About three weeks, while I was training to be a truck driver.
I’d gotten my CDL through a trucking company’s “apprenticeship” program, which was actually a super-predatory mill they ran to compensate for their insane turnover rate.
The final phase of this company’s program, after I’d acquired my CDL but before receiving my own truck assignment, had me driving/riding on a “trainer’s” truck for 20,000 miles, while the more-experienced trainer showed me all the ins and outs of life on the road. In theory, anyway.
In practice, I’d learned essentially everything there was to know after a couple of days. Enough to get by on my own, at least.
So my trainer suggested we run the truck as a team operation from then on, running long-distance, time-sensitive loads, forcing one of us to drive while the other slept, in order to burn through my training miles faster. The company was tracking training miles by the truck, not by the driver, apparently.
Rather than driving 400-500 miles per day, I was pushing 1000 miles per day, every day, the truck only stopping for fuel and to work with customers. Between pickups and deliveries, my trainer had this annoying habit of only visiting truck stops while I was asleep, and finding random industrial parks and highway shoulders to park on for shift changes. I never had time to take a shower.
I staved off the stink with copious amounts of baby wipes and Febreeze. I also found out later, that my trainer owned the truck we drove, and my wages were not taken out of the revenue for the loads he ran. So I was effectively free labor for him.
I don’t work for that company anymore. I’m still in trucking, but I spend weekends at my house. And I try to shower at least every other day on the road.
About three weeks, while I was training to be a truck driver.
I’d gotten my CDL through a trucking company’s “apprenticeship” program, which was actually a super-predatory mill they ran to compensate for their insane turnover rate.
The final phase of this company’s program, after I’d acquired my CDL but before receiving my own truck assignment, had me driving/riding on a “trainer’s” truck for 20,000 miles, while the more-experienced trainer showed me all the ins and outs of life on the road. In theory, anyway.
In practice, I’d learned essentially everything there was to know after a couple of days. Enough to get by on my own, at least.
So my trainer suggested we run the truck as a team operation from then on, running long-distance, time-sensitive loads, forcing one of us to drive while the other slept, in order to burn through my training miles faster. The company was tracking training miles by the truck, not by the driver, apparently.
Rather than driving 400-500 miles per day, I was pushing 1000 miles per day, every day, the truck only stopping for fuel and to work with customers. Between pickups and deliveries, my trainer had this annoying habit of only visiting truck stops while I was asleep, and finding random industrial parks and highway shoulders to park on for shift changes. I never had time to take a shower.
I staved off the stink with copious amounts of baby wipes and Febreeze. I also found out later, that my trainer owned the truck we drove, and my wages were not taken out of the revenue for the loads he ran. So I was effectively free labor for him.
I don’t work for that company anymore. I’m still in trucking, but I spend weekends at my house. And I try to shower at least every other day on the road.