Truck Driver Beginnings
Tips on surviving the baby steps:
Everything starts with the beginning. Well, there’s a shock.
Every beginning though, is difficult, and you can’t just get to the top of a
mountain view without first braving the rocks and harsh winds that come prior
to it. That first year of treacherous hauling, ignorance, and perhaps getting
taken advantage of with your lower hand at experience, may be the hardest but
best thing that will ever happen to you.
Experience is something you’ll be forced to buy with time,
but learning from your own mistakes has a more competent option: learning from
other people’s mistakes. Specifically veteran trucker’s past mistakes. That will
offer you the best of both worlds by knowing what not to do in spite of never
having tried it.
In your company’s eyes though, you are still new. They will
want to test you out. Before trusting you with their most precious and valuable
cargo, they are looking for the following behavioral patterns which are
beneficial to ask yourself.
1. Can they trust you, point blank?
2. Is your freight consistently loaded in line with the rules of safety loading and with the right quality equipment, ensuring no shifting,breakage, or accidents?
3. Can you drive safely for large increments of time, at night no less?
4. Are you good with planning the schedule of your route to allow for timeliness?
Just reassuring them with words is not enough. Prove all of
these assets to them with action. Be trustworthy, load safe; don’t bypass law
even if you think it to be convenient. Drive only in amounts you can handle with
adequate sleep because over-doing it will only prove that you are willing to
forgo safety. Be on time and plan ahead for anything that may come up- storms,
construction road close-offs, and cancellations with reroutes.
Planning ahead is not just about leaving early. Know your
route, make note of truck stop options along the way, and in case your GPS
breaks down, bring a map. This way time is not lost searching for stops and
more with borrowed time.
This also means
packing the sack with extra pairs of dry and comfortable clothing to ensure a
relaxed drive in spite of weather conditions, and prevent you from having to
run a laundry load at a truck stop.
Attempt to bring a balanced food menu of
nutrition to keep your brain alert, and an added bonus of not spoiling without
too much preservative. Not your brain spoiling, your food. Although we don’t
recommend either one.
Try to keep with the same company for at least a year before
deciding that you need a change, because you may just be your own problem and
starting with yourself can help you survive anything you come in contact with
in the future.
Last but not least, when you do find yourself at the
threshold of challenge, whether it is a grumpy dispatcher, a HAZMAT load, an
impossibly foggy windshield, or a lost in the woods predicament, don’t panic.
These challenges are expected in the life of a trucker, now just figure out
what you can do to combat it.
Get off at the next truck stop (that you wrote down hopefully!),
sit yourself beside that kind looking veteran trucker, and pour out your
concerns. Chances are, he’s gone through them himself, and will feel needed and
delighted to help.
Even if he hasn’t a concrete answer, just sharing your burden
with a fellow trucker can help to lighten your load (pun intended) and peace of
mind does wonders for any trucker stuck on the side of the road with only
slippery ice as company. Breathe. :)
