The New FFE Driver Academey

no shuttle service. Take a cab to the country inn. keep the receipt and turn it to Candy on the 1st day of class. FFE reimburses taxi fare on 1st check.

 

Be happy you only have to front cab fare. I have to pay AIRfare from Alaska. Out of the recruiting area, dontcha know. Hey, I'll swap you. I'll pay your cab fare from the bus depot and you pay my airline ticket. No? Dang it! Only kidding. Actually, I don't mind paying my own way down for what amounts to free CDL school and a guarnteed starter job. The cheapest I can get a CDL up here is $4,000 at a private industrial training school (no community college offers the CDL). So I just look at the $270 airfare as incredibly cheap trucker school. Cheers.

 

If you start training school on the first of the month try and sneek over to the academy. I'd like to personally thank you for starting this thread. I was already leaning toward FFE as my starter company but following your posts (and the others) as you went through the "new" academy and your experiences as a green driver cinched it for me. It was really informative to read posts from the perspective of a new driver with a company I was considering going to work for. All starter companies get a certain amount of sour grapes from drivers that are impossible to please under any circumstance. I found far less sour grapes (and far more positives) about FFE than Swift or the others. I also appreciate FFE giving a guy from Alaska a shot even though i'm outside the recruiting area.

I've been reading the troll posts on this thread. Just another pissed off douche bag driver. Advice is you just ignore him from here on out. Nothing shuts a troll down faster than crickets! Anyway, thanks for the thread and your take on FFE. I start at Fort Worth with the 10/31 class. Like I said, if you get a chance to swing by the academy, please do so I can shake your hand. And thanks.

 

I know crappy ending.You know playmaker your all right,I now know you want what's best for ffe and as the short school bus is empty'd out and this week's homeless are staged in the deliceing area with a promise of a hardy box wine lunch you are filled with pride and once the crayon's are past out for the contact signing you know your job is done at least for this week.And for all you new driver's at ffe don't worry we test are trainer's daily for drug's and std's so not to worry.Playmaker see ya on the road.stay safe.

 

Yea, that makes the 20 on cab fair a whole lot sweeter then Airfare lol. Not that I have a problem paying for it I just wanted to make sure what I read was right.

So there are no companies that will train in Alaska? What about ALL those companies I see on Ice Road Truckers? (not trying to prevent you from going to FFE, just curious )

G/L in school akdennnis keep us posted

 

Oh, no. They're happy to train you...as long as you have at least three years otr. (They say 1 year experience is sufficient but I call b.s. on that). They consider initial experience down south is just "basic training" for the conditions you must drive in regularly up here. A person may have been an otr trucker for like 20 years down south but they are still going to spend their first month on the Dalton with a trainer learning how to drive in the arctic...which is a whole different animal. Realistically, just about every new CDL driver (any new driver without connections, anyway) MUST go down south ("the outside" as we call it) to get their initial experience just as a practical matter. The local Teamsters union won't even dispatch anyone with less than three years otr. Not that the teamsters are all that swift up here as most Alaskan trucking jobs are non-union. I have a couple of union trucker buddies who have to go outside just to work a union job.

Our two main trucking companies up here are Lynden and Carlile (Carlile is the company that the Ice Road Trucker's reality show features). Both of these companies have plenty of openings...for guys with the experience. Newbs need not apply. I mean, I get it. Winter weather is downright ferocious up here and they don't want any wannabe's, posers, cowboys (like that douche from Alabama that got fired on IRT last season. He was a disaster waiting to happen), feint-of-heart, or non-team players. This is no place for unserious or inexperienced drivers. However, if you have the right experience then trucking jobs are relatively easy to come by up here. (just like everywhere else, eh?). And if I can't talk my wife into relocating to someplace like Oregon over the next few years then I will be knocking on Carlile's door.

Of course, you can get your CDL on your own dime. The teamsters will train you for $4,000 unless, of course, you are accepted into the apprenticeship program. Then it's free but they only accept 6 apprentices into the program per year. There is also a private industrial training school that offers a CDL program as well. But again, their basic program is $4,000 and their PTDI certification is $6,000...and then you still have to head down to the lower 48 to get your initial experience with a starter company like FFE. In fact, the only reason why I'm not getting my CDL up here is that I have to go outside for my first job(s) anyway so why not let the company I sign up with train me. I have to drive for SOMEone for that critical initial experience so I might as well get the training thrown in for nothin'. FFE seems to be about the best arond for a new driver and I've talked to some drivers who have worked for them for years and seem to be pretty happy withe them. And it's good to know that FFE has other like-minded drivers like Playmaker out there on the road. He sounds like a pretty level headed guy and if he thinks FFE is good home that carries some weight with me.

 

Yeah, you can use me for your first "victim" out of trainer's school. Actually, I have some experience with playing victim flight student for past buddies of mine who were working on their CFI. I used to fly gliders and I guess they figured if I could regularly and safely land something without an engine on purpose and at will then how bad could I scare them, right?

Tell me whose butt I need to kiss to get assigned to your truck. I've had a lot practice kissing FFE butt just to get them to hire me (kidding) all the way from Alaska.

 

"FFE Transportation is, as we speak, letting drivers go in their Dallas yard. Walter B is walking around and handing drivers slips of paper and telling them that they are making cutbacks and they are being let go. He is telling them they can either empty their truck and go across the street to Celedon or just go home.

Nearly 300 drivers in that yard are being given slips according to drivers who were already handed slips there tonight."

Thats not sounding good.

 

whats going on at ffe if u dont mind me asking