Veriha Rookie Training Dec 2021

Since there don't seem to be any first hand accounts for Veriha's training program I figure I'll write one.

I just got the hotel in Marinette, WI. Training starts tomorrow Nov 29th at 0700.

They require you to have your CLP , DOT physical, drug tests, a physical capacity test, and basically all the paperwork out of the way before you show up. Early on they have a very weird "assessment" test that you have to pass, but everything since then has been pretty straightforward.

Week 1 will start with 3 days of paperwork and classroom stuff then it looks liket its out to the range/simulator from there.

When I got to town I found out they apparently got some snow in fresh, so that will be interesting.

If anyone has specific questions feel free to ask.

It'll be interesting to read about your experience, and all the best to you!

"Weird assessment test": Like a personality test?

Yeah, you'll probably be looking at some regular snow up there this time of year...

Since there don't seem to be any first hand accounts for Veriha's training program I figure I'll write one.

I just got the hotel in Marinette, WI. Training starts tomorrow Nov 29th at 0700.

They require you to have your CLP , DOT physical, drug tests, a physical capacity test, and basically all the paperwork out of the way before you show up. Early on they have a very weird "assessment" test that you have to pass, but everything since then has been pretty straightforward.

Week 1 will start with 3 days of paperwork and classroom stuff then it looks liket its out to the range/simulator from there.

When I got to town I found out they apparently got some snow in fresh, so that will be interesting.

If anyone has specific questions feel free to ask.

I'm looking forward to following along, as well!! Thanks for sharing, for sure.

Today it is!

I'll stop back; best wishes from a truckin' family!

~ Anne ~

It'll be interesting to read about your experience, and all the best to you!

"Weird assessment test": Like a personality test?

Kinda, but not really. It was 100 "pick the option that best describes you", but the options were things like:

Check your mirrors regularly.

Be polite and courteous with law enforcement.

I was never really sure what they were going for with those, but they said I passed so I'm OK with it. Just for anybody else who applies, don't read too much into it.

Yeah, you'll probably be looking at some regular snow up there this time of year...

Yeah we're getting more right now. The first 2 things they gave us were refletive vests and snow cleats for the lot. Tomorrow morning we get to start the day pretripping the trucks in the fresh snow and then probably wait for the range to get plowed so we can start backing.

Day 1 started with HR paperwork. Then we went to the classroom to start logging our time and learning the pretrip.

In the afternoon they walked us through a pretrip, but it was a little cramped because we were trying to stay out of the snow. We get to go back and start doing it on our own first thing tomorrow. Then they'll start us on backing as soon as the range gets plowed. Doing this in December is going to have some intresting implications for weather.

The instructors have been very clear that they're going to push things along because Veriha is trying to make money on this. They've also been clear that the first 3 weeks are going to be all about passing the CDL exam, and other concerns will be covered later.

Psyching myself up for pretrips in the snow.

Day 1 started with HR paperwork. Then we went to the classroom to start logging our time and learning the pretrip.

In the afternoon they walked us through a pretrip, but it was a little cramped because we were trying to stay out of the snow. We get to go back and start doing it on our own first thing tomorrow. Then they'll start us on backing as soon as the range gets plowed. Doing this in December is going to have some intresting implications for weather.

The instructors have been very clear that they're going to push things along because Veriha is trying to make money on this. They've also been clear that the first 3 weeks are going to be all about passing the CDL exam, and other concerns will be covered later.

Psyching myself up for pretrips in the snow.

Sending you POSITIVE VIBES, G !!!

~ Anne ~

Thanks Anne.

Day 2 started with pretrip practice in fresh snow while we got the backing range plowed and reset. We were able to start on backing about 1000 and then we cycled between doing up and backs through an aisle of cones and pretrip review. Veriha just runs automatics so no time wasted on shifting.

I started out undercorrecting on the backs, then had a couple good runs, then got in to overcorrecting. Hopefully I'll dial in correct-correcting in the next couple days, although I think we're going to start offsets tomorrow. Maybe overcorrecting will help for that? :)

Thanks for the updates! Doing all this in the snow must make it extra "exciting"! It seems like a lot of people overcorrect, so that's interesting that you were undercorrecting at first. Just a matter of dialing it in, as you say. Good luck as you continue!

Thanks for the updates! Doing all this in the snow must make it extra "exciting"! It seems like a lot of people overcorrect, so that's interesting that you were undercorrecting at first. Just a matter of dialing it in, as you say. Good luck as you continue!

Yes and no on the snow. It's been the warm wet and sloppy kind so far and even with empty trailers the trucks are heavy enough to get good traction. Not to mention that I haven't taken it over about 3 MPH yet. On the plus side it's real easy to tell exatly where the tires have been.

That said we had enough melting today I discovered the practice lot is mostly gravel. By lunch time the backing lane was getting pretty polished.

Day 3

Light snow flurries 1st thing in the morning THAT WERE NOT IN THE FORCAST. I DEMAND TO SPEAK TO WHOEVER'S IN CHARGE OF THIS BS!

...

Anyway, alternating pretrip and straight backing in the morning. I think I've gotten that about 90% dialed in. I'm still getting a little off now and then, but I usually catch it early enough for an easy pull up to fix it.

The real fun started after lunch, when we got introduced to the offset back. I bravely/foolishly/recklessly volunteered to go first. I made the first cut fine, but then wasn't aggressive enough coming back around and got the trailer tandems in the lane, but off kilter. So then I tried to cut hard like I should have in the first place and technically overcorrected the trailer, but set myself up for an easy pull-up. From there it was just straight back like I'd been doing.

That was also my introduction to the beauty of GOAL. I like GOAL. GOAL is my friend.

Tomorrow is suposed to be more of the same. I think the plan is to start doing alley backs on Friday.

They're keeping it coming.