Getting into the trucking industry (entry level), Denver CO USA

Stay away from the school in Longmont and Careers Worldwide. I trained at May and students that came from there did not have very good things to say. Sage is good in Denver.

May is the company I chose when I first started. They have a yard there in Denver, which is convenient. It's off Washington and 50th. Go over and talk to them first to get an impression of them. They can help to point you to a school they like to hire from too.

 

System Transport has a terminal in Commerce City, Denver. It's one of the best flatbed companies anywhere. If you're interested in the company, ask them which CDL school they recognize; they do hire new CDL graduates. Should be able to make $50K + per year.

Check the website : systemtrans or trans-system

 

Welcome to the refugees from cube hell! EE for 20 years, had enough- and really liking trucking. Sage is a good place to go for CDL school... at least it was in '07. It's up in Henderson. Do check with the carriers that you're interested in, and see what they'll accept.

What you're looking for is a way to get a toehold in the industry. Get your CDL and finishing training, a year or 2 of experience, and you can go pretty much anywhere you want in the industry with a clean MVR. You can get free training at Prime, and they do have a small yard in Federal Heights. After training you can make $50k there, lightweight tractor reefer division.

Other carriers with yards in town (that I wouldn't recommend to anyone) include Navajo, Werner, Swift.

 

I visited Sage last summer and was generally impressed with what they had to offer. Of course it was their dog & pony open house. Does May do their own training or do they send you to a local (Denver) school? Inquiring minds want to know

 

Back in '07 they were looking at CDL school graduates. I had a prehire from May.

 

I'd like to add a second good word for Sage. The drivers I've met from there really seem to be a lot more confident. One of the things that impresses me most is that you get to train one-on-one with your own truck. You don't have a bench behind the driver's seat with students who switch driving after 45 minutes. 4 hours of road or range practice means 4 hours and that makes a big difference in your skills coming out of Sage. I recently retrained with an instructor who teaches there. I wish I'd enrolled in Sage's program originally.

 

System, Prime, SWIFT, Werner, Navajo, Voyager, GTi, Grand Island Express, May, Schneider, JB Hunt all have terminals or yards in Denver. The key is, do you want OTR or local? All these are OTR companies. Local, you would have try some of the LTL's or dirt haulers.

 

Local haulers in Denver seem very hard to get on with. Even the recycling haulers want experience.

Con-Way?