Posted on 10/13/2014 10:04:07 AM PDT by Allen In Texas Hill Country
My 23 year old grandson is still wunderin' what to do. He/we came across all these trucking schools that are free AND pay you while they teach!!!!!! I won't mention any specific one but there are several/many. This sounds way too good. Too good to be true????
Now I'm sure there are contracts that need to be signed. I'm guessing maybe like a 5 year commitment where you drive for the company while they take back the schooling pay. I'm thinking that doesn't sound too bad?????
Chances are that once you attend the school you’ll have to sign a contract to work for some company for x number of years.
Like Medical Assistant Schools, there is often a big price without a guarantee of placement.
Give us the background.
Does the person considering this know how to drive the type of truck but needs a certification.
Does the person know he can pass the Carrier type license?
Does the person have a job promise and just need the Certificate?
What is the school proposing to charge so we can evaluate it from other areas?
I have no idea how many truckers are needed in, say, Rhode Island, but Wyoming? They need drivers.
Shale oil regions need anyone with a heartbeat.
Walmart in Williston, ND will pay 18-20 bucks an hour.
I drove OTR from 98-2000. I was a product of one of these “CDL mills”.
Back then, there was a major driver shortage; too many trucks, too much demand, not enough drivers.
So what was the answer? They emptied the prisons. The DOT requirements against felons driving across state lines was rescinded, and the roads were filled with criminals, including violent offenders. They solved the driver shortage, not caring about what happened the next day.
The other driver source was the union ranks. Several companies were closed union shops, and the drivers were also part-time thugs.
I learned rapidly to avoid contact with other drivers as much as possible - you simply didn’t know if the man you were talking to this minute wouldn’t slit your throat the next. The CB radio sounded like DU on a good day. The romanticized days of the 1970’s were a distant memory. I knew drivers who would slash another truck’s tires if it meant bumping the dock first and picking up the freight.
Tell your boy, don’t do it.
Look at programs offered by the high school vocational department or through the local community college.
Also, if attending any trucking school, ask for the names of companies that have hired their graduates and then call those companies. If a trucking school refuses to provide you with information on the companies that hire its graduates run don’t walk away from them.
Some of those costs are repaid when you are working, just know that up front. I don’t think there are any 5-year contracts just going through a trucking school, maybe one or two years maybe.
They usually put them right to work if it is a good trucking school. My brother went to one of them, I forget the name but I can ask, and worked for PAM/Choctaw Express (a bad choice, by the way) for a while.
My brother is reacquiring his CDL and is trying to get a job driving for SWIFT.
I can facebook him a question or two.
bring an RV if you go
lol
I know somebody who did this. Pros and cons.
He eventually quit being a truck driver.
Why? These newbies get assigned the lousy jobs. Usually long haul jobs, so he was rarely at home. And also, some jobs just time out lousy - such that he had maxed out his hours just a few hours from home, but had to stay at a truck stop. I think the drivers all figure out which routes and jobs time out this way, and shove them to the newbies.
Also, mechanical failure. He once had a starter go out...and sat unpaid for over a day waiting for repair. Most drivers like this only get paid per mile.
The straw that broke the camel’s back? Governed speed. He started out with the trucks governed at around 67 mph, but when fuel costs spiked, he was reduced to 62 mph. And since he was paid by the mile, that equaled a pay cut.
I think I would love being a truck driver...but maybe I’m wrong. My friend wasn’t cut out for it. It would be great if you could somehow ‘try it out’ before jumping in with both feet.
BTW, my uncle was a truck driver - and hated it...same with my father in law. Who knows.
Ask to see their placement rates and for contacts of people included in their stated rates.
I was already up there for the post office. They paid my hotel fees!
If I was his age again I would go to North/South Dakota and give it a whirl. Guaranteed to be a lifetime experience. Might or might not like it but it will be something he tells stories about for the rest of his life.
wow
Check into working for a sand fracking company in WI.
70% of the world’s fracking sand comes from there.
Allen, I want to tell you a true story. My true story does not involve Trucking. This true story is about my Son. My Son kicked around till he was 25. He joined the AirForce. He went back to school to attain enough credit to enter the AirForce. From there entered AirForce. From that moment a little prior to entering, during the time he was in till he came home, briefly, he made me proud. I mention my Son came home briefly because he is no longer close to where I live. He lives on the other side of the world. Son studied and became an Avionics Engineer, Flew solo in a single prop, attained a Private Pilot licensure all while doing his job in the AirForce. He came out a new person. While the AirForce may not be the course your Grandson should take, I wanted to share this story. I recommend AirForce because I am biased. Good Luck Allen, Good Luck.
Check with many trucking companies to see if they even recognize the ‘school’ as being ‘accredited’. Many so called ‘schools’ in many professions promise the world but are not accredited.
1. Truck drivers are virtually always in demand.
2. Pay is based on where you sleep. If you get a job where you show up in the morning, drive all day, come home at night and sleep in your own bed - you won't be paid a lot higher than some comparable job (warehouse work for example).
3. If you drive some distance and sleep somewhere else, the pay starts going up.
4. The pay increase depends on what you are doing. If you have a ‘route’ where you drive someplace on day one, sleep over night, and return home on day 2, you'll be paid better but not a whole lot.
5. If you go out and follow loads from city to city (usually under the control of a dispatcher) you can make a lot. The member of my family that did this never made less than $80k per year, and often over a $100k. We would sometimes not see him for three months.
-———— the kicker ——————
Having a sleeper truck and staying on the road for three months or more at a time leads to the “road dog mentality.” He and his wife used to have to borrow money from us frequently just to keep the lights on. They spent money on really stupid things and it went through his fingers like water. Listening to the stories, I gathered most of his friends were about the same. I don't think he ever left a truck stop without going through a hundred or more. If someone can become a ‘road dog’, but stay a sane road dog, they can make lots of money. And they will certainly be an exception!
I graduated from one of those CDL mills in the late 90’s, and drove OTR for one month, worst job I’ve ever had. My first supervisor had road rage, and was inches away from causing a major accident, (by the way, he claimed to have been struck by lightning, twice.) that should have tipped me off. So I ask for a different supervisor. Second supervisor would not fill out his log book during the trip, and would not check the brakes before driving in the mountains, it eventually cost me about $1,000, and nearly my life.
Maybe its changed, but I doubt it.
My BIL went to Werner. Problem is you pay them back as a percentage of your earnings, and things are structured so your earnings are crap, lots of short drive and long off loads (you make more for the drive), sending you out on one long haul getting you away from home and then months of short hauls out there, speed limiters, no frills in the truck. He quit. Of course he’s a quitter. But check all the fine print.
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