Driver Lifestyles
A Different Approach to Driver Training
Here's the scenario: You and your spouse have retired from your respective careers but you're still too young to just sit on the front porch and watch the traffic go by.
You've been looking into a second career of expedited trucking and you like what you've seen. Maybe you've attended an Expediter Workshop or an Expedite Expo and you're ready to make your move into the business. But, where do you get your training and how do you obtain your CDL?
A search through trucking magazines, the Internet and even the phone book will reveal that there are literally hundreds of truck driving schools across the country, each with different programs.
These schools usually fall into three different categories:
Private Schools
These schools are owned and operated by private, for-profit entities. They are usually required to be licensed and are regulated by most states.
Public Institutions
These are schools that are chartered, owned, operated and funded by a state or local government. Examples of these types of schools include local community colleges, vocational-technical schools or state colleges.
Motor Carrier Training
The objective is simply to get drivers on the road hauling freight so the company can make more money. It is really an on the job training program. It is designed to give an individual minimal driving skill necessary to pass the CDL test. Then the driver can begin running freight with a "driver-trainer," who is usually just another driver with a little more experience.
Another option
One common factor among these schools is that they are designed to prepare the student to obtain his/her Class A license with the goal in mind of driving tractor-trailers. For the prospective straight truck expediter couple, this would probably represent more intensive training than they need or desire.
One "homegrown" route that many couples have taken is to rent a Penske or U-Haul box truck, find a vacant parking lot and grind some gears.
Although this method might familiarize you with driving in a straight line and the basics of shifting, it does little to prepare one for a CDL test or real world driving. For that, you have to go to the professional trainers.
Expedite Solutions
Kyle Ochs, General Manager of Expedite Solutions, describes his organization as "capacity development partner to expedited carriers". The company recruits "natural teams" (husband/wife), provides them with the training to secure their CBL B Class licenses, assigns to them a late model straight truck and places them with an expedited carrier.
The company serves as a gateway to the expedite industry. Ninety percent of the course's attendees are brand new to trucking with the occasional current or former truck driver who would like to have his wife take the course.
Founded in 1999, the company trains an average of 50 teams per year and the training consists of a 3-phase curriculum that spans a one-year period.
Phase 1
It all begins when the teams arrive at the Indianapolis corporate housing facility on Monday.
Kyle Ochs tells us, "We start no more than two teams per instructor, but more typically, it works out to one team per instructor. The curriculum is designed to be adaptive to their learning style. We offer the instruction in a variety of mediums and methods to help the individual learn in his own way."
Ochs says that the two primary instructors are trucking industry veterans with many years of hands-on and instructional experience but are well-versed in the specialized nature of expedited trucking.
"Over the seven years since our founding, we have attempted to develop a curriculum that gives new people in the industry a fighting chance to be successful in what is really a complex small business arrangement."
Ochs continues, "We have two full-time instructors, but every Expedite Solutions employee is involved in the training during the two week curriculum. Every staff member acts as an instructor in their area of specialization."
"Perhaps the best benefit is that Class B CDL training is less complicated, which means that the students can complete the training and begin earning a great salary in less than two weeks."
The two week curriculum includes:
*Safety & Mechanical-driving
*Lifestyle
This area deals with the relationship with the team member, the relationship with Expedite Solutions as business investors, the relationship with the carrier, being away from home, eating healthy on the road and other personal issues.
*Operations
This area concentrates on how to run the business, including board position, in service/out of service, relocations, backhauls, maintenance and repairs, computer instruction and a blueprint for success (budgeting).
*Map and Trip
*Logbooks
The teams spend the first four or five days working on their primary focus - getting their CDL written exams behind them and securing their Indiana CDL or learners permit.
That part of the training is usually accomplished by Friday, so the teams spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday becoming familiar with the truck - a very intensive weekend. By Wednesday or Thursday of the second week, says Ochs, they're ready to test for their CDL.
He says, "It's at this point that we start injecting all of the job, lifestyle and operational training along with the follow up on the safety and mechanical skills training. We then introduce our orientation to the industry and they graduate on that Friday. They are then assigned a truck on Saturday and depart for the carrier's orientation on Sunday."
Phase 2
Phase 2 of the training is a 90-day period when the team starts working in the truck. This is actually the most difficult part of the training. All of the things that the teams have learned during Phase 1 are put into practice.
They are now fully immersed in the industry and running as if they were ten-year veterans. Everything is brand new and they are adjusting to all the things they were told about such things as co-existing in a truck, delivering on time, etc.
Ochs says that during that 90 day period, Expedite Solutions is intensely involved with the team on a daily or every other day basis. The company monitors all of the team's key statistics with the carrier (on-time record, in-service numbers, acceptance percentage, etc.) and continues to follow up on the team's operational training.
Phase 3
The General Manager says, "Phase 3 runs from the end of that 90-day period through the end of the team's first year. It concentrates on the finer points of the business and how the team can improve its performance and revenue. It's time to focus in on fuel economy, repositioning, etc. We regard our teams as business partners and their success is our success."
College training
Mike Royston is a 26-year trucking industry veteran who is currently an instructor at Baker College in Owosso, Michigan. In addition to his classroom and over-the-road instructional duties, he also conducts driver evaluations for expedited carrier Express-1 in Buchanan, Michigan.
He says, "For the retired couples who want to enter expedited trucking, I think it's a good idea to use a truck driving school. For the average person who has driven a car for most of their life, he/she doesn't understand the principles of a larger vehicle. They definitely need that training."
Royston says that there is no federal mandate that a driver receives a minimum number of hours of training behind the wheel to take a CDL test. The only requirement to get a CDL is to pass the test itself.
"At Baker College, it's broken down in terms," he states. "To get a CDL, the student goes through 2-10 week terms (20 weeks) with 5-6 classes per term. This totals almost 190 hours of classroom instruction with 30 hours of lab time. The student puts in a minimum of 58 hours behind the wheel and that's one on one with an instructor. We also have a partner carrier with whom the student carries live loads."
"Our school is specifically focused on Class A CDL (tractor-trailer) instruction, but we have had some students who have taken our course with the idea of obtaining a Class B license to drive a straight truck only."
He continues, “Any of the private schools will give instruction for a Class B license, but I recommend our type of course for this reason: Will the new truck driver be comfortable driving the straight truck with the limited amount of instruction as opposed to our more comprehensive training? Those schools are basically designed to teach the student how to take and pass the CDL test and little more."
Baker College is involved with the Michigan Center for Truck Safety and our students go through the courses it offers. Our graduates have an increased confidence level because they know their limitations.
Royston tells that in his role as Express-1 evaluator, he has found that because of the company's standards, around 90% of Express-1's Class A licensed applicants are "very good drivers." Interestingly, the Class B drivers, says Royston have an even better percentage of capable drivers.
He does have a word of warning regarding the many truck driving schools, however. "Simply put, its buyer beware." The wise student will research the schools carefully and ask lots of questions of both the training facilities and other drivers.
Related links: