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Common Mistakes for Rookie Truck Drivers to Look Out

Truck Drivers: Myths and Reality

Like any other laboring industry, the truck driving industry demands commitment, hard work, determination, and a positive approach. Unfortunately, many new truck drivers ruin their career even before it starts. Let us have a look at the common mistakes rookie truckers make.

Rookie Truck Driver Mistakes

READY TO MEET CHALLENGES

The most important thing you need to understand is that trucking is one of the most challenging decisions. At times you will even regret your decision to be a trucker because CDL training pushes you beyond your limits, and you have to overcome a lot of mental obstacles before you can reach your goal. If you can get through the CDL training and the rookie years of trucking, the real fun starts just after.

Many truckers spend an entire decade in postal services to understand and improve their mistakes, prepping themselves for the trucking industry. Eventually, you learn to steer a 70 feet long monstrous truck that weighs close to 80000 pounds. Time in different delivery services will help you master the art of time management, memorize road maps, and find parking in the most populated places.

Around this time, the learning curve comes to an end, and the stress of daily life in a trucking industry takes its place. When you have spent a decade in the delivery business and undergone proper training, the trucking industry seems to be a comfortable fit for you. You handle the truck very well, communication with dispatch improves, and you know exactly what is asked of you. Understanding your vehicle becomes more natural, and you can quickly identify and fix mechanical failures. All these help build your experience and confidence to be an impeccable trucker.

EXPECTATIONS

To survive the rookie years in the trucking industry, you must let go of all fantasies you had about trucking. Rookie years are all about working hard and gaining experience. There are days when you will be working so hard that sweat will be pouring all over you, and a couple of showers won't help get the stink off. Sometimes the weather gets so bad that the wind from a thunderstorm or blizzard will shake your truck off balance, and you will have no chance to go to the restroom even if you wanted to. Some days you will feel like beating up your trainer or hammer down the truck because some drivers won't give you space to move backward. These are the days you must endure and learn.

On the highway, things change rapidly. Sometimes mechanical problems or traffic might cause delays. Sometimes the shipper cancels the load before you have even reached. You can also be rerouted to a different location after traveling a thousand miles to deliver goods. Adapting to the ever-changing environment of the trucking industry is the reality.

These cases are not anybody's fault. No one can be blamed, and you are not a victim of incompetence. This is trucking. If you have been in the trucking and it makes you feel worthless, this industry is not for you.

CONFIDENT AND HUMBLE

Overconfidence is not a virtue anywhere. The overconfident rookies, just out of CDL training, think a lot of themselves and make the most accidents. They expect higher pay because they topped their class in CDL School but fail to understand that they lack experience in the real world. They fail to realize that their worth is equal to the starting pay a company offers because the company will have to reimburse for damages they will make in the field in the beginning.

The second type of character that suffers in the trucking industry is the perfectionists. They beat themselves up for not being able to avoid mistakes that almost every rookie makes. Mistakes like locking yourself out of the truck, making small accidents, arriving late at appointments, or getting lost are prevalent in rookies. Errors in the rookie years are for you to accept, learn, and improve your skillset.

The overconfident ones end up in the trucking industry expecting high pay, new equipment, auto transmission vehicles, holidays, and good-benefits. They all set themselves up for disappointment as they fail to understand that experience is the first thing that matters, and more experienced drivers have earned their equipment and pay scale.

NO ONE LIKES A KNOW-IT-ALL

The terrifying truckers are the ones who try telling us how things are and will be. These drivers downplay their past infractions, drug history, or work ethics, which portray disrespect for the road. They think they know everything which demeans the experience that real truckers have gained over the years.

The truth about the trucking industry is that it has a 24-hour work schedule that is continually changing. Trucking will leave you drained of all energy by the end of the day, so investing in online colleges for further studies would be foolish in the rookie years. It will take a few years to accept and adapt to the transition to the new lifestyle of a trucker.

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