Starting Community College Driving School Tomorrow

Gryphon.

Thanks for all the input and info. Good job and keep it up. I am very interested also as I will be entering CDL driving school in the first quarted of 2012 myself. Did I miss something? I didn't see any mention as to where you are going to school. The state or the company? I saw one reference to McElroy? If you don't want to disclose that, that is cool.
Keep it up as I am following your progress with great interest.
gary

 

Gryphon,

OK, that's cool. I am planning on attending CDL College Truck Driving School in Aurora Colorado that was the reason for the interest. I also would be interested at some time if you could let me know the companies you are considering, that would be of help to me as you seem to know what you are talking about and your opinions on different companies would be of interest to me too. I am considering Stevens, and some thought to Swift or Werner also. I also saw that Schneider was mentioned 2 years in a row as one of the top companies nationally to work for.
Anyway, I appreciate all your info. Keep it up.

gary

 

What's up with companies that act like everybody has a choice about how long they are unemployed? Maybe instead of taking some SH-T job paying nothing and killing yourself, you were out trying to find an actual CAREER, with a SALARY and BENEFITS. Maybe you were in a position where your spouse was supporting the household and you had childcare responsibilities. Or maybe you were just sitting home watching tube and collecting unemployment(not saying you were). What does that have to do with what you are doing now? Sounds like discrimination to me. But, I guess they can hire who they want with so many people in this country unable to find or qualify for decent career opportunities. Best of luck to you man, I start school next month. My small retail business struggled because the company we leased our space from refused to lower rates since '07 and put alot of folks out of business. I guess I'll have to explain what I've been doing the last 3 months. Maybe I'll just telling them reading about Werner trainers that crap their pants and truckers who mishandle pee bottles on TTR.

 

Gryphon,

One of the reasons I am looking seriously at Stevens is that they are strictly reefer trucks, at least that is what I am told. Also they drive the I-80 corridor when possible which avoids the chaining and unchaining that I-70 thru Colorado makes necessary. It seems, for me, Roehl is more Midwest and East and I live in Colorado about 40 miles east of Utah. I have hopes of concentrating more out west. The recruiter said that would be no problem with Stevens. I also agree there are not as many negatives about them compared to some of the others like Swift and CR England.
Keep it up.

gary

 

I`ve read good things about Schneider too, I`m not familiar with Stevens and heard bad things about CR England and Swift...

 

Great job!
Looks like you hit it just right.
You have two instead of three. Lots more driving time, parking ect.
Right time of year, dead winter conditions. Better now than later on your own.

 

Everyone,


This is a quote from "Consumer and Student Guide to CDL Training, Truck Driving Schools, and Trucking Jobs"


"There is only one organization that currently certifies truck driving courses: The Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI), located in Alexandria, Virginia. PTDI certification is voluntary. A school is not required to become certified. But a certified school is probably the best guarantee that a truck driving school maintains high truck driver training standards.
PTDI has developed three sets of strict standards that they apply to truck driving schools that want to be certified. PTDI will inspect the school and determine whether the standards are met. If they are met, the school's course is certified (schools are not certified) and the school can advertise that it teaches a course certified by PTDI. The three standards are for Skills, Knowledge and Curriculum. Skill standards are the basic skills an entry level driver should have (shifting, backing, vehicle inspection, etc.). As you might guess, knowledge standards describe the basic information a driver should know (how to plan a trip, licensing requirements, accident procedures and cargo documentation, for example). Finally, PTDI's curriculum standards identify the minimum course of instruction a truck driving school must present, including topics addressed and hours required for class, truck lab and driving. PTDI's standards for a school in this regard are very high. For example, PTDI requires that every student individually have at least 44 hours of driving instruction behind the wheel. That's a lot of driving time, and it cannot include any hours observing. (See Observation Time below).
There a number of advantages to PTDI certification. Students know that the training should be high quality, that they will receive a lot of driving experience and that the school has made the extra effort to demonstrate it is committed to the best training. Plus, the trucking industry has great respect for PTDI graduates because they know they are getting the best. They also know that their own company "finishing training" training costs will be lower because the student is well trained already. So, students that graduate from a top quality program benefit in the wallet as well because they require less training by the employer. Therefore they can drive solo sooner and earn more money faster. New drivers that attend short programs or get inadequate training can get stuck in the carrier's training program at a low weekly pay rate for a long time. We think PTDI sets a great standard that benefits everyone."


I hope this helps some. I plan on attending CDL College Truck Driving School in Aurora Colorado in the first quarter of 2012. It is PTDI Certified. I am sure there are other schools that are PTDI Certified also, but I live in Grand Junction Colorado and I plan on attending soon and applying to Stevens Transport for work.

There are many considerations and this is just one. I know of one school that is PTDI certified but after visiting their school, I wouldn't go there. They are much closer to me but the trucks they use are old and beat up. CDL College school trucks are much nicer and newer. I don't want to mention their name because you know the old saying "If you don't have anything nice to say ........................................."


gary

 

I posted after reading the first page, not the last.
Sounded out of page?