Before I sign the dotted line . . .had a few questions

Why go so far to Kingman when there's a good school in Phoenix; Southwest Truck Driver Training in Phoenix?

PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Our newly updated campus is located off 51st avenue just north of Buckeye Rd. Our incredible staff has the experience & skills to get you on the road to a new career in trucking.

 

No.

Trucking is feast and famine. That 150K mortgage will be a financial albatross on your neck.

Most people look at pay OOOO 70K this 80K that, 65K or whatever. NO one says how much does it cost to eat every day on the road? 20? 40? 60? Boom 20,000 annually? Or 7500 Annually eating scraps? Does Uncle Sam pay per diem? (You best look into that. In 2001, we claimed 306 service days out away from home, confirmed by our logbooks out of 365 days of the year. That was worth 13700 against taxes on a gross of 67000. We still prevailed because we EACH sent over and above normal W2 withholding 100 to Uncle Sam and 75 to stae every payroll to MAKE SURE that there will be no taxes end of year that could be thousand upon thousands of dollars due. Instead we flip it on it's ear and expect a nice check to get going a new trucking year with a mountain of cash, maybe 8000 or so to start off. And add to it.

Every load we got dispatched on we wrote long hand into the book all of the information. Including actual time arrive, wait, docked, loaded and rolling to appt time, arrived, wait and dock and empty. Name names on who did what where when and how to us. Even if it's a satellite message or a time card. If there is a problem and the carrier investigates with a eye towards FIRING, that documentation is a defense. (Every driver has a small folder in a DM's desk. With a name on it. In that folder goes DAMNING problems YOU the driver caused. Eventually it gets too fat to be wanted. And fired you are. .. for cause.)

The megas are not the only path. There are plenty of fleets of about 200 to 1000 trucks or so. PLENTY. FFE was 1200 trucks.

We ended our trucking days hauling for McKesson through a third party lease fleet. That fleet boss had 70 trucks. Half of them are on the west coast at any given time. Yakima for Apples to Atlanta Safeway for example. My job is to bring medicine trailers in excess of one million to Little Rock, drop for the benefit of the teams so they drop, hook and go west. ONCE ina while I take a apple load and go away for three days. One to drive down, morning to unload, afternoon and evening to drive back a day to rest and get back to Memphis ASAP. It's a freedom from drudgery of back and forth.

Pay was not much but... it was adequate. we were debt free. Cars paid, house paid etc. Our biggest problem was 9-11 Destroyed the people and company that make our paychecks each week. We had two choices. Keep on trucking on savings or go get unemployemnt for however long until the phone rings ready to drive at a moment's notice. We had savings. That lasted 6 weeks. 9000 to replaced a storm destroyed room, and 4000 to run 6 weeks for two people. Eventually the backpay all caught up correctly. It worked out well.

Team trucking is the best ever for us. Los Anglenes to Avenel NJ and back in 65 hours per or a little less. We do two trips in a run of 6 days and change. Rest the 7th and do it again on the 8th. The payroll is in the thousands per week net. There is no point talking about it because it was so much you could not again spend it all being debt free. We call that the happy time. It was cut short by a FFE dispatcher when he discovered a true nature of my disability, deafness. He though that deaf people should stay in workshops and not be so successful. *Shrugs. Very common.

Anyway.

Trucking is feast and famine. You are going to learn that drop and hook only makes you money. Waiting at docks can be days. (PLural) in the meantime all your potential miles go bye bye for the week. Poof. Just like your computer work walking out to be worked on else where because you cannot get to the customer for 2 days.

By the same token Lumpers. They are a parasite. Financially and hours. Many food warehouses build a very nice income stream off 100 docks daily forcing truckers to pay say 300 per load That's 15K a day minimum. Easily twice that on half cut to the warehouse.

You learn not to be involved in that.

You also learn that some of our cities are downright dangerous to you the trucker target. You have cash, you have electronics, sometimes your rig is needed to traffic drugs down south by the border and so on. You learn.

You also will learn your health limitations when found by a DOT doctor. Some of those limitations are going to disqualify you for life from trucking. Some will give a short period of medical time to drive. But you have to get it fixed or see your CDL revoked for not having valid medical card. You do NOT want to be revoked 2000 miles from home.

You need savings adequate to never borrow money. You do NOT go into debt with a company to train. If they fired you, you owe it all subject to collections, judgement, lawsuit etc.

You need at all times money to get home by any method at any time 24/7, plane, train, ship, rental car or bus etc. You will learn that the Bus is less than ideal.

I can go on, but half of my posts deal with problems in this industry.

 

Trainco is a good school also, I just wasn't sure why you wanted to drive so far.
Either Trainco or SWTDT will get the same results as far as a decent job.
You'll have plenty of choices other than Schneider.
Schneider Bulk (tanker division) is really good for pay, but dry van is just average. Not sure they hire tanker drivers in Phoenix area.

Don't let Schneider talk you into their Dollar General account. You'll spend more time hand unloading trailers than driving. Accident rates are high due to backing through Dollar General parking lots trying to manuver to the back door of the store to unload. They don't have docks.

 

W.W. Transport - www.wwtransportinc.com hires new cdl graduates. A hard worker there can make around $1500 weekly hauling flour OTR. Contact this company and ask if they hire Phoenix drivers. This company also has refrigerated, flatbed, end dumps, heavy haul.

 

You can probably just ask Schneider to reassign you to Southwest in Phoenix as I talked to a recruiter last week and that's the school they assigned me, i'm on the west coast mind you. Said, it was a 4 week program to get CDL, then 18 consecutive days at Schneider for Orientation. They Finance it for you so long as you stay with the company for a year(5.2k). Training is probably the same amount of time, recruiter probably told you 3 weeks to make it sound better.But I'm passing on Schneider for the training.

 

Here's one if you want good hometime.
Gemini Motor Transport - this company is owned by Love's Truck Stops and hauls diesel & DEF to the truck stops, plus has a dry van division that hauls tires and other supplies to the truck stops.
Hires new cdl grads with Certification from accredited truck driving academy.

 

By the way, when I lived in Tennessee, I often had runs to ACE Asphalt in Phoenix and Fuji in Queens Creek. They were acid deliveries in tankers. Take about 45 minutes to an hour to unload, then drive empty back to Tennessee and it paid the same both ways.

 

Here's some more companies that hire new cdl grads from Phoenix. Check em' out and see if any interest you. If so, submit applications as soon as you get a start date for school. You'll get job offers that are contingent upon successful completion of cdl school and having any endorsements required.
Get all the endorsements before graduating from cdl school. Some of these, maybe all of them, will reimburse your cdl school tuition back to you in monthly installments.
Freymiller - one of the best refrigerated outfits for new cdl grads.
Butler Transport
Navajo Express
Titan Transfer
Monterey Mushrooms
Trimac Transportation - hires new cdl grads from accredited cdl schools on their list.
Danny Herman Trucking - coast to coast and stays mostly below I-40 and no Northeast runs.