Question:
On the R/T, Canuck posted about requiring a potential hirie to do a pre-trip. As I recall, he caught quite a bit of flack about it.
Quite a few companies, mine included, will require you to run a pre-trip.
In the case of my company, they will pull a tractor and trailer out of the repair line and require the new hires to pretrip them.
They do not pick units with obscure defects, rather they pick units with air leaks, bad belts, leaking seals, etc.
Fail to find them--GOOD-BYE!
Unfair? No!
As with many OTR companies, we may not see a terminal for 5 to 8 weeks between services.
What would you rather do? Perform a proper pre-trip--or spend several hours sitting behind a scale waiting for a repair truck and wondering how you'll pay the fine?

Answer:
That is interesting. Not many companies go that far into detail on a road trip. The majority of the training companies sure don't. Wish they all did. There might some better drivers on the road if they did.
Funny thing as I mentioned along time ago. I hardly ever see anyone doing a pretrip on the road. Most just start it up and go.
"Caution: Door May Open"

Answer:
Yeah, I can only imagine what it is like to do a complete pre-trip when the ambient temp has a minus in front of it. What if you're driving a cabover? That must really bite!
Still, it would be wiser to do it and find any potential problems while you're in your parking spot, rather than 50 miles from anything when it comes back to haunt you.
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Save the trees, eat more beavers.