Why should I pay to go to school to obtain a CDL?

because the insurance companies will not allow the carrier to hire you without formal training.

 

you don't have to go to school to get a cdl, you can do it just as you described. getting hired may well be a different story.

so welders and plumbers don't think they needed to be trained in welding and plumbing??? those are 2 jobs you need certification in.

it takes a little effort sometimes to get where you want to be, and ya have to jump thru some hoops to do so. welcome to life.

 

You're asking a question which seems to be asked a lot and answered with the amount of poorly educated unsafe drivers on the road.

We don't need marginal steering wheel holders, we need people who want to take this to the next level and be professionals.

JUST because it is work doesn't mean there is a professional doing it.

 

At my work only a couple of us went to a CDL mill and did time with a Bottom Feeder. Almost everyone there either got it on their own or started out driving the yard dog and took a company truck and trailer and did their test at no cost to them.

Yes, I feel like an idiot for paying 4k to go fill piss bottles in the middle of Kansas waiting on a load for free.

 

I am in one of these CDL schools now and asked myself the same question prior to enrolling

My father in law drove for about 15 years, I have a brother in law that drives a lowboy for a railroad company, and another brother in law who frequently drives dry rigs to haul equipment from city to city…I didn't grow up around trucking by a long shot, but I'm confident I could have studied for and passed the necessary dmv tests, and gotten time behind the wheel utilizing equipment my aforementioned family has access to.

I decided instead to pay for school once I realized that trucking companies look at "rookie CDL" different from "rookie CDL with formal training." I want into the career field…no way am I going to sit around without a job while graduates of CDL schools are getting hired, while I ask "why should I pay to obtain a CDL?"

And that's not a shot at you, btw, nor do I presume to be telling you anything you don't know; just one students view of the current hiring practices, and I could be dead wrong…companies seem to want experience and/or "student driver" on the application…without the school, I have neither

 

I had a chauffer's license in Mass in 1972
learned OTJ no problem that was 40 years ago
when I gave it up in 1986 because I wasn't using it
and didn't want to bother getting a physical
then needed to take the course in 2010 so I was insurable
drove for a mega for 2 years that required the school
now it doesn't matter anymore any company just wants to know
that I have experience

 

there will be no difference with a cdl, you will learn far more after school than you will during it. come to think of it, that's true for just about anything.

 

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