Do you believe being a Spotter will help ?

To be a SPOTTER? You mean den mother, wolf pack leader. Trailer jockey, tractor wrangler. Teetotailer. Erm wait on that last...

Ive done it. Not necessarily on the company yard. Ive done that too. Even between a production factory building and a shipping building moving 30 trailers I "Own" between the two. Round and round. Ive actually had me and my sleeper truck told to stay put in Buffalo at the brass foundry there and mind the 10 or so trailers we kept up there in a constant state of being loaded with Ammunition coils that are going to factories to make into anything from pistol cartridge cases all the way to 155mm artillery rounds hither thither and youn all over the USA.

It's fun. But if you have a hankering to wander around the USA, then GO. Spotting work is righteous. But if you got a abusive manager or trouble in the yard, don't stay. Take off.

Nothing wrong with Spotting. Much. Unless you got a baaad driver crew who does not give a #### for being neat, then you will constantly clean up after them before actually getting to the trailers waiting on you.

 

Here is a much simpler and concise answer.
Yes.
It will help learn how to maneuver in general and will help you enormously with your backing skills.
Most new drivers today don't get the chance to hone the backing skills before they get thrown to the wolves.
Your going to be very thankful your having to go through this process before you hit the road.

 

Sounds like they need a spotter more than a road driver. Spotting is a boring job. You WILL get proficient at backing a trailer , but it sucks. Trust me.

 

Being a Spotter first will DEFINITELY help you out. I wish ALL the Mega's would start everybody off on the Yard Horse first, rather than driving a couple hundred miles and occasionally learning how to back up once your at your destination. I think I read somewhere where MOST of the accidents that occur in the trucking industry is not actually on the road itself, but while trying to backup.

Anybody can learn how to drive forward, but learning how to back up is a skill that takes time. Case in point, I recently went to an Amazon Fulfillment Center and saw a Mega Driver, who looked like he was in his mid 30's, take about what seemed like 10-15 minutes to back into a dock. The Yard Jockey looked like he was in his early 20's and literally made about 2 moves before the Mega Driver was done. He was even making moves blindside as well. When your job is to do nothing but backup all day, you're gonna become an EXPERT at backing up, and it's a skill that'll help you out IF you decided to become a City Driver/P&D, Foodservice, Dollar Store deliveries, etc., where you'll thank GOD that you started off as a Spotter when you're backing into these tight places.

 

I worked as a yard spotter before I went regional years ago. It was good experience.

 

Sounds like they want you to learn how to back without hitting anything before they turn you loose on the road...

 

That's another thing. After a year as a spotter, you will be able to back blind side or sight side equally well. It will all just be "backing".