Any advice ? new to the industry, Tried Stevens transport first but had horrible experience there especially with the trainers

George, I am on the road today. Tonight I will jump in here and give you some good advice, but I need to know if you were also in this forum as "Family Man"?

Well, it's getting to be my bedtime, and since "George" hasn't been in here to answer my initial question I am going to respond to his request for advice as if he were also "Family Man", which I somehow think he is, but even if he isn't the advice applies to his situation also. I've got to set these points up with multiple quotes from a prior post from "Family Man" so please bear with me as I try to turn your bad experience into a teaching moment for you and the many others who will read this in the future.

I realize that this site is a positive site, and I am not interested in making a company appear worse than they really are. However, I must inform others of some important facts about this company, and let them come to their own conclusions.

Okay, you started off fairly well until you felt compelled to "inform others of some important facts about this company". This is where I always get a little disturbed with this mentality that wants to compare good companies with bad companies. It is a bogus premise that has been perpetuated by the countless host of truck driver wanna be's who just didn't have a realistic clue of what it was they were getting into because they relied heavily upon internet reports about how this company or that company treats their employees before they ever even began to drive a truck. Their thinking is already skewed and they are unjustifiably in the defensive mode to find fault and bail because they are determined to not be one of the people that gets cheated by the greedy trucking companies.

On the basis of my uncle's recommendation of Stevens' training program, I chose to check into what the company had to offer. I attended 3 weeks of training, and had a mostly positive experience. What I found was that most people could pass the 3 weeks of initial training as long as they made an honest effort. (A few were disqualified for failing the drug test or the required physical, and some simply chose not to move forward.)

At the conclusion of 3 weeks, I was paired with a trainer who would coach me as I drove across the nation over the road. My trainer was a lease operator, and he was very protective of his truck. Understandable. I drove to the best of my ability, as my trainer made efforts to strengthen my weaknesses.

You obviously chose Stevens because you had a positive recommendation from someone you knew and trusted. That should speak volumes to you. It should help you realize that there are plenty of people who have had successful and enjoyable careers at this company, but you still felt compelled to share "some important facts" so that folks could come to their own conclusions, but what you did was show us how you and your trainer didn't get along, as you unwittingly gave us a glimpse into a scenario that showed us how thin skinned and unprepared you were for the difficulties of breaking into this career.

Unfortunately, my trainer spent a lot of time and energy yelling at me like a boot camp instructor. He would needle me about trivial matters, such as what I ate, or how high I chose to position the driver's seat when I was behind the wheel.

Finally, a week and a half into this second phase of training, we reached a breaking point when I missed a turn in a small town. Before driving past the turn, I was unsure, and I asked his advice about whether the turn looked right. GPS said I was in position for a turn, but it looked like a neighborhood street. He said, "I don't know, you tell me." As I drove forward, he pointed down the street and said, "See, that WAS your turn." And then, "Sucks to be relying on GPS, doesn't it?" I said, "Sucks to have a trainer who won't help you." At that moment, he told me I would be getting sent back home 800 miles away.

George, I understand what it's like to have a difficult and unpleasant trainer, your's seems like a church lady compared to the one I had. I could have strangled him dead at least ten times on the first day alone, and then as the four weeks progressed that I was with him it only got worse. Truck driving attracts a lot of the Alpha Male types. Most truck drivers think they know more and better than anybody else they come across, and they aren't timid about letting others know just how stupid they are. They don't make people trainers because they are kind and wonderful, in fact sometimes the folks in the offices want to make sure you are tough enough to be bossed around and treated like dirt because that is often how truck drivers are treated at shippers and receivers. They bring in a lot of potential drivers and send most of them back home. A potentially good driver will make an impression during his training that he knows how to roll with the punches and make good decisions while holding his tongue. Those are skills you will desperately need everyday out here.

I can't tell you how many times my trainer said this exact quote to me when I asked a simple question: "I don't know, you tell me."

It seems rude to the uninitiated, but what he is trying to do is force you to think on your own feet because he, more so than anyone else, knows just exactly what you are going to be facing out there when they turn you loose in your own truck in just a matter of a few weeks. You are not going to be ready, and he knows it and feels that when you screw up as a solo driver it reflects on his ability to teach you. (...continued)

When your trainer said: "Sucks to be relying on GPS, doesn't it?" He was trying to teach you something. You may not like his methods, but you still need to learn from him, and that lesson alone is worth a lot of future heart ache and wasted time in your career as a driver. You chose to rise up in anger and missed the whole point of what was transpiring. Instead you rose up in anger and accused him of not teaching you when you couldn't even recognize the lesson that was right before your eyes. I was angered and wanted to quit so may time during my training, but I had one over riding desire that kept me in that trainers truck, and it is the one thing that you were lacking in your experience. I wanted it badly, and anyone who is going to break into this career will have to have that as a determining factor in their initial success.

You gave that trainer the perfect opportunity to tell the company that this guy doesn't have what it takes to make it. I see no reason to continue this futile effort at trying to hold his hand until he gets it, lets just cut our losses and move on to the next one.

I pulled into a grocery store parking lot to try to turn around, and he told me to stop the truck. About 30 mintues later, I was standing with all of my bags off-loaded in 20 degree temperatures. Fortunately, the people who worked in the grocery store helped me get to a hotel about 2 miles away.

This happened on a Friday evening, and my designated Counselor was not set to return to company headquarters until Monday. In the meantime, the company fronted me $200 to take care of myself in this emergency, which was nice. Still, I was left to wonder what to do.

I chose to stay one night in the small town, take a taxi the next day to a bigger city, rent a hotel room there for a day, rent a car the next morning and drive on back home (which is in the same region as the company's headquarters.)

I drove for 13 hours to get home, and returned the car near my home at 10:00 in the morning. Then, I spoke with my designated Counselor.

She asked me what had happened, and I explained as above. She then asked me where I was, and I told her. Next, she said, "Why did you not report the company's headquarters at 8:00 in the morning?" I explained that I had needed to return the car, and that I was unsure of what my family's plans were for using our own personal vehicle. She informed me that since I had not been at either a safe haven or the company's headquarters at 8:00 in the morning, I was considered to have deserted the job. I said, I had made all of my decisions in an effort to survive after being thrown off the truck. Unbelievably, she told me that "just because you chose to get off the truck" doesn't mean you shouldn't be in designated place at a designated time. Why in the world would I have voluntarily decided to throw myself off a truck at the edge of a grocery store parking lot?

On paper, I owe the company thousands of dollars for the training I received. My driving record will also be adversely affected by not returning to complete my training. Still, if this is as much understanding as I get after being dumped in the middle of nowhere, I see no reason to struggle to move forward with this company. Obviously, my situation is only one particular situation. I see many things that the company is doing right, such as maintaining state-of-the-art equipment and striving to hold fast to safety standards. However, if something like this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

George, the most valuable thing "Family Man" said here was right there at the end: "However, if something like this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone."

That's true and it has apparently happened to a lot of folks judging by some of the outlandish reviews of trucking companies I've seen on-line.

None of the "facts" that "Family Man" shared reflect anything that could convince me that this is a "bad company" - but they do reflect the fact that he was completely unprepared and therefore blindsided by his experience at breaking into this career.

I wish you the best, but want you to be geared up and ready when you try this again. You have got to seriously want this if it is going to happen, and you have got to realize that they are not going to handle you with kid gloves. You can do this, but it is a serious undertaking that requires a lot of patience and a willingness to go the extra mile putting up with what just may very well seem like nonsense to you. These companies have been training drivers for a good while now, and most of them have a system that works for them. Most of the new folks that come in don't really get it, but the ones that hold their head up and endure the confusion and misunderstanding that comes with the territory usually will develop into good drivers.

Any advice ? new to the industry, Tried Stevens transport first but had horrible experience there especially with the trainers

I have heard that they do not pay to well, but are a good starting company. I am in a school that shares the same building and yard with Stevens Transport. Nice vehicles and they seem to be well taught. Some of the guys look like they want to goof a little and others have that Gangster Street Badass act going. I actually am thinking that I might go through them if i can not get hired through anyone else or even Pam or U.S.A. The initial training anywhere is going to suck, or that is how I am going to look at it. Like getting into a cell with someone you have to learn from to survive. If it does not suck then what a surprise that will be. I hear stories about some of the students and why they do not use nice motels anymore. My goal is to avoid to much communication with anyone than what is needed. I hope and I mean hope that I am around civil minded people who are job oriented and do not get thrown in with slackers or a ********er want to be's. Stevens, Pam, USA, and others use the rookies since it is cost effective and in return give you training and the chance to get your first year in. Do you think a trainer in the same company really is going to like training you? Why do they demand a year? Hell it is only psychological that the feeling of being stuck or indebted to a company that has to threaten you if you do not fullfill your contract, to want to leave when it is through. Who knows maybe we stay on and become an ******* trainer and torture students ourselves. I just want to get in somewhere and get one good year in. I have given up on the Idea that I will somewhat enjoy it.

I just want to get in somewhere and get one good year in. I have given up on the Idea that I will somewhat enjoy it.

The real trick is to figure out how to be happy and enjoy yourself regardless of what's going on around you. That's a tall order at times, but this is trucking and trucking is one long, steady stream of tall orders. It's easy to find all kinds of reasons to complain and be miserable out there. But I never had a problem finding a long list of blessings to be thankful for at the same time.

There is no getting around dealing with the hardships trucking will throw at you. You can't control most of it. But you can control your mind and how you react to the people and happenings around you. I rather like the saying, "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." That certainly applies in trucking. The better you can control your mind the happier you'll be and the better you'll perform. Some people figure this out, others never do.