Why you should NOT attend company CDL training.

If your becoming a new driver, the first thing you need to consider is how you will get your CDL. Training is expensive and breaking into the industry can be hard. That being said, Truckers can make as much money as someone who is college educated with a 4 years degree. The cost of CDL school is much cheaper then college, so the amount is really not all that much. If you look around you can find schools for less then 3000. Remember, CDL school is just to get you the CDL. Your real training will be with the company you work for. Make sure the company you want to work for approves your school, but you certainly don't need the best most expensive one.

Since it cost so much, you may think company sponsored training is the answer. Why pay for school if they are willing to? If you go to CDL school through the company your going to work for, they put a high value on your education. In most cases they say it cost between 8,000-10,000. (varies by company, read your contract) Well who cares if they are paying the bill right? By signing on with them, you are saying you will pay that amount if you quit, are fired (for a just cause) or just find out trucking is not for you. There is quite a bit of liability there. During the first weeks of training they will try and break you to make you quit. If you quit they get 8-10K for 1 or 2 weeks work. The other problem is, since they know you can't quit without having a huge bill, you will get the worst freight the company has. They don't care at all about driver satisfaction or retention since you have to stay. You wont make much money since you get the bad freight, but jumping ship will cost you to. You may think, it's just the first year. I can suffer a bad company to get my start. Well what if the fright they give you doesn't pay your bills. You have no option to switch companies.

The better option is finance, beg, borrow, steal (no not steal, jk) money to pa for your CDL school yourself. Most schools have financing options and are far cheaper then company schools. In most areas you can get your CDL for less then $3000.00. Now you have the option to go to any company that hires new drivers. If they don't treat you right, you have leverage and can go anywhere you want. If you find trucking isn't for you, you can leave and your on the hook for a lot less money. The best part is, most companies will pay you 75-500/ month as a cdl reimbursement. As long as you stay with them they keep paying for your cdl. Since they only paid for the time your there, you can leave at any time and KEEP the money they already paid. (may vary by company, read your contract)

So to clarify:
Company sponsored CDL training
They pay for everything
They own you and you cant leave without huge financial penalties
You will get the worst freight in the company since they know you cant leave
In the end you can work for any company if you make it a whole year (may be impossible to make the year since you get bad freight)

You pay for CDL
You finance your cdl school education
You can leave whenever you want with no penalty
You have leverage and can jump ship if you get bad freight to often
In the end, the company should reimburse you for your cdl.

 

My point exactly. And if you quit becuase trucking wasn't for you, you would have been on the hook for 1000, not 8000+.

 

Swift charges 3900 for there training and does not pre pay it. Its basically a private school that they recommend and maybe run. Either way, you pay for the training and thus are not owned by them. They offer financing, but they don't pay for the school up front. Its not exactly company paid training like I'm talking about.

What companies, paid cdl training is 3-4k. The one you did was 1900 after a year. Does that mean after a year of working for them you still owed them 1900?

Why couldn't you get government financial aid and or student loans?

 

If you have your CDL they wont "own" you. You will have to start at the bottom floor though since you havn't driven in 16 years

 

Just looked it up, pam is 3500, not 8k, but if you quit, b4 a year you get none of that. If you got your cdl first, they would reimburse you up until you quit.