Question on Schools?

Been there. Done that. It's too expensive.

Get a grant if you go. If you can't get something like a Pell Grant, go elsewhere. There are cheaper ways to get training. I met guys on day one at my first job who paid only 500 for training and could drive as well as I could. We were standing at the same point at that moment: we had our CDLs, we could drive well enough to get the job, and we all had to go out with trainers for several weeks. The only difference was I was stupid enough to pay 5 grand for the same results.

Also, you need to remember you'll be out of work for the 5 weeks of training. Is it still 5 weeks? You'll have to add this lost income to your cost.

My cost: 5,000 training + ~4,000 lost income (opportunity cost) + ~1,000 in other costs. It was worth about 10% of this.

I wish I would have gone cheaper or gotten a grant. Oh yeah, one other thing--this was over 12 years ago. I wish to this day I had that mulla back that I dropped at Alliance. It would have been a nice way to start a 401K.

This is just the dollars and sense reasons for not spending your own cash on, or at least minimizing the cost of, your training.

There are other reasons to keep that money in your wallet: trucking is a whole new lifestyle that many a guy can't hack. Many don't last a year in the industry, which makes it not worth the risk. Also, truck drivers are looked down on by just about everyone these days. It's not like the good ol' days of yore when a driver was respected. Nope. Add to this the fact trucking seems to be going downhill the past year or so with diesel going through the roof.

To me, paying anything over about 500 is too much for driver training today. It's not worth the risk, plus the jobs don't pay enough to justify the risk or justify going through what you'll have to go through only to earn what you could earn working 40 hours a week at a 7-11, a job in which you get to sleep in your own bed every night.

If you can get the grant or can find cheap training, go for it. If you have to pay for training out of your own pocket, I'd learn how to drive a dozer or go into some other line of work.

 

Schneiders program is decent

 

I believe JB hunt and Werner have good programs as well... The company I work for has their own training program. They train all of the drivers on a custom basis. The company is Strategic Logistics Staffing. They do a great job of training all of their drivers to the specific needs of the company they are working for. I think they are hiring in the Philadelphia, Virginia and Indiana areas. Their site is slsdrivers.com

 

TIP? Even tho you are saying that Alliance cost too much money, How was your experince there?