Looking to train with a big mill and run hard with them.

That seems to be the sentiment around the forums. There are a lot of helpful people here, and some with great attitudes wishing all the newbs well, but they have a strong dislike for the industry leaders(read as starting companies).

 

For this post, let's think of great as meaning " notably large in size."

 

I spoke with Watkins & Shepard today. It was very informative. They no longer offer tuition assistance/reimbursement/financing for their school. They charge $4695, which includes a room during the training in Missoula, Montana.

If I financed this loan, I'd end up paying over $200 a month for 2 years and over $600 in interest. Facts like this make companies like Central Refrigerated look much better to me. They'll put you through school, and charge you $100 a month for 12 months and you'll be debt free. Even if things don't work out the total cost of school is only $3000. Each month you work for Central you knock off $250 from the cost of school.

Con-way doesn't have a school. I'm really leaning harder and harder to the side of a company with a school.

If anyone else knows of a few more companies I can research with their own school, I'd be rather appreciative.

 

You are all for "smaller" companies but recommend Con-Way, which seems to be in the top 10 of all trucking companies.

Watkins & Shepard looks good on paper, but their school is expensive and I've read enough negative posts for them to lose their halo in my book. It was a pleasure talking to their recruiting, and if my circumstances were different I would certainly consider them as a top 5 choice for my first employer in the industry.

You recommend doing research to start with a good small company because you dislike all of these larger companies. Then you go and imply the company you work for as a good company, but mention that you must have 2 years of experience, when you know the people on this sub-section are interested in getting their CDL and breaking into the trucking industry.

I appreciate your opinion and insight, but I get the impression you're missing the big picture.

The reasoning behind wanting the in-house training of a large company for my particular situation is the tuition assistance/reimbursement/financing. Most of these companies don't do credit checks, and I also assume don't list the school financing through credit agencies until there is a default. This would keep my debt to credit ratio down. I also don't want to pay much up front for schooling, as I no longer have a five figure savings as I used to. I'm trying my best to get my credit score back into the 700's, as it took a bit of a dip over the last year with higher debt to credit ratio, and lower income. There are a large amount of factors going into my choices, and I struggle with balancing the scale.

I'm trying to provide an optimal choice for both myself, and my friend. I have to take into account our personalities, finances, wants, wishes, home cities, families, work ethic, health, etc. So it's not about just finding your opinion of "the best," as much as it is finding our best option.