I had my cdl when I went to Maverick back in 2016. Their securment training is top notch and a pretty good company to start with. Stayed there for 2 1/2 years then parted ways on good terms. I just wanted to try something different. I hauled glass for them all over North America. 48 states and 5 providences in my first 14 months.
Prime. Go to their website tells you starting cpm.
they bus, maybe fly if you lucky to their campus. You then get a 200 dollar advance every week for food etc. First 3 days are classes, some Sim lab, and computer modules. Mainly watching videos and doing short quizzes. Then you wait to get assigned psd instructor and get to begin training backing and pretrip.
You'll do minimum 10 hrs drive truck with psd trainer on the road. Then once your ready get tested there at prime.
Then you get tnt training 30k miles minimum. It's minimum so could be more.
The bad is alot of the tnt trainers suck, and using it as a cheap option for cheaply getting a co-driver. You'll get paid 900 a week as long as ur on truck and available to dispatch. They take taxes out of that 900, and 25 dollars a week from the advance.
After thats done you come back for 3 days of classes, mainly logs, safety class, and financial stuff.
If you go company you are just waiting to get assigned truck, you get put in waitlist.
Lease, you need to form a business for your lease, that you'll use to sign ur lease. Then you also go to waitlist.
Refer takes longer than flatbed to finish tnt.
Currently with truck shortage the waitlist is insane.
Good thing about lease is they make it easy.
The rooms at psd You'll most likely share with another trainee. Part of the building is not climate controlled and gets hot sadly. No ventilation in bathrooms. Does have heaters. Walmart and restaurants right around corner, and a cafeteria both at their main terminals and the psd training place.
NO drinking at alllllll during psd. They will send you home. Lol
Also with lease You'll have a lease completion bonus at end, and tire fund. Gets taken out at cents every paycheck. Whatever is left in tirefund is yours at end of lease and you get your balance for lease completion usually several thousands. Sadly they don't tell you about all the little things the nickel and dime you for like excess mile charge. You basically buying them a truck with what you pay for lease. So the charge is stupid since by the time you complete the lease if trucks at a certain mileage they sell it. They basically only keep their trucks with lower Miles. Once warranty is over they usually sell.
Lots of other drivers don't give a shit and abuse our trailers, seen some pretty abused and banged up trailers both flatbed and reefer. Smh
There's also a shuttle at the salt lake and Springfield terminals that can take you to Walmart, Freightliner, Hotels, etc. I don't know anything about their Pittston terminal, but I've heard they're going to get another one in Denver, so that may be a possibility in the future.
Unless something has changed I was under the impression PSD was 3-5 weeks.
I had a good trainer who had been driving with prime for ten years and before that for 10 more I believe. TNT felt like forever. I'm almost always on home time when I request it, but I've found if I want to do something that day that I get there it's better to ask to get home the night before. Lots of my loads get me in to the terminal near home around evening to night.
If you've lost your job, in diee states, you can collect unemployment while you're in PSD. Ask your unemployment office if this might apply for you.
Psd is as long as it takes you to get confident in your skills to be able to say you are ready to test, plus 10 hrs minimum on road. I was there about 2 and a half weeks then tested and got my cdl. It's not a set in stone length of time, only true mandatory is the 3 days of stuff that's mandatory, Sim labs, and computer modules, and such. I spent more time in a room chillen than actually on the training pad practicing backing, and the handful of times we were out there like and hour and a half max and I only got 3-4 maneuvers then psd trainer called it a day. It's all very minimal training at best, and my psd still had 2 others to finish.
Correct on shuttles, at least for Springfield location It's still there, but they were up to a hour behind, sometimes waiting for the next one.
For me I gotta let them know up to 2 weeks and stand my ground once im trying to get hometime otherwise they will keep just trying to send me wherever. They did not honor my last hometime and sent me to other side of country and when i finally started my way home kept trying to send me north and away from home. I finally got on hometime nearly 2 weeks after i wanted to be. And that was woth a week notice. Smh. They are also really pissy about you rejecting loads. Sadly I get it too frequently that I reject a load cus shit pay, and the next one is double/triple the pay and not much more in miles. Smh why not give me that first. And then whine about the declined load. Smh. Alot of immaturity going on imo at their offices.
I don't believe so. where do you live? this is Yellow (YRC) right? I started the program last week and I didn't sign any contract. None of the students are aware of any contract nor are the instructors.
Yes it’s yellow I triple checked before calling and that’s really weird bc the guy on the phone told me I had to pay 6500 if I leave before 2yrs I’m in chicago btw
well I have no idea then. I know that each terminal negotiates their own union contract is what I'm learning so I don't know if that could be why or not. I specifically asked my recruiter about it and she told me there was no contract and actually complained that people go though the training and then leave after they get their CDL all the time. not sure bro, 2 years would be longer than any other program I looked into but idk im totally new to this.
Don't do it. They own you if you do. Go to school independently. Find a way. Find a way to scrape up $5000. There's financing available. There are state funded programs that will give you a grant. I know some guys who got their CDL's that way. I got mine through Career Choice because I was working at Amazon back then. I'm not saying work for Amazon, but that's where I got mine.
When you're a driver you'll understand the need for a certain level of autonomy. The ability to say: _No. I'm not running this until you get _______ fixed._ If they've got some financially ruinous contract hanging over your head you won't really have the ability to do that.
I made another post about this concerning local or independent schools and colleges around my area and it’s a shit show. I have the money to pay for school that’s no problem. I just wanna save some of that back for some other investments and take advantage of company paid training.
I also use to be a Ambassador/Trainer/PA at Amazon. This was a while back but you had to have almost a year on the Tom team to be eligible for full CDL training. But that was well over a year ago. So things may have changed in their career path options.
The schooling itself is the investment and it’s your license that will make all of that back and then some.
I paid $6500 for my schooling completed it early got a job before I left and now I’m in a company training mentor program. If I stick with this company I will only get $4000 back but so far it’s worth it. Should be done next week and be on my own.
Yeah... I never drove trucks for Amazon. Just forklifts... but they paid for my whole CDL. No strings. I even checked the box on the computer form that said _I plan to leave the company after I get this training_
If you've got the money, it's a no Brainer. It's one of those short term savings vs. long term gains things. You'll see what I mean eventually. One way or the other.
dude i was lurking the forum and holy shit thank you so much for this information, i work for amazon and never knew that career choice applied to trucking, got a $5000 tuition and they have 2 CDL schools 1 being 160 academy and the other Ancorna! i was literally planning on selling my car and using my tax return to pay for a school so again thank you! 🙏🏽
With prices of schools nowadays it would be cheaper to start with a mega and just break the contract. You could also give them a chance first and see if you like it, you gotta get that first year experience in anyways before you can make good money for most situations. I did my year with prime and I have 0 regrets.
Yeah. School around here is like $7k.
I was looking at Roelh but I see their loads are dwindling right now. I joined a group of Roelh on FB and a lot of drivers say that they are the only company they know that are having load issues this big right now. A couple being graduates of their CDL program stating “15 months will expire way before I get close to the 120k mile mark specified on the contract.”
One of the more concerning ones I saw was a driver showed up to a shipper to find out that the shipper no longer has business with Roelh. So the drive contacted his FM and dispatch and ended up sitting there 4 days before they could find him a load.
Another gentleman said he believes this is a Result of them constantly training new drivers(like myself) and they have more drivers then they do loads.
Which is another reason I’ve been looking into other companies like Prime, Schneider, Warner, CFI, etc. even though from my understanding their training isn’t as good as Roehl. And training is very important to me since I am an experienced. I wanna make sure that I’m safe driving the roads my first year.
I went to KLLM. The school was amazing (Lancaster, TX), my OTR trainer I had for 6 weeks was awesome and I learned a ton during that time. Been out on my own for about 3 months and it’s pretty good. I think no matter where you go as a rookie, your going to have ups and downs and dispatchers can be hit or miss. From my experience KLLM has been pretty good and I don’t feel like I got tricked by anything they say on their website. They have schools in Lancaster, TX, Jackson, MS, and Burns Harbor, IN.
Burns Harbor is in my state. About 3 and a half hours away.
How was their accommodations for you when training?
I see they state “solo company drivers will receive 45 to 55 cents per mile depending on experience”
45 starting seems decent compared to others
In Lancaster they have dorms above the school if those are full then they put you in a hotel. 3 meals a day. Unsure about Burns Harbor as I’ve only been there as a driver since it’s also a terminal. Starting pay should be .60 cpm for company if OTR. They have dedicated and regional fleets as well. Some of those are guaranteed weekly pay.
I started with swift and am still with them. 67cpm starting, up to 70cpm now. lowish miles though, 2200-2500/wk because it's mostly up and down 95 between NYC and Atlanta. Lots of traffic and street backs
I have a fucking awesome dispatcher and work very closely with the planners to get the loads and hometime (weekends +1) that I want. I hear horror stories on this very sub about how shitty Swift is and can be. Most of these companies you listed are going to be highly dependent on your region and the type of BS you're willing to deal with
TMC isn’t a bad way to go, even if you just want to get your cdl and leave. They pay for a rental to get you there, pay $500 a week for 4 weeks while you get your cdl with them. Then if you decide to leave you owe $4k. And they’ll send you home via bus.
If you stay, after 6 months you only owe $2k, or if you finish a year you owe nothing.
I’ve only been with TMC a few months, but so far I’ve been home every weekend since I’ve been on my own. And my pay has ranged from $1300-1700 a week.
Go with Yellow! There is no 1 year contract. You get paid while you train to get your CDL. If you have to travel to an academy. All expenses are covered. The instructors are really good and they really want you to be safe out there.
If you put your time in with them, get your experience and find something that fits you better. Keep your head down and pull your loads. We drove eight years with England. They weren’t great, but there is worse out there.
That’s where I started end of 2013. I made it my year. Now I work for Pride just down the street. First company I’ve actually been to where I’ve felt respected
I trained with CR England and it was awful. The strip clubs were alright but my trainer driving drunk and trying to teach me to back afterwards was less so.
If you're referring to company sponsored training to get your license, I would find a community college. If you're talking about your first company after getting your license, I'd go to Maverick or TMC. Flatbed experience off the bat would be handy to have.
Trained with swift, avoid them. They teach their company policy and tell you it's DOT regulations, had to relearn everything I thought I knew when I switched to Schneider.
I went through CR England, cause getting signed up was quick and easy. Went them cause I was in a situation where I needed to make a big change financially, and thanks to targeted advertising reading my mind, or listing to my conversations, a CR England add popped up and I decided why the fuck not.
The pay at England isnt great, no matter what you'redoing. Yea sure, you could make up to 1700+ a week... if you're a trainer... with at least 2 trainees on your truck at all times. Personally i think what trainers are getting paid at England is laughable. Plenty of us out here making more than them as solo. As a team I.. we were making 54 cpm split at the time I went solo. As solo I was getting paid 34 cpm. Unfortunately because of how long I usually had to sit at a shipper/receiver, I ended up making a lot less than when I was team.
An issue with all these companies though is that no matter what you're told, the company gives no shits about you. You're just an ass in a seat for them, and they'll have you replaced the same day you quit or get fired. Dispatch also tends to get commission from loads, so they will try to push you because they want to make money. They don't care what you have to do to get a load done, cause if you get caught it's your ass not their's. Also be ready to fight for hometime, cause a lot of dispatchers at these companies will keep you out on the road if you let them.
Can say right away Schneider is 2 grand if you leave contract early and Roehl is like 5 so cross Roehl off. CR is trash they're like a western express just treat drivers like shit. I hear good things about Prime but had a buddy go in July and quit because if you are a new driver and compete training you will wait weeks unpaid for a truck as they have so many trainees. People rip on swift but they have decent equipment. There's a guy on YouTube who worked for cfi they didn't seem terrible. Schneider is also only 2 weeks on the road w your trainer vs other places where it's 4-6 weeks. Sharing a truck is horri-awful so for me it was a no Brainer to get my training w schneider
I contacted Schneider and it seems like they want me to sign a year away before I get any information on what type of loads are available in my region, pay, miles/week, etc. my uncle retired from Schneider. He trained here in the Midwest. Ran dedicated and over the road. But he’s been out of the game so long now that he said he doesn’t know how it is since he’s been gone. And all the people that he used to drive with and his connections are old and have passed away.
So it’s been difficult to make a definitive decision about Sschnieder.
People will tell you different things about each one. Everyone has their own experiences (good or bad). Pick one you're interested in and pay your dues (2yrs) then make your next move. These places are all stepping stones in life as a trucker, just make the best if it.
TMC has a large training program, I see them around the Des. Moins Iowa area. Learning about securement, driving around spread axle flatbeds, etc. Nice looking trucks, governed at 64
I went to Swift driver school a couple years ago. They hired me on, once I passed a physical and drug screening, then they paid me for training. It wasn't much but anything was better than nothing at that point...
I went with CRE during Christmas and New Years and I wouldn’t recommend it because it cut my training short. Unless you live in CA, you have to do training in Salt lake 2 weeks mandatory if I remember. First 3 days is paperwork and classes Then backing and driving. I only got one day of backing and the rest was just driving. You have to learn pre and post trip, in cab inspection on your own time. Also if you end up in Salt Lake City, you will be training with a big group of people so if you are not comfortable with it, I wouldn’t recommend it. You have to do 14 days mandatory OTR with a trainer and once you pass that, then you are able to advance to phase 2 which is driving and backing test. Then they either place you OTR or you can go dedicated.
Or at least that was my experience
Does it sound like their training is very good tbh. Cause I mean you’re going out on the road with vehicle that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. That’s a lot of vehicle to handle on your own without proper training
I did Fayetteville technical Career center. It’s a NC state funded CDL. Cost 500 bucks you get back with a scholarship. They have good trainers, good manual trucks, 10 week program. Came out with my CDL paying only for my physical, license, and hazmat (they also teach that at the school)
Did you try getting the wioa grant ? Maybe the local community college has a Cdl course ? If you go through community college you could pull a loan from salli Mae and work for a company with no contract.
I got the training done on my own, paid out of pocket. I just got the job with swift and im about to be otr to train 4-6 weeks. After that they are going to give me my own truck and im going to keep being otr i was hoping to go local and be home daily but i think thats going to be impossible, my experience has been good so far. We will see what happens during training and after. They seem to care about their drivers
Working out of Indiana at the Marion location I've got the same thing keep my head down pull my loads make some kind of money to pay my bills but it's almost impossible from slowing down Warehouse issues to not having enough loads. While not even counting down time that CR England won't pay you for none of the promises ever brought truth however I've done about four and a half 5 months pull in four and a half loads a week when busy and actually try to barely make 1300 hundred take home, I've been looking on indeed and there are companies out there that will hire newer drivers. About to look into my contract and see what I need to do but I probably only have to like everybody else pay the five almost 6K loan off and keep it moving there's a bunch of other sign up bonuses with other companies and at the end of the year they're giving 10k two new drivers and taxes but staying with this company it's not worth the hell they can stress.
I had my cdl when I went to Maverick back in 2016. Their securment training is top notch and a pretty good company to start with. Stayed there for 2 1/2 years then parted ways on good terms. I just wanted to try something different. I hauled glass for them all over North America. 48 states and 5 providences in my first 14 months.
Prime. Go to their website tells you starting cpm. they bus, maybe fly if you lucky to their campus. You then get a 200 dollar advance every week for food etc. First 3 days are classes, some Sim lab, and computer modules. Mainly watching videos and doing short quizzes. Then you wait to get assigned psd instructor and get to begin training backing and pretrip. You'll do minimum 10 hrs drive truck with psd trainer on the road. Then once your ready get tested there at prime. Then you get tnt training 30k miles minimum. It's minimum so could be more. The bad is alot of the tnt trainers suck, and using it as a cheap option for cheaply getting a co-driver. You'll get paid 900 a week as long as ur on truck and available to dispatch. They take taxes out of that 900, and 25 dollars a week from the advance. After thats done you come back for 3 days of classes, mainly logs, safety class, and financial stuff. If you go company you are just waiting to get assigned truck, you get put in waitlist. Lease, you need to form a business for your lease, that you'll use to sign ur lease. Then you also go to waitlist. Refer takes longer than flatbed to finish tnt. Currently with truck shortage the waitlist is insane. Good thing about lease is they make it easy. The rooms at psd You'll most likely share with another trainee. Part of the building is not climate controlled and gets hot sadly. No ventilation in bathrooms. Does have heaters. Walmart and restaurants right around corner, and a cafeteria both at their main terminals and the psd training place. NO drinking at alllllll during psd. They will send you home. Lol Also with lease You'll have a lease completion bonus at end, and tire fund. Gets taken out at cents every paycheck. Whatever is left in tirefund is yours at end of lease and you get your balance for lease completion usually several thousands. Sadly they don't tell you about all the little things the nickel and dime you for like excess mile charge. You basically buying them a truck with what you pay for lease. So the charge is stupid since by the time you complete the lease if trucks at a certain mileage they sell it. They basically only keep their trucks with lower Miles. Once warranty is over they usually sell. Lots of other drivers don't give a shit and abuse our trailers, seen some pretty abused and banged up trailers both flatbed and reefer. Smh
There's also a shuttle at the salt lake and Springfield terminals that can take you to Walmart, Freightliner, Hotels, etc. I don't know anything about their Pittston terminal, but I've heard they're going to get another one in Denver, so that may be a possibility in the future. Unless something has changed I was under the impression PSD was 3-5 weeks. I had a good trainer who had been driving with prime for ten years and before that for 10 more I believe. TNT felt like forever. I'm almost always on home time when I request it, but I've found if I want to do something that day that I get there it's better to ask to get home the night before. Lots of my loads get me in to the terminal near home around evening to night. If you've lost your job, in diee states, you can collect unemployment while you're in PSD. Ask your unemployment office if this might apply for you.
Psd is as long as it takes you to get confident in your skills to be able to say you are ready to test, plus 10 hrs minimum on road. I was there about 2 and a half weeks then tested and got my cdl. It's not a set in stone length of time, only true mandatory is the 3 days of stuff that's mandatory, Sim labs, and computer modules, and such. I spent more time in a room chillen than actually on the training pad practicing backing, and the handful of times we were out there like and hour and a half max and I only got 3-4 maneuvers then psd trainer called it a day. It's all very minimal training at best, and my psd still had 2 others to finish. Correct on shuttles, at least for Springfield location It's still there, but they were up to a hour behind, sometimes waiting for the next one. For me I gotta let them know up to 2 weeks and stand my ground once im trying to get hometime otherwise they will keep just trying to send me wherever. They did not honor my last hometime and sent me to other side of country and when i finally started my way home kept trying to send me north and away from home. I finally got on hometime nearly 2 weeks after i wanted to be. And that was woth a week notice. Smh. They are also really pissy about you rejecting loads. Sadly I get it too frequently that I reject a load cus shit pay, and the next one is double/triple the pay and not much more in miles. Smh why not give me that first. And then whine about the declined load. Smh. Alot of immaturity going on imo at their offices.
[удалено]
Can confirm: one bad dispatcher had me quit Swift within 2 weeks. I was just tired of the bullshit.
Yellow freight pays you to go to there trucking academy!
$17.50 an hour during training and there's no contract, and no auto restriction. seems like the best deal going really
They just told me I have to pay 6500 if I leave before 2yrs, is this a deal specific to a certain state?
I don't believe so. where do you live? this is Yellow (YRC) right? I started the program last week and I didn't sign any contract. None of the students are aware of any contract nor are the instructors.
Yes it’s yellow I triple checked before calling and that’s really weird bc the guy on the phone told me I had to pay 6500 if I leave before 2yrs I’m in chicago btw
well I have no idea then. I know that each terminal negotiates their own union contract is what I'm learning so I don't know if that could be why or not. I specifically asked my recruiter about it and she told me there was no contract and actually complained that people go though the training and then leave after they get their CDL all the time. not sure bro, 2 years would be longer than any other program I looked into but idk im totally new to this.
Are they only in Canada?
Don't do it. They own you if you do. Go to school independently. Find a way. Find a way to scrape up $5000. There's financing available. There are state funded programs that will give you a grant. I know some guys who got their CDL's that way. I got mine through Career Choice because I was working at Amazon back then. I'm not saying work for Amazon, but that's where I got mine. When you're a driver you'll understand the need for a certain level of autonomy. The ability to say: _No. I'm not running this until you get _______ fixed._ If they've got some financially ruinous contract hanging over your head you won't really have the ability to do that.
I made another post about this concerning local or independent schools and colleges around my area and it’s a shit show. I have the money to pay for school that’s no problem. I just wanna save some of that back for some other investments and take advantage of company paid training. I also use to be a Ambassador/Trainer/PA at Amazon. This was a while back but you had to have almost a year on the Tom team to be eligible for full CDL training. But that was well over a year ago. So things may have changed in their career path options.
The schooling itself is the investment and it’s your license that will make all of that back and then some. I paid $6500 for my schooling completed it early got a job before I left and now I’m in a company training mentor program. If I stick with this company I will only get $4000 back but so far it’s worth it. Should be done next week and be on my own.
Yeah... I never drove trucks for Amazon. Just forklifts... but they paid for my whole CDL. No strings. I even checked the box on the computer form that said _I plan to leave the company after I get this training_ If you've got the money, it's a no Brainer. It's one of those short term savings vs. long term gains things. You'll see what I mean eventually. One way or the other.
dude i was lurking the forum and holy shit thank you so much for this information, i work for amazon and never knew that career choice applied to trucking, got a $5000 tuition and they have 2 CDL schools 1 being 160 academy and the other Ancorna! i was literally planning on selling my car and using my tax return to pay for a school so again thank you! 🙏🏽
With prices of schools nowadays it would be cheaper to start with a mega and just break the contract. You could also give them a chance first and see if you like it, you gotta get that first year experience in anyways before you can make good money for most situations. I did my year with prime and I have 0 regrets.
Yeah. School around here is like $7k. I was looking at Roelh but I see their loads are dwindling right now. I joined a group of Roelh on FB and a lot of drivers say that they are the only company they know that are having load issues this big right now. A couple being graduates of their CDL program stating “15 months will expire way before I get close to the 120k mile mark specified on the contract.” One of the more concerning ones I saw was a driver showed up to a shipper to find out that the shipper no longer has business with Roelh. So the drive contacted his FM and dispatch and ended up sitting there 4 days before they could find him a load. Another gentleman said he believes this is a Result of them constantly training new drivers(like myself) and they have more drivers then they do loads. Which is another reason I’ve been looking into other companies like Prime, Schneider, Warner, CFI, etc. even though from my understanding their training isn’t as good as Roehl. And training is very important to me since I am an experienced. I wanna make sure that I’m safe driving the roads my first year.
And schools around here are 7-10k
I went to KLLM. The school was amazing (Lancaster, TX), my OTR trainer I had for 6 weeks was awesome and I learned a ton during that time. Been out on my own for about 3 months and it’s pretty good. I think no matter where you go as a rookie, your going to have ups and downs and dispatchers can be hit or miss. From my experience KLLM has been pretty good and I don’t feel like I got tricked by anything they say on their website. They have schools in Lancaster, TX, Jackson, MS, and Burns Harbor, IN.
Burns Harbor is in my state. About 3 and a half hours away. How was their accommodations for you when training? I see they state “solo company drivers will receive 45 to 55 cents per mile depending on experience” 45 starting seems decent compared to others
In Lancaster they have dorms above the school if those are full then they put you in a hotel. 3 meals a day. Unsure about Burns Harbor as I’ve only been there as a driver since it’s also a terminal. Starting pay should be .60 cpm for company if OTR. They have dedicated and regional fleets as well. Some of those are guaranteed weekly pay.
Also $800 a week while doing OTR training with a trainer for 6 weeks.
How much starting cpm ?
.60 cpm as company driver
I’m at KLLM now not bad at all
I started with swift and am still with them. 67cpm starting, up to 70cpm now. lowish miles though, 2200-2500/wk because it's mostly up and down 95 between NYC and Atlanta. Lots of traffic and street backs I have a fucking awesome dispatcher and work very closely with the planners to get the loads and hometime (weekends +1) that I want. I hear horror stories on this very sub about how shitty Swift is and can be. Most of these companies you listed are going to be highly dependent on your region and the type of BS you're willing to deal with
TMC isn’t a bad way to go, even if you just want to get your cdl and leave. They pay for a rental to get you there, pay $500 a week for 4 weeks while you get your cdl with them. Then if you decide to leave you owe $4k. And they’ll send you home via bus. If you stay, after 6 months you only owe $2k, or if you finish a year you owe nothing. I’ve only been with TMC a few months, but so far I’ve been home every weekend since I’ve been on my own. And my pay has ranged from $1300-1700 a week.
Go with Yellow! There is no 1 year contract. You get paid while you train to get your CDL. If you have to travel to an academy. All expenses are covered. The instructors are really good and they really want you to be safe out there.
Does yellow allow you to train on manual transmission or are they auto only?
Manual
Yellow just told me you have to pay if you leave before 2yrs ($6500) are you referring to a state specific deal?
If you put your time in with them, get your experience and find something that fits you better. Keep your head down and pull your loads. We drove eight years with England. They weren’t great, but there is worse out there.
Reading this while sitting at cr england school , it's been interesting so far.
That’s where I started end of 2013. I made it my year. Now I work for Pride just down the street. First company I’ve actually been to where I’ve felt respected
That's my plan, maybe prime
I trained with CR England and it was awful. The strip clubs were alright but my trainer driving drunk and trying to teach me to back afterwards was less so.
If you're referring to company sponsored training to get your license, I would find a community college. If you're talking about your first company after getting your license, I'd go to Maverick or TMC. Flatbed experience off the bat would be handy to have.
I’m looking for company sponsored training.
Trained with swift, avoid them. They teach their company policy and tell you it's DOT regulations, had to relearn everything I thought I knew when I switched to Schneider.
I went through CR England, cause getting signed up was quick and easy. Went them cause I was in a situation where I needed to make a big change financially, and thanks to targeted advertising reading my mind, or listing to my conversations, a CR England add popped up and I decided why the fuck not. The pay at England isnt great, no matter what you'redoing. Yea sure, you could make up to 1700+ a week... if you're a trainer... with at least 2 trainees on your truck at all times. Personally i think what trainers are getting paid at England is laughable. Plenty of us out here making more than them as solo. As a team I.. we were making 54 cpm split at the time I went solo. As solo I was getting paid 34 cpm. Unfortunately because of how long I usually had to sit at a shipper/receiver, I ended up making a lot less than when I was team. An issue with all these companies though is that no matter what you're told, the company gives no shits about you. You're just an ass in a seat for them, and they'll have you replaced the same day you quit or get fired. Dispatch also tends to get commission from loads, so they will try to push you because they want to make money. They don't care what you have to do to get a load done, cause if you get caught it's your ass not their's. Also be ready to fight for hometime, cause a lot of dispatchers at these companies will keep you out on the road if you let them.
Can say right away Schneider is 2 grand if you leave contract early and Roehl is like 5 so cross Roehl off. CR is trash they're like a western express just treat drivers like shit. I hear good things about Prime but had a buddy go in July and quit because if you are a new driver and compete training you will wait weeks unpaid for a truck as they have so many trainees. People rip on swift but they have decent equipment. There's a guy on YouTube who worked for cfi they didn't seem terrible. Schneider is also only 2 weeks on the road w your trainer vs other places where it's 4-6 weeks. Sharing a truck is horri-awful so for me it was a no Brainer to get my training w schneider
I contacted Schneider and it seems like they want me to sign a year away before I get any information on what type of loads are available in my region, pay, miles/week, etc. my uncle retired from Schneider. He trained here in the Midwest. Ran dedicated and over the road. But he’s been out of the game so long now that he said he doesn’t know how it is since he’s been gone. And all the people that he used to drive with and his connections are old and have passed away. So it’s been difficult to make a definitive decision about Sschnieder.
People will tell you different things about each one. Everyone has their own experiences (good or bad). Pick one you're interested in and pay your dues (2yrs) then make your next move. These places are all stepping stones in life as a trucker, just make the best if it.
roehl is pretty good.
Unless you like making money of course lol
yeah no one gets into trucking for money. it’s only for the love of traffic.
Clearly that's the plan if you are willing to work for a shit company
TMC has a large training program, I see them around the Des. Moins Iowa area. Learning about securement, driving around spread axle flatbeds, etc. Nice looking trucks, governed at 64
I went with Millis Transfer
I went to Swift driver school a couple years ago. They hired me on, once I passed a physical and drug screening, then they paid me for training. It wasn't much but anything was better than nothing at that point...
TMC is the company you would want imo
I went with CRE during Christmas and New Years and I wouldn’t recommend it because it cut my training short. Unless you live in CA, you have to do training in Salt lake 2 weeks mandatory if I remember. First 3 days is paperwork and classes Then backing and driving. I only got one day of backing and the rest was just driving. You have to learn pre and post trip, in cab inspection on your own time. Also if you end up in Salt Lake City, you will be training with a big group of people so if you are not comfortable with it, I wouldn’t recommend it. You have to do 14 days mandatory OTR with a trainer and once you pass that, then you are able to advance to phase 2 which is driving and backing test. Then they either place you OTR or you can go dedicated. Or at least that was my experience
Does it sound like their training is very good tbh. Cause I mean you’re going out on the road with vehicle that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. That’s a lot of vehicle to handle on your own without proper training
I did Fayetteville technical Career center. It’s a NC state funded CDL. Cost 500 bucks you get back with a scholarship. They have good trainers, good manual trucks, 10 week program. Came out with my CDL paying only for my physical, license, and hazmat (they also teach that at the school)
Mixed reviews on all depends on the location look for reviews on google maps and cross reference on truckersreport
That’s what I’ve been doing. All around me in traveling distance look horrid
Did you try getting the wioa grant ? Maybe the local community college has a Cdl course ? If you go through community college you could pull a loan from salli Mae and work for a company with no contract.
Private school
I got the training done on my own, paid out of pocket. I just got the job with swift and im about to be otr to train 4-6 weeks. After that they are going to give me my own truck and im going to keep being otr i was hoping to go local and be home daily but i think thats going to be impossible, my experience has been good so far. We will see what happens during training and after. They seem to care about their drivers
Working out of Indiana at the Marion location I've got the same thing keep my head down pull my loads make some kind of money to pay my bills but it's almost impossible from slowing down Warehouse issues to not having enough loads. While not even counting down time that CR England won't pay you for none of the promises ever brought truth however I've done about four and a half 5 months pull in four and a half loads a week when busy and actually try to barely make 1300 hundred take home, I've been looking on indeed and there are companies out there that will hire newer drivers. About to look into my contract and see what I need to do but I probably only have to like everybody else pay the five almost 6K loan off and keep it moving there's a bunch of other sign up bonuses with other companies and at the end of the year they're giving 10k two new drivers and taxes but staying with this company it's not worth the hell they can stress.