker. This site has been a great contributor to my becoming a truck driver. From learning what to expect, to learning the alley dock, this site has answered all the questions I have had and a lot I would have never thought to ask. From the layout of the pages, to the truth without judgment, this is a site that should be used by everyone who has anything to do with the trucking industry. Thank you Brett and all the moderators for helping us as we travel the roads. Been safe every one.

Well, I'm a guy first of all lol! I get that a lot though with my name. I wanted to teifecta, but for in my head to much the first time in the blindside parallel.

Today i got the drivers side parallel, hit it first shot.

Congratulations!!! Will be testing next week, how was the road test? How low did you have to go when down shifting?

We are both team drivers! Except you're running 7k miles per week while we are doing 5-6k per week. The only good thing about my situation is my guy is a student so I make all the money.

It's nice to finally have something in common with you...

As a psd trainee, I hope my trainer doesn't express this attitude when I am teaming with him in the tnt phase. I will feel so used. Luckily my trainer buys my meals so I feel a little appreciated.

Hehe, I'm just poking at him about that. But on a serious note, you're actually being paid very well. I made 350$ during my training while team driving. Heck, 700 is sometimes more than you'll be making as a solo. Even though you're not making nearly as much as the trainer, you're blessed man.

I understood the humor in it. That's why I mentioned the free meals I've received. Didn't take it personal. I am appreciative of the trainers and what they do. To trust someone who has never driven a truck takes great patience. As my trainer says "you are handling an 80,000 lb missile" and for him to not grab that wheel every time that lane detector goes off takes nerves of steel. They deserve every penny they get.

We are both team drivers! Except you're running 7k miles per week while we are doing 5-6k per week. The only good thing about my situation is my guy is a student so I make all the money.

It's nice to finally have something in common with you...

As a psd trainee, I hope my trainer doesn't express this attitude when I am teaming with him in the tnt phase. I will feel so used. Luckily my trainer buys my meals so I feel a little appreciated.

Good to be back ladies and gentlemen! I was training a student through the PSD phase at Prime and now I'm team driving with the student through the TNT phase.

I really wanted to catch up on my Bible reading lately and I poured every other hour into training so I struggled to find time for TruckingTruth.

But now I'm getting accustomed to team driving and things are looking a little easier so let's get back to informative and friendly trucking education!!!

I have shared your name Daniel B, and truckingtruth.com to all of my peers during orientation and even now that I am on the road. This site is awesome. That pre trip post has been spread around Prime campus for three weeks and counting. I hope the instructors include it in their program and give you credit. Anyway, you were missed. Welcome back.

Jeremy, you started off so well and patient. You seemed to demonstrate the qualitiecperfect student. At what point did you decide to forsake those great characteristics and experiencxcessive 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.

Jeremy, l followed your thread when you talked about your struggle in getting a trainer and your patience was an inspiration to me. It took me a week and half to get a trainer and I was super restless. Now I am on the road and learning to live in a tiny space with another man who accepted a trainee to live in his house. The truck is his home. We must learn, as trainees that this is how the business works for them. You have to learn your partners ways, what makes them happy, frown, and upset. You just can't expect them to know your wants and needs. Be respectful and but your needs in question form so that they don't imply that they are about you, they are just general questions. If you have been a follower of this site nothing you are experiencing should be a surprise. Don't let your weeks of waiting for a trainer ruin the reason you wanted to become a trucker. Your trainer is supposed to be tough on you. That's why you chose Prime, 40,000 miles of training =3-4 months of otr experience. Make good with your current trainer, because you never know what the next one is going to be like. I plan on staying with mine a couple months after tnt because winter is right around the corner and learning how to drive in those conditions with someone with experience can only make me a better driver. P.S.. PEANUT BUTTER, CANS OF CHEF BOY ARDEE, AND A SIX PACK OF WATER GO A LONG WAY.

Ok, this is the most recent list me made on this topic. If you guys will help me verify who is doing what type of testing I'm going to create a page in our Trucking Wiki and keep it updated. Thanks!

These companies do both tests:

Knight

CR England

Roehl

JB Hunt

WEL Companies

*Schneider

Hair follicle test only:

Prime Inc

Urinalysis only:

Navajo

* PAM

* Central Refrigerated

As of 7/20/15 Prime only does urine testing. Currently in the PSD.

Finally got my answer in a Jeremy R post where he is looking for a trainer. Well it doesn't alter my decision to attend Prime. I will be jumping on that Greydog tonight. So any instructors that live in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area your next trainee will be ready to ride next weekend.

If that happened for even a week we would run out of everything, including food and gasoline. It would become almost like a 3rd world country in a hurry. And you don't just flip a switch and turn it all back on again. It would take months to get back to normal and years to recover fully from something like that. I think it would be surprisingly awful.

That being my whole point. We as drivers understand who and what we are to this great country. Sadly John Q Public does not.

Very well put Brett. It would get ugly quick. This is a dream not a nightmare though.

Now back to my little fantasy land....

Time spent waiting for loading/unloading would not count against your 14 as you are at rest/relaxing anyway.

I worked at a company that was affected by the port strike on the west coast and with just that port working at a slow down, it affected the Midwest in a major way. My company slowed and even sent workers home because lack of product. I couldn't imagine a trucking strike. We all would be affected.