Are There Any Trucking Schools That Aren't a Joke?!

The people with the trucking jobs to hand out have insurance companies that set requirements for new-hires. They could be too busy doing their jobs to reinvent the industry, I don't know.

 

All schools are like that. You would hate to see the bill for 160 hours of actual driving one-on-one with the instructor. Imagine having to pay his entire salary for 4 weeks (plus payroll taxes and benefits), while paying the operational expenses for the truck you used for the same 4 weeks, along with the training materials and school overhead... That CDL course would suddenly cost over $12,000.

You can learn by watching while standing on the pad. Watch how the other students do things... did that work? Did that make it worse? Did he do something that you could integrate into your process to make things easier? You can't just stand around smoking and joking and expect to learn anything.

If you want her to have more training, have her join the Army Reserves as an 88M. They will send her to basic training, and then to Ft Leonard Wood, Mo for 5 weeks 4 days At the US Army Trucking School. That's over 300 instructional hours. Yes, there will be time standing around waiting her turn, but there will also be additional training in expedient repairs, convoy operations, and operating various type of trucks. It will be about 48 students with 8 trucks, so the ratio won't be as bad.

 

@insipidtoast --

An easy strategy:

Old Dominion will not hire a CDL grad from a so-called "joke".

If you are looking for a school for wifeypoo...visit your nearest Old Dominion terminal, & ask them from what nearby schools/comm colleges they like to hire (another option: OD may also list them on their website, as well).

Then have the spouse go to one of those named.

After that--you guys can then team drive for OD.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.....

If OD is nowhere nearby--the list generated from the above should still be respectable enough, for elsewhere.

--Lual

 

You go from complaining about the training to demanding that the should have the option of training you less.. this is the problem with people after scraping by to getting a CDL then are complete experts in such a short period of time.. The schools have a job of meeting demands of both the industry and from the moronic generic public who for the most part are simply being retrained to pass a road test and to learn some mechanical basics of a truck when they normally don't know a ###### thing about either. They usually have been driving their hoopty wagon like an idiot since they got their original license.. now you're expecting some school to cram all real world experiences into a short course using top of the line equipment? When your whole post you cower at the training for manual transmissions that more and more places have gotten away from to cater to the lesser new drivers.. give me a break! The fact that more and more prospective drivers are generally whiny, ignorant, low lifes who will never CARE about attaining any level of professionalism or place any level of actual craftsmanship on display.. The schools are not and never have been the problem... the industry is the problem. They are supposed to be able to take a prospective driver and train them to the carrier's standards using theor professional trainers in their top of the line equipment............ pardon me while I laugh!!!

 

There are two different standards.. the (federal) standard to obtain a CDL.. and the industry standard (for companies with any standards and have to pay for all the damage their employees do)

 

This is pretty close to what my CDL school provided. I went to their classroom location to watch the required videos, on my own schedule. They were open seven days, something like 8 am to 10 pm. I scheduled my range and road time based on a choice of timeslots they made available. All my training time was one-on-one. Cost me $2,100, which I got back through my first employer's tuition reimbursement, once I'd been with them six months. It wasn't advertised as a 160-hour course, and it was nowhere near that long, but with zero 'fluff'. This was in early 2021, before the ELDT mandate, so it's possible they made some changes in order to comply.

You don't want to debate transmissions, but you spend three long paragraphs ranting about it? As for how many sectors use 10-speed manuals, I've driven for one of the larger LTL companies, briefly for a small local company that found freight on load boards, and now a postal contractor, and all have 10-speeds in their fleet and AFAIK don't hire with the automatic restriction.

 

I owned a CDL school for about a year.

Requirements vary from state to state. Most states require 160 hours total and at least 40 behind the wheel, but not all. I am not aware of any that require more than that. Not saying there isnt (and Im sure someone will say something if there is) just that Im not aware of any.

Back when I did my school, there was no difference between being trained on an automatic or a manual (there was no auto restriction on the license). A lot of students I had came to me to learn how to drive a manual because 1 CDL mill here in town only had automatics and when they tried to get a job after they got their CDL no one would hire them because they couldnt drive a stick.

The test itself varies greatly from state to state. Here in Minnesota the only "pre-trip" you have to perform is an inside/outside air check. But the driving part is one of the hardest in the country. Hit 2 curbs and you fail. Wisconsin on the other hand, half the test is the pre-trip. The road test is just going out and riding around in the country for a while.

When I got my CDL (in 1984) I went to a Vo Tech. 9 month course. You had your CDL after 3 or 4 weeks (and a lot of people would quit when they got it) but I stayed for the whole course (VA was paying me to go to school, so I used it). Those 9 months were worth it I think.

 

Had a discussion at work. the employees who are "tired of being accused of not doing anything at work" spend 45 minutes complaining and then an hour on the phone, then disappear for an hour, then spend an hour surfing the internet for "news", then spend 45 minutes driving to/eating lunch, and then clock out.
"Stop calling me lazy or I will do even less. This is Exactly why the last guy quit."

 

2 curbs? Holy smokes! If you even touched a curb during one of our tests you failed.