road masters

yes there are a few things you are missing. one is a few months back all drivers that went though swifts schools had thier cdls revoked. turns out swift was just handing everyone cdls. i went though road master with alot of former swift drivers that were basically starting all over due to this mess. also swift is governed to 62mph. which means you make less money per hour when you are running. i have no experience with swift as a driver. but i have seen more swift trucks on the rumble strips and swerving into my lane then any other company. i sat and watched one do this for 45 min once. i dont know what he/she was doing but i was to scared to try to pass them. I would look into other starter companies. like CRST, Werner, US Xpress, ect. Make sure to ask alot of questions when calling these companies. the recruiter will start to squirm around question 25. lots of fun to hear that once confident sales pitch voice turn into a scared little boy. but dont worry they will lie to you cause its only on the phone and nothing is on paper.

 

Thanks for the input! Looks like we go to Road Masters or the local community college, St Phillips in San Antonio, the school is PTDI certified, has one-on-one instruction for the driving.
Sure has been a lot stuff to wade through when checking out schools.
We are considering US Xpress, Central Refrigerated, but will check out as many as we can, hope to get more than one offer, then make our decision. Our small dog eliminates some companies.
Again, thanks for the input!

 

My fellow members, go to the local Community College. I went to RM and got treated decent but could have got treated better. Look at the student to teacher ratio. I know at RM it is 1 teacher for every 5 students. The ones I know that allow pets are Conway Truckload, Werner, US Xpress, and FFE for newbies. Good luck in your decision.

KH

 

Thanks Kinghunter. We were leaning towards the community college, but trying to turn over every rock available and check everything twice.
I see you describe yourself as 'Airline Guru'. I am an out of work aerospace designer that decided I wanted to see something other than a computer screen.

 

Looks like I will be heading over to Roadmasters in Tulsa in the morning to meet with them and get the paperwork in. Will see what happens but hopefully all will be well as I will be able to go home each night because I am only 1 hour away from Tulsa.

 

Who do you want to drive for? I have looked at several schools and now have been working with a company directly to attend their school for $4000, and it appears "most" people who do their training are hired on and not risking no getting on by doing a shorter 4-10 day orientation.

Good luck, just wanted to add that in there.

 

In all Honesty I am not sure at this point. Roadmaster works with several companies. In a way it does not matter who I want to work for - it will only matter who will give me a pre hire.

If I am lucky enough to get a few pre hires then at that time I will look through the offers and see what is best and what will fit my situation as well as my wants and needs.

 

I have 5 pre-hires with Roadmaster . I have found by reading this forum and talking to drivers and people at these companies it really does not matter if you have a pre-hire. You still have to prove yourself to them when you get there. I found out a friend has a prehire with Stevens trucking, I also have one for them. He went to school got his CDL went to Stevens in Texas and was not hired--HAD TO PAY his own way home. Now I wish I did not have the prehires since it appears attending the companies own training give you a better shot at getting on with them 30 day training or a 3-10 day orientation.

I hope to get direct with Stevens or Watkins and Shepard. Both have GREAT schools from what I have read on here it looks like W/S may be a bit better.

I also found out that all the companies I have pre-hires with won't mind if I changes schools to a local on in Phoenix Southwest Truck Driving school or even SAGE. All I am saying is you can get pre-hires from any school. The only downside is now having the pre-hires with Roadmaster they don't want to let me enroll direct.

Good Luck

 

Why was he sent home? Did they find something on his MVR/BG Check? Did he fail part of their testing/orientation?

The pre-hires do help. I have found that most graduates who accept a pre-hire they recieved at school who did not actually get on with a pre-hire is because they had something on their MVE/Background check that was not found by the school but was found by the pre-hire company or once again the graduate failed the company testing/orientation.

Remember # school you prove that you can graduate their program but yes you also have to prove to any company that is gonna hire you that you can pass their criteria as well.

I agree that there are several companies who have their own school program. But when you go to school like that you are going to work for 8 months to 1 year at less then minimum wage or have to complete some sort of contract.

Also if you get schooled by werner you are going to learn the werner way. Then if you go to lets say CRST the werner schooling may not be acceptable. I am just saying its better to get schooling that is acceptable to all companies or at least thats my opinion.

Congrats on the pre-hires. Hopefully one will work out for you.