School accreditation~How do you know?

No recruiter ever told me I have to be out there running 70 hours to make money . I run dedicated hazmat tanker . Trailers are preloaded and picked up at a terminal 10 minutes from my house . Delivery is by appointment and takes less than 2 hours to unload . The trailer is paid round trip , no deadhead , no waiting to find another load . The empty goes back to the terminal . I make more in 50 hours than you'll ever make in 70 .

 

You are pretty arrogant for someone who has not bumped a dock yet. The fact that you do not even know what a PTDI school is shows how much research you did prior to signing up for CDL School. I strongly suggest that you humble yourself and listen to people who have been trucking for years. In the best of times, the trucking industry uses and abuses thousands of rookie drivers each year. In this economy, you probably won’t be given a second or third chance. One black mark on your DAC and your career will be finished.

 

I guess he deserved that but there are more and more like that with that attitude . They don't have the sense to realize trucking jobs are being lost every day just like jobs in other industries . They think they are somehow superior to the thousands out there that have been out of work for months . Some may think I'm harsh with them . If I say drivers wait weeks without pay to get a truck or drivers get less than 1500 miles a week I have no trouble finding half a dozen posts here where members say that happened to them . I'm trying to save them a lot of grief . They say , "If I don't drive a truck , what am I gonna do ? " They better find the answer to that now instead of still asking it 2 months from now after they've spent money they can't afford on the school . There are a few opportunities out there . I have referred a few members to companies I know that are decent to work for and will hire drivers with little or no experience . Things aren't going to pick up . Freight is forecasted to slightly decline on into next year .

 

Why are you here?
Looks to me like you already know everything so I doubt all these....What ya call'em?
Oh yea....Crybaby Truckers could teach you anything you don't already know you being so Intelligent and all. I do think if you went and bought some RESPECT It would help ya out ALOT in the future. You musta been absent the day they taught that in the CDL mill.

 

You're not seeing as many trucks as there was 6 moths ago .

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
88,000 experience people out of work in 4 months and there will be more as the months go on . Never mind the trucks on the road . Go to a truckstop during the day and see how many trucks are parked because they don't have loads .

 

It's called being realistic these days. Most and I don't say all, but most, carriers are looking at drivers with clean records and experience before they hire graduates with no experience. If you are following the industry you'll see that many many carriers have shut down or have had to park trucks due to the simple fact that there isn't enough freight to keep everyone busy. I will be in the same boat as you and thousands of others are. We will be scrambling for the few jobs that are available to recent graduates. Even with my experience in the industry I'll have problems as well many others.

 

There seems to be some misunderstanding here regarding PTDI certified driving schools and nationally accredited driving schools. Being PTDI certified does not mean the school is accredited.

Membership in PTDI is voluntary and means that the member school meets the curriculum standards proposed by the FMCSA in 1986. If you are pursuing an OTR job, most (or all) major carriers recognize the PTDI training standards.

Being accredited (by a nationally recognized accreditation association) means two things:

1. The school qualifies for financial aid (government grants, WIA, local tuition assistance, PELL grants,etc.) from federal, state or local sources.

2. Transferable college credits.

Point of interest-
More than 50% of the students who come through my CDL classes are NOT looking for an OTR/driving job.