Getting a CDL-A without a school

7K is a little high for tech or comunitty college training. 4k - 5k is more typical. Funding, scholarships, grants, and loans are easier to get through the tech school.

The mega crap companys have no problem in hiring tech school grads and you will not be indentured by the company you chose to train you. They will even reimburse the 4-5-7K tuition after two years of service. Good luck making it 2 years to get the reimbursement; most do not.

Tech school training has more respect both inside and outside the industry. Try say you were trained by Swift and watch the eyes roll.

 

I went through Swift Academy. I have NO requirement to stay with Swift, and the instructors at the Academy hammered that point home. About a third of the students graduating in my class went with other companies. I almost did; the recruiter at the other company didn't return my call for one question that I had.

The people who would roll their eyes are idiots that are simply going on what they've heard. Just like those who believe that going to a company sponsored school requires them to work for that company.

A few years ago, Swift was at the bottom of the industry, just as JB Hunt was before them, and CR England is now. Swift has made great strides in repairing their image. With over 16,000 trucks on the road, there are a few idiots that do spectacularly dumb things, but they are getting weeded out. They do have a high turnover rate, but so does every other company that hires recent school grads. A whole bunch realize that the trucking lifestyle isn't for them, and a bunch more jump to other companies once they get their magical six months of driving experience.

Also, the Swift Academies are PTDI accredited. Your local tech school probably isn't.

 

I started out driving a straight truck for a local dairy, they also had tractor trailers, so I asked a guy who worked there to help me get my class A, and every weekend for a few months while I had my permit he would teach me the ropes, at our yard we would set up milk crates and practice. got my license and the rest is history, now I pull doubles for a local company, life could not be better but it took me a while. these opportunites are out there, but I had to eat a lot of dirt to get where I am at.

 

Swift's CDL mill in Tennessee was PTDI certified. Busted by the feds. CDLS pulled.

PTDI does not mean anything. It trucking industry union like ATA, NSC, TCA, ect. In fact it is owned by the TCA. The mega crap owns there own certification company! PTDI is nothing but a lobbing group for the megas, lobbying for the vary laws that dictate the training. How is that for a scam?

After a couple years of experience no one will ask about your training let alone if the training self-certified themselves. That will not even happen at Swift.

Sure you can leave the mega company that trains you, but without the 2 years or so of service you forfeit the reimbursement they promise and that point, no one else is likely to pay it.

Swift, England, Hunt, Prime, Werner..... ect. ect. are all different shades of the same trucking company; Same lack of respect in the industry. Same crappy DOT scores. Same crappy pay system. Same quality of drivers. Same high turnover. Swift has had the same bad reputation for decades; nothing has changed. It is like arguing what crap smells better. Anything else is just inter-office propaganda.

As I see it the OP has got the right idea. I wish I could help more. The agricultrural companies is a good idea and what I was thinking too.

 

To throw a little more heat on fire... I see a lot of local driving jobs that want a CDL - most are CDL-A and want you to have your "standard" 2 years. HOWEVER, there's routinely openings for driving ST's over and under 26K and wants a CDL and even a company with a fleet of Prius cars, Minivans, and transporters who want CDL's, even just to drive the darn Prius or Caravan.

I don't want to drive OTR. At this point in time, not the slightest interest. However, there's intermodal stuff here, and short "home every night" stuff out the wazzoo. But you can't get there without doing your time. And I figure some time doing something else would be helpful and having my -A rather than -C or -B could open doors sometime in the future.

 

The only reason I made it without trucking school is because dad had trucks I took the test and went to work. When dad was bought out they kept me on and hear I am several years later. Hard to do that now.