Alliance Tractor-Trailer Training Center

First week behind me at Alliance. Class began on Memorial Day (5/31/10) and ran through Thursday - off on Friday for testing at the DMV.

Without anything fair to compare it to (only college courses) I'd rate the first week of classes somewhere around community college level. The material wasn't anything earth shattering, but the instructor did a good job of teaching in a way we'd remember - part lecture, part bullsh-t session with some old videos throw into the mix on a couple of occasions.

Tuition was $4995.00, then add in a drug test # $40, a DOT Physical # $60, learner's permit testing # $3 and the Hazmat background check # $85 and you come in at a little over $5k. Maybe a tad on the pricier side of CDL schools but it was local and somewhat compressed (compared to a 14 week community college program in the same town that is in it's first year and didn't start until mid-late June) so I can live with the extra expenses.

First driving day is this coming Monday (6/7/2010) and looking forward to it. Still a lot of information from last week that doesn't always make sense. It's easy to check off the correct answer on the DMV test about the content, but looking forward to see it in application on the tractor and/or trailer to get an understanding of some concepts.

Other notes of interest:

We (class of 7) have a couple of guys with terrifying driving records. One guy told us a story about pulling a trailer (with a pick-up) and somehow losing his trailer brakes (or control of them) and blowing past a funeral procession, during which his trailer lost all 4 tires that resulted into him crashing into the Virginia State Trooper that was leading the funeral line. He had a lot of other traffic stories that weren't quite as dramatic but still unnerving. The guy is nice as hell, so on one hand you want him to be successful and get the job he apparently needs (laid-off due to out-sourced job), but in contrast, the thought of that same wreck happening with a 26,000-80,000 lb. vehicle is pretty scary.

Werner recruiter was there the first day and was annoying as all hells. Virtually every time he asked a question or made a comment, he'd relate it to a movie quote of some sorts: (when talking about money he referenced "Jerry McGuire" and the "show me the money" line.. He brought up a "Get-er-Done" from Larry the Cable guy a time or two as well) While I assume he was trying to be likeable and associate his company to popular culture, it came across as an irritating trait that was a pretty big turn off. He had a really bad hair-cut to boot, kind of like a "Muncheechee" (those cartoon monkey-like things from the 1980s).

 

Monday through Thursday of week two was a combination of driving on roads and field work. Alliance has an obstacle course with various backing arrangements, off-set alleys, etc. Also coupling and uncoupling and pre-trip inspections.

Shifting was a pain on day one. I imagine most people who drive a manual transmission in daily life find it difficult not to press the tractor clutch down too far. By the end of the week I felt more comfortable for sure and the grinding is gradually working itself out of the shifting patterns. It's still a lot of information to process in 4 weeks and I need to get on the ball memorizing the PTI for the DMV.

Friday was a long day. Logbooks, Weights & Measures, CSA, etc. Boring for sure, but a lot of information. Not as tedious as Pre-calculus but I wouldn't want to do it every day.

TMC recruiter came by to talk to us. His sales pitch wasn't that great and he needed to work on his math. The numbers he gave us came out to about $200 less than what he claimed to be the average pay for TMC drivers.

He also didn't seem very forthcoming when I asked him about TMC and EzPass (info from this forum) and was surprised someone knew about them dropping it. Seemed like a nice enough guy but really turned everyone off of the company.

On another note, the Werner guy's pitch was a lot more organized and in retrospect, I think I was probably too tough on him because of fatigue from having to be awake before 6 for CDL class and balancing time with the family. Most days last week were ran on only a couple of hours of sleep.

 

Week 3 has basically been a continuation of week 2. More PTI, Driving, Field work, etc. More comfortable shifting and backing but it's still a lot to take in. Before I started I thought it'd be simple (especially compared to college work) but there's more to it than I thought which is surprising. I'd thought the driving would be closer to a personal vehicle with only the scale being different, but there is a lot of stuff different (even opposite) than what happens in your car.

I've talked with a few companies: Shaffer, McElroy, Werner, and Schneider; as well as some local (non-OTR) jobs: Budweiser, Pepsi, etc.

Schneider is definitely out. As of right now, I'm leaning towards Werner (they claim I can start a dedicated Dollar General job after training) so that I can get home somewhat regularly.

 

Week 4 (and CDL school as a whole) is finished. No problems with school testing or DMV tests so everything is good to go as far as the CDL + endorsements. Relatively comfortable with shifting, but not crazy about the Super 10 (not so much shifting, but the particular Super 10 # school. I'm around 6'4 +/- and had issues fitting comfortably behind the wheel. Simply a matter of the seat and steering not adjusting enough to allow me space - nonetheless, I managed to make a trip or two in it without a fatality so that's a plus.

Leaning towards one of two dedicated accounts currently. Still with the Dollar General Werner (I actually have orientation scheduled for the 26th of July) but also looking into a Tractor Supply account with U.S. Xpress. The USx idea is new (as of today) so I don't know much about the miles/pay/etc, but hope to get some feedback over the next couple of days.

Anyone run either of these accounts that can give some feedback?

I understand that a primary complaint on the DG-Werner is backing, but would like to hear some more information on both accounts if anyone here has experience on either of them.

 

So many poor reviews of Werner & U.S. Express that I couldn't see myself getting along well at either of them. The appeal of dedicated and regional accounts almost made it worthwhile for me, but in the end I've went through the process with McElroy. I call them this Thursday to get a ship date for orientation.

 

Or not. A few minutes after talking to the McElroy recruiter I got a call from a local LTL. Road test the following day which went well. Interview, passed. Conditional (drug test, background, etc) job offer accepted and signed. First day of work (rather watching videos and such) is Wednesday. I feel fortunate to have fallen into (by most accounts) good LTL job right off the bat. Wife and kid at home that I'll at least get to see now with all my time in a day-cab or on a dock rather than a random 48.


---
On another note, the folks at McElroy were great in the limited dealings I had with them. Granted everything was over the phone or via email and was just papers and forms trying to get me hired. But the lady I was assigned was awesome and if she is a reflection of the company (who I've only heard good things about) I would easily recommend going to them. Weekly home time, ok pay (.38/mile but not separate tarp pay), and what seem like decent people.

 

A few weeks removed from Alliance and not certain how I would rate the school.

It certainly got me started in the basics of backing a tractor and trailer, as well as double clutching and some basic concepts of driving a big truck and some driving time that wouldn't have occurred otherwise. The classroom sessions also prepared me for the cdl and endorsement tests better than I probably would have done on my own and I developed some friendships with my classmates and instructors. It also got me a cdl in 4 weeks as opposed to the 16 weeks through the local community college. which is maybe a better course (it's cheaper anyway) if you have 3 months to siet around waiting for work. Those are the positives.

The negatives. Things went quick and even in a class as small as 7 (sometimes 8 as a part time guy would jump into our class sometimes), the driving time was split pretty thin. Basically, we had two groups of 4 (or 3 and 4). One group would go on the road and the other would go to the field where an obstacle course was set up. On the road, it was 4 drivers splitting time over either a half day, or whole day (class rand from 7 - 5:30 officially, but we were usually gone by 5), when you add in an hour(ish) lunch that puts each person driving around 2 hours (usually 1 hour in the a.m. and another in the p.m.). On the field, it was 2 trucks moving with 2 students walking the course beside the truck - essentially 2 people per truck that would take turns doing the course. We had a single axle and double axle truck, and we'd usually swap trucks at lunch so that each pair got driving time on each truck. Add in coupling + uncoupling, PTIs, lunch, and breaks and driving time varied. It also made a difference how competent your classmates were at backing as sometimes 3 of us would be waiting if someone was having trouble backing (1 person in lead truck took a long time to back and the 2nd truck would have to wait, so the 2 assigned to truck B as well as the teammate of driver of truck A, would just be standing around waiting for the course to clear).

Exposure was limited. We did 99% of driving in a straight 10. We all got to drive a Super 10 once for about 15 minutes. We primarily pulled a van, but would on occasion swap out a flat bed. We had a flatbed and a set of doubles, but like the super 10, we only got to drive them briefly. This kind of sucked, and could have bitten me in the rear had the straight 7 not been so easy to drive as the one place I had to road test for used 7 speeds. Unfamiliar transmission on unfamiliar roads had me worried beforehand, but the straight 7 was easy, so no-harm-no-foul.

Everything was empty. Sometimes the trailers would have some junk in them (empty barrels or old tires, etc) but nothing that added any noticeable weight. Maybe this is standard for training schools, but it never gives you a feel for pulling a load. Save for tracking your trailer, you never really notice it being there.

I guess I can't complain too much as I walked away with a CDL and a job due to what I learned in school, but at $5k, I guess I expected more (especially when most colleges offer the same for around $1-1.5k, albeit for a longer course).

Everyone in my class passed, but I don't know if they should have. I guess they did enough to make the DMV guy happy, but I was flat out terrified when riding with a couple of them and they never improved much over the length of the school. One of the guys (probably the worst driver of our class) actually tested at the same place I tested for and failed the road test. Evidently he was still grinding gear to the point of missing a lot of gears (running 15 mph on the highway) and still didn't really understand the truck as he was asking the tester what gear he should be in and at what RPM to shift at, etc. I'll admit that the guy was pretty slow in class and the instructors spent extra time with him, but it scares me knowing that this guy is going to be driving an 80,000 lb vehicle someday/somewhere. Last I heard he shipped to Maverick, and maybe he'll be successful there - I hear their fleet is Automatic? Maybe removing the need to shift manually will let this guy get his head on straight, otherwise I fear he'll kill himself behind the wheel or worse, kill a lot of people behind the wheel. I can't say that I can lay the blame of him on the school since he had to make it past the DMV test guy, but it's still scary and if he's out there, then there has to be several more just like him on the road.

In retro, I'd probably give Alliance a C (maybe B-)

The biggest improvement would be:

More exposure to different transmissions

More load variety (vans, doubles, tankers, flatbed all felt the same since they were empty. The only difference was better vision with an empty flat, and easier tracking with the doubles)

More backing practice and backing scenarios (we did only what was required for the Virginia DMV test = Straight backing and 45 degree backing on the driver side)

We students, did take some of our free time and initiate 90 backing just to get the concept of it, but I don't think we would've ever done it had it not been for us doing it ourselves. I would've also liked some more blind side backing practice.