Wanting to go to a driving school? Watch this!!

Dan Rather has done several shows about trucking. He finally did one about truck driving schools and focused on one in Michigan.

The owner of this school (MILL) was almost believable until the end of the interview when he "screwed up!"

Listen very carefully at the beginning of the story for a number that tells how many students go through schools in a years time and think, I mean REALLY THINK why that many go through these mills when companies are closing and freight is down!

The answer is in the story and your need to believe that there is a paying job out there for you is a pike dream at best.

Listen to what they tell these students about the amount of money they will make in a years time and do the math of maybe .30-.40 cents a mile times 2500 miles a week IF YOU'RE LUCKY! It will NOT come out to $40,50,60 thousand dollars a year! And the math changes drastically if you fall for a lease/fleece program!

I'll give you a hint. When I filed my taxes for the year 2007, I filed on just over $70,000 that year. BUT I had 31 years experience by then and had been with my company for almost 9 years and I was on a DEDICATED route to NYC which had a lot of extra money for multiple drops, layover pay and for crossing a bridge! Don't even expect to get this kind of pay for many years! Even Teamsters don't make that money or owner operators in this cesspool economy!

Any way watch this video and then figure out that you are only getting bent and put even deeper in debt by these driving mills! There are NOT that many jobs in trucking even if America needs to eat!

http://www.blip.tv/file/3072766

 

That video is kinda off.....if you go into trucking or any industry believing everything your told then your gonna get hurt. Im a newbie, but i haven't had anyone tell me i was gonna make 40 to 50k a year my first year. If they did, i would look at them like there crazy. If you believe that like the people in that video apparently did, you have issues. Its gonna be hard, its gonna suck...if you have young children find another option. But if your a hard worker and keep your head down long enough then i believe you can make it work. That video shows 5 people who for one reason or another couldn't make it...how many people in there class or classes at that place did make it? Don't get me wrong, i don't have any connection with that training place, but i did go through a similar training and its all what you make it.

 

You have to get a job to make it . A lot of graduates get rejected at orientation or never get called at all . For the past year employment announcements quote thousands of job losses in the industry every month . More jobs eliminated , more students graduating . The odds against even getting hired increase daily .
How many in that class did make it ? Several members here that have kept up with others in their class give a credible figure of about 10% staying in trucking any length of time .
Wannabes refuse to accept the facts . Freight continues to decline . There are no new jobs . When a carrier hires a newbie it's because another newbie failed . 3 or 4 drivers in the same truck in a yeear .

 

I went to Roadmaster and the instructors...not the recruiters...told me that most of the people in the class would not make it in the trucking industry.
They were very honest about the hardships of the industry.
I have no illusion of what it is going to be like. I do believe that I will be successful.

The one thing that got my attention is that the one guy had been with 4 or 5 different trucking companies. That seemed strange to me. It almost seemed that for some reason after he was out with the trainer, the companies did not want to offer him a position.

I went through the WIA program, and had my money in a week.

 

I trained drivers at a school on the week ends for 2 years and it was amazing how many of them quit after 6 ms. or less. I was lucky enough not to have to go to school or OTR when I started. I can't imagine going to the NE in the winter as a trainee.

 

Well that was real nice of them to be honest AFTER they had their money .

 

Good Story, thanks Rollover. IMO that Video should be Docked.

 

At 30:45 the school owner said he was not in the loan business and did not have anything to do with the loan companies that financed the student loans. At 34:15 he admitted that he owns a loan company. At 34:50 it is found that the loan company he owns is assigned the loans that his students take out. This man is a scumbag.

 

It should be docked and listed as required viewing for every wannabe who joins the forum. 'Course you can't force it, but it would save a lot of wannabes a lot of misery. Even though it's true that many make it through these types of schools and survive, I gotta believe for every one that survives there's 10 (maybe more) that don't. I had the good fortune of finding the forum before I leaped without looking. I quickly discovered that there are safe, reasonable alternatives. Ya know, I appreciate those members here who steadfastly refuse to relent in their attacks on the CDL mills and the overpriced, overrated CDL schools. $6500 for a 3-week school? KISS MY ###!!!

 

Ah , velly good post , glass hoppah !