Am i really crazy? Seriously

Hey ss goose , see my reply about "proper CDL schools " on that thread . Don't worry about what people on forums say . Maybe they say you're crazy but when somebody spends $5,000 and can't get a job or end up taking home about $300 a week being away from home and leaving their wives with all the responsibilities they're going to spend the rest of their lives hearing their wives tell them how crazy they were to spend that money . . That is unless of course they get divorced . At least they'll be too broke to pay much alimony or child support .

 

"I was told that my advice was the craziest thing that someone had heard"

My sincerest apologies for calling your advice crazy goose, it was my interpretation of the advice that I found crazy. This is reasonable advice if done the proper way.... Offer to work for a small company or family company doing maintenance on their trucks with the hopes of one day driving for them, this is reasonable. Go to work driving a yard truck for a chicken plant, this is reasonable.

But, if somebody walks up to me and offers to polish my truck if I will let him back it or drive it around the parking lot. I think I will pass. I am way too cautious of my truck and cargo to put anybody I don't know behind the steering wheel with the engine running. What is going to stop him from putting it in gear and taking it right out the truck stop. Maybe he takes off the hood of your truck in the process, and who is ultimately responsible? Me, the guy that let him behind the wheel. My insurance company pays for the damage to my truck, the damage to your truck and the loss of any cargo.

You can get angry, because I called your advice crazy but you can can rest easy knowing that it won't be my truck that wakes you up with a huge crash!

Again I apologize, that was definitely NOT the craziest thing I have ever heard.

 

Several companies I worked for trained employees to be drivers . In a couple of weeks these men were competent drivers and never had a problem . These companies only hired one graduate and he was the worst ( don't know what to call him , definately not a driver ) I have ever seen in my life . After half a day I pulled him from the wheel and refused to let him back in my truck .

 

As for "proper trucking school" being an oxymoron.

Who detemines whether someone is qualified to drive a commercial vehicle. In Georgia, it is the Department of Driver's Services Examinier.

You will never hear me say, that a trucking school graduate is in anyway ready to take the wheel of a $120,000 truck with $250,000 worth of cargo and start driving on his own, just the same as a medical school graduate, is not ready to perform brain surgery the day after graduation. Beginning a career as a truck driver is a process which begins with obtaining a CDL license, that is what a trucking school does.

Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule. I am certain everybody has heard about the shortcomings of the Swift School in Millington, TN. Swift already has a bad enough name, now all the driver's that tested out of that school have to be rested by the DOT in their home state. Some of these guys have been out driving for 3 years and their licenses have been revoked until they are retested.

Are there bad schools? Absolutely! Go to a State CDL test site, and you will easily pick them out.

But there are good schools too.

I've heard some negative comments about trucking schools, and about the Big Ten trucking companies. How do you propose that people get started in a trucking career if not by going through school and then going to work for the only companies that will hire them? Is everybody supposed to get started the "old fashioned way", by learning the trade from their Grandpa?

I know that it's a money racket at times. Why should someone that already has a class A CDL and over the road experience have to go through a truck driving school? In my opinion, they shouldn't. But, people approach me on a regular basis because they WANT to go to work for Werner or Stevens or any one of the top ten. They CHOOSE to go to school because they don't want to haul pulp wood, or gravel anymore. They want to work for a company that has BENEFITS. Health insurance, retirement plans, PAID VACATION! Are they going to get any of things from Jim Bob's trucking? NO, they aren't.

I drove for a small trucking company during 2007 and most of 2008. The owner was a great guy, had nice equipment and was a pleasure to work for. I made decent money, about a thousand a week. But he didn't and couldn't afford to offer benefits, he somehow managed to work it out where he was even paying for workman's comp. If I had ever gotten injured I would've been screwed. This is how it is with small companies, you might make good money, but no benefits or limited benefits at best.

And these small trucking companies are NOT equal opportunity employers. If they don't like the way you look or the way you talk you can forget about driving in their trucks.

 

Rick G,

A driving school graduate is not a qualified driver. This is the purpose of the OJT training that is provided by the trucking companies. I want to emphasize that some states allow schools to be 3rd party testers. Some of these schools pass students that have no business being passed. It is a horrible reality, no doubt.

On a positive note, as was the case with the graduate that you pulled out of the truck and sent home, these under-trained drivers are very easy to spot.

 

I agree with Rick here on this one. Plus if you're a family man I sure hope you have a bank reserve to help you through atleast 6 months. Why is it so expensive to get a CDL? And David, just like you say no school graduate is qualified to drive a truck is the same with CDL instructors that have very few years experience. The system needs to be changed that's for sure. I don't believe you really know the top ten companies because the top ten companies never advertise for drivers. I made $1650 a week back in 99 and I then retired at an early age. My company has great benefits, even better than the military. Some drivers retired with over a million in stocks and other company savings programs. They've hired alot of drivers that never went to school because they believe they want to teach them themselves. I know some of those drivers that were top loaders and they've retired after 20 or 30 years safe driving and that's really saying something when your 10 hour shift is driving a oversize truck in the city. The company could do that because they are self insured.

I don't care how good the training is right now is not the time to enter the job market as a truck driver. If you follow the trends that the schools have set up then your going to find alot of doors closed.

You've got to do your looking different than everyone else and that means going out to the companies and make an in person visit. I've gotten all my jobs that way and there's a better chance since alot of companies do not advertise since they do not need to. You can have a company with 300 trucks and have drivers that don't want to leave. Those are the companies you need to find and not the ones that advertise all over the net.

 

My main gripe with trucking schools is they take money from people that already have an economic hardship knowinmg very well many of them will never get jobs . Besides the number of CDL holders looking for nonexistent jobs schools graduate people that trainers will obviously reject and people with felony records or multiple tickets on their MVR .

 

"I don't care how good the training is right now is not the time to enter the job market as a truck driver. If you follow the trends that the schools have set up then your going to find alot of doors closed."

You make a lot of sense with what you say gashauler, unfortunatley you are going to find a lot of closed doors everywhere. I bust my tail finding open doors.

Also, I wasn't referring to the "top ten" companies. I was referring to what people in the forum have been calling the "big ten" companies. I know that there are some really great companies out there, but I have to find jobs for students. I wish I could somehow show the help wanted ads from the local paper on here, the lack of jobs in this area is insane.

You are absolutely right, this is a terrible time to go to work as a truck driver. But what are these people to do?

We train a couple of driver's a week for the state for zero profit, just to keep our school open and our instructors employed. Even in the cases of the WIA students we are required by contract to find them jobs or we don't receive a nickel for their training.

Irresponsible is companies like England, Swift, C1/Driver's solutions, who are bringing in students by the hundreds knowing that they are only going to keep a percentage of them. Many of these people leave jobs to go to these ridiculous programs, and come to me when they get spun around, and sent home. I provide resources and help people who have graduated from other schools when they get no help finding jobs, and this includes community colleges who train so many drivers using state money and offer them no help with getting a job.

The reason I am on this forum, is because I truly want to help people. I haven't published the name of my school and I won't unless someone asks. But, I have learned a whole lot about this side of the trucking industry that I never would have realized while I was sitting in the driver's seat turning miles.