Feeder school

[pickup]

Do off the street feeder drivers attend any type of school or training?

As far as I know, NO. Based on your driving test and your experience, they assume you know how to drive. Here, the off the street hire spends about a week with an on-road supervisor together on productive runs. (as opposed to just driving around, practicing with empty trailers). The trainer and driver might spend a half a day or so in the yard hooking up and practicing with doubles so that the driver can be doubles certified (maybe triples out there in the Midwest, I don't know.

What the trainer may do is making sure you drive the UPS way: double clutching, two hands on the steering wheel when not shifting or engaging turn signals or other things such as the switch for the windshield wipers.

They also like to play the game of quizzing you on the five seeing habits , and the 10 points of the Depth of Knowledge. Hopefully, you have those lists in your possession. If not, a search on this website should dig them up.

The pleasantness of the week with a trainer depends on the trainer himself, for the most part. A crotchety trainer in the midst of a divorce as opposed to one who truly wants to make you comfortable and then work little by little on the rough edges can make a world of difference.

I would imagine there might be an afternoon or a day where you watch some videos and fill out some training paperwork.

This is the scenario in my part of the world. Things may work differently there.

 

[pickup]

4 weeks ago I never drove a tractor a day in my life. First day, spent half the day in the office cramping my fingers, second half he showed me how to drive (shift) it. Second day we hooked up a trailer and took a ride about an hour away and back. 3rd day he had me backing. 4th day I was with another trainer who had me drilling pretrips and rook me out to do some more backs. 5th day, more pretrips and a ride to make sure I had it all down. Day 6, took me for my CDL test. I actually failed my road test the first time and they took me back out a couple days later and I passed.
Day 7-10 was with an on road sup who trained me how to hook up doubles and driving them as well as taking me out with 53 footers.
Day 11 I was out on my own. In the last 3 days I have been on call and been to 3 different places, no problem.

3 important rules. Take the right trailer. Take it to the right place. Don't hit anything.

Keep up the good work, CementUPS. You can learn a lot from every back up. I still do.

You've got a steep part of a learning curve ahead of you( you already tackled a good portion of it, and I congratulate you for that) Be present and alert and you will improve greatly. There might be set backs but acknowledge them and minimize them and you might just end up looking a little inexperienced. Gloss over them or run through them and you might end up looking very flipped over(or something like that).

 

[gatorkev85]

Started 4 weeks ago and finished day 1 of school and was pushed back in the hub do to an audit feeder was having. I go back on Monday for day 2. I've been told I will be taking my cdl test on Friday. Is this enough time to learn to back the truck up properly? They said testing has changed and going out of the box at all is an automatic fail. I recently spent time learning to back a boat and got pretty good at it so I'm hoping that helps out.

 

[Rick Ross]

You'd be surprised how often a load goes to the wrong location...or miss service..

We haven't had any in a few years but it's a miracle. In the past month alone I met 3 meet point drivers who obviously didn't check their seal control because the wrong ELOC was listed on the paperwork. I had to call and verify the load was either going to or bypassing our building.

I don't know how drivers become so lazy. I've had one drive 300 miles without either door safety chain latched and no signature on the seal control. Others have paperwork with the wrong trailer or seal number on it which is also never signed. It's crazy!

The worst are PT supervisors who can't update load percentages, make a seal control without an error, or better yet leave without making out a seal for the trailer. This happens multiple times each week. After having to flip a set once, I now walk in and verify all percentages.

Either laziness or incompetence.

 

[TheMachine]

I guess the varies by center size (or not) but do you have to be able to drive doubles? Or can you spend a happy career just running single trailers?

 

[Rick Ross]

I guess the varies by center size (or not) but do you have to be able to drive doubles? Or can you spend a happy career just running single trailers?

Must be able to run both.

Doubles are no big deal, nothing to be afraid of if you don't weave around while driving and know where youre going. Plus you make extra $$ because of the extra time it takes to build and breakdown sets and the $.50 raise when pulling them.

 

[Coldworld]

Must be able to run both.

Doubles are no big deal, nothing to be afraid of if you don't weave around while driving and know where youre going. Plus you make extra $$ because of the extra time it takes to build and breakdown sets and the $.50 raise when pulling them.

I wouldnt want to be involved in an accident and try to explain why my back box was 100% and the front was 20%... although there isn’t a law saying you have to be in balance like you do on a triples set... you would know ups would throw you under the bus if they weren’t balanced out...

 

[olroadbeech]

everyone, regardless of truck driving experience , goes to 2 weeks of feeder training out here.
i already had 14 years experience driving trucks when i was hired. 2 weeks of training.

btw, i learned a lot in those 2 weeks that i did not learn in the truck driving school i paid for 14 years prior.

UPS feeder training has to be some of the best out there.

 

[olroadbeech]

I wouldnt want to be involved in an accident and try to explain why my back box was 100% and the front was 20%... although there isn’t a law saying you have to be in balance like you do on a triples set... you would know ups would throw you under the bus if they weren’t balanced out...

sometimes a 40-50 % trailer is heavier than a 100% load.

it's super important in the snow and ice. one time i had a 100 and a 50 and was just starting out on my run in a snowstorm. the 50 was heavier and making me go all over the place.

so i pulled into a gas station ( it had lots of room and big lights ) and switched them around in a near blizzard. it was very worthwhile as my run was 240 miles each way. once they were switched it was much easier tracking , etc.

 

[Coldworld]

everyone, regardless of truck driving experience , goes to 2 weeks of feeder training out here.
i already had 14 years experience driving trucks when i was hired. 2 weeks of training.

btw, i learned a lot in those 2 weeks that i did not learn in the truck driving school i paid for 14 years prior.

UPS feeder training has to be some of the best out there.

More than one driver has said that ups “trains for the dot test”.... I think I pulled one long during the 2 1/2 weeks I was training...

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

The driver has the last say on which load goes where in the set, percentage or weight wise. Since its my arse on the line, heavy trailer goes to the front, no matter what. If you have to do an extra move or two because of it when you get where you're going, or before you head out, so be it. I got paid by the hour. They throw a lot of stuff at you in a short period of time in school. You will learn a bunch of stuff once you get out on your own, simply by experiencing it yourself, or from input from other drivers. You can teach someone to back a trailer, but no guarantees trainee will catch on quickly. At some point, it will just "come to you" and you will have it from then on.

 

[Johney]

There is no way to know which trailer weighs more, you can only assume the fuller trailer weighs more. I’ve never seen scales except at a weigh station.

 

[Mugarolla]

There is no way to know which trailer weighs more, you can only assume the fuller trailer weighs more. I’ve never seen scales except at a weigh station.

Only hubs that pull triples have scales.

I always try and put the fuller box in front, but may put it on the rear if it is within 25% of the front, maybe.

I guess the varies by center size (or not) but do you have to be able to drive doubles?

Yes. You need a T endorsement (doubles-triples), and pull doubles during training.

Or can you spend a happy career just running single trailers?

Possibly. Depending on center or hub. You could be on a TDP job, picking up local customers accounts, but I wouldn't count on working 30 years in feeders without having to pull doubles at some time.

 

[TheMachine]

Thanks for the responses guys. I grew up on the big boys with my grandfather so may be a natural area of progression for me.