I'm so frickin lost!!!!!!!!!!

Don't waste the time getting your license on your own, no one will hire you. The only exception might be is if you know a farmer or O/O who will put you to work. If not, forget that idea. In this day and age, if you want to get into this industry, you have to have a school backing you. The better the school, the better the possibilites.

You can go through company paid training, of course - many companies offer this - but understand you will sign a contract that if you do not work for them for whatever specified period of time, you will have to pay them back for training costs. The whole truck-driver training thing is quite the racket nowadays! Some are charging up to 8 THOUSAND dollars... at 21%. Beware!

Don't be tempted to sign up for the shortest/easist training.... Not intending to offend you, but you'll just make yourself a danger on the road. There's no replacement for honest to God good training. Are you *sure* you cannot do a *good* school???

 

Find a company with a PTDI accredited school. Whether that company gets its full remittance due for your training through your work, direct payment or a combination of the two, you'll pay for your training. Try to find something that suits you as closely as possible. Paying one of those "good" schools 8K or paying through work 4K, the training is viewed the same by the industry. The other option is the WIA program, for which a thread has been started. Check that out too and good luck to you.

 

Nico....this is the place to research company backed driver training. Just search the different companies and see what people are saying about that companies training. I am going to RDTC for Roehl on November 15th. I'm NOT saying that Roehl would be the best for you but under my situation I felt like it was a good fit. Their school is $2800 but like lilmstrkr said....if I stay there for a year its paid by the company. Good luck with your searches and I'm new also but if I can answer any questioons for you I sure will try.

 

there are good training companies like SAGE that work in conjunction with local community colleges. Since it is through a community college financial aid, federal and otherwise, are often available, whether grants or loans. I recently applied to a local college using this format. The cost: $4500. 150 hours of instruction over a 3 week period. The graduate is certified both by the college and the training company which makes one competitive for hiring and not a slave to a particular company for two years. Do your research. When there is a will....there IS a way....

 

be honest with yourself and you will save yourself a lot of grief. the greatest percentage of jobs in trucking are long haul and willingness to run...local and dedicated routes are earned for the most part...the experience comes from getting in that truck and moving freight across the country....if one is not willing to make the sacrifice, should they enter into this industry?

 

Nicodemus...you are in Florida...trust me that if you plan on getting the license on your own plan to take the test at least 2-3 times. First time I failed for a TINY little thing on my break-test which if you don't get perfect then you fail automatically. Next time I did everything perfect but failed in the parallel parking (I was just trying too hard to get it perfect and lost too many points). Then the 3rd time I had a flawless score, but it is definitely not easy. I saw students there that had been practicing for months that were driving horribly.

I would recommend the schooling but it is EXPENSIVE!!! However, you will learn A LOT and it is almost a necessity to be able to get a job with "most" companies. The other option is to go around and interview all the companies around your area willing to work with first time CDL drivers and then test for the license on your own (disclaimer, you run a 95% chance of failing at least once). The next option is to apply for a local only company willing to pay for your schooling, but like others said, you WILL pay for it one way or another regardless. Either by paycheck deductions or by a pay rate that will basically earn you around $3K/month. I say local company because if it is an OTR/Long-haul company they will definitely send you on the road.

If you want something that will provide you a bit more home stability I recommend working for a more specialized company rather than a pure freight company. Go talk to FedEx, UPS, CocaCola (etc), VeldaFarms (produce companies that deliver with light trucks), the Post Office, or there is always the military (which I only recommend if you can go in as an officer). Most of these local delivery companies will put you in Flat Trucks so you will only need a Class B license which might be easier or cheaper to get.

The other final option is to go hang out at some local truck stops and talk to the people around there. Hopefully they can put you in touch with a dispatcher somewhere that might have some knowledge about the local players that are good to work with. Another source for info and contacts is one of the service companies that handle the regulations, licensing, and fuel tax services for local truckers. If you don't know where to start then go see the local truck/tractor-trailer dealerships and ask them for some guidance of who to turn to.

If your family is of the utmost importance to you then don't even think about doing the O/O bit for a LOT of years.

 

Pure horseheet.

There is alot of local work here. Some new guys go straight to hauling cans-containers from the port.

Look in craigslist, alot of local work.

 

Yeah I'm sure "some" guys do to straight to hauling containers, etc... (local stuff) but a whole lotta other guys (and ladies) serve their years OTR before anyone looks at them at all. It's a right of passage, so to speak and if you don't have to do it, you're one of the lucky ones. It's not impossible, but it will be tough to find, you might as well know that right now.

You have to look at it like a carrier does. Pointing the truck down the road is not tough. Running the majority of interstate (as OTR does) isn't anywhere nearly as demanding as local work. Local work requires a lot of city driving (tough turns, traffic, etc) Lots of crappy nasty backing. It just takes more skill. Any OTR carrier will take on an experienced city driver, but not nearly as many local companies will welcome an OTR until that OTR driver has some time under his/her belt. Just how it is.

So just understand it will be harder for you to find a job if you're intent is only local. Not impossible, but harder.