Thanks to this board and the advice of many people here, even though some of the replies weren't directed at me, I learned to research everything I was doing and not accept the prehire flyers I was getting in the mail. There is a way to get completely free 150 hour course, CDL training. There are a few good companies out there that like people who show initiative.

As for the companies, the one that prehired me, I tried to find negative things about them and have not found one bad word about them anywhere. And I have REALLY tried to find something negative. AS a matter of fact the person's name that I'm talking to was posted on this forum as a very good person to talk to about a job. And my experiance with them has been extremely pleasant. Yes, a company that expects you to run only legal hours, has the miles to keep you moving to support your family.

I really appreciate the resource of this board because I would react to a very negative way to the way Swift, England, etc. treats people. I'm doing this to support my family so we can live in a decent life style, and I have to say, at 43 years old I have little tollerance for ######## at this time.

So thanks again to everyone who helped.

Mike D.

While I find this post nice and cuddly it is in the wrong forum.

Where did you find free CDL training?

There is a trick to it there is never free Cdl training anywere.

Unless he went to the local job service and qualified fo the WIA program.

As for the company that gave him a prehire they will tell you what they think you want to hear just to get you in the door.

When I conducted my interveiws with all of the prospective companies I asked alot of questions.

I did not lead them to which way I wanted the question answered.

I did not go down the list in any certian way just skipped arround so if they seen any of the lists posted then it would be harder for them to use a general response going down the list in order.

An example of one of the questions that I asked what is the companies policy regarding driver load/unloads.
Response was we pay the driver to drive not to touch the freight now that being said they will have an occasional load were the driver must unload a little here a little there that is when you are delivering flowers in town somewere or the driver may have to unload with a pallet jack.

But I have talked with another driver and he has not ever had to touch a load yet.

Smoke signals here,where is the rest of the story,what school,what company,type of work,wow,nothing more to add,hope you get back to us,waiting to hear how you did it.

The grants were a combination of workforce redevelopment and department of labor grants. I had to do some research. What I meant by this post was that if a person was to look around and research it they could find what I found. It wasn't that hard. I found a grant that was targeted at my specific group of people to act as bridging funds to suppliment what the One Stop Center would give me. I am more than happy to provide a link or two privately to these funds, but there are probably only 600 slots nationwide so I had to dig. But I figure if a person truely wants to get into trucking and if they're willing to spend 6-12 months with some company that all I've heard is complaints about then what's spending 15-20 hours researching a way to be your own free agent? What I've understood off of this board is "maintain your freedom". Find a small to mid sized company that treats you as a person rather than a number and once a person narrows down their criteria to the type of driving that they wish to perform, then pursue agressively the targeted goal. Well, I think I've put together all of that and it is very possible that anybody could do this once they took the time too.

As per getting into my personal history and as to why I did qualify for such grants, talk to me privately and I'll tell you. One thing I have found though is that most people will sign on the dotted line without reading the contract. Well, my daddy owned his own Industrial Real Estate corporation and he had me reading contracts when I was 6 years old. So I examine all contracts in life with the same thoroughness that I was originally taught to when I was six. And I do kinda think this is The Forum and threads to post this in because this is "new drivers etc." and I wanted to point out to some people that there is a way to pull this off without selling your soul to some screwed up company like Swift or England or Werner.....

I will say this, I'm 43 and I had a class A license before CDL's were law. I also don't have a moving violation in my entire life. I think that worked in my favor.

Mike D.

Good luck mike,glad you explained a little more to us. Sounds like you already knew what to do to get relicensed again. I have had a class a for over 49 yrs ,I know what you mean. see ya,have a great holiday.

Thank you
buck and a half

Last time I drove was the Valdez spill in Alaska. At that particular time Alaska Highway Patrol and DOT was not looking at anything drivers were doing because they had a true catastrophy on their hands with all the oil. I drove a slop tanker. It took the Oil and water off the skimmer boats depending upon where they worked. If it took the boats too long to get back to Valdez, they set up a few places that the boats could pump their cargo off.

This board was really helpful in showing me what to look out for. Especially with the reviews of the companies. Although I had a friend that has worked for Swift three different times and swears by them I found too many people that apparently had basic problems with them to even consider them. The company I did find is a flat bed outfit and one of the considerations that made me decide on doing flat beds was the tarping involved. A good amount of physical activity, but not unloading 40,000 lbs of lettuce. People in different sections of this board were talking about people having problems with their lower legs from sitting in their trucks too long and not doing anything. I figured once every three days jumping around for an hour-hour and a half was a good amount of activity, and get paid for it too.

Well, I have to be at school somewhere around the 19th and the flat bedding company I found was one that I could not find any complaints about on this board and the people seemed real nice. They have answered all of my questions completely and I'm not just talking to a recruiter, I am talking to someone fairly up in the administration. I think the best quote was, "we work really hard at treating people like people" and they pride themselves on that. I'll keep checking in as it goes down.

Mike D.

Okay Mike, now for the good part...........What Company?

JTH

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SEMPER FI

A man is measured not by his wealth or position, but by others who call him friend!

I cant put the link not enough post here yet It in my post davis transport

mike