Which of the megas have reasonably short training periods?

Yeah courier work is long hours but I'd say that driving a truck for 11 hours beats you up more than being in a car for 14+ hours a day. My prediction is you'll find all the new regulations you will be subjected to quite burdensome. Plus you might hate sleeping in a truck thousands of miles away from home. Not trying to discourage you but rather throwing out very likely possibilities. That 22 hour shift you pulled, was that a long distance run or bouncing around the city all day? Lastly just wondering, why don't you find another messenger outfit to work for?

 

As I said your attitude SUCKS. So doesc your ego. Happy trails though. Wish you the best.

 

What ratings do you have OP?

 

listen every time I hit the road I'm learning something everyday theres something new to learn, you will never do the same backing twice, the moment you step in a trainers truck you are in his kingdom and your job is to absorb as much positive information as you can and learn how to be a truck driver not a steering wheel holder, my trainer told me "I will not let you go by yourself until I feel like I feel like you are ready", did I get my rear chew a few times? yes did I get hit with a ruler for not shifting properly?? yes, but I owe him in part for having 4 years accident free, for being 26 years old with 2 trucks. and yes I will go "ape feces" on someone I'm trying to teach and he question what I'm doing. this is a suggestion extra training never hurt anyone.

 

I can't imagine shifting badly enough to warrant physical assault. Hell, if I am doing *anything* badly enough to elicit corporal punishment, I would rather he stopped the truck and kicked me off.

Any chance you can mention which company this was with?.

 

it was werner and he was a owner operator really cool guy but it only happened few times and it was because I used to get distracted easily when I saw a lot of cars around me so he used to get me to focus on what I was doing rather than looking at the females on the passenger seat of the car next to us.

 

Swift: 6-7 weeks
Werner: (Team driving) 8 weeks
Western Express: 4 weeks (they recently changed to this length of time. verified)
Schneider: 3 weeks (2 week orientation with 1 week apparently OTR but I've been told it's longer)
Knight: 6-7 weeks.
May Trucking: 4 weeks

Not sure if you said you didn't have a cdl.

 

Swift is three weeks in phoenix, that's as short as you're going to want. When I went to schnieders course in 2008 it was only two weeks, about one week to short.That's a lot of stuff to cram in two weeks if you've never driven a truck before.

 

Swift says its 3 weeks of training in CDL school before you go with a mentor but its 17 days of training or basically 2.5 weeks.

Knight CDL school is 2.5 weeks as well.

Swift has multiple locations for CDL school. Knight is only in Phoenix and you have to obtain/pay for your hotel/food/trans

Swift will cover hotel but you pay it back along with the CDL school cost over 13months of employment. Swift fronts you hotel cost and CDL school but you pay for food.

 

I trained from scratch with Schneider in about 5 weeks. This was in 2002 and I'm sure some things have changed. I had a good TE that showed me the basics and I figured the rest out on my own. Most companies with extended training team drive you with a trainer and all you're doing there is being exploited for cheap labor.