Rookie drivers and newcomers to truck driving schools or paid CDL training programs often complain to us about the challenges they are facing while starting their careers as truck drivers
Let’s review a quick list of issues newly licensed drivers report having. There have been reports of issues relating to the following:
- Downshifting and double clutching
- Any kind of backing motion in a huge rig, including straight backing,
- Possessing correctly adjusted mirrors and the driver’s seat
- turning to the right
- starting up a hill from a standstill
- how to parallel-park that monster
I get a lot of joy from assisting new drivers in getting the swing of everything. Still, there is one item that I often see causing new drivers difficulty as they attempt to get this thing going, and frequently they begin their solo careers with this one issue still nagging them.
I could significantly contribute to the trucking industry’s improvement if I could find a way to assist new drivers in getting beyond this issue. The unsettling aspect of this issue is that most of those affected don’t even seem to be aware of how it is obstructing them. Almost all new drivers have this minor issue, and many seasoned drivers I’ve met appear to have dealt with it for most of their careers. In my view, the largest obstacle to actual success in the trucking sector is this. It is an elusive phenomenon of disillusionment that somehow survives on its lies, making it hard to identify.
What Are the Requirements for Trucking Success?
Comprehending how one succeeds in this field and grasping the basic ideas underpinning success as a truck driver is, in my opinion, the most challenging aspect of beginning a new trucking career. I named this difficulty “evasive” because we tend to get all bogged down by the physical parts of this task. Although disregarding the cognitive difficulties we encounter daily out here, we all want to ensure that we succeed at double clutching or learning how to “set the truck up” for a backward move. If you do even the smallest investigation, you will encounter egregious misrepresentations about this job and its operation. It is undoubtedly one of the most inaccurately described, misinterpreted, and overestimated industries I have ever encountered.
How often do we put up with the same ridiculous accusations about the trucking sector in internet forums and videos? They never seem to stop and seldom ever face opposition. As truck drivers, we constantly appear susceptible to anxieties initially founded on false information. While it is complete nonsense, drivers often assert that businesses are restricting their productivity so they can’t earn well.
Moving freight is the foundation of this whole enterprise. Your chances of generating money increase as you move more freight. Both the business and the driver can attest to this. These unfounded stories and innuendo are like house bugs that keep reappearing no matter how hard you try to kick them out. I’m unsure how they keep their legs beneath them half the time.
Top Performers Make Top Pay
This company is focused on getting outcomes. The highest remuneration goes to outstanding achievers. Top-performing trucking businesses can turn a profit, and as a result, they reward their best drivers. You need to perform a lot of labor to succeed in a commodities industry like trucking, which is one of the guiding principles of success. The rogue tactic of “holding their workers back and preventing them from succeeding in moving the most freight feasible” is not explicitly stated in this industry’s business strategies. It would be damaging to oneself.
Truck drivers are compensated per mile. This is sometimes referred to as performance-based remuneration. The whole purpose of performance-based compensation is to encourage employees to find methods to increase their productivity. You may make more money by doing more. It’s a win-win scenario since the more you accomplish, the more money the business will make. Many workers are unfamiliar with the idea since they are used to being paid according to how much time they spend at their jobs. Although performance-based compensation encourages the employee to utilize his abilities and skills to distinguish himself as innovative and inventive and, as a result, both more productive and affluent, hourly pay goes against the logic of production.
Every employee should want to be able to choose their pay scale, which is a powerful motivator for those who adopt the trucking industry’s success strategies. I’ve often compared a profession as a truck driver to being self-employed. It truly does share a trait with those kinds of people that are self-driven, disciplined, and thrive on taking control of their own lives in the marketplace. Successful truck drivers exhibit these traits regularly and do it voluntarily and persuasively in the face of the same challenges that trip everyone up.
Since there is so much false information about this profession, I believe that the hardest aspect of beginning this job successfully is fighting the effect of false information. As I type this little essay, I am seated in the driver’s lounge of one of my company’s terminals, listening to and mostly ignoring a discussion between the five people besides me. I wish to capture what is said and play it back for you. Even though we all work for the same firm, I am unaware of any workplace issues they fiercely lament. How is it even doable? Why do some individuals find it difficult to succeed in this pitch while others see it as their ideal job? How can one individual, who works for the same corporation, claim that trucking is comparable to slavery? At the same time, another earns financial rewards that are on par with many positions that need college degrees.
Consider Yourself
When you fall into erroneous information and false beliefs, you give up your capacity for critical thinking and allow the corruption of your sound judgment to take over your cognitive processes. You can no longer hold out hope that you can influence your circumstances after giving up on a false way of thinking and digesting what you need for success. Each prosperous truck driver forges their road to success. Their employers anticipate that the performance pay incentive will inspire something in them that will give them an advantage over rivals (their fellow employees). Is it an unfamiliar or fresh idea to you? One idea is that you compete with your coworkers. Success in this field is simple for those who take charge and force things to happen. I’ve used so many various methods out here to solve problems that my dispatcher recently complimented me:
Don’t Pay Attention To The Critics
Avoid allowing yourself to be so readily swayed by the extensive disinformation campaign that dominates the minds of many new entry-level drivers if you want to excel at truck driving. You won’t be eventually hampered by the physical difficulties of commencing this job. With a little work, anybody can get beyond those obstacles. You won’t be prevented from succeeding as a new driver by some enigmatic taskmaster of corporate avarice either.
Trucking businesses want their drivers to be successful, so they try to support those who show a penchant for it. Yet, drivers who fall into the dated category of ignorant victims will find it difficult to succeed in this line of work from the outset. While attempting to begin, they will pay attention to all the incorrect things. They’ll buy into the foolishness that says there are some very great businesses to start with and some truly terrible businesses to avoid.
Do you see what I mean there? Up until I made that last absurd comment, you were all ears. Aren’t you wondering how I could have been unaware of all the dishonest start-up businesses ready to exploit new drivers?
There is still a tonne of work to be done!