I Really Really Really Hate Team Driving

Anne- since you keep taking jabs at me in various threads for I don't know what, you are now correct.

Never jabs. We have different perspectives.

Truce.

Nuff. said; it's about Zach.

Zach,

If it didn't work out at Western it won't work out SWIFT

You're telling yourself that, but you don't know it. My guess is you're telling yourself this to protect yourself from bad experiences and bad feelings. You're going to have bad experiences and bad feelings no matter what you do in life. You already know you already can do a lot of what the job requires you to do. The most important stuff. And you already know the things it requires that you're struggling with. You're obviously not messed up enough as a person to not be able to learn more than you've already learned. You're just struggling like everyone else. You just gotta dig deeper if you want this, and obviously you've got deeper. Anyways I'd say the odds are very likely a different DM is going to be at least 10% more decent to work with, right?

To everyone who says I should have stuck it out my DM and I talked and he says I'm just not trucker material and I should find something else to do in life and I agree with that completely, my lack of pre planing has caused me to be late to appointments numerous times. Sticking around isn't really an option since I already agreed to turn the truck in im just waiting on a load out to the terminal. I actually really liked the lifestyle out here and will miss it alot, I wish things could have worked and been different but such is life. I don't know why everyone is mad at me for leaving when I've already been repeatedly told this wasn't for me.

I'm not trying to put words into anyone else's mouth, but I don't think any of us are mad at you for leaving. There isn't a one of us here that doesn't want to see drivers succeed.

I would highly recommend you take a look at driving B Class -- after I washed out in a similar fashion to what you're dealing with, I drove a trash truck for almost two years to get a steadier head and hand.

A CLASS B is pretty much useless in my area, the only way to get driving experience was through OTR

Bro. EVERYONE needs their trash picked up. EVERYONE.

Sorry, I should clarify.

Yes, B class driving is worth nothing to an A class company, but right now you're running the ragged edge of personality and job conflict, JUST like I was. B class was a great way to get acclimatized to some portions of commercial driving in a slightly lower stress situation, and in general gain some maturity. If and when you decided to return to A class you would be starting from scratch with them in terms of experience, but you would back in with a much clearer head.

If I'm not getting through to you, I'm not sure how to at this point. I have been in your shoes, less the co-driver situation.

I haven't said much to Zach because everyone else has said it all much better than I could. But I don't think it's so much the trucking part, I think he is just really overwhelmed with all he doesn't know. The old hands here for as long as I've been here have always said that school just teaches you to drive the truck, the rest comes after. I think that he got tangled up thinking that as long as he could drive he would be ok, then he gets thrown into a ****ty team situation, as well as trying to figure out all the stuff that school and trainers didn't teach. We all know there's a ton to learn on our own. Yeah he might whine and complain too much, but what driver doesn't at times? I know I do, I complain about stuff all the time, I just know the difference between a valid issue and what is just part of trucking.

Zach I honestly think you are being really hard on yourself. Yeah you screwed up, maybe multiple times, but again who hasn't? Screwing up is part of learning. Perhaps the most important part because if everything goes smooth and you just coast along, what do you really learn? I think you need to tell your dm that your gonna stick with it but solo this time so you don't have to worry about anyone else's mistakes. Just your own and you can learn from them. If your dm says no, take the swift offer. Go through training with them, make sure they know you want to be solo and give it a shot. You haven't rolled a truck or hit anything that I remember you talking about so you really have nothing to lose, except the chance that you might actually turn out to be good at this job.

Sorry, I should clarify.

Yes, B class driving is worth nothing to an A class company, but right now you're running the ragged edge of personality and job conflict, JUST like I was. B class was a great way to get acclimatized to some portions of commercial driving in a slightly lower stress situation, and in general gain some maturity. If and when you decided to return to A class you would be starting from scratch with them in terms of experience, but you would back in with a much clearer head.

If I'm not getting through to you, I'm not sure how to at this point. I have been in your shoes, less the co-driver situation.

I probably won't be back out here again. I got my CDL to be a solo OTR driver not a team Regional driver. Foodservice and all that seem like hectic pain in the ass with all the stops and tight schedules you have to deal with. I looked in to trash trucks but no waste management companies are hiring near me. I'll probably find something non driving or maybe try SWIFT out as a solo driver since they don't push teams I don't know yet. If I do stay out here I am going to have to get better about learning to trip plan, slide tandems , and handle fatigue especially while night driving

Sorry, I should clarify.

Yes, B class driving is worth nothing to an A class company, but right now you're running the ragged edge of personality and job conflict, JUST like I was. B class was a great way to get acclimatized to some portions of commercial driving in a slightly lower stress situation, and in general gain some maturity. If and when you decided to return to A class you would be starting from scratch with them in terms of experience, but you would back in with a much clearer head.

If I'm not getting through to you, I'm not sure how to at this point. I have been in your shoes, less the co-driver situation.

I probably won't be back out here again. I got my CDL to be a solo OTR driver not a team Regional driver. Foodservice and all that seem like hectic pain in the ass with all the stops and tight schedules you have to deal with. I looked in to trash trucks but no waste management companies are hiring near me. I'll probably find something non driving or maybe try SWIFT out as a solo driver since they don't push teams I don't know yet. If I do stay out here I am going to have to get better about learning to trip plan, slide tandems , and handle fatigue especially while night driving

They've been telling you to do linehaul. Start here:

FedEx Freight Driver Program - Road

I haven't said much to Zach because everyone else has said it all much better than I could. But I don't think it's so much the trucking part, I think he is just really overwhelmed with all he doesn't know. The old hands here for as long as I've been here have always said that school just teaches you to drive the truck, the rest comes after. I think that he got tangled up thinking that as long as he could drive he would be ok, then he gets thrown into a ****ty team situation, as well as trying to figure out all the stuff that school and trainers didn't teach. We all know there's a ton to learn on our own. Yeah he might whine and complain too much, but what driver doesn't at times? I know I do, I complain about stuff all the time, I just know the difference between a valid issue and what is just part of trucking.

Zach I honestly think you are being really hard on yourself. Yeah you screwed up, maybe multiple times, but again who hasn't? Screwing up is part of learning. Perhaps the most important part because if everything goes smooth and you just coast along, what do you really learn? I think you need to tell your dm that your gonna stick with it but solo this time so you don't have to worry about anyone else's mistakes. Just your own and you can learn from them. If your dm says no, take the swift offer. Go through training with them, make sure they know you want to be solo and give it a shot. You haven't rolled a truck or hit anything that I remember you talking about so you really have nothing to lose, except the chance that you might actually turn out to be good at this job.

I've had plenty of old timers say that im not cut out for trucking and for good reason lol. It takes alot more then not hitting anything to be successful at this job. Either you have it or you don't. I've come a very long way from where I started but its not enough to make it out here, there's a reason why my DM wants me gone, because I'm not being successful.

Before you disappear, I have some questions....what branch of the Military were you in and for how long? What was your career field/MOS? Being a Veteran, I'm always curious about other Veterans branch they served in and jobs/career fields.

Laura

Your solid now and can’t wait to quit

Sorry, I should clarify.

Yes, B class driving is worth nothing to an A class company, but right now you're running the ragged edge of personality and job conflict, JUST like I was. B class was a great way to get acclimatized to some portions of commercial driving in a slightly lower stress situation, and in general gain some maturity. If and when you decided to return to A class you would be starting from scratch with them in terms of experience, but you would back in with a much clearer head.

If I'm not getting through to you, I'm not sure how to at this point. I have been in your shoes, less the co-driver situation.

I probably won't be back out here again. I got my CDL to be a solo OTR driver not a team Regional driver. Foodservice and all that seem like hectic pain in the ass with all the stops and tight schedules you have to deal with. I looked in to trash trucks but no waste management companies are hiring near me. I'll probably find something non driving or maybe try SWIFT out as a solo driver since they don't push teams I don't know yet. If I do stay out here I am going to have to get better about learning to trip plan, slide tandems , and handle fatigue especially while night driving