On my way to CDL A without Trucking School

Thanks for all the replies. I have started the research with the company suggestions. Interesting responses from one end to the other when it comes to schools. I just couldn't see myself paying the rate these schools are charging. I see some companies will pay for school if you sign a contract to drive for them for a given number of months. So, this might be a challenge to find the right company to hire on with but I don't think this is impossible. If anyone is interested, as I progress using the college vs trucking school approach to earn my CDL and progress through the company hiring process I will post updates to this thread. Thanks again and drive safe.

 

Seriously? moving companies......vacuum trucks?

honestly, you need to stop giving career advice.


Moving companies....LOL!!!! The absolute bottom of the barrel for commercial drivers.

 

You're spinning your wheels. No company worth working for will hire you without qualified training.

Whether its right or wrong for them to do so is irrelevant. That's just the way it is.

 

Got that right. I know a guy that owns one. He's like a slave owner.
I actually feel sorry for his employees.

 

What about people who start as dock workers and move up? Thats what i did. I got my cdl and no school. I did aton of time with my permit. I was also never asked to show a cert of any kind. Must be a Cali thing.

 

Vacuum and waterblast pump operators are paid by the hour and will work 12 hour days 2 or 3 weeks straight . They stay in company paid motels with per diem for meals . Want to match their pay with a CDL mill graduate driving as a trainee for 4 to 6 weeks ?
You probably though I was referring to parking lot vacuums . No , I was referring to these . http://www.gapvax.com/trucks.html . They are very powerful and dangerous . OSHA requires someone to be manning a vacuum release whenever a man is on the end of the hose . Water blasters are also very dangerous with 10,000 psi or more at the gun . The stream can cut an arm or leg off .
Maybe movers pay low but that's a reason there's a chance to get in with them and again even low pay is better than paying thousands for a school that only qualifies you to pass a state CDL test then if the person is lucky gets a few hundred dollars to work over 60 hours a week as a trainee . Unlucky CDL mill graduates get rejected at orientation or booted out of the truck by a trainer .
Yeah , pay thousands to be exploited by a CDL mill and a BFI is great career advice .

 

I made $500 a week during training......5 weeks long. Then I started making $900-$1100 a week as soon as I was assigned my own truck. Yes, a lot of my class was sent home. Lying on their applications, failing drug tests and not being able to do the job were the biggest reasons. Getting drunk at the hotel and coming in hung over the next day and rudely flirting with the nurse during the physical were some other reasons.

I was home every weekend even during training.

I dont know what companies youre talking about.

 

I went to the DMV and passed all the test with ease. Found a guy with a small single axle international automatic transmission and a 40 foot flatbed. He set me up a road test at a small DMV office in a small town. The road test was a piece of cake. Got my class A with no restrictions, X endorsement.

Applied and went by about forty or fifty different companies, no luck. Most wouldn't even take my resume.

Went to Road master, hired by one of the major carriers, and now working on getting a year or so experence then it's off to a company that pays better.

 

When I started we didn't have commercial driving schools. We learned by doing. It is difficult to get started today without going to one of the CDL schools, even though most will only get you your CDL. I have well over 4 million safe miles behind me with no chargeable accidents and a clean MVR and CSA. These days companies practice defensive hiring. They want to make sure that they are not going to be sued due to having hired a poorly trained driver. I think that the way I learned made me a much better driver. The problem now is liability. Carriers and insurance companies are so scared of being sued that they want to cover themselves as much as possible. Some carriers receive funding from the government to train inexperienced drivers. Once a new driver gets a year or two experience behind him more doors will open as long as he has kept his MVR and CSA clean.

 

Kwayne88, thanks for sharing your experience. I'm not sure why any insurance company would believe one would be a better driver after a 5 or 6 week driving school. Like G/Man said a driver learns by doing. Most large carriers will place a new driver with a trainer for a few to several weeks and this is when the schooling really begins.