End of a great week other than weather. Did blind side,site side and alley dock.Got a great compliment from my Instructor. Making him proud because I'm listening and getting better everytime in the truck. Made me feel good out there in the rain. Next week I goto the park for shifting,double clutching then once out of the park I go to road driving. Had some class work today about railroad tracks.Follow the rules,you cant BEAT A TRAIN,YOU WILL LOSE!!
I'll keep you guys posted next week. I asked what would be the best company to go with and I'm told everybody and everybody,you need to get experience.Some may get lucky,others may not at first but get your experience and keep trying for the union job!

BigDaddyJollyRob,

I wanted to know more details about your experience in a Teamster school. I am already doing training # Roadmasters in W. Memphis, AR. What kind of jobs were they able to get you or help you find? How long is the school?

or visit 123collegedegree.com and follow the contact us link. I can give you a phone number to call if you prefer.

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The School is for 8-10 weeks.I came to school with my permit so I dont need to do some of the class work.(gen knowledge,airbrakes,combo for permit) With the holidays it changed some of our time. I should graduate on time in mid feb as long as we dont lose days due to snow storms. As I stated I'm off to the park to shift and then on the road driving once they feel I"m ok shifting. Jobs, My main instructor was with ABF for 30 yrs. That is One he has suggested.I applied there but I'm still in school and dont have a CDL so no interview yet. I will apply to all of the union companies as well as every non union company that hires newbies with atleast $.30 per mile.I'm not applying to swift,werner,cr england. I will also be looking into local companies some tankers, ltl's and fleet operators.I found 2 company in my state that I like. 1 is tanker dry bulk and I see them all over the state. 2nd is connected to my current field(lawn care,landscaping, tree & shrub care) and I'm going to give them a call.It just makes sence to contact a local company that will pay you hourly to deliver mulch to customers as well aspesticide products when I already know that field and have the pesticide license.It should get me in the door. My Instructors said the will help me where ever I want to go as long as I keep working hard. They do not gaurente placement.

Snow storm today,not as bad as predicted.School open. WOOOHOOO!!!
TODAY I OFFICIALLY DID MY PRETRIP,COUPLED TRACTOR TO TRAILER AND AT THE END OF THE DAY PARKED THE TRAILER AND UNCOUPLED.IT FELT GREAT.
Talked with one instructor about getting into the park for shifting and road work for this week.I should have 4-5 weeks left will be off monday the 21st MLK day School closed. I'm going to a CDL ROAD TEST LECTURE AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF RHODE ISLAND.Its given by the head road tester.

GREAT DAY went to park today to drive,upshift & down shift.Did a good job. Was ok'd to leave the park and get on the road next time but we(instructor and I) decided another day in the park would do me good. I asked to go for road test on time in feb or even go 1week earlier if possible. I just needed to get to the park and on the road. I went to the road test lecture class today learned some other things,reinforced things I learned on my own and schooling. Very Happy at the end of the day,now I have additional motivation to get out of school and get into training with a company.

I will get on the road next week and should graduate on time or sooner. I've gone through the pretrip of entire truck,air brakes,manuvers, only need to do road work, HOS class,Breakdown(already know) hazmatt class. Today we did drop & hook,how to properly do them when were out on our own. A couple of guys are scheduled for the upcomming week,one asked to wait one more week. I wish they would of sent me out when I asked, I would of had my road time in and would of jumped to take that guys spot.Not making any money in school. I studied hard before I went to school and being well prepared has helping out alot. I will keep you posted as to how the next two weeks go.I'm suppose to graduate around the 15th of Feb hopfully I will goto my road test around Feb 14th or a week eairler.

I got my 'A' through the Teamsters. At the time they started us off in the classroom to get us ready for our permits. Once you passed and had your permit on to the next step and that was on the road. I started out with a W900 and a 32' low-side. Easy to alley dock and back straight ect. I took my driving test on a tractor and half of a double bottom dump because the end-dump didn't pass the walk around since it had too many leaks to patch that day.

Trying alley docking with the front trailer of a set was like backing an air-compressor or u-kart. There's no tongue and they turn quick.

I stayed on with the school to get behind the wheel of every rig they had as result, I had experience on 9,10, 13, 15, 18 speed RTO's. They still had 4-on-4's ,5-on-4's, and 6-on-4's for us to drive. they only thing I didn't get a chance to drive were the Triple Sevens, although I ran Cat 290's and Cat MB 830 scrapers in the Army. The transmissions are the same as the 777's and they have articulate steering as well.

The big benefit of going through the Teamster is that your dues pays for your school. The quality of instruction is above average to exceptional depending on your instructor.

I hope this helps you

Heh, I see you've gone through the motions and went to driving school already. I should read the whole thread.

Well good luck to you

Still in school waiting to graduate mid FEB, going out with brother in law sunday to get some more time and he can quiz me on how I'm doing.I went to school with my permit so I wouldnt waste the time in the classroom hoping to be in the park or on the road.But it didnt workout that way.If it did I would go for my test this week I'm confident that if I had the road time I'd do just fine. My time will come,now I need to send out more applications, looking for union jobs and non union.We were told to remember to get a withdrawl card to stay in good standing as we look for jobs. I'm waiting on final approval from Anderson Trucking Service, going to fillout ABF,YELLOW,ROADWAY,NEW PENN, AS WELL AS CONWAY, OFFSHORE EXPRESS, OLD CASTLE AND SUPERIOR TANKERS. I was told to go to the tanker companies in my area,althugh they prefer experience the will train a newbie because I have no bad habits yet and can be trained thier way.

Good luck.I just graduated.I took a class at a technical school here in Georgia.I had fun but glad its all over tho lol.