What Is Really Going On With This Company?

So of course I'm a new cdl holder who needs some input on something's in where I should go from here . so I graduated from a truck driving school who linked me up with a company , I won't be mean I. Say there name. But anyway waited dam near a month for a trainer so we are finally on the road. First let's start with this why are we as students in trading running all these miles and.not at least sharing these miles with our trainer? Second I got sleepy the first night soon as I pulled over to take a 30 min break in tell her why she gets mad because I've stopped in told her I was to tired to push on of course I had to anyway. Than she only trains me to drive at night which sucks in guess what gotta drive the whole 14 hours with only one bathroom break so yea she pretty much sets up the logs on the qualcom to make it as if I'm bringing in the loads late or I've did my meal breaks , and 30 mins break. Now I'm not a harsh person so i won't tell on her but at the same time this **** is making me want to give up already. Any Input on this. And any body know of any good companies? Thanks TruckerWoman

So of course I'm a new cdl holder who needs some input on something's in where I should go from here . so I graduated from a truck driving school who linked me up with a company , I won't be mean I. Say there name. But anyway waited dam near a month for a trainer so we are finally on the road. First let's start with this why are we as students in trading running all these miles and.not at least sharing these miles with our trainer? Second I got sleepy the first night soon as I pulled over to take a 30 min break in tell her why she gets mad because I've stopped in told her I was to tired to push on of course I had to anyway. Than she only trains me to drive at night which sucks in guess what gotta drive the whole 14 hours with only one bathroom break so yea she pretty much sets up the logs on the qualcom to make it as if I'm bringing in the loads late or I've did my meal breaks , and 30 mins break. Now I'm not a harsh person so i won't tell on her but at the same time this **** is making me want to give up already. Any Input on this. And any body know of any good companies? Thanks TruckerWoman

If your trainer is running you ILLEGALLY, the first thing I would do is call your DM/FM, or safety, and get the hades off that truck, and get a new trainer.

With all due respect, it's difficult to make heads or tails out of your post. You might want to read it and try to clarify some of it for us cause half of it is not understandable. I don't believe we are getting the whole, complete picture of what is really going on.

Regardless, you need to be far more communicative with your trainer and at some point your company if this persists. Talk to your trainer "professionally". Understand their expectations (by asking them) and then you can state yours. Realize that you are their guest and subject to their rules. However if they are asking you to do anything unsafe or illegal (like driving for 14 hours) you need to speak up and voice your concern. Do not let her force you to drive if you are tired. Escalate it to your company contact (DM, FM , etc.) if your trainer isn't responding to your satisfaction. You have your CDL , you should know what is legal and illegal. Ultimately even though you are in training, you are responsible when you driving. You must be your own advocate.

Each company has a different process and schedule for training. If we knew the company name we might be able to more effectively advise you.

I am not 100% sure what you first question was asking as the wording seemed odd to me, but my best guess is you are asking why you are driving all the miles while you trainer doesn't drive any? For the first few days at least, it is very common for trainers to only observe and teach. You need the experience behind the wheel. Typically after the trainer feels you are pretty solid at keeping it between the lines, you will switch to a team setup, with both of you putting in 11 a day driving.

Your limit on driving, as you should well know, is 11 hours before a reset. If you are complaining about having to drive that 11 hours, then you might want to pick up some applications for non-trucking jobs and get a jump on your next new career. As long as you are driving legal hours, that is what you future will be. If you want to do a nice leisurely 6 hour trip each day, you won't find it in trucking. You need to work long hours for less pay than you deserve for the hours you put in, because that is the reality of the job. This isn't a paid vacation and you don't survive on half days. Once you get experience after a year or two, you might have some local jobs open up to you that are more of a 5 days per week, 8-10 hours per day setup, but those are very hard to get starting out.

As for being told to keep driving when you were tired, you need to report that she ordered you to drive even though you felt you were too tired to safely drive and had informed her of it. She is just your trainer and does not have the right to force you to be unsafe. You are the one responsible if you get into an accident and kill someone because you drove when you were too tired to be safe. Report it because she needs to be corrected immediately by someone above her and her company may need to evaluate whether or not she should be training at all. If she goes unchecked, she could end up with a trainee who kills someone because she forgot that safety is top of the list.

It should be very much expected that a new trainee will not only have normal fatigue, but also the added fatigue from being in a new and stressful situation. This can be even worse if your normal sleep schedule is not in line with what you have to do now. You can require more sleep than normal the first few days and anxiety and stress can make the situation worse by making good sleep harder to come by.

Make sure you are being honest about when you are actually tired, and not letting yourself use that as a way get out of having to drive because you don't feel like it. If you are honestly tired to the point that it makes you a danger behind the wheel, inform your trainer and refuse to drive until you have had some sleep and can resume safe driving. Your life, and the lives of everyone around you, is not worth it to get a load somewhere a few hours earlier.

You may need a strong attitude readjustment. That is not saying that your trainer isn't doing something wrong, and she may be a very bad trainer overall. Some things you mention are very similar to other experienced I have read about where the trainer wasn't in it to share experience in wisdom, they were in it to try and dig themselves out of hole with the potential bonus from taking on a trainee.

Remember who you are, what you are here to do, and what you should be getting out of this. This is your chance to get used to your career. Driving 11 a day is your life now. Stops should be fast right now. Don't mess around or drag you feet. Try to line them up with other events as much as possible. Push yourself past your comfort zone and get your mind where it needs to be, used to your new lifestyle. Get as much as you can get out of the experience regardless of who your trainer is. As long as you are being safe, get that 11 hours of experience in every day. If you consistently cannot drive 11 hours safely, then evaluate why and, if you cannot adjust to get your 11 daily, consider what your next career will be.

So of course I'm a new cdl holder who needs some input on something's in where I should go from here . so I graduated from a truck driving school who linked me up with a company , I won't be mean I. Say there name. But anyway waited dam near a month for a trainer so we are finally on the road. First let's start with this why are we as students in trading running all these miles and.not at least sharing these miles with our trainer? Second I got sleepy the first night soon as I pulled over to take a 30 min break in tell her why she gets mad because I've stopped in told her I was to tired to push on of course I had to anyway. Than she only trains me to drive at night which sucks in guess what gotta drive the whole 14 hours with only one bathroom break so yea she pretty much sets up the logs on the qualcom to make it as if I'm bringing in the loads late or I've did my meal breaks , and 30 mins break. Now I'm not a harsh person so i won't tell on her but at the same time this **** is making me want to give up already. Any Input on this. And any body know of any good companies? Thanks TruckerWoman

I am going to assume, however dangerous that might be, that I am understanding you right.

She made you drive 14 hours? As in you were in the driver's seat 14 hours with no 10 hour break? If so, that's a serious issue, and it means you had to drive part of that time on her clock, which is absurdly illegal and should never be tolerated. If she did make you drive on her clock to drive 14 hours with no 10 hour break, you need to get out of that truck now, IMHO.

It sounds like you might have been saddled with a parasite trainer. By parasite trainer, I mean a trainer that ONLY wants you in the truck to make money for them, not to train you. Don't get me wrong, being in that truck and driving it is supposed to make them money. That's why they train. But it's supposed to be accompanied by a bit of sense. A new driver normally can't drive eight hours with no restroom break. It takes a little while to learn how much and what you can eat and drink and stay on the road.

Forcing you to drive when you are tired is just plain stupid. If this continues, you need to get out of that truck.

As for adjusting QC data. Sometimes that's needed, especially for trainees who forget to log their activities correctly. Some... flexibility and adjustment of reality should be expected from a trainer. Some of the things they do, you will find yourself sorely tempted to do when you are solo. It sounds like your trainer might be going beyond that though.

Most companies offer you a flat rate of pay to train. You don't share the trainer's miles because that would make trainers less interested in training.

Every company with trainers has some **** trainers.

Without being there, and without more details, I won't say more OTHER than saying again that if I understood you right, and your trainer had you, a brand new trainee, drive on their clock so you could drive more than 11 hours without a 10 hour break, that's seriously stupid and you need to get out of that truck ASAP.

If you do get out of the truck, do not threaten or challenge the driver, or you might find yourself on the side of the road in a bad place. Try to make the break without threats at a truck stop after consulting with your training manager. I say this because if the trainer is so damn sociopathic that they are willing to be that stupid with how they treat a trainee, and if that trainer thinks you might get them fired, there's no telling what sort of threats you might get, or how willing the trainer might be to act on them.

As long as you are being safe, get that 11 hours of experience in every day. If you consistently cannot drive 11 hours safely, then evaluate why and, if you cannot adjust to get your 11 daily, consider what your next career will be

I would love to meet the driver who drives 11 hours a day every day. If they are, they are probably on paper logs, and cheating.

I'll say this... the waiting a month for a trainer may have had something to do with you insisting on a female trainer... or especially a non smoking female? I'm a non smoking female and told my company I didn't care of a purple gorilla smoking a pickle taught me to drive. Got a smoking male trainer right away and was on the road.

I have a funny feeling the driving 14 hours a day part was an exaggeration. I can understand running out your 14 clock... but that is different than driving 11 hours per day... and if you don't know the difference you need to learn it.

It is typical for trainers to start trainees out on nights. It gets them used to the truck.. driving downgrades and fog.. learning the highways with less stress due to lack of traffic. Each truck is different and the trainer need to trust you are safe so she can sleep while you are driving.

If you think you won't be driving nights solo... think again. I try my best to keep to a night driving schedule, but often get stuck driving days cause of appt times. use this time to adjust your body to flexible hours.

Team driving sucks. My company pays $700 GROSS during training.. OR 14 cpm whichever is more that week. They combine both of your miles. So if we as a team drove 5000 miles in one week.. the 5000 miles got credited to.my 30k required to go solo. If the team drove 6000 miles that week... the trainee got 840 gross instead of 700.

We have a 14 hour clock which ensures you can get proper rest. If you are tired then ask her if you can divide your shift in half and take an hour for a nap instead of 30 min. Figure out WHEN you get tired. After 300 miles? After 4am? Then ask to plan that hour into the trip planning.

If you are denied this.... which is a legal way to make you safe and learn your limits... then report her. If she is driving in your logs report her. If she takes you off duty while sitting in traffic and you have an accident it is YOUR fault. Report her.

My suspicions is that many people romanticize trucking for freedom of the open road and don't know what it is like. Treat training like boot camp and get through it. You can do what you want when solo.

As long as you are being safe, get that 11 hours of experience in every day. If you consistently cannot drive 11 hours safely, then evaluate why and, if you cannot adjust to get your 11 daily, consider what your next career will be

I would love to meet the driver who drives 11 hours a day every day. If they are, they are probably on paper logs, and cheating.

I did it for three weeks and without cheating. Was off on the weekend though. You don't have to cheat to do it, you just have to do resets.

Great advise Rainy D. I will be able to use that some day. Thanks.

As long as you are being safe, get that 11 hours of experience in every day. If you consistently cannot drive 11 hours safely, then evaluate why and, if you cannot adjust to get your 11 daily, consider what your next career will be

I would love to meet the driver who drives 11 hours a day every day. If they are, they are probably on paper logs, and cheating.

I did it for three weeks and without cheating. Was off on the weekend though. You don't have to cheat to do it, you just have to do resets.

Well, then you didn't do it every day. 😉