Standard Transmissions

Hello everyone,

New to the forums and will be filling my mental sponge with all the info I can gather here.

I apologize in advance if this topic has already been discussed but I couldn’t really find answers in other posts.

I have decided to make a career change and I’m regretting not doing it sooner but life kinda has a funny way of throwing curve balls.

Anyways… I’m going to be getting my license in the next month or so and I’m EDD is paying for the training. My concern is being sent to a school that trains on automatics and having that restriction on my license. There are schools locally that offer both Auto and Standard but I don’t know if EDD will give me a choice. If I have to end up paying out of pocket to go to a school that uses Standard Trans for the training and drive tests I will but that’s definitely not my first choice.
I know I can go the company sponsored route but the idea of a contract makes my skin crawl so that avenue will definitely be a last resort.

I’ve wanted to drive a truck since I was a kid and have driven Class B as well as a lot of heavy equipment during my construction career. I’ve always been seduced by the idea of driving down the road pulling machinery, grabbing gears and rolling coal.

I know there is a mass exodus with company’s going the Automatic route and I get it from their standpoint but I’m not interested in putting a semi in Drive and holding the wheel and driving down the road with my head up my ###.

Long story short….Are there any companies hiring new drivers that still supply trucks with Standard Transmissions? I hate to bring politics in on this but I view Automatics as the “Liberal/Democrats” of the trucking world.

 

I’m in Southern California. I’m not necessarily looking for a company that only has Stick Shift but I am looking for a company that gives you the option to choose.

 

Thanks. I’ll take a look at the website.

 

Nothing in your reply stands out as being helpful or informative. I didn’t realize I had to name all of the ins and outs of what it takes to be a driver and I didn’t realize I would be dealing with the PC Police. I was simply illustrating what gives me the motivation to want to be a trucker. There’s always someone that trolls comments. If you don’t like what was said in my post then roll your eyes and move on like a grown up.