Navypoppop very kind words sir. Much appreciated. I just call things the way I see them. Was my honor to met you and your bride. I’m staying close to home these days. I changed my authority over to intrastate and stay in Ga. Reading articles about all the early winter storms makes that decision a better one, lol.
Would be nice to cross paths again one day. Will be better because it won’t be working. I’m trying to slow down, but I’m not sure that’s in my DNA.
This is sound advice! The best way overall to fast track your career is to get trained BY THE CARRIER you will work for. It’s less confusing for you as the driver as they will train you THEIR way vs. having you unlearn some things from the private CDL school.
Afraid of putting out the money OR signing a contract to pay for your CDL by driving for them for 1 to 1.5 years? Well….you really need to be in this for a year to honestly know if the field is for you anyways IMO.
Just to clarify, I don’t have any issues with being “stuck” with a company for a reasonable term and I expected that. There’s no professional or continuous career out there that does not require on-the-job training and skill honing. I was at least 2 or 3 years in my engineering field before I’d call my skillsets efficient & effective and they certainly continued to improve over the decades.
Using that logic, the baseline training has to be the same. It has to be, otherwise nothing would mesh between getting the permit, license, and onboarding/finishing. The first two should be universal. I only see a CDL license as a learners permit. It basically makes me legal to start the career and no more.
The main reason for me getting a CDL ‘at home’ is that the school I’m looking at provides everything under one accredited roof (medical, permit tests, DOT driving/backing tests). No muss or fuss. I can come to the company with the basics done and be all freshy-fresh for their finishing. Not that I’m in any big rush, but I’d also bet that coming in with a recent newbie CDL will reduce the time between the onboarding and the OTR training. The faster I can get on the practical/useful skills, the faster I can get to earning and perhaps actually enjoying my job for the first time in a looooong time.
I know carriers will have their own backing, trip checks, couple/decouple, ELD, and other procedures. I also know that a CDL is not a special ticket, but it is basically the same time & cost for me to do it locally prior to entering a carriers’ training regimen. I don’t see any reason not to do it like that. The only difference between the two is the initial cost; and as near as I can tell, the carriers charge notably more for the same basic training (excluding the OTR training) which does not include the DOT exams or driving tests. They just pull it out of your pay for a set time.
Call me crazy, but I’m anti-debt and would rather not have that hanging over me. Payment plans and loans have never given me a warm fuzzy. I find them distracting and add a layer of worry that I don’t need particularly at this stage of my life. Other than a soon-to-be paid off mortgage (another couple of years), I’m debt free and would prefer to keep it like that. Having a company own me by any financial amount at 55 doesn’t work for me.
MarkTheNref, I’ll help you with some of the missing pieces in your supposition. I’m a CDL instructor. The school will get you your CDL, nothing more. That CDL class is about 160 hours (four weeks full time), or longer if classes are shorter per meeting. Anyone who says you can get a CDL in less time is lying and running an illegal school. CDL class gets you what you need to know to pass the CDL test - pre trip, backing skills and some road time to make sure you are safe behind that truck wheel. Nothing more.
No matter what you think or hear, having a manual restriction will in no way crimp your career. No way. If you insist on getting the road feel through the gear shift knob, knock yourself out.
In some assumptions you are right - day cabs with the shorter wheelbase and a 28’ trailer make the testing easier. If you’re on the ball, “graduating" to a sleeper pulling a 53 footer isn’t much of a jump, but opt for the longer rig if you can.
The best deal all around will be a company school. #1. The driving job is yours too lose if you get in the company school. #2. The tuition could be free if you drive more than two years. The recruiter can fill you in on their policy. #3. Company schools will be following all federal CDL school regulations.
If you go with a private school (most are legit) and finance the tuition, your hiring company might pay that off - that’s a contract thing.
I’m assuming you’ve been around the block a coupla times already. It’s not hard to make the " right choice” the first time. The key here is remember you don’t know much about trucking, and your company didn’t get big by screwing their drivers. Be patient and learn the ropes as you can. Your goal will be to plan to stay with one company for a year or more. You might get to like them!
To echo some other things, while there are many routes to become driver in this industry, we recommend company provided school and training because it is the most successful route for most of those that come into the industry.
In an industry that 9 out of 10 drivers don’t last the first year, it makes sense to take the track with the highest possible chance of success.
A few misconceptions that you have, the companies do not care which school you got your cdl from at all. There’s no distinction between a private pay and a public school. They do however give preference to candidates that came from their own school. Ive watched this happen in the office. The in house students get seated with a trainer first. The company has had the ability to train them from the ground up in the manner they want them trained and they have an investment in them.
In regards to getting your permit, its a written test and while its somewhat state specific, there’s no specialized training for it. Id highly recommend you get it rather than leaving it up to a school to get it for you. I know Brett is nearly ready to roll out the high road training program 2.0, I have a website that we can launch it in and will get with him on this. Short of that, there are many free cdl permit practice tests and booklets online as well as the good old fashion method of getting the permit guide and practice tests from your state dmv.
The first med card you get in order to get your permit is the first one you’ll get. I got mine from a chiropractor for 55 dollars. It was nearly worthless. The company, upon hiring me had me go get one from their doctor of choice. You’ll find that any time you get hired, you’ll most likely go get a new med card for the new company. Its just part of the industry. Ive had to do it even with a card that was barely 6 months old. Its really common.
Hopefully this provides some perspective. By all means, do what you want to, but we’re offering you time tested advice from highly successful drivers and teachers in the industry who have gone through this many times over.
Just my .02 cents on this. The state of the industry is still very tenious. Company schools are worth even more because you are guaranteed the job. They are also much more foregiving of mistakes because of their investment. With everything going on in the industry too me those 2 points are very important.
I keep hearing the industry experts talking about how we are doing so much better. If you look at the stats we aren’t. The industry is still at the bottom. Is there some movement, yes indeed. But for every positive move we experience a negative one. That equals out to overall we are still stuck in the same place.
CDL class gets you what you need to know to pass the CDL test - pre trip, backing skills and some road time to make sure you are safe behind that truck wheel. Nothing more.
I understand that 100% and am in full agreement. It’s idiotic to think any sort of certification or license that isn’t similar to a journeyman trade is the type of thing that gets a lot of people in trouble.
No matter what you think or hear, having a manual restriction will in no way crimp your career. No way. If you insist on getting the road feel through the gear shift knob, knock yourself out.
I also agree. It just seems like a real dong-measuring set of arguments. I don’t particularly care either way but I’m not interested in learning to do a stick as an add-on. There may or may not be advantages, but all I hear is that some oilfield and heavy haul carriers use standards more. I have zero interest in that. I’ve done a decent amount on the engineering & operations side heavy lift/haul/transport and it holds zero appeal to me. Too much screwing around and too many opinions on how things should be done.
Around the block is an understatement. I wizzed away 20 years in engineering making other people look really good and making them lots of money, all the time feeling trapped by things like a mortgage and health insurance costs. I get pretty defensive with that whole idea of being held by the short and curlies and beholden to anybody or anything financially. It also really rubs me the wrong way with the whole “free” training with a payment plan. The language is misleading and predatory to folks that don’t get the ramifications of it all. Maybe it’s just me but it reeks of the likes of things like title loans.
To that end, I can eat the pre-carrier CDL cost if it means I’m not staying with a company just because of some burden of cost they are in control of. I’d hope the career & company will turn out to be a fantastic choice and have me enjoying work life again; a thing I lost a long time ago.
The only thing I haven’t done yet is call the carrier(s). That’s next. I’m curious as to how they present themselves. Perhaps those conversations will change my opinion.
So we are close to the same frequency. Cool. Search online for something like “Questions to ask a truck recruiter". I just did. Among other entries was “110 questions to ask trucking companies" on Schneider’s web site.
If that’s the case, then why would I want to owe any monies to the carrier?
That is a question I would have for the carrier recruiter. I am doing this for my benefit and me doing well will benefit the employer. Meantime, assuming the CDL portion of the training is the same, the distinction I’ve found is that the carrier cost is usually significantly higher than the private school, so why would anyone bother to do that if they were able to prevent that additional cost?
Trainer delay? If that’s a sticking point, then that’s a predatory tactic by the company to ensure people don’t dare NOT use them 100%.
If there is a preferred school then that is where I’ld go especially If that school also provides a med card, learners test, and the same 160 hours of training at a notably lower cost. Why wouldn’t I? Not sure what I’m missing. The company will still have to ‘finish’ me or anyone who did their training with the carrier. Technically by coming in with perhaps 50% of the regimen behind me, that’s less effort and time they have to put into me. Everyone is a noob and generally a dolt until they get their road time as far as I’m concerned, so anything leading up to that portion (aside from the paperwork & general onboarding) is the same. Again, what am I missing?
That is fantastic info right there and something I need to grill both the schools and recruiters on.
I hope you all understand that I’m not trying to be combative in this thread. Stuff like that info regarding the med card and other stuff is exactly why I’m digging down into the weeds with you all. It is not something that is realized or advertised at all.
I appreciate the insight and hope you can understand where I’m coming from as well
Guys (and gals?), if the option were available, would it be better to call them with my questions or meet face-to-face? One carrier has an office about a 20-minute drive from me….or have any of you heard of this or experienced doing that?
The carrier will have extra incentive to keep you working and making money if you owe them money. The amount of money that is taken out each week is miniscule. I didn’t even notice it tbh.
Also, it costs significantly less than a private school. Also, many carriers waive the school costs for vets. And finally, I recieved a 1500 dollar bonus when I completed training and another when I completed my first 30k solo miles. The two bonuses more than covered my school cost which was 1800.00 through knight.
As illegals and non domiciled drivers are slowly reduced in level, the over capacity in drivers will start to be reduced, more companies will start offering more aggressive bonuses and retention perks. We may be a while from it happening but it is.
In general, its really easy to overthink and over analyze this, especially if one is from an engineering background. But to a large degree, it just is what it is, most of us had huge doubts and thought that we could do things differently, but in the end, we find that this path works the best. Doesn’t mean that you have to follow it, just means that we’ve already tested the system and found the best practices.
Thanks. I’m just of the mind that I can get the CDL license portion of it done locally (literally just down the road from me). No travel/food/lodging costs and a guaranteed license. With that “paperwork” portion out of the way, I can concentrate on the carrier training/finishing (i.e. the actual work).
Not convinced that the company cost is any better than the schools I’ve seen here. I’ll probably start rattling cages of the schools and companies in the next couple of weeks if I don’t get offered a job in my current profession. Knight has a depot not far from me as well on the west side of Houston.
