Is Paying Out of Pocket Still Worth it Despite the Lousy State of the Industry?

Roehl Transport may terminate that GYCDL contract and seek to collect $7000 from you with you given no opportunity to complete the terms of said contract. They must ALLOW you to complete the contract and if THEY don't, you WILL owe them $7000 under the terms of the contract. Ask me how I and countless others came to find out...

 

I think if you have a kinda good concept of driving megas aren’t a bad deal. Reason I say this is cause it’s a crash course on how to get a CDL. I went this route when I started. If you haven’t been around stuff like this or coming from a desk job might want to take a course through a community college or outside school. Not saying you can’t come from a desk to trucking.

Personally, If I was to do it now and wasn’t fond of going OTR. I would become a dock worker at an LTL company and go through their program. Benefits are wasaayyyy better pay while learning and home daily. Too many people have too much pride to become a dock worker when it’s just driving a forklift. But like my old company Saia dock guys were making in the mid 20’s to high 20’s an hour maybe 30hr. More than trucking at megas as a rookie. Another benefit is if you screw up as a driver you can move down to dockworker or go to another LTL as a dockworker. You’ll have two skill trades that pay well.

 

Been there done that…. Here’s how i got where i am today from where you are right now….
Community college cdl school.
Paid for by a grant through wioa, my hard cost for school was less than 300 bucks.
I looked at the companies that hire and train you, but there was always a catch.
And an ugly one at that.
Whether it was time based or miles based, the repayment was heavily in their favor.
By choosing the cc route, I’m beholden to nobody, i choose who I’m willing to drive for and who can pound sand.
Nobody has a leash on me or my license, which pays its own dividends.
I’ve never had to go long haul, always been local, home daily.
I am a gas hauler, love what i do, have a great team i work with, and never want for work.
I’ve cross trained into chemical and dry bulk, making me one of the most desirable drivers we have at our terminal.
That gets me work when things get slow, and I’m never sitting with my finger up my nose waiting for work.
You, too, can do this.
Find your area American job center, and ask about workforce retraining programs.
I bet you’ll find a grant or something similar to help you get started.
Companies will come to your school and talk about what they offer.
They’re recruiters. Take them accordingly.
Apply to every one of them, if only for the experience of interviewing and such.
Most will offer employment after you graduate, pending going through the hiring process.
Determine which aspects of trucking interest you, and concentrate your energy on those types of companies.
You will get hired on somewhere, i guarantee it.
It may not be your dream gig, it may downright suck. But, unless it’s killing you, stay there ONE FULL YEAR.
No excuses, no whining, just suck it up and do it the best you’re able to.
Once you got that year in, many doors open for you to grow.
Those are the doors you’re after.
The first year is tough.
You’re so green you look like Kermit, and you need time in the seat and miles behind you to fade that green down to something manageable.
You gotta demonstrate you have sound skills and decision making to start moving up into the better pay and better overall companies.
Devote that first year to developing yourself as a driver. Nothing else matters.
That, my friend, is how you go from making burgers to making bank in the shortest time possible.
I did it. I have many friends that did it.
You can too.
It’s possible to be making 6 figures your second year, if you keep your nose clean and do your part in developing yourself.

 

I would say in a downturn it's more important to pay out of pocket. That way if a good opportunity does come along, you can jump on it without the baggage of the contract you are under.

 

I don't see what difference it makes which route you got get your CDL. Some go the company route. I can see why, you have a job right out of the gate. Some pay for it on their own, I can see why also....smaller classroom sizes and more one on one I'd imagine. Both of those scenarios I laid out really depends on the company/school. Most likely coming out of school, you'll have to work for a entry level company, so I don't think you can lose either way. Now some companies may have so many applicants that you may have to go private just to get the ball rolling.

 

I'm not recommending anyone waste time with a pre-hire letter. The only ones that matter are to be used for WOIA. The typical non-WOIA pre-hire letter "We, trucking company, will hire you if you successfully complete training, you have the qualifications we require, we need more employees, and you pass every other step in our hiring process. The state lottery commission might as well declare "You Won the Lottery*" If you buy the right ticket, we hold the drawing, you have all of the correct numbers, and our lawyers are satisfied. Duh. NOTHING has changed from before the letter was written. They are not obligated to do anything they weren't obligated to do before you learned to drive.

Newbies do almost no research, with few exceptions. They might ask the company "is the company a good place to work?" or "will I make lots of money?". If you ask car salesman is this car the one you should buy, and you believe his answer, you deserve to be ripped off. Never work for a company until AFTER you talk to current working drivers at the company doing the work you will be hired to do. Not, some guy that worked there in 1978, not somebody that knows a guy that once met a nice driver at the company, not some OTR driver if you are getting hired for a terrible dollar type store dedicated account. You want answers from people that are doing that work now, and that share as many things with your situation as possible. MOST newbies barely even ask about home-time and then 3 weeks into training may be almost ready for an emotional crisis from not getting home.

The industry is trying to get you obligate as fast as possible with them being obligated for nothing. Buyer beware, it's your life. Get answers from non-recruiters and NOT THE COMPANY WEB SITE. It cannot all be done online. Be prepared to talk to people on the phone like your parents used to do when we all rode dinosaurs.

 

Do you think the first company that a new cdl holder (who paid for their own cdl program) goes with would treat that driver better than someone who went through the same company's cdl program?

 

I certainly don't think I got any "special favors"...or "preferential treatment" from Schneider...back when I started with them.

They threw me to the sharks....just like everybody else in my orientation.

Still--I'd think that for a driver who comes in the door with a CDL already in hand--that driver probably does get treated better....if he/she leaves anytime soon--since there's nothing contractual or obligatory to settle up for, afterwards (as ZVar has pointed out, above).

-- Lual

 

The key aspect is there’s no leash tying you to a company, with a massive liability attached.
School out of pocket is less than 3k.
Any of these companies you choose, you’re obligated for 5k or more.
Someone said roehl is 7 grand. 2 to 3 times the liability for lesser training.
Do your own math.
Pay up front or pay on the back end, generally the back end is worse.
Second aspect… if the first company you hire on with sucks, i mean really really sucks…there’s nothing holding you there.
Any of these companies offering training to get your class a are long haul.
Notoriously, you’re rolling great for a while, then things start slowing down…you’re not making money like you were. They pinch you to get you to quit early, making you liable for that school cost.
if you paid your own way, it’s not an issue.
The horror stories are all over the new drivers and bad company threads.
the economy is not well at the moment, and headed south.
freight is cheap and getting cheaper.
loads that pay well are rare and getting more rare.
protect yourself financially best you can.
at some point, companies are going to be laying people off, or closing their doors.
we’ve already seen some of that happen, and i believe it’ll get worse before it gets better.

 

You get the treatment they give to all newbies. When you pick where to work, you just agreed to the standard treatment they give to drivers, even if you didn't bother to ask any questions, have specific geographic/and calendar requirements for time off or unusual demands for income. When you buy the melon, you get THAT MELON. Investigate THAT melon before you buy it. You will not change the company policies or behaviors after you are hired just because you need something different.

This doesn't mean trucking companies will make sure you get the average pay or give you the average runs when you join the company. New drivers need LOTS of hand-holding and lots of specific info and so they aren't given long trips for very important customers with little margin for error. Newbies will get more short runs with tons of time (meaning a lot less money per day) just so they have the time to be on-time. Crying isn't going to get a newbie put onto the reliable driver list. Making appointments on time with no problems gets you put on that list. BTW, your dispatcher isn't going to have the first clue what some company recruiter "promised you" before you got hired. Your dispatcher is not going to keep a list of all the important events and dates you want to be home to share with others. If you don't ask and receive confirmation months in advance for a specific date, or if all you get in response to specific dates at home request is "we'll see" you have not been promised to be home at that date. If a date is important, tell the company you need to be home the day before the important date.