govols019
You smell that?
Ever seen a feeder driver in a rental with an air horn? We just blow the horn all the time just for the hell of it... we're a bunch of children.
Feeder School
- Thread starter MN-Kid
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Ever seen a feeder driver in a rental with an air horn? We just blow the horn all the time just for the hell of it... we're a bunch of children.
Almost
Member
Been a long time since I've been through training but beyond training this is the best advice I can give you.
Loose the pkg car attitude. Can't stress that enough.
Develop your routine and don't deviate from it. If you get distracted or stop to talk to someone, Double check the steps in your routine before resuming it. This will prevent you from stupid accidents like dropping a trailer because you were chatting with another driver or driving away with the fuel hose in the tank. I've seen it happen. And no, I haven't done it.
Double check everything!
Don't be afraid to ask any driver for help or a question. I've only know a few that wouldn't help and they are a__holes anyway.
Loose the pkg car attitude. Can't stress that enough.
Develop your routine and don't deviate from it. If you get distracted or stop to talk to someone, Double check the steps in your routine before resuming it. This will prevent you from stupid accidents like dropping a trailer because you were chatting with another driver or driving away with the fuel hose in the tank. I've seen it happen. And no, I haven't done it.
Double check everything!
Don't be afraid to ask any driver for help or a question. I've only know a few that wouldn't help and they are a__holes anyway.
Thanks for all the advice. I’m just trying to make sure I’m up for feeders. Would anyone know where you end up as to routes once you come out of school? My schedule is set now, but with a family I’m trying just to make sure there is some flexibility. Like are most routes M-friend or Tues-Sat? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
retiredTxfeeder
cap'n crunch
Usually it's on call for a while. Then bottom of the list coverage driver. After a year or so, maybe you'll get to actually get a bid job, but it will be the job that every driver ahead of you passed on because it sucked that bad. Times in each phase may be different depending on your location. Every feeder driver goes through it. It's part of paying your dues. (figuratively, not literally)
Thanks for the response
quad decade guy
Well-Known Member
Try to remember getting bent over as a rookie pkg driver. Just like that except at night and weekends.
Yeet
Not gonna let ‘em catch the Midnight Rider
For us a portion of the Pretrip was picked at random, you didn’t have to do the whole thing but you didn’t know which portion you were going to get ahead of time so you had better know it all. You either got form A,B, or C. After that was the incab then backing then driving.
We have all different schedules, M-friend, T-S, and Sun- Thur, starting at all hours of the day and night. Also have 4-10's which a lot of guys like. A lot depends on the size of your feeder dept, how much seniority you have now, and whether or not you have classification seniority in your local.
barnyard
KTM rider
STPMN has at least 26 different feeder start times throughout the day. My peak job was a SU-TH gig. I know you could be looking at Su-Th some weeks and Mo-Fr other weeks. You could go to the feeder office and see where you would be in the seniority list. That will tell you if you have a shot at a FT gig or if you will be stuck with cover and potentially for how long. I know that at MINMN, the shifting is all done by higher seniority guys.
I would imagine that there will be a bunch of retirements this year. Check the vaca scedule. Guys that are taking all their weeks together are probably retiring.
I would imagine that there will be a bunch of retirements this year. Check the vaca scedule. Guys that are taking all their weeks together are probably retiring.
barnyard
KTM rider
The 1st day, you will go over the 5 keys, 10 point commentary and all that. You will also go over logging (we use the ivis as a log, but you will be expected to know how to use a log book.) You will do a pretrip, connect to a trailer and go driving.
The start of every day will be writing out the 5 keys and 10 point commentary. I can't remember if I built a set on my 2nd or 3rd day. We drove to Cannon Falls and Red Wing the 1st couple of days. The 3rd and 4th were more in town driving.
You should have your temps before starting, there should be a state-certified UPS supe that performs your on-road driving test. I did mine on Friday morning, we spent the rest of the time driving to the rest of the buildings in the metro and the railyard.
The start of every day will be writing out the 5 keys and 10 point commentary. I can't remember if I built a set on my 2nd or 3rd day. We drove to Cannon Falls and Red Wing the 1st couple of days. The 3rd and 4th were more in town driving.
You should have your temps before starting, there should be a state-certified UPS supe that performs your on-road driving test. I did mine on Friday morning, we spent the rest of the time driving to the rest of the buildings in the metro and the railyard.
olroadbeech
Happy Verified UPSer
I know why you're stressing but you have a solid foundation with your experience . The training at our hub was excellent.
The majority of field training is repetition repetition repetition. pre trips over and over and over.
making and breaking up sets over and over and over. ( if you hub has doubles and/or triples like ours )
backing, backing , and more backing.
after awhile , everything will be second nature.
Most trainees will say that the memorizing of seeing habits and the commentary ( gee , how would I know this? ) was the hardest part and the actual driving not so bad. It's just bigger equipment.
the best thing about feeder is that there is no rush. safety is so HUGE the trainers want you to succeed. as long as you take your time and stay focused you should be alright.
check back when you have passed.
The majority of field training is repetition repetition repetition. pre trips over and over and over.
making and breaking up sets over and over and over. ( if you hub has doubles and/or triples like ours )
backing, backing , and more backing.
after awhile , everything will be second nature.
Most trainees will say that the memorizing of seeing habits and the commentary ( gee , how would I know this? ) was the hardest part and the actual driving not so bad. It's just bigger equipment.
the best thing about feeder is that there is no rush. safety is so HUGE the trainers want you to succeed. as long as you take your time and stay focused you should be alright.
check back when you have passed.
DriveInDriveOut
Inordinately Right
Lol, wut?
They didn't really go over pre trip at all. Gave us a handout on it and said you're on your own if you want to pass the cdl test.
I think I built like three sets during my first week and maybe two my production week.
barnyard
KTM rider
My trainer did.
I did a pretrip before we left the hub, every day. Most of the time, it was 2 per day and I had to have all the terms correct. I was stuck on remembering brake 'chambers.' For whatever reason, I could not remember 'chamber.' We talked about that quite a bit during one of the trips we did and I did a pretrip after that, including the correct terms.
Different strokes. Here they taught us the UPS pre-trip, but we were on our own as far as learning the pre-trip we had to do for our CDL test. And no they weren't the same, not even close really.
DriveInDriveOut
Inordinately Right
Day one they gave us a sheet step by step how to do it. Told us to come in early and practice it on our own, and said to go by the shop and ask the mechanic if we had any questions. Day five they made sure we knew it.
The whole process was kind of a joke I'm not gonna lie.
