Paid CDL training with trucking company near Chicago or NW Indiana. Advice?

CDL Training & Truck Driving School | Stevens Transport
CDL Training
Stevens Transport is an industry leader in CDL training. We have been training successful drivers for decades and have a track record to prove it! Our CDL training program is the most comprehensive in the industry for new drivers.
Stevens trains in many more locations than what shows on the website. Recruiter can let you know about that. If they don't have a school near you, then you're sent to a private school that Stevens pays for.
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You're a new driver. Most companies don't hire new drivers. The companies that do hire new drivers have to pay someone to train them (CDL school just teaches you how to pass the DMV test, you won't even know how to fuel the truck when you're done), pay about $1,000/mo more in insurance than an experienced driver with a clean record would cost them and get more wrecked tractors and trailers. Because they have higher costs, they pay less. You're not going to make top dollar at a starter company but if you keep your record clean of tickets and accidents you can move up to top dollar trucking with the skills you will learn there.

Chinatown is 100% correct - don't get fixated on the CPM rate, remember that's only part of the equation. How many miles you actually turn, your average length of haul and accessorial pay all contribute to your total check - that's what you should be concerned with. After all the miles are turned and the loads are delivered HOW MUCH DID I MAKE at the end of the week/month? All the trucks in the country are SLAMMED from October to December. Santa takes all the credit for Christmas but truck drivers make it happen. Come January, a lot truck drivers are talking trash about about their carriers online full-time because they are parked at a truck stop waiting for a load. What good does it do you to make 99 cpm if you're parked at a truck stop for days at a time waiting for a load?

On your first driving job you will learn A LOT about the industry. Take note of the things you like and don't like about the job and ask other drivers about their jobs if they work for an outfit you think you might like to work for. It takes a long time to pump $500 worth of diesel, that should give you plenty of time to ask the driver parked next to you in the fuel line if they're happy working for their company. Personally, I hated working for free and being away from home. (SITH - Stupid Imaginary Trailer Hunts) Receiver doesn't have an empty? Go here, go there, go across five state lines looking for one over 11 hours for $0. (Camper Loads)You've got a load going from OKC to SLC. You arrive at the Love's in Springville, UT on a Thursday afternoon and call the receiver. He tells you he won't have anyone to unload you until Tuesday afternoon so hang tight. You camp out at the Love's Thursday to Tuesday, unpaid). I chose dedicated. I pick up a loaded trailer on Monday, drive East, come home on Friday afternoon, park my truck, drive home and sleep in my own bed. I get paid by the hour, get a new truck every two years and make $2k/wk. Yeah, driving over I-80 through Wyoming in the Winter isn't for everyone but it works for me. Note: my current employer requires at least two years of experience.

 

Was there a warranty or anything when you bought the wife and kids??

 

Yeah, 24 hr. guarantee/warranty.

 

Pull the type of freight you want to.
I've hauled auto parts like Carter Express does and it was always a quick unload or a drop & hook.
Prefer refrigerated trucking, but that's me. During slow seasons such as Christmas, most freight will slow, thus the miles drop, but with refrigerated freight, it picks up during holiday seasons because people are buying more food, presents, turkeys, hams, etc.
Stores are stocking up on stuff people buy during the holidays. Truck loads of hams, turkeys, candy, baking products, gifts. I've hauled truckloads of all of that.
Truck loads of candy for Christmas, Halloween, Valentines day, Easter and so forth.
Those are some good runs for a company driver. Get the candy load in Illinois or other East Coast states and deliver to Phoenix, Dallas, and many other places. Same with hams & turkeys. Those holiday seasons are great for reefer drivers.
One time had a load of smoked hams and each one was in a wooden box. Smoked/cured hams don't need to be refrigerated. The load had 3 too many. Called the company and was told to get rid of them because I need to keep running hard. So, I put them in the sleeper and eventually took them home.

 

All types of stuff in dry vans. Problem is, will make more money with refrigerated.
I've hauled peanuts from the Carolinas, Georgia, to west Texas. Then ceramic tile back east, then railroad train wheels & axles from PA to Texas and on and on. One driver asked me why the train parts were hauled in a dry van instead of flatbed. I said, I don't know but the place in PA where I loaded told me they always ship wheels & axles in dry vans. Maybe it's different at other train parts manufacturers.
I didn't care one way or the other if it was dry van or flatbed. I asked just out of curiosity.

 

You'll see some strange drivers also. One warehouse where I was picking up a load, one driver was arguing with the person in the office.
He was demanding to know what his load paid because he said, "I don't haul cheap freight."
I talked to the driver about his pay.
The guy was such a dummy because he was a company driver, not an owner operator and he was paid by the mile, not percentage pay.

 

@Jenn72 and @TravR1 both drive for FFE and can give info. on that school.
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Millis and Stevens Transport do urine drug test.
I thing the others do hair follicle.