Pay and training

Based on research I've done here and in other places the short answer is yes. Much like any new job you'll go through a short training period of how to do things "their way".

How long that training lasts and if/how much you'll get paid depends on the company and also what type of freight you'll be hauling - box van, flatbed, tanker, reefer, etc. All of those require a different type of specialized training. But just for example two companies I've looked into required the following:
Schneider tanker - Five weeks training at Houston, TX depot. You'll stay in a hotel either w/ another trainer or you can "up pay" the difference and get a room to yourself. Schneider provides breakfast and lunch, dinner is on you. The first two weeks is classroom training on logs, ELD, etc.Third week is skills testing and yard training. Assuming you get through those three weeks you'll go OTR w/ a training engineer for a week and then the fifth week is back in the class room for final paper work. Assuming you get through all of that you'll be assigned you're own truck and off you go. According to the recruiter I talked to on the phone training pay is $80/day.

I also talked to a recruiter at Superior Bulk Carriers for tanker work who told me typically they want one year of experience however if you complete a CDL program that's on their "approved schools list" you can be hired as an "entry level driver" IF there's a need / position available. At which point you'll be sent to their training facility in South Carolina for a similar kind of training program as the one above for six weeks. Training is paid at $20/hr.

You will have to pass background check, physical and drug screen again for the new company even if you just did it all in CDL school. The interesting difference between these two companies is the pay rate after you complete training. At Schneider the recruiter wouldn't specifically say what the new driver pay rate would be but intimated that it would be something less than an experienced driver so you might be looking at something in the .45cpm range. At Superior apparently once you complete training you come on at the "experienced driver" pay rate which is .56 cents per mile loaded .45 cents per mile empty based on practical miles.

So all told what type of company specific training you do will vary depending on the company so it's worth it to make some calls and do some research before finishing school.

 

Company policy varies, depending on the company you choose to work for.
Where is your location; maybe we can recommend some companies.
How long is the CDL school; maybe 160 hrs. which is ideal.
Get all the endorsements, so you'll have more choices of companies.

 

Training is subjective.

Training is when your trainer sits with you in the passenger seat while you do your own logging, tripplanning, driving and so forth with supervising but hands off from trainer each day. Trailer will let you know about this that or other. Listen to him. for example you don't go on the Lower Level of the GWB in NYC. That's been closed to trucks since 9-11 attacks.

Training is not trying to figure out say I35 in dallas at night while your trainer snores like a chain saw in the bunk. You are not there yet as a team.

Training in my experience is two things. Find out what you cannot do, fix it. Find out what you are afraid of, fix that too. If you cannot, will not, or refuse to or whatever reason that is reasonable and expected you will be put back into the company office for them to decide what to do with you.

Your pay will be minimal.

You probably will want out after 3 weeks. But there is a whole Nations worth of what you don't yet know.

Hopefully you enjoy moving 45000 pounds in soda cases of the same 24 packs you see in the walmart pallets. Up, down and over. Back up and down and over. Hurry up, youre holding others up at this dock. move move move. chop chop.

 

Ok the school don't train you to do anything other than get pass a super easy road test and have some knowledge.

What they call training is a mix of crap and this industry is the worst one when it comes to post license training or better put mentoring. One company will put you in the seat driving as a team while another will have a person sitting in the passenger seat. While many will recruit "trainers" from their driver pool with sometimes less than 6 months of road time, while others will use lease operators who are marginal if not bad drivers to train newbies ... perpetuating bad driving habits.

 

CDL school is ONLY so you have enough trainging to pass the state CDL driver test, or in short to get the license, nothing else.
ALMOST every trucking company that hires brand new CDL holders will send you out with a trainer for several weeks to a few months. I rode with my trainer for 8 weeks, but we went home every weekend. If you start with a daycab job you will likely ride/drive with a trainer in the truck until the trainer approves of your performance.

CDL schools do not know ANYTHING about the customer procedures or your trucking company procedures. There is a lot to learn from your trainer. I estimate 90% of this job is taught after the CDL test.

 

You need to ask whom ever that hires you. How long after being hired will you pay me my first paycheck?
Every one is different. Some even forget how to pay.

 

To learn as Tscottsme said, just enough to get a CDL and then endure the required time with the Carriers policies you hire onto until you are issued a new truck to call your own.

That will be the day you realize. Oh gee. Now I get to learn by doing this big trucking business. You will never stop learning. I don't.

 

Companies that hire newbies have various pay plans while the newbie is with the trianer. Some companies pay newbie a flat rate for each week, and then taxes are deducted. Some companies pay the newbie a low mileage rate for all of the miles the truck runs. Some companies pay a combination of weekly flat rate plus low mileage pay if the truck runs over a certain minimum number of miles. The key is get finished with training and get your own truck and then make money.

 

When the market was imploding in 2008? Western Express wouldnt bother to pay me. I had to park the truck as their idea of pay wasnt getting the bills paid.