DON'T GO TO CDL SCHOOL ....

Please don't confuse "I saw a real dirt-bag of a person get a job in 2008" for "no matter how bad your record is you can work at a dozen or more honest companies".
If you have just escaped prison after a triple-murder conviction, have smoked pot yesterday, have a heroin addiction, and you torture animals as a hobby, you can probably find some job for at least 1 company somewhere. That 1 company will NOT be any company you ever heard of, they may only hire 1099, or they may call you a W-2 employee and deduct taxes but never pay the govt. The company that hires the person in my example may or may not repair their trucks, pay you, or many other things. Getting hired doesn't mean you get paid, even if you do lots of work.

I am trying to break through this bubble that the prospective CDL school students have that any job is a job that will help them. Someone wins lottery drawings. That doesn't mean buying a lottery ticket is a replacement for having a job or saving money for retirement. Half of my family was wealthy and prominent. The other half was almost the direct opposite. Putting very serious obstacles in your own way with crimes, crashes, drugs/alcohol don't just make your life harder, it also gives most good employers reason to not consider you for good jobs. The CDL school will ALWAYS accept your money, or the money from some govt grant, even when the school knows your chances of ever getting a job in the industry is lower than winning the lottery. Nobody is required to take my advice. You are free to waste your time and money however you like it. Nobody should pretend trying to enter the industry during a recession with a criminal record, empty work history, poor driving record, etc will allow you to be successful in trucking. But I'm sure they will do exactly that and then blame the country and the industry when they get the results I am trying to describe. Poor people just will not accept responsibility for their behavior. That's why they are poor.