Roadmasters: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Well, I'm finally headed back into trucking. I know, I know, "You don't want to be trucking right now, son!" but I miss it. Alot. I've got the chance right this moment to switch back into a driving career, so I went up to Tulsa and signed up at Roadmasters for driver training again. I haven't driven a truck in a few years, and it seems to me that much has changed in the industry. It's best to go and get some current training and recent time behind the wheel, just for safety's sake.

I haven't seen any posts about the Tulsa school, so I figure I'll do a blog style thread here for anyone who wants some information about this specific school.

First and foremost, it isn't cheap. The tuition cost for financing looks to be right around $6,499.00; however, if you pay cash they'll knock $2,000.00 off the price. Additionally, if you are a veteran and can supply a copy of your DD214 they will further reduce the price by $500.00 for a final price of $3999.00. That's right near the price of driving school the first time I went in 2002. Of course, I was hired by a company that paid for the school as long as I worked for them for 12 months. That worked out fine the first time. This time I don't want to be stuck with any one company just because they paid for my school, so I'll pay for it myself.

According to the school recruiter, the state of Oklahoma requires that a CDL course be at least 160 hours long. They have two schedules to accomodate that requirement. The first schedule is Monday through Thursday, 7am-6pm for four weeks. The second schedule is weekends only (sat-sun) 7am-6pm for eight weeks. And you can switch back and forth between the two schedules as long as you complete the 160 hours. If you need, you can start on the weekly schedule and then switch to weekends and vice versus (again, according to the recruiter).

There is also 21 hours of online training that you're supposed to complete in your spare time. I have no clue what that online training covers at this point in time. I assume that when I get the course materials all of that information will be provided.

There are several companies which recruit out of the Tulsa school: TMC (flatbed), Stevens (refer), USXpress (teams), and Werner are the ones that I recall off the top of my head. There are a couple others. Want to say Swift too, but I honestly don't remember right now.

After I met with one of their recruiters I'm pleased to say he was very pleasant. Of course, recruiters are supposed to be pleasant. But still, I like friendly people, so that meeting worked out well. I was given a tour of the facility and provided with some information about how the course is administered (which I will post here after I get my materials for class). He didn't have to try very hard to get me to sign up for the school because I'd already decided to do it. I asked if they had a refresher course there and was told that they did not. That's alright with me, I honestly would like to complete the whole class again anyway. Their main selling point for me was life-time job placement assistance. I think it's a good idea to be able to pick up the phone and say, "Hey! Help me find another job! This tarp is freakin' killing my back, man!" Ha!

I'm supposed to eventually meet with one of their office folks to fill out the pre-hire applications. I believe that I'll try to get pre-hires for all of the companies that recruit out of that school, but I'm focused on TMC right now. Heard alot of good things about them, and I'd like to get some exercise tarping and untarping. Plus their linehaul division sounds like exactly what I want: Run during the week and home most weekends. We'll see how it goes. Supposedly they like to hire veterans and public service employees, of which I'm both.

Anywho, that's all for now. I'll post again after I meet the office person to talk about payment and get my pre-hires done. Probaly next week or the week after.

 

Alrighty, time for an update.

I'm three weeks in to the Roadmaster training program, and so far I'm fairly impressed with the quality of instruction.

This is a weekend class, so three weeks is actually six days of instruction.

After the first day (which was composed of introductions, getting a dot med card, and some lecture), the classroom days appear to be pretty standard. Lecture about a given topic (including power point presentation), do some computer training, take a break, and then come back for more.

The classroom materials are broken down into the various cdl testing sections such as Air Brakes, General Knowledge, Combination Vehicles, etc. In addition to a driver's handbook, the packets include two sample tests for each section and a summary of important points to remember. The summary is actually a list of pertinent facts phrased similarly to the test questions and answers. It is not a list of answers, per se, but a list of important items to remember prior to the test and perhaps while you are out on the road earning a living.

Our main classroom instructor is a knowledgable and very personable man from England. His accent is pretty cool, and he maintains a good sense of humor while lecturing. All in all, I would mark him as being one of the better instructors I've met in any classroom environment. His grasp of the content seems to be very solid. He takes the concerns of the students seriously and attempts to honestly address whatever questions pop up. He has a knack for handling rediculous newbie questions without intentionally or accidently making the student feel like a complete ######. That's not a bad skill for any instructor to have.

The driving instructors that I've talked with strike me as being experienced. There isn't a whole lot of rambling about irrelevent topics. They seem to be the type of people who just want to get the job done, get it done right, and go home and drink a beer. Everyone seems to be fairly patient.

So far the only thing that somewhat annoys me about the program is the computer training. That's more of a personal problem rather than a problem with the content or method of delivery. The more I hear, the faster I remember all of the stuff that I thought I'd completely forgotten, so sitting at a computer and listening to it lecture me about s-cam foundation brakes and whatnot bores me to death, lol. However, the sections on winter driving and emergency steering were very helpful.

In reality, the e-Tread computer training really isn't a bad idea. We are required to have 21 hours of computer training on an assorment of topics. You login, select a topic, listen to a segment of a lecture, answer some questions, listen to another segment, answer more questions, etc., until you are finished with a specific topic. The computer logs that you have indeed finished that topic, and you're off to the next topic.

To be completely honest, I did learn a thing or two from the computer training, so I'll mark it up as a win. Maybe a long and boring win, but a win none-the-less.

In closing, I have yet to see anything negative about this training program (other than we could use more smoke breaks! Seriously, they're killing me, lol). I will attempt to get a list of the computer training topics to post in this thread.

 

Ah, forgot to add something.

I will say that I'm very disappointed that the school will not give you a veteran's discount if you do pay cash for the training. I was initially led to believe that I would get a discount for being a veteran and for paying cash for the course. Once I actually went to down to pay for the course after I started, I was informed that Roadmaster would not give me the veterans discount because I was paying for it all at once.

In other words, you will get a $500 discount by showing your dd214 only if you take out a loan for $6400. If you pay cash and are a veteran, well...at least you get a $2000 discount for paying cash.

But that is my only complaint. Not that the money is a huge deal, but that they said they would honor my service to my country and did not.

 

Basically I was told that I would have to file with the VA on my own for partial repayment after completing their educational program. I honestly don't know enough about the GI Bill to recognize what is or isn't appropriate.

 

Afraid it's all paid for already. I guess I really should've called the VA first, but honestly I didn't even think about it.

 

It's going very well, actually. Think I've got three weekends left. I'll probably switch to the week day class sometime after next weekend in order to just get the rest of the training out of the way. I've been unemployed for two months now. Probably time to speed this up a bit and get some pre-hires.

I've revised my opinon of the driving instructors. Everyone is helpful; however, no one is friendly. That's probably due to the number of students that are rotating in and out of the school, imo.

My first day of driving was probably the worst, lol. I kept losing gears and whatnot, but after that first day, it all started coming back to me fairly quickly.

I've tested out on the PTI, in-cab, drop and hook, and backing. Didn't have any problems with any of it, but a couple of other guys had some trouble. Apparently they didn't realize that you actually do have to study a bit.



After the classroom portion is over you'll start your driving training. The day will be split into two parts: Road and pad. In the morning you will take the truck out on the road and drive around some predetermined routes which escalate in difficulty as you progress. In the afternoon you will practice backing and slow maneuvering around the "pad" (the pad is just the yard at the school).

Until June or July the only backing maneuvers that you will do are straight line backing and the ninety degree ally back. Both are very simple once you get a feel for the truck, imo. After June, the state testing requirements are changing, so I'm not so sure what kind of slow maneuvering and backing that the school will require.

Every day you'll need to do a pre-trip inspection on the truck. It would be wise to actually do a real pre-trip simply to get used to it. Use their pti sheet to help you learn what to look for. Simply glancing at things and walking around the truck will not really prepare anyone for the pti test; a couple of my fellow students learned this the hard way.

The daily PTI is followed by hooking up to a trailer, using the school's method of coupling, and doing an in-cab/pumpdown. Then, you're off to drive around for a bit.

Egh, I need some coffee. More later.