Hubby and I want to drive team together. We start school next week.
So far we've found two options for on the job training -
Covenant, which has that political propaganda message on the back of their trucks or
a company that does LTL, so we could train separately but be home every night together.

It feels like we have to go to school, then get a "temp job" to get our otj training done, and then after a couple of months with that company, then go look for our "real job".

My question is for recruiters and company owners really...
If couples are so valuable, why on earth would you not do everything you can to train them together? We aren't going into this to drive separately for two months first, we are doing it to be together! Minimal ojt pay and training as a couple would be so much preferable to being separated for that 6 to 8 weeks.

I get it that it means 3 ppl in a truck. Not many trainers are willing to do that, if only because of potential awkward personal moments. If the trainer for a solo trainee would sit passenger and have the trainee drive, thereby using their on duty hos, they could do it for two trainees, just allow one trainee at a time to drive; switch off. Each trainee could split the 11 hours a day drive time. You can't tell me I wouldn't be learning the same things whether I'm in the sleeper or in the driver seat, because I can hear just fine. Then there are two bunks for sleeping. It would be like a solo training thing, except two ppl would share the training.

I'm just really tense about being apart from my hubby for 6 to 8 weeks, with all the horror stories you hear about trainers. I don't want to have a trainer force me to drive illegal, or be forced out of a truck alone because they don't like me, or whatever. We want to do this together because we spend all our time together now. We've worked together in a bedroom sized office for 15 years. 2 months of being apart would be hard on both of us. He spent a week recently visiting his sister without me, and it was hard on us.

 

I've always suggested that teams train separately.. especially "couples". I have seen way to many couples where the men decide that they are instantly the boss and the females are relegated to straight line driving, fueling the trucks and other menial things where the man does all the manly stuff.. Women are decidedly better in training that men are. The advantage of training alone is that you both become drivers in your own right with your own training knowledge base. You each bring back different things that can help the team, training with different trainers gives you more access to knowledge and skill sets. 6 to 8 weeks shouldn't destroy a relationship unless there is no trust in the relationship to begin with.

 

Hubby and I don't have that kind of relationship. I have no fear of being the "2nd driver" while he does all the work. I have been with him 24/7 for years. I do not want to be trained separately. If couples are so valuable in this industry, why do more companies not offer a way for those couples to train together?

 

Because three in a truck for days/weeks just wouldn't work out for training. The trainer is limited to 14 hrs a day, add in a pretrip and then hubby drives 10 hrs that would add help to about 10.5 that wouldn't leave much for you would it? Another thing what would you do for the 10hrs that hubby drives and what would he do while you drive? There's other reasons like safety and privacy. I've been married 42 yrs and in a way know what you mean but sometimes its nice to have some alone time.

 

I understand that you want to share the training time with your husband, but you guys may just distract the attention of each other. This is the road, and the things that you get to know at the training are very important, so it's better to move the personal life away at least for some time.

 

Many years ago, I wrote up what I felt would be a good plan for trying out teaming for a weekend.. You'd have to do some homework on hours of service and prepare your house for this.. and no cheating. I cannot remember all that I wrote, but some of the bits in there were that you have to prepare your laundry room for having two of you in there for a couple of days. You need a few clunky things to toss in the dryer and maybe even the washer at the same time. You'll need a cot, and a small tv and video game console with some sort of driving simulator that you can play for hours. you;ll need a clock / timer to time your driving time. The rules are that you cannot get out of the laundry room for the entire weekend. You must have one driver and one person in the cot the entire weekend, to use the bathroom, you have to stop the simulator, and use the restroom, but first you have to walk outside and around your house one lap, then go to the bathroom.. and walk around the house, get back in the laundry room and get back on the road. Meals must not be cooked conventionally, you must have something out of a box, can or something like that. All of this must continue for the entire weekend with no real breaks.. there was a lot more that I covered.. but this would take a lot of time to add all the things you will be exposed to for the weeks you will be on the road.

 

Great idea, never happen but still great!

 

some time we have to sacrifice some things to get somethings....