Options Exhausted

How are you paying for school? They are supposed to let you keep practicing till you pass your tests. If your paying for it GIVE THEM HECK call dot on them or what ever else you have to. If you got student loans call your loan person and make them give them heck

 

I think after reading about your situation the best advice I can give you is to hang in there. I've seen a very similar situation myself this year. I deployed from driving school at about the worst possible time in the history of truck driving, spring of this year! After my 5 now going on 6 month ordeal, I'm still trying to land a gig in a cab. My frustrations have mounted and I've thought about giving up numerous times. The hardship of working limited hours while trying to complete dot exams, refresher courses, licence endorsements, and all the other little hoops we jump and slings and arrows we have to dodge has taken it's toll. My records and history are squeeky clean and I've been doing all that I can think of to get hired in this industry. Many times I've been scheduled for an orientation to receive the bad news of "we're so sorry but all the orientations have filled up and we can't get you in for another month." Before long it was time to take a refresher course, another $600-$1000 your cost, dot exam over 2 months old? Take another, $150-$200 your cost...this is all BEFORE you have a job. I'm holding my breath waiting on another orientation...I'll let you guys know how it goes. You have to have alot of hang in there these days, and even then, that only goes so far when you don't have a dime. Best of luck in your efforts and I'll keep you in my thoughts.

 

Windy Hill out of Fl

 

I left the road after 3 years to be around to help raise my son, thought being around for him was a dad kinda thing to do, been driving class b concrete trucks for the past 10+ years. well that paid real well, lots of hours home every night and weekends. construction now at a snails crawl I've been pulling my hair out trying to get back in the seat of a class a. some of the outfits that still offer training have told me I don't fit there criteria. The only way I can see that to be is that there looking for the the never drove before newbie's so they can hook em into a lease purchase program. I tried to get help for the state for a refresher course but they won't help as I already have a cdl a license. while rusty when it comes to combination vehicles I know I have far more exp. and road skills than any 6 week student. I just don't understand what the insurance r-tards were thinking when they came up with this CYA rule and how the government can allow it with so many out of work.

 

You touch on something I forgot to mention. The mills, and other more legit schools are pumping out tens of hundreds of CLD "holders" daily. This is creating a SEA, a whole writhing tide of student drivers, some of which have no real desire to drive, and alot of which have no business being in a cab! It's not right that they continue in this job market to create such a hardship for those of us who are truly passionate about this field, but they're going to keep cashing those $4000 checks if the students keep stacking up in their office, answering their poorly advertised articles promising the sniff of a job. When an oppening or orientation date opens up, the big cheeses say "ok we'll take about 15 or 20 more,then freeze", and you have 350 folks waiting for those 20 or fewer positions. Till the folks realize that CDL milling is truly a scam, or worse, the conditions for prospective drivers will not really improve much. Those with many years experience should be more immune to the come-latelys, but they'll see many fewer positions available to walk into with all the slots filling up. The only reason I can think the state or fed. assistance is being so stingy greenwheeler may be the problem I already mentoned. They see so many come-latelys filling up the trucks and feel like there isn't a "significant need" to help get you back in a cab. They're wrong, but then they'll never admit to something like that. I'm somewhat of a "lately", but this being something I'm highly passionate about, being a third generation driver, and finding it inescapeable in my last 2 jobs...don't rank myself amongst the recent wave. Best of luck again, and I'll continue thinking about each of you until these times offer up a good driver a fair position.