Newbie Diary

Hi there! and welcome to my attempt at a newbie diary. I don't intend for this thread to be only me posting, the goal is to help all those behind me. So, if the voices of experience have something to share, feel free.

But, for now.. a little background on me: I'm in Valparaiso, in NW Indiana, just a bit south of Portage, about 20 Miles from Gary, and about 50 from Chicago, Illinois. My wife and I have been together for 12 years, and we have a 6 year old boy. I was downsized from my warehouse job about 3 months after my son was born. It made more sense for me to stay home and play Home-Daddy than to start somewhere else, and pay child care. My wife had just been promoted to middle-management. Things were gonna be tight, but really only for 5 or 6 years, I'd be able to get back to work once the boy was in school full time.

(Six-and-a-half years of hilarity, ensue)

Jan 3rd, 2007: Wife goes back to work from X-mas time off, and she's been demoted! It's like a board game: "You're a Scapegoat! Lose $500 net / month." We'd been losing ground financially for some time, just trying to survive long enough to get to our beloved "Tax Refund" time, But.. losing that much income makes the refund an even more temporary fix. Time to get a job!

(whoops, out of time, atm. I'll add more later.)

I'm able to press the idea of getting a CDL. CDL's, and the OTR that accompanies them, have been shot down many times in the past. But, times are dire now. and you can't look into CDL's without finding... Swift Trucking! they teach you... train you.. and give you a job. Seems like a good deal. on January 8th, I discover that they're having an open house on the 8th. Well, poo. too late for that. But.. they're having another one on the 10th! Not at their yard, though.

Jan. 10th, 2007. To the Seminar! My wife and I agree, that there's one real big deal-breaker that I must learn the answer too, "Do I have to pay for gas upfront?" cause we just can't afford that. The answer is "No, Not company drivers." Turns out I'm at a CDL school, who's really just name-dropping Swift to get bodies here. the School is called "Driveco" the class costs $4,000. and there's a few ways to pay that...
1) Pay them $3,500, and they'll give you a $500 cash discount.
2) Pay them $2,000 and $125 for 16 Months.
3) Get a grant from Welfare Dept. (I don't qualify)
4) Pay them $650, Sign on with Swift for a year, and Swift will pay them $1,350 when I get a Swift Driver #, and then Swift Will pay Driveco $150/ month for 10 months I'm a Solo Driver, and then Driveco will waive the remaining $500 balance.

Driveco is a 160 hour class, and it appears that drive time would pretty much be 1 instructor/ student. and I'd get my CDL in the state I lived.

 

Good thinkin'! Vincennes University, which has a campus in Indianapolis, has a 320 hour course, for $3,300. The 2.5 hour commute doesn't seem like a good idea, But, I've now looked into it.

1- Good idea, workin' on it.
2- Nothin' advertised. If I look at the welfare dept. listings (called "Workforce development" in Indiana). CDL-B jobs open are paying $8-9/ hour. (probably a reason they're still open.)
3- I don't know anyone in Agriculture, and I agree with you, I'd much rather have a certificate.

Jan. 15th, 2007: Saw an add in the paper for Falcon Transport. Called, ran into voicemail, left name/number.

Jan. 16th: Called Roehl, For as much information that's out there, and as hard as it is to find many negatives, they don't say much about tuition reimbursement.

Jan. 17th: Cheryl from Roehl called me back this morning. Learned a bit. Roehl pays $100 for every 9,000 miles you drive, in Tuition reimbursment. Being a home-daddy doesn't conflict with "Verifiable Work History" I'd need 3 random people to sign off on Notarized letters (my wife would count.)

Today I have to get my MVR, and turn that in to Driveco, along with my actual application. Turns out, there's only like 10 places in Indiana you can just walk in and get a copy of your MVR.

 

Ok, have completed day 2 of school.

Let's meet the class:

Me, and another fella are the youngest in the class, at 33.

two guys in their early 40's, who are trying to change careers. don't know one that well, but the other guy is an IT/ Network computer guy, looking forward to a career that they haven't figured out how to ship to India, yet.

and the last two guys are in their early 50's. Both had about 30 years in at their companies, one took a buyout from auto plant, the other got laid off from a steel mill.

Day 1 is pretty much learning the vocabulary, and a baseline for general knowledge. any question that pops into anyone's head, is answered, and often discussed, sometimes with an amusing anecdote.

Early dismissal to go off and get our DOT Physicals and drug screens done. Everyone passed.

Day 2: More vocabulary, a 20 year old video about driving off of the Rockies, 20 year old video about driving during a blowout (I'm sorry, that was "Rapid Air-loss Situation") and a current drop and hook video.
More General Knowledge, Air Brakes, and Combination Vehicle info. pretty much takes up the day, dismissal, and told to go get our permit, CDL-A, Combination, and Air brakes. we'll need them friday. If you feel like taking the doubles/triples, tanker, or hazmat tests, knock yourself out. if you fail any, don't sweat it, we got plenty of time.

I go tot he BMV, take my tests, General Knowledge: Check, Combination Vehicles: Check, Air Brakes: Not-so-much.

I tanked Air brakes, hard. Missed 7 out of 25. but, I wasn't suprised. I had 10 questions about "Dual Air Brake Systems" and "S-Cams" ( I thought they were related at the time, they're not.) I don't believe I'd heard about either of those in class. Aw well, gives me something to ask about, tomorrow.

 

Day 3: Ok, so I go in laughing at myself about how badly I tanked Air-brakes, only to find that I'm the only one in the class that made it to the air-brake test. The two older guys didn't pass general knowledge, and the computer-fella, and younger guy didn't pass combination.

We went to the DMV at lunch, to try again. I passed air brakes, took doubles/triples, and tankers, passed all of them. I *think* computer guy got past air-brakes. which is what we need to get to play with the truck friday.

Hazmat looks rather complicated, So I'll have to spend some time studying that...