...Continued...

Future trainees should be advised to interview the prospective trainer before hitting the road because this person will control your next six weeks, good or bad. In fact, after two weeks on the road we got into a confrontation that could have gotten a lot worse if I hadn't maintained my self-control. He had been yelling at me all morning about everything I did, and I have to agree that I wasn't driving up to par that day for some reason. I think that part of learning to drive something of that size is getting past being intimidated by it, which took me awhile. After a few hours of being yelled at and getting more stressed, which caused me to drive even worse, I told him to get off my ass. You would have thought that I'd thrown diesel fuel in his face because all hell broke lose from there. When I parked the truck I told him to back it up to the dock while I chilled-out. We quietly drove back to the KC terminal where he picked up on the argument that we'd taken a break from and intended on leaving me there. Although I really wanted to drag him around the parking lot until I got tired, I refused to argue. I figured that if this got out of hand then my training would stop until another trainer could swing by to get me, my paycheck would stop and the terminal didn't exactly look like a Hotel 6 to me. So, I bit my lip and said that I intended on finishing the training no matter what. We headed down the road and surprisingly we get along just fine now. My point is that I don't think most spouses could stand each other 24/7 without getting on each others nerves eventually, much less total strangers with nothing in common. This of course made me re-think ever working as a team or training anyone. I just kept telling myself that when I have my own truck I can do things my way for the most part. OK, you've heard the worst part.

If you enjoy seeing the country boy is this the job for you! We covered 19 states in 3 1/2 weeks and most of them 2 or 3 times. We drove through some of the most beautiful country I had ever seen, and I thought I'd seen most of it. It was also weird to wake up in the morning, get out of the truck (in search of a restroom if there was one) and not have a clue where I was. It became a game for me to try and figure out what state we were in. Sometimes, we would be surrounded by snow covered mountains which made me stop (even in the extreme cold) and wonder what an artist God must be.

My evaluation of this job amounts to this. It isn't brain-surgery so just about anyone can do it. (Sorry, Mark, can't agree!! :)  )There is occasional physical work, but not much. Once you are on your own there is a lot of independence to it. A lot of the truckers that I ran across appeared to be a lot like my trainer, not at all concerned about their appearance or whether they had a shower that week (strictly my own observations). However, with all the DOT regulations on driving times, this is a choice and you can approach the job pretty much in whatever manner fits your preferred life-style. I questioned my trainer extensively about the Owner/Operator situation. There appears to be both good and bad points to it and I haven't reached a conclusion on it yet. The driving school and the manuals stress safety a lot. Remember that this comes from someone who refuses to wear seatbelts in his personal vehicle and has never feared driving or being a passenger on any vehicle on the ground or the air. However, when you have 80,000 pounds behind you it tends to make you consider driver safety from a totally new view. I saw more wrecks in 3 1/2 weeks than I've seen in years. I lost count but I think I saw at least 6 trucks turned over, and not all because of snow. And there is no telling how many cars we saw wrecked. I've never had a accident in my 30 years of driving that was my fault (knock on wood). But it is very obvious to me when I am driving that truck that a small wrong move can put the whole thing in the ditch up-side-down. We saw more wrecks in New Mexico and Arizona one day in a bad snow than most people would see in a year. My deduction is this. They say that the two major causes of trucking accidents are speed and fatigue. I have to agree 200%. Why drive as fast as possible to save time and possibly make more money when you chance wrecking $150,000 worth of equipment and who knows how many thousands worth of cargo. PLUS, putting a temporary halt to your earnings, a real bad mark on your Commercial Driving Record, and especially causing injury or DEATH to yourself. Dead men don't make paychecks and can't support their families. I hope this has helped anyone reading this, and I'll continue updating after I've completed my last 2 training weeks.

January 26, 2002

As my late Grandpa would have said, 'Ain't this a hell of a note'. This has been the longest ramp up to a job that I have ever seen. Is it the industry? Is it the Company? Or is it just the people I have to deal with? As of yesterday, I have been waiting to be called back to Training for five (5) weeks. As I said previously, I caught the flu from my Trainer right before we took off for Christmas. After getting the flu and running non-stop for four weeks, I was down for a solid week. When my Trainer wanted to get back on the road, I was in no condition to join him. He told me to wait for a call from him or the lady in HR that handles this. Having been gone for a month, and in the middle of moving, I welcomed a little extra time. I called my Trainer a couple of times, but didn't hear back from him. So, after a month of waiting I called the person that I am supposed to be dealing with in HR and she said that she'll call me back early next week because I was the next Trainee to go out. I asked what happened to my Trainer and was told that he decided not to Train anymore. She explained that they don't have enough Trainers, and often they turn down the ones she is trying to assign to them, because of race, sex etc. I told her that part of the agreement of being a Trainer should be that they take whoever they get. I certainly had to take whoever I was assigned to, and it was most unpleasant. We all have to take care of ourselves, so I started up my Unemployment again, and have talked with another company. I talked to Stevens Transportation just to see what they would say about my situation, and they offered me a job on the spot, asking me when I wanted to start. I was shocked. However, I'd have to start my training over again, which I considered to be a major drawback. I say that only because the person that I was assigned to was probably my exact opposite, and had the worst possible living habits in the world. So, if I don't get a call from Swift early next week (maybe she meant next-next week) then I'll have to call and give them the third degree. Stevens is currently doing all the background checks on me that they have to do, so they are my Plan B. Stevens, for anyone who is interested, mostly delivers with Refrigeration Trailers. And for some reason their pay per mile varied according to what it is. I didn't care for the sound of that part. Apparently, they have to do their own loads/unloads because most of the shippers don't want to risk taking their forklifts into the trailer and damaging it. Which means that there was an opportunity for extra pay by doing the loads/unloads yourself and not hiring a Lumper. Their Training Salary is $325 + the load/unload pay for 8 weeks. On my Training with Swift so far I only unloaded once. Most of their shipping is drop and hook which is nice.

I read the KC Star articles on fatigued drivers, which was repeated in the Las Vegas Review-Journal (my local paper). Thanks Webmaster for alerting us to it. (You are very welcome.)  Since I have spent some time on the road I found it very interesting. I was both surprised and not-surprised. I am not sure how to explain, but I'll try. For those of you that have gone through a Driver School of some kind, you know that they make you carry your Log Book around and update it every time you have a change of duty status. It made sense to me both from a record keeping stand point and a legal one. The DOT has loaded us with a lot of rules, and some are for very good reasons. Of course, being typical government, some of just nuts. Anyway, this article talked about there being an excessive amount of tired drivers on the road. And even had several drivers admitting to lying on their Log Books. Had I read this while going to school, I wouldn't have understood the situation. But, now it's perfectly clear, but also perfectly stupid. Just about every job I've ever had has had some 'System' that most everyone finds a way to work around. In the military it was almost an art form. I'll admit that a lot of rules that we have to follow in life are just plain ignorant. With these rules I am usually willing to fudge a little. But, this issue with the Log Book has me wondering what kind of an industry I've gotten myself into. Even though updating the Log Book constantly can be a pain, it makes perfect sense to me. There are so many things different about driving a truck compared to driving your personal vehicle. For instance, I never wear my seat belts when I am driving a regular vehicle. I have always thought that it was my right and have always been secure in my driving abilities. However, every time I have climbed into a Semi, whether I am driving or not, that seat belt goes on. Why? One simple fact never leaves my mind. Simple mistakes cause major accidents, kill people, damage hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment and cargo, and ruin careers. For instance, if I doze off or get distracted from the road while driving in my pickup, I can quickly adjust and get back where I need to be. But, in a Semi carrying 40 thousand pounds, the same move that gets be back on the road in my pickup will cause a wreck in that big truck. Why? That trailer can have a mind of it it's own and take control of the truck when it stops following the it. Because, even a small load makes that trailer heavier than the truck.

One day last month while going through New Mexico in the snow, I saw more wrecked vehicles than I have seen in the past year. I lost count but there where at least 4 Tractor-Trailers, and at least 5 regular vehicles. In fact, the road had been closed for the night due to a Tractor-Trailer running into another one. I never did see those. Driving a truck takes a lot more concentration than a four-wheeler, and is a lot less forgiving of your mistakes.

Ok, back to the log. My Trainer (who will remain nameless) had his own system which I decided not to use. I realize that I am new to all this and that some day some of these things will actually make sense. Whenever we stopped, he would calculate the miles driven by 58 miles per hour (what Swift considers to be an average). The result is the time that he used on the Log. It didn't matter if we had been averaging 65 mph or 40. His explanation was that it kept him from having Log Book Violations, and keeping the company and DOT off his back. (I hate to say it but this is the standard industry practice.)  He also only recorded the minimum allowed times for fueling, unloading etc. One day we unloaded at a K-Mart for 2 1/2 hours, so that's what I put down. (The average driver waits 40 hours per week.  If you logged 40 hours on duty, you would have only 30 hours to drive.  Doing the math you can see that you'd be lucky to bring home minimum wage.  Being honest -- in this industry -- does not pay.)  He had me change it to 30 minutes. Whiteout became a real necessity because his times where always different from real times. He also pushed both of us 24/7 for that month. A few times I stopped because I refused to drive when I couldn't keep my eyes open. Which leads me to the DOT laws, which have created the Log Book in the first place. A 10 hour per day driving maximum and 70 hour maximum per 8 days, makes sense. Why? Because there are too many accidents on the road already, why make yours the next one? If you notice a lot of the Tractor-Trailer accidents are just one truck by itself. That means he made a mistake. And from what I have read so far, most of the multiple vehicle wrecks involving a Tractor-Trailer are preventable too.

Ok, I've stepped off my soapbox after having written a novel. Still awake? I can hardly wait to get past this training period and get assigned to my own truck. Because, I know that the benefits that attracted me to the job to begin with I can finally enjoy. Since I have always been a heavy traveler and a Solitary Man, the thought of seeing places that I've never seen before, the beautiful scenery that we have in this country, and the independence of the job appeals to me. I am not sure if the downsides of the job will work out but I've committed myself to finding out. If I can just get my own truck!!

Note from the webmaster:  You've done a fantastic job on this journal and I appreciate it very much.  I hope you will forgive me for my various comments throughout....  You are catching on quick, no doubt, but I ask only that you look at the situation on a deeper level.  In a nutshell, think about this:  Driving schools offer poor courses because carriers don't mind hiring from them.  Carriers are too afraid of losing business to object to shippers and receivers who abuse drivers by either denying facilities and/or outrageously long & ridiculous wait times.  A driver must make money because the road is so damned expensive...and there is a family at home to feed, after all. After sitting on the dock all day -- and then unloading his own load because the receiver has a "driver unload" policy, what is the driver to do?  He drives because that is what he does.  If the driver logged 100% legally, the carrier would flip and the driver would not make enough income to cover road expenses.  Again, the average driver spends 40 hours per week waiting around on shippers/receiver's property.  Is this right?  Of course it isn't.  Do you see carriers making any moves to change industry practices?  Absolutely not.  What you see are carriers promoting campaigns like 18 year olds behind the wheel, etc.  (They've already tapped the female and minority markets, not to mention prison parolees and have nearly run out.)

There are many drivers who shouldn't hold a CDL -- they aren't worthy and are not professionals.  However, one must look also at the motives behind the actions and in this case, they're deep, ugly and rooted to, what else, the almighty buck.  Signed, webmaster

Training Completed
April 03, 2002

Training is finally over!! After waiting 6wks I finally got hooked up with another trainer. I couldn't have asked for a better Trainer. He was a guy in his mid 50's who had been a Marine Environmentalist (with a PhD) up until 5yrs ago when he ran into what a lot of us did last year, couldn't find work in his chosen field. So, he went to work for Swift and has stayed with them. A very intelligent man and I enjoyed his company. He had a very laid back attitude and made it extremely easy for me to improve my skills. Plus, he was quite a Trucking Gourmet. He made dinner every day for us in a small travel crockpot. So, I spent the last 2 weeks of training in a much better training environment, and ate real well! When my time was up I had all the miles that I needed so we headed back to the home terminal. I took the final road and written test and went home for a few days off. Since you have to spend 24/7 for 6wks with your trainer it really makes a big difference when you can train with someone that you can get along with and communicate well with.