Indentured Servitude or $6,000?

No names left · Jan 15, 2016

JoeyJunk said: ↑

In that case, first year will be $1650. Then each year after is $1800. After 2 years that's only $3450. You would have to stay 3-4 years to recoup costs unless you found a super cheap school.
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It would take 40 payments to get $6,000 back or 41 months. Like I said, it would be nice to get some of that back but I would look at the cost of obtaining a CDL as part of the cost of doing business and push to make sure I received decent CPM for my efforts.

tommymonza · Jan 15, 2016

My only attraction to Schneider was their Choice lease program and allowing a walk away 1 year lease which no other company offers.

That and they seemed to have a lot of good freight, but lately from reading some Choice threads good paying freight is becoming much harder to come by with so many enrolled in the Chpice program.

Company side offerd nothing, they would not hire me out of Florida and only hire if I moved back to Michigan . Along with 27 cpm you would have to get a lot of miles to equal Primes 43 cpm and Henderson 38cpm.

No names left · Jan 15, 2016

tommymonza said: ↑

My only attraction to Schneider was their Choice lease program and allowing a walk away 1 year lease which no other company offers.

That and they seemed to have a lot of good freight, but lately from reading some Choice threads good paying freight is becoming much harder to come by with so many enrolled in the Chpice program.

Company side offerd nothing, they would not hire me out of Florida and only hire if I moved back to Michigan . Along with 27 cpm you would have to get a lot of miles to equal Primes 43 cpm and Henderson 38cpm.
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At those rates, yeah, that's a no-brainer. I have heard freight is slow this time of year anyway but I am also concerned about an overall slowdown in our economy. I know if I were in a position right now to consider the Choice program I would not do it until I was more confident about the economy. The stock market is getting absolutely HAMMERED lately (down 2.5% today) and I have concerns about our economy as a whole. These are not the conditions I would sign any type of lease under, but maybe in a year or so, and definitely after the election in November.

tommymonza · Jan 15, 2016

Totally agree about getting into a lease right now. You have to get way to many miles to survive much less profit at that game right now.

Shipping by Sea is down 20 percent. Economy is going to get hammered over the next year

I am looking at a year and a half from now for buying a good old pre emission truck and leasing on with a good company after I do my training and Hell Year.

If the economy is uglier by than I may just take my money and go sailing for a few years.

CasanovaCruiser · Jan 15, 2016

I was in the same boat as you when I started.
Ended up paying the $5k out of pocket.

I was at my first company for almost 3 months until I jumped ship, never took home more than $600 there.
Now I'm taking home over $900.
So I think it was worth tapping into my savings.
A starter company isn't somewhere I'd want a contract with looking back.

No names left · Jan 15, 2016

tommymonza said: ↑

Totally agree about getting into a lease right now. You have to get way to many miles to survive much less profit at that game right now.

Shipping by Sea is down 20 percent. Economy is going to get hammered over the next year

I am looking at a year and a half from now for buying a good old pre emission truck and leasing on with a good company after I do my training and Hell Year.

If the economy is uglier by than I may just take my money and go sailing for a few years.
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rail is down too although I cannot remember the percentage. Most of that is from the drop-off in crude shipment but there still has been a decline in rail traffic. I had read last week that inter-modal was up 1%. Not much, but sill in positive territory.

Dave_in_AZ · Jan 15, 2016

No names left said: ↑

I have been kicking around this idea of driving for a living (well, almost a living) for over a month now and am pretty close to convincing myself I am going to do it. Since I do not have a CDL, I obviously have to go through training to get one and I am on the fence whether to pay roughly $6,000 for a private CDL school, or go the company sponsored route and be an indentured servant for 12 months.

I see pros and cons for both sides and I swear it is so close there are days my position changes from ‘private’ to ‘sponsored’ and then back again the following day. I’ve been kicking this decision around for weeks and I am no closer now than I was a few weeks ago. I thought I’d throw this question out to the ‘been there, done that crowd’ and solicit comments on how things played out for people who took different paths to get your CDL. I’ll list some of the things I view as important in my thought process;

Private CDL school pros – from everything I have read, it sounds as though people who go this route get far more respect from carriers when applying for jobs. They seem to get slightly higher earnings and better treatment once hired. I would expect nothing but complete professionalism from trainers since I am paying them to train me.

Private CDL school cons – no assurance of a job once you have a CDL. This is perhaps my biggest concern; spending $6,000 and hoping someone hires me. I equate this with jumping off a diving board and hoping someone fills the swimming pool with water on the way down. I already have interest from 2 carriers now but until someone offers me that job there will be some concern I could spend $6k and one month for nothing. And with some carriers, if there is a lapse between your CDL issue date and your job offer, back in the pool you go.

Company sponsored pros – I would pretty much have some assurance going into it that I will have a job lined up provided I come out the other side with a CDL. That may actually be the only ‘pro’ I see in this, but it is still huge for me.

Company sponsored cons – yeah, saved the best for last. When I think of all the things that could go wrong with company sponsored CDL training, I have visions of my wrists being duct-taped to my ankles for one year, and squealing like Ned Beatty for the duration. I have no problem at all being financially indebted to a company that provides my CDL training; I get that part of it completely. But there are just so many comments from truckers that took this route that make it seem like Indentured Servitude at its absolute worst. I’m afraid if someone demands I ‘yes massa’ in response to all their demands, I may end up in prison on a manslaughter charge.

So …. I am asking for input on the pros and cons from people who have already been through this. I should add that although salary is a consideration, it is secondary to avoiding manslaughter charges. I have resigned myself to the fact I will not earn enough money to eat until my 2nd year. Thanks to anyone that can offer some input.
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$6G's now? Holy cow.

Young man whatever you do,
DO NOT SIGN ON WITH CRST, CRE, OR THE LIKES OF THOSE.
Yes there has to be a starting point. But it doesn't have to be the bottom less pit.
Yes your dog meat for a year wherever you might choose, but you don't have to be ground dog meat.

Good luck.

tommymonza · Jan 15, 2016

I liked Prime for their trying program and 43cpm . They just would not hire out of Florida and I don't think they would much care for my lack of employment records for the last 3 years.

They double bunk you in a motel room for training and feed you while loaning you a 100 a week for personal expenses for a month.

The one thing I didn't like about Prime is they have you otr with a trainer for 3 months. The pay of 700 a week is fair but 12 as opposed to. 6 weeks cooped up n a truck swayed me to Henderson.

No names left · Jan 15, 2016

Dave_in_AZ said: ↑

$6G's now? Holy cow.

Young man whatever you do,
DO NOT SIGN ON WITH CRST, CRE, OR THE LIKES OF THOSE.
Yes there has to be a starting point. But it doesn't have to be the bottom less pit.
Yes your dog meat for a year wherever you might choose, but you don't have to be ground dog meat.

Good luck. View attachment 125926
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I started a spreadsheet with all the companies I can find and have data for things like CPM, training duration, forced NYC dispatch, etc. I only have 2 companies on the list that are labeled as 'No F'n Way' and one is CRE. I would go visit Dr. Kevorkian before I would drive for CRE.

I'm just looking for the best way to get through the first year.

*** I had to edit this to change 'forced dispatch' to 'forced NYC dispatch'. I plan on never refusing any load to any location (my gawd I hope whoever I end up driving for never reads that) but I'd like to have a few months under my belt before I am asked to bounce off some walls in NYC.

No names left · Jan 15, 2016

tommymonza said: ↑

I liked Prime for their trying program and 43cpm . They just would not hire out of Florida and I don't think they would much care for my lack of employment records for the last 3 years.

They double bunk you in a motel room for training and feed you while loaning you a 100 a week for personal expenses for a month.

The one thing I didn't like about Prime is they have you otr with a trainer for 3 months. The pay of 700 a week is fair but 12 as opposed to. 6 weeks cooped up n a truck swayed me to Henderson.
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I heard Prime was 8 to 12 weeks and will let you go solo in 8 if your mentor tells the front office that he thinks you are ready.

Sometimes I laugh when I read things like the '$700 a week during OTR training' and wonder if that will be the best money I ever make with that company? From reading some of these comments on TTR, many never make it back up to that level once they go solo.

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