Winter Packing List - Prime CDL School (Salt Lake City, Utah)

I'd hitch hike before I'd ride the bus. People steal luggage that's stored underneath in the baggage compartment.

 

And, don't cuss the greyhound driver...bc he will kick you off the bus.

Or, so I heard...lol

 

DON'T pack a summer & winter wardrobe. It takes up too much space. Pack shirts & pants plus winter coat and some long underwear. If you bring too much your trainer will make the decision for you.

You will be inside the A/C & heated truck 90% of your time. You aren't walking to the North Pole or Mojave Desert.

 

You'll need regular underwear, two pens and a notebook for taking notes.

I'd leave the winter jacket and snow pants at home unless they have told you to bring them.
Instead, get a hooded rain jacket and something to wear underneath, like a fleece jacket. That way, you have layering options.

 

two votes for money. you have absolutely no idea how much food really costs... I was eating ramen and peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon. I went with 200 bucks. Thank God for the hotel morning bagels.

 

Back in the day as we say, when I drove for May, money was really tight, plus that crap of paying you on a ComCheck, after every load just sucks if your trying to feed a family, So I d have to make sure there was a stack of comchecks at home so the wife could feed the kids. Left me stealing hotdogs and drinking water, man the good old days dont ya just miss them.....

 

I may or may not have slid a 3rd roller grill tornado into the wrapper and played it off like it was 2.

 

I can say, I thought I'd need a lot more clothes for doing flatbed... lots of layers. My ### would be sweating like a ##### in church after throwing tarps. I swear the entire winter, no matter what kind of weather I was in, I didn't wear a coat once. I just threw on the same hoodie and hard hat, with a good pair of work gloves and some carhart pants and steel toe boots. No doubt, unless you're securing loads you won't be out of the truck for longer than a walk into the truck stop or to fuel... pretrip is 15 minutes of sitting in the truck while the elog runs anyway.

Now for CDL training, you MAY actually spend some time outside doing the pretrip repeatedly. But if I am not mistaken, Prime has you get your CDL and then go OTR with a trainer until they think you're ready to test for your CDL. So you may actually not be spending 3 weeks standing outside every morning doing the pretrip 3-5 times.

 

It's funny watching truck drivers scarfing down hotdogs at truck stops, with their back to the cashier.

 

bought a couple of new drivers lunch today at Pilot Tehachapi, Hungry and broke, know the feeling.