Hello All!

I just had a couple questions. My fiance is looking into going through training at a school in Pontiac, Michigan called Nu-Way. All of the things they offer sound great (as does everything advertised!) but I'm seriously skeptical. So I browsed around this forum and...

...it seems like EVERY SINGLE COMPANY they offer "placement" with are the ###### companies that everyone seems to say "stay away from."

It makes me really nervous, and I was just wondering how full of #### this company is. Three or four of their "Top rated companies" are:

1. Swift
2. Werner
3. Covenant
4. CRST

Which I have seen most people hate.

Nu-Way is somewhere around $6000 for 3 weeks of training and they say 90% of companies will reimburse you over the course of 3 years as long as they are OTR companies or whatever. They say you DON'T have to sign any contracts however.

I'm just really leary that they are offering all these "Great bonuses" that are supposed to make you feel confident....and I don't. Especially after seeing that all the companies they say they can place you with are garbage.

Please Help !!

And if anyone has any recommendations for other schools in michigan, please let me know

Thanks

Check out Scheider, they have their own schools, are pretty good as far as a trucking company goes.

You do have to work for them 12-18 months to pay back for the school.

Also check USA Truck, they have their own school and you pay them back weekly for a year. Call USA Truck not driver solutions who also recruits for USA truck.

check the rest of the forums, there are some other companies that will train you

__________________
Mr. Green Jeans

No contracts? Ya, right. I call shenanigans.

You're right to feel like someone's trying to get over on your SO. There are few industries full of half-truths, lies and ripoffs like this one is. It's a sad state of affairs, but that's reality.

Your fiance may have to seek a school away from home. I did that, getting my training in Indianapolis while living in MN. Just because a school isn't in your backyard is no reason to turn it down--after all, trucking requires you to be away from the house anyway, so everyone might as well get used to it.

Unfortunately, the majority of companies that take students suck, and there's no way around that fact. Your fiance might just have to put up with it for a bit. Once 6mo to a year has gone by, doors will open up. S/he may just have to run with one of those companies for a while, suck it up, don't kill anyone/wreck the truck/pile up tickets...and then go find a real company.

I started with Transport America, out of Eagan, MN. Now, this was 11 years back, so no telling what's going on there now, but they were a fairly decent company to learn with. Yes, they did screw me over on a couple of things, but nothing too horrible--I count them as learning experiences.

Good luck and take heart...I'm sure others will be along shortly to weigh in. When it comes to truck drivers, you'll never be short of opinions.

__________________
No load is worth your life. Or anyone else's.

RON PAUL IN 2008!!

yes, DONOT call driver solutions they charge you 6K for the school and don't seem to know their butt from a hole in the ground about their hiring Co's i am going with USA (through DS's) and got a big runaround from them (DS's)

__________________
tip for new truckers: to err is human, to forgive is not D.O.T. policy.
-ACT YOUR WAGE!!!- DAVE RAMSEY

I went to nu-way in pontiac. And what they state is true. They will NOT allow a company come in and try to recruit if they require a contract.
The school is ok. It needs a little more organazation though. Just make sure to tell your fianacie to stand in line and make sure he gets his turn in the yard to get in the truck. They need to monitor a little more with people sitting inside the truck and just keep going over and over again.

Now going with a company is a serious business. Right now I am training with Werner. Cause it seemed to me they have more of training program. Like longer in time will get me more time on the road with the trainer. Well I am finding out this is not entirely true. Seems they are running us as a team. Well needless to say while I am driving my instructor is sleeping. This is not good since he is part deaf and I can not wake him up in the event that I need some instruction.
Some people that graduated in my class went with US express. They only have a 3wk training program. Well come to find out they do NOT run as a team. The student does all the driving and the instructor is awake the whole time. Which is much better.
Now pay is another concern of mine. Werner states in their flyer and their website. Up to .35 cents a mile for a newbie with 0-3mo expierience. Nope looks like it is not the case. Looks like it is going to be .26 a mile.
Now where I at now with my training I am at about 100hrs of training and holding. Because I have been sitting here in CALI with out a truck. Since of a sort of brakedown. I need to get back the road. I was planning on doing the full 6 wks and getting a bonus but since it is taking longer. I guess I will take the midway break.
Oh well I am still hoping for the best here. We will see..
Good luck.

Well, that is the point of advertising.

Generally, the nastier companies make the most effort recruiting.

Right. The catch that they're not telling you, is that in order to get that, you generally have to have graduated within 90 days. So, if someone graduated, went to Werner for 4 months, then went to Swift, Swift wouldn't do tuition reimbursement at all.


If it were me, at $6,000 I'm pretty sure I'd seriously consider a company training program with a contract. Both Roehl and Schneider's schools are generally thought highly of. though, I've been to neither, myself.

I'd go cheap on training. This is because I went a route similiar to what you describe about 12 years ago. What a rip-off this was. This school was Alliance, and that outfit pushed the likes of Swift hard. Of course, I was an idiot who believed all trucking companies were equal, and a trucking job was a sensible, honest job. I laugh now when I remember how naive I was back then. I went with Swift as my first company and to this day regret it. My early career could have gone so much better if I'd have chosen a good company instead of that greedy, pack-o-liars Swift. I would have made a LOT more money, too. Live and learn. Call it "tuition paid in full at the college of hard knocks." Don't YOU go and make this same mistake, now, okay?

The reason these companies are pushed so hard by the training schools is because these companies are desperate and have a hand in these training schools. I don't know how deep their hands are in the pockets of the likes of this "Nu-Way", but I'd guess pretty deep. Believe me, there is nothing "new" here. It's the same old story. Big companies somehow are part owners or sponsors of these schools (Alliance was a corporation, meaning big outfits like Swift could have been major stockholders), and the schools sing the praises of the companies, most of which are rotten to the core. The companies have a steady supply of new drivers, meaning they can go on abusing the experienced drivers they already have. If the experienced drivers quit, so what? The seats will be filled tomorrow with grads fresh out of these training schools the companies have their hands in.

The reason these companies are desperate is because they view truck drivers as a disposible resource and treat those drivers as such. Drivers, being human, resent the ill-treatment and quit these companies in droves. This ill treatment usually takes the form of lies, low miles, very low pay, and rip-offs on pay and bonuses. You'd be smart to avoid these companies, unless you want to reinvent the wheel for the ten-billionth time (if you go to work for them, you'll be soon quitting just like all those other guys who've gone before you have done). These companies are easy to spot after you get in the industry. They advertise constantly in newspapers, have huge lots of rigs that have been cleaned out by last-week's quitters, and have huge orientation classes in relation to their size. If you are interested in a company and see any of these signs, it'll be your red flag signal to turn tail and run. Drivers quit companies in droves for good reasons. You don't really need to know the reason(s), just the fact they're quitting in droves. Ignore the herd at your own risk, my friend.

Also, website blogging seems to be another way to tell a company sucks. Use it, and contribute.

Another red flag you can use as a signal is when a company pesters you about working for them. The more a company bothers you and begs, the farther you need to stay away from it. I know J.B. Hunt is famous for pestering potential recruits with cold calls trying to get them to quit their present jobs, some of which are driving jobs, and come drive for ol' J.B. If a company is good, nobody will quit and it'll be a ##### to get a job there. If a company blows, they'll have high turnover, meaning they'll beg you to come work for 'em, which also means you'd be smart to stay the hell away from 'em. You especially want to avoid a trucking company that wants you to play the job-hopper.

Find a cheaper way to get training, and then go with a GOOD company. You're new on the scene, so this first company MUST be good for you. I know Crete has some type of training, as does Roehl. However, at least of late, Crete has been receiving some bad press here from drivers who should know. I don't know if I'd go with Crete right now. Maybe I would. Maybe I wouldn't. I'd probably go with Roehl.

Good luck.

__________________
--Paved Dudley--

Yeah I drive a Swift truck
And that means one thing
It means she's slow
It's a typical company truck
It's just all show and no go

I'm gettin' passed by Yella
And even Overnite
I'm gettin' passed by ever' body in sight
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight

No, my hometown's nowhere in sight
And if you think I'm pissed off
You're right
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight


Love pissing off those trucking company insiders.

Thanks a ton for all the useful information everyone I figured it'd be the best to post here and get opinions from all the seasoned drivers.

I knew I had bad feeling about this school, and we just had a baby 4 months ago, and I don't feel like blowing $6000 on something that's a load of ####.

Two of you said to look into companies (i.e Roehl and Schneider) so maybe we'll do that!

Thanks again

What makes you say that?


Geez, I'm so new at all this I'm really afraid to make a bad choice, haha. All the opinions we can get the better...