Desperate

Newer drivers don't know what oil is where to put it and everything else is a mystery one company I worked for dumbed it down for drivers, even labeling every single thing on the truck. I kid you not, everything had a label. The exhaust had the words exhaust on it fuel above it a small label saying fuel gauge.Having been taught everything about the truck from basic stuff changing oil,clear ice from air lines, to my favorite changing tires and balancing them. Granted I have the equipment for them tires pretty simple, jack and a cheater bar and they going on and off fast.

That's the easy part, willing to do this stuff on or near a highway not a chance seen too many times some idiot doesn't pay attention and boom hits the truck and or mechanic doesn't take a genius realize what outcome befalls the mechanic. Known dumb people refuse to use a cage on tires, and boom tire explodes and will cleanly take spine off wherever it hits. Because people don't understand how dangerous that pressure is I tell people if your tire looks bad worst thing you do is stick your head anywhere near that tire; don't go behind it or anything that doesn't have something between you. It had one person stick his head inside to see the inside, dually he heard a leak. It was bad between him going in to look the tire failed completely and exploded, and he and the trailer smashed and the neck was the weakest point and almost clear off just a little skin or something holding it together but ya its terrible to see.

 

Yeah,

Yeah, I agree. But I think the school is very important. For example, my training was 320 hours. It was a 9-week course, 5 days a week from 0700 to 1430 every single day. If you missed 2 classes, you were kicked out. You had to wear a belt and work boots. You had to have a set of gloves and a tire thumper. We were required to do pre and post-trip inspections every day and turn in the paper report. In addition to the classroom training, we were in the yard every day. You also had to do 1000 miles of road driving in those 9 weeks. So, we had 12 students in the class along with the instructor. We had 6 tractors and trailers. So basically, we were partnered up with another student for those 9 weeks and had our own truck. Every day, we would leave from the school as a 6-truck convoy and travel all over South Florida on 150–300-mile round trips. We worked hands-on on the trucks when we were in the yard. And you are not going to believe this, but the whole course, including books and tools, was about $2100. We had recruiters come in every week to talk to us to try to get us to sign with their companies. Stevens Transport, Melton Truck Lines and Armellini were just a few. That's how I landed my job with Stevens.

I was very lucky to go to this school, because I have heard horror stories from other students about their "schools". Not enough equipment, no driving time, instructors gave no hands-on training, were just some of the things I heard. And some of these schools were charging up to $5,000! Go figure. I ALWAYS advise people that want to become truck drivers to NEVER sign with a company-sponsored school. It is like signing a deal with the devil. They require you to work for them for at LEAST a year at SLAVE WAGES. And if you renege on the agreement before the year is up, they come after you with lawyers and will charge you a ridiculous amount for the training received. One guy that went to the school at Stevens Transport told me that they charged him $7000 after he quit early. He didn't pay, so Stevens hired a collection agency, and that figure ballooned up to over $11,000. And these figures are for basic "just enough to help you pass" training. What really pisses me off about hearing these stories is that the federal government subsidizes these schools for each student they "train". I heard that the figure is $5000 per student, but I could be wrong. So, the school is basically double-dipping off the government tit. It's all a disgraceful money-grab.