Driver shortage????

Congrats to you and GOOD LUCK!

 

I am not sure that is entirely correct. There are companies that offer training... Westcan, Bison to name just a few...

 

Congratulations and good luck Petesout!

 

hmmmm.
Well i think company training sucks when these companies bring them to school. find something out on the student that the recruiter said would be no problem then send the student home at the student's expense and charge them $5,000 bucks for a CDL they never got! then in a few weeks if the student does not pay a collection company will call and threaten to shoot your wife and dog if you don't pay for the CDL that you never got through no fault of your own!
always always always pay for your own school!!!

 

That's all Baloney you can't show one person who went to a school and got sent home now has a collection agency after them. My son just went through to school at Prime and he seen 2 people get sent home for failing the drug test and 2 for failing the physical and 2 not able to pass the CDL Permit, along with about 5 others who just couldn't handl it. They got them a bus ticket and didn't hand them a bill. Matter fact an instructor said by law they can't bill them for it. Companies just have to write it off. I've even met people who went through 14 days at Schneider training academy and after they sent them home they made one attempt to collect and then dropped it, it didn't even show up on their credit report. Stop discouraging people from getting their cdl however they can.

 

These posts touch on some things that have been on my mind over the past few weeks since I started to consider a trucking career. I'm 59 and haven't worked since I was 50 because our financial situation was very rosey. Circumstances have changed for the worse however and now it appears to me that truck driving may be one of the few things that I could learn where there is still a manpower demand with opportunity for a decent icome.

I'm in good health(but need medication for high blood pressure), 20/20 vision, thanks to Lasic surgery, have a solid 30 year employment history, perfectly clean driving record for 43 years and a college degree. Just a few miles away from my home is a community college/technical institute that has an 8 week long PTDI certified course for truck driving and the tuition and fees comes to less than $1000.00 for state residents.

I realize the downsides of the trucking life for me would probably be minimal home time in the beginning, some of the ugly underbelly aspects that come with any job, dealing with the idiots that exist in all walks of life, etc. It appears many new drivers need to endure some crappy times for a year or two before better jobs open up to them.

I guess what I'm fishing for is encouragement but would like honest opinions as to what you think the odds are for having a satisfactory job/life in the trucking world at my age.

Thanks.

VR

 

man come on!
My nephew went to C.R. England's school for 4 day's then got sent home for a simple assault charge from 2 years earlier AFTER he listed it on the AP AND the recruiter told him it would be no problem AND it was stated on his criminal record the company got BEFORE they brought him to school !
and yes he got billed for $2,200. plus paid his own way back home.

 

I've got alot of mixed fellings about CDL schools. And that's what they are CDL schools. They teach you how to get your CDL and anything beyond that is rare. The real training begins when you're on the road. If you get a driver trainer that's only been driving for 6 months then you're getting ripped off. That seems to be the trend with these company paid schools with the high turnover rate. However, if you have no other means for tuition then you have no other choice but a paid company school. But if you do, common sense plays a big role here and it makes more sense to have your options open than closed to one company.

Options are what you need to be successful. A clean record is the starting point and keeping it clean is paramount. If you sign a contract and get jammed up (and any driver can) then your driving life is the bottom of the barrel and at the mercy of that company. No company gives away training for free and they will get their investment back. If not then they come after you and you'll have a credit report that no one will want to take a chance on. Now the bigger companies are running credit reports on new applicants so you're srcewed there too.

What you see mostly on this board are drivers telling their experience and what they've seen. There's alot of drivers that will tell you that a company run CDL school can lead to nightmares. However, there are a few that will tell you they've had good luck with them. I think those drivers that come out unscathed are rare and I base that on what I've seen.

I believe the most important indicator you could look for in a company is drivers that stay there or retire. If you find a company that has drivers retiring then you can be guaranteed it's s good company to work for. But if you find one with a high turnover rate there's a good reason for it. Ask any driver that works for a company that has drivers there for years and he'll tell you he has a good pay package with good benefits.

So my assessment on CDL schools is this. If you can afford to pay for the school at a community collage then you'd be obligated to no one which affords you the opportunity to search for the better companies. If you can not afford the cost then you should be real careful on what company you select. Don't listen to the recruiters and do some research and ask the drivers. Try to find out who is doing the driver training and what kind of safety program they run. You can use Swift as the lowest company judging by all the drivers remarks and go from there.

 

After working through a self-paid driving school, how long does the typical company make you team up with a trainer? Sharing that limited amount of space sounds like a bummer.