The Challenges of Learning to Drive a Truck with a Trainer
If you are new to trucking and just passed the CDL exam it is likely your first trucking job will have you spending a lot of time with your trainer. No one wants to do this, but it is a requirement for most truck jobs in order to get your over the road experience. Most truck companies will not hire you straight out of trucking school but will instead require at least 1 or 2 years of experience. Driving a truck is a big responsibility and the best way to learn how to do it right is to go out with a trainer for a period of 3 to 4 weeks.
Living in a Small Box with Your Boss
There are a lot of challenges with living in a truck and when you add another person into the equation the living space becomes quite cramped. You can also forget about your privacy because there will not be any. The truck you are assigned to will have two bunks and your trainer will likely tell you to throw all of your stuff on the top bunk. This bed will be your only place to rest when you are not driving. Expect it to be no larger than a twin XL with little head room to spare. You should have a small overhead light with a switch and a vent or two for air circulation. If you are lucky there may even be a small window that you can get a small amount of sun light or crack for some fresh air.
Once you move your stuff into your trainers truck the first thing you will realize is that you packed too much stuff. This is a common mistake newcomers make when first going out over the road. If you have more than one small suitcase or duffel bag you packed too much. Plain and simple. Here are some of the items you are going to want to take to live out of a truck full time. T-shirts, jeans, underwear, socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, black work shoes or boots, pillow, sunglasses, bath towel, soap, shaving cream and a razor to name a few. Makes sure you bring extra socks and underwear.
Friend of Foe?
Trucking trainers come in all types and the one you are going to want to get with is someone who will become a friend for the time you are going to spend in the truck. This will make the entire process of being crammed in a truck together for up to a month easier to deal with. You will also want a trainer who has plenty of experience as in having driven longer than 2 years. Anything less and you may not be learning the important things you need to in order to survive out there once you are assigned your own truck.
Smoker or Non-Smoker
A regrettable fact in trucking is that a lot of drivers’ smoke. I am not a smoker so during my over the road training I asked for a trainer that did not smoke. Schneider could not find one, so I was left with a trainer that vaped an extraordinarily strong tobacco smelling liquid. It was nauseating. But I was able to get my training started and they wanted to get me out of that charming hotel they were paying for every night. The good news is once I got use to the smell my first trainer was a great guy. He was as older fella but knowledgeable and nice. He even had a good sense of humor. Overall, I was lucky to have such a trainer. My second trainer at Super Service was not so nice. He did not smoke but we did not become friends. We could barely tolerate each other. He tended to talk down to me for no reason and we even had a shouting match once. The good news is I made it through that and was assigned my own truck and we left on talking terms at least.
The Little Nuisances
You will quickly find that you are a guest in someone else’s truck and that the way they like things is the way they are going to be. For instance, the temperature in the cab. Windows up or down. Air circulation on or off. What music or radio station you will be forced to listen to, and the list goes on? In other words, since this is their home, they make the ground rules and, in most cases, you will have to learn to live with them or get out of the truck and ask for another trainer if there is something you cannot handle.
Strange Odors in the Truck
Every truck has a unique odor unless it is brand new. Your trainer’s truck may be no exception. The first truck I trained in smelled of a strong tobacco vape. The second truck smelled like old socks. You will never get use to the smell 100% but it will become less noticeable over time. Just expect the air quality to not be to your liking. Whether it is fumes seeping into the truck or your trainers overuse of deodorant or a cleaning spray.
Shower Time
If you had your hopes up of getting a shower every day as an over the road truck trainee, you can throw that idea right out of the window. The best-case scenario is you will get a shower every 2nd or 3rd day. There simply will not be enough time, fuel points or even overnight parking with shower access every night of your journey.
Bathroom Time
Cut back on drinking the fluids. As a truck driver you will quickly learn to limit your water intake during each shift. The more you drink the more you will be forced to stop to use the restroom. You trainer will not be happy if you are asking to stop every hour. It is also best to just sip lightly if at all during your 14-hour shift. Making an unplanned truck stop can often take up to 15 minutes. Do not be scared to ask your trainer where and when the next planned fuel stop is. You will usually have up to 30 minutes to use the restroom at that point and even grab some snacks or a quick bite to eat to go.
Dinner Time
Expect to not eat dinner until after your 14-hour shift. This is pretty common in trucking. There is no time to sit down and eat until your shift is over. Time is just too precious to waste sitting in some diner when you can be covering miles. Not to mention your trainer will not allow it. The good news however is that once you get off for the day you will have at least 10 hours to eat, shower and sleep. Assuming you plan to get a full night’s sleep of 8 hours this leaves 2 hours to sit down and grab a bite at one of the many attached fast food joints located most truck stops.
Snoring Time
So, you finally finished your first day of training over the road and everything went well for the most part. You get all comfortable up on your bunk and start relaxing and welcome the thought of catching a good night’s rest. Then all of the sudden you hear a loud snore below you. A short time later it comes again. It is so loud it is audible outside of the truck. Your exhausted but every 30 seconds your trainer’s snoring wakes you right back up. Welcome to trucking! Oh, and you may want to add some ear plugs to your packing list if you have not already done so.
