Really disappointed. CDL School.

$11k? Are you serious???

 

Out and out highway robbery
Now your going to end up with a training company for several weeks.
Too late now but you should of signed on to a mega company and just bit the bullit

 

Mine was like $750. But that was 16 years ago.

Given the current state of inflation, $11K barely pay for the fuel.

 

My thought exactly! Did you shop around or just throw darts at a phone book. Get through your road test and get your CDL. That is really all that schools teach anyways. You'll spend 4-6 weeks with a trainer at your first company. I'm almost afraid to ask if you paid cash or financed it through the school at payday loan rates.

 

It cost me $1950.00 through Swift 5 years ago with a 1 year contract. I made more than that with my mentor in 5 weeks. Live and learn.

 

I didn’t even get that much! Maybe 1 hour altogether… and I’m still out here 18 years later!

 

I’m glad I missed school altogether

 

I went to mega trucking company and got my CLD. They basically push you thru their system quickly. It was kinda sink or swim or just trying to keep going to the next test. If I remember correctly they had us take written CLD test on 4 day of training. Once you passed we got CLD Permit. Then we could drive on road with instructor and the other new drivers in truck. We just drove around salt lake city roads for the most part. Maybe we each had 4 hours driving time plus when the other new drivers would drive. We were riding along and learning.

They always told us driving in city traffic and making all the turns was the hard part. So that's why they had us driving the local roads in salt lake city. Learning how to make turns and when to split lanes and shifting gears at all the traffic lights. Learning lane control and left turns and right turns.

You need 4 lanes to make a right turn or maybe it was 3. The lane your in, is 1 lane. Then you need to see 3 open Lanes to turn right. If you don't see 3 open Lanes to turn right onto. Then you need to split the lane your in and take both Lanes. So now your truck is taking 2 Lanes and you have probably 2 Lanes to turn right onto. Your using 4 lanes to turn right in city streets.

It's been a couple years since I did my training but I think that's where the 4 lanes to make right turn was explained to use. That was for older cities like NYC or the northeast in general. That doesn't have rounded curves. A new city like Los Angeles have more rounded curves at traffic lights and you only needed 3 Lanes if it had the more rounded curves

 

$11k?! For that many students per truck and that few of miles on the road?! What?!

The top thing I look for in my cdl school choice was Low low low student/truck ratio and a PTDI certification (which requires so many miles driven to obtain).

If you can swing it still, my school was $3.5k for a 4 week PTDI program. (Cheaper if you get your permits on your own before starting.) Apartment housing included for the month your in school. 2 students for each truck. I drove on the road tons and had plenty of backing practice. Passed it all on the first try. This school is top notch and the price was right (although I'm sure it's gone up a bit).

Central Tech Truck Driver Training
PTDI Certification
Drumright, Oklahoma
(918) 352-7316


This place did right by me. Good luck to you

 

Just like everything else in life today, the schools want to turn an outrageous profit. I went through the "Swift Driving Academy" at their Phoenix, AZ yard in 2013. I forget how much I was soaked for, but I used my veteran status with the promise of it being free if I could endure one year. That was asking a lot and after 5 months I just couldn't take it anymore and bailed. Of course I went back to them like 3 or 4 times over the years, but each time I found myself unwilling to put up with it all. I guess when there are other options, other than driving a truck, I find those options more appealing.

Not to discourage people who are looking into this as a possible way to put some bread on the table, but you have to really want it and want it bad! My problem is that I worked for the postal service for a long time and was paid an outrageous amount of money for what I did on the job and had great benefits. I then moved overseas and got bored after a few years, so I went back to the USA and started driving trucks. I can honestly say that I felt over worked and under paid, considering what I had to do to "make things happen" and be a productive driver. That's why I can only do the job for maybe 4 or 5 months and then I have to get away from it.

So now with the runaway inflation going on, you have to even consider if it's worth it even more so. I believe we are Weimar Germany now, with regards to the currency inflation. The USD status as the worlds currency is in limbo and there are lots of players who don't want it as the reserve currency of the world, when that happens the standard of living really collapses and we're the third world. So what's the starting wage now for the fresh CDL graduates? When I went solo back in 2013, it was 28 CPM.

I don't have the answers, only the gripes of the job.