Special Alert!!! Truck Driving Schools

I am currently attending St. Cloud Technical College Truck Driver Training in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The school is accredited and everything, i mean, c'mon, it's a college. But there is one major issue I'm running into as a dig deeper and deeper into the industry.

No one wants to hire me. It's not because I've got some bad driving record, I've only ever had ONE moving violation; a speeding ticket that shouldn't be on my record anymore. No DUI or DWI or anything. The reason no one wants to hire me is because I'm only 19 yrs old, and I guess that means I'm an "intra-state" driver only, and can't drive state to state till i'm 21. I find it to be exceedingly difficult to find a good local route, and frankly, I'm scared I'm gonna end up on unemployment till i'm 21.

Any suggestions?

 

Don't feel discouraged, I knew a young man that got his license at 19. Struggled locally for almost 2years and then became owner operater before his 21st birthday. He had ambition and that kept him going. He's also blind in one eye. Neat huh? He worked for as a sales clerk, lousy worker, almost fired him.

 

Well, thanks for the needed motivation. I got into the course...driving has always been a passion of mine...i worked as a transporter using my f-350 and a 30 foot gooseneck trailer...the longest haul i did was from boston, ma to grand canyon, az in four days. of course in that situation i really didn't have to keep logs...i wasn't running a business per se...just doing favors for people i knew, and i knew a lot of people. but it's not the same as being behind the wheel of a real truck.

i just feel like i'm getting the shaft because of the #### legal stipulations. i guess us rowdy teenagers have made a name for ourselves.

 

Just feeling a little frustrated myself. Found a school, AIT in Phoenix. Don't know if its any good, haven't read anything here about it. They'll help with financing. Just nowhere for me to stay. There's no lodging available. It's at least a two hour drive. Don't know if my truck can handle that every day. And gas will be a kicker.

 

Nifty...I moved here to minnesota not too long ago from grand canyon, arizona. I've never heard of that school...but i'm fairly certain that if you're anywhere near flagstaff arizona i think that Coconino Community College offers an accredited training course...of course you could always just google it too.

 

Not just you rowdy teenagers. The school I want to attend doesn't supply lodging any more because of some rowdy people, that spoiled it for people like me. Whatta ya do?

 

whattaya do? hope they give you the reacharound while they screw you. then again, not too many training schools that i researched do provide lodging. they're usually short enough courses...so they decide it's not substantial enough to provide any sort of lodging for. meh. whatever right?

 

20 minutes from Blythe. Driving long distances isn't a problem, I just don't have the money to go any where. All part of separation, I guess.

The canumdrum is that I can have the money to pay for week by week lodging, but I would be a little hungry. Hopefully I'll get it worked out before I'm ready to retire.

 

things always work out in the end, maybe not exactly the way you want them to, but they'll work out some way or another.

 

I just happened to come across this thread and I am so glad that someone finally pointed this out. When I first was thinking about becoming a truck driver I seen all these adds in my local newspaper about different companies having their own schoools to train u into becoming a truck driver.The deal was (at least the ones I researched) you had 2 sign some kind of contract from that particular company that pretty much said u HAVE 2 work for that company for at least a year or something and in the meantime they would pay 4 your school training. COMPLETELY A RED FLAG RIGHT OFF THE BAT!!! this is DEFINATELY WRONG!! Reason being as I stated in a different thread that once u sign on to these company schools that company pretty much OWNS YOU and YOU have to do EVERYTHING they tell you even if it's ILLEGAL! I've seen many companies pull that with their students VERY SAD!! They treat the majority of new drivers like crud! ALSO they try and BRAINWASH u into these lease operator deals!! They put so much pressure on these poor students that don't know any better and when&if they realize the fact they r getting ripped off.They pull these kind of stunts because THEY WANT YOU 2 BE BROKE AND IN DEPT so THEY can REPOSSESS YOUR TRUCK and have 2 be FORCED into being a company driver and EXCEPT all the crud that THEY give U!!ANYWAY I kinda got off subject but u folks get my point.When I was doing my research on these companies that trained u through there schools they were ALL out of State 4 instance CR England is in Salt Lake City Werner is in Fontana CA Swift is in Phoenix Steven's was in Texas so they wanted me 2 come to their schools and once I got my CDL I would have 2 transfer my Nevada Drivers License 2 their state CDL's this made NO sense 2 me as I figured I wanted to get a Nevada CDL since this is where I live.So I looked around locally and found this one school that was in my town and it was really close 2 my house.I make an appointment with the one of the school recruiters and I show up.I talked to this recruiter 4 a while and he was telling me how the school works.He informed me that this school was an ACCREDITED school and told me I would be GAURANTEED a job with Swift.He was giving me the break down of the financial part of the school. He said that U had to have GOOD CREDIT in order 2 apply.BUT u could TRY and submit a letter explaining why you had BAD CREDIT and then u could join but there was a BIG down payment of like $2500.00 RED FLAG #2!! I told him that the was the craziest thing I ever heard. U could send a letter a letter of explanation and MAYBE they would consider it if u payed 2500 down. I said that this is too shysty to me and I found another school that was close 2 my house and they were GREAT! I got financed with NO money down and I would pay it off myself. Unlike the company I mentioned before who WAS NOT accredited and this School was.They had proof in writing through the State of Nevada DOT. The ONLY thing that I didn't like about this school is that they would try 2 force some of these bad companies down your throat because they were getting a kickback from these companies.Other then that it was a good school and I learned alot! Got my Nevada CDL with doubles/triples/hazmat/tankers endorsements.So to all those looking for a CDL training school NEVER EVER EVER go 2 a school that is backed by the company CR ENGLAND SWIFT STEVENS WERNER etc. etc. etc. BE VERY CAREFUL ON YOUR DECISION AND REALLY DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!