Considering Trucking, need insider views.

Go TO A STATE OR TECHNICAL SCHOOL! DO not fall for the BS of a high dollar school! You REALLY need to read more in these forums about the difference in costs from a stand alone CDL Mill! You get BETTER training in a college or tech school over these RIPOFF CDL Mills that RIP you off for $3000-$5000 dollars!

Keep your money in your pocket and pay it cheaper. You might also be eligible for a state loan if you are unemployed. BUT what ever you do do NOT fall for what their recruiter tells you! They are there to get you in the door! Do the Tech school, get better training and do not allow any company to pick up the bill! That is unless you want to be treated as an indentured slave! And that is EXACTLY what happens when one of these bottom feeder companies get your "school costs" and then pay you LESS than $300 a week while you "pay" them back!

Please read and do a little more research as if you had ob here you would have read HUNDREDS of posts where students got bent over and there was nothing they could do but take it!

Then there is the fleece/lease they will throw at you after training! WHAT does a student know about "becoming an "Owner Operator" Which is actually an insult towards O/O's! An L/P does NOT own the truck and has NO say over how the truck is set up or where he goes (Lets NOT argue that bull crapola about not being forced dispatch people!) 95% of the people who get sucked into these fleece/lease programs FAIL before the first year and wind up ruining their credit WORSE that it already was not to mention their DAC/Hireright record! Those that do finish the lease wind up with a POS truck that was speced for a "company driver" (a bare bones truck) that will have NO resale value when he tries to get a trade in! And a lot of these that finish the lease wind up selling that POS thing and going somewhere else to work! As a company driver!

Do the state school! even if you cant afford it try to get some kind of money from the state! If you can't afford it and you HAVE a job right now then STAY where you are and don't even think about getting into this cesspool of a mess called trucking as it's NOT the employment you need at least for the next year (late 2010!) Go back and read in the "bad company " thread and some of the others. Use the search function to find certain things and also use it to see about this school you are looking at!

Good Luck
Rollover

 

My partner in cdl class is going to TMC sounds pretty good from what he told me. he is leaving this If I hear of anything else about it Ill pass the word along.. Good luck

 

As Rollover said, Go to a tech school and learn the skills you need. You will have a tremendous advantage over the Mill guys you will compete with for a job and it is much cheaper!
As for my advice, Stay the hell out of trucking! I drove for 7 years and have been out of the game about 3 years now. I do miss the road sometimes but I sure don't miss all the headaches. I wouldn't go back. I enjoy my free time to much to do it anymore and I have a tremendous amount of respect for the people that do it for a living. But it's not for me anymore.

Now if I were starting out in trucking like yourself, I would go to Old Dominion who I used to drive for. Last I knew of they were taking students. If you can get on with them you most likely never leave. The pay is very good. Even at the student level. I NEVER slept in a truck. I NEVER had to go to a huge city trying to find some god forsaken company. I NEVER dealt with lumper's or stupid dock managers. I drove from one distribution center to the next. I docked my truck, Went in and took a FREE shower. Maybe watched a little TV or shoot some pool with the guys then went to my OWN room and went to bed. Ever seen a sleeper on a OD truck? How many times have you seen an Old Dominion driver at a truck stop?

 

Old Dominion is good company but is feeling the same effects of the economy as everybody else .

I got this info where I've often told wannabes to go in their research - Yahoo finance . http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/27/ol...iness-logistics-congdon.html?partner=yahootix .
Never mind the BS from the recruiters and driving schools . Get a real sense of the industry . Everybody is reducing fleets and laying off .
A very small percentage of school graduates actually find a good job . Carriers hiring students chew them up and spit them out . There's a steady supply of fresh meat .

 

Believe it or not OD has has sleeper trucks for years now! They even run teams with doubles!

 

RESEARCHING EXTENSIVELY ?????? And looking at Roadmaster ???? Please do more research !!!!!!!!!!

 

Good morning Aquarius,
Welcome to the forum. You've gotten some good advice from the members who posted before I did. Pay attention, do PLENTY of research, then good luck in whatever you decide.
Oldnewbiegonnabe

 

They are O/O lease drivers. NOT company drivers. Company trucks don't have sleepers.