Starting out

Like the other fella's said, the back could be a big issue even in this industry. I've heard about guys putting out the money for school then being unable to get a job because they had a hernia, Or they had developed diabetes. I would be very wary about going in with a risk of wasting time and money.
If you do decide to go with it, I recommend Swift believe it or not. I went through their school with no ill effects lol. A couple of my students actually regretted not going through swift rather than road master I think one had gone to. Swift is a pretty good company to get a start with. No or very little money up front (like 100ish for back ground checks and such) and if you stay with them long enough you'll get the money back for schooling. Central Refrigerated is the reefer side of Swift. If you decide to go with them, check out their detention pay before making a decision. Alot of swifts loads are drop and hook, reefer tends to be long unload waits.

 

Not sure if you were in the military or not, but I was having problems getting info from the unemployment office on obtaining WIA funding for trucking school. Out of 7 people in my CDL school, 5 were on the WIA program, me and another guy opted to pay cash for the program. Being that I did have previous military experience, I did qualify for VRAP which will REIMBURSE $1500 towards my school. Only option I had since WIA wasn't available in my county.

 

The problen witb local is you would be competing against those of us with good work history and experience who are trying to get off the road. Unless you get lucky or know somebody local will be a tough market. And you will still have the back problems to contend with. Local work usually still needa and sometimes more so needs good physical condition. Sorry to break the bad news but tgis is the reality of the business

 

You're not going to take our word from experience but take the word from a school that wants your money. It's fine if you get into the industry and I hope you do but I'm telling you with no reservations that your back problem is not going away. You can be smart and deal with it or think your problems are over and run into big surprises. I've never heard of a company or school that deals in workforce rehabilitation and gets a driver into a job driving. It may exist but it sounds like another scam to get more money. One thing for sure it will label you to every company that you have a back problem.

The school is right in telling you that you qualify for their school. I'm sure they turn no one away. But just having a CDL does not allow you exemption for back problems for work local or anywhere else. On any job application they are going to ask if you have any back problems. All they care about is if you've had a history with your back and if you're going to have history in the future. The way they think is if you've had a problem before you'll have problems again. And believe it or not you will unless you change a few things in your life style.

I'm guessing but I'll bet your problem is with your lumbar spine. Have you had any surgeries? How do you know you've had a herniated disc, any test done like an MRI? If you've had a long history then there's a paper trail and the company or insurance may find out. I know we are protected with our medical history but there's ways they find out. If you've just been told by a general practitioner or worse yet a chiropractor then you might have a good chance to pass on a bad back issue if it was some time ago. If the disc is not severe you might have a chance to suck the protrusion back away from any nerve compression allowing you to be without too much pain. Either way your life and how you work needs to change so you do not have any days where you can not work.

So you're really in a bind here. If you go the fast way you might be painting yourself into a corner. I believe you need to find out for sure what is going on with your back. If it's something that happened many years ago then I would get my CDL the normal way then go out to the companies and talk to them. If you explain that you've had back problems years ago and you're fine now you may have a shot if you can back it up with some specialized testing and doctors impressions. Then if they come back and say your back is really bad then you've saved yourself some future problems and you'll be able to judge better on your career.

 

You need to understand that local work is not considered settling. It is the goal for a lot of experienced otr drivers who are tired of living on the road. Also understand that generally speaking, local work is back breaking work. It involves pickups and deliveries day in and day out. Yes, quite ironic.

Your cdl is useless if you can't get a trucking job. Even worse is if the only job you can get for the rest of your career is with "the guys who are willing to hire you".

Good luck.