CFI CDL Training question

[VitoCorleone99]

Unless they have changed very recently CFI starts new school grads out at $350/week while with their trainer and the trainee must successfully complete 750 hours of actual drive time. If your trainer feels you are ready after 750 hours you are tested once again and if you pass you are issued your own truck. At that point you are paid 28 CPM until you hit a certain mileage and your pay is subject to raise from there.
...

This part must have been different before, because the pay structure is strictly based on miles.

I had to go through the week at Crowder, as I didn't come from one of their affiliated schools, so for that week the pay was $400 cash (treated as a reimbursement of expenses and thus not taxed).

After the orientation week, the pay for the miles with the trainer is 26 cents. That puts weekly pay during training at well over $600 for most people. A minimum of 7500 miles has to be run with the trainer. After the 7500 miles, if the student has learned what needed to be learned and demonstrated the ability to do the job, he gets his own truck. Then the pay starts at 28 cents and goes up to 30 cents at 60,000 miles. At 90,000 it goes to 32 cents and at 120,000 it goes to 35 cents. After the first year, the pay levels off and the raises become much less frequent. There is a small (roughly annual/120K miles) raise in the mileage pay and a small (roughly annual/120K miles) raise in the safety bonus. If you are running less than 120,000 miles a year, you would be pissed about your miles and quit anyway. The raises are roughly once a year after the first year.

Apparently the black helicopter crowd have also passed along some more false information. You do get health insurance after 60 days. As people are quick to note, it's nothing special for the first year. At the same time, office visit co-pays aren't subject to the deductible and the coverage is dirt cheap. The semi-monthly premium went up at the beginning of this year to $19.50. So yeah, for $39 a month you won't be getting the Cadillac of insurance plans. After a year with the company, you get to choose from various plans that reflect the same choices offered just about everywhere.

I had a broken ankle in my first year. The office visit cost me $20. My doctor took x-rays to see how it was healing. I never got a bill. Maybe he billed it wrong or maybe the insurance wasn't that bad. I don't know. I just know that the other companies who call usually put insurance at $60-$100 a week. I pay $39 a month. It's a fair tradeoff for me, as I'm a healthy vibrant lad. For some people it's a bigger issue. Vision falls into the same boat for me. I could pay four times as much for insurance, or I could just pay the fifty bucks for an eye exam every other year. Non-issue in my world.

Dental coverage isn't available for the first year, but after that it is paid for by the company. There is no additional premium for the driver. Again, I could wring my hands about a year without dental, or just pay the $75 for a cleaning and deal with it.

These things are fun to toss around when you're looking for a reason to knock a company, but it all depends on where your priorities are. If I hadn't stepped on first base awkwardly last summer, I wouldn't have seen a doctor in the last ten years, so a company that provides a bunch of benefits I don't need (and charges the corresponding massive premiums) wouldn't be all that super for me.

My priorities are to run a lot of miles (which I do), not spend time with a broken-down truck (which I don't) and be left alone (which I am). Maybe someday those priorities will change, maybe they won't. I listen to calls from everyone (including the DCS salesmen) and, when the right offer is made, maybe I'll jump. CFI's pay structure for experienced drivers leaves quite a bit to be desired in my opinion. Their pay for trainees and first year drivers is, however, above average. If you factor in the opportunity to get a CDL from a good program for ~$1,000 it seems pretty solid to me.

[KATMANN]

Unless they have changed very recently CFI starts new school grads out at $350/week while with their trainer and the trainee must successfully complete 750 hours of actual drive time. If your trainer feels you are ready after 750 hours you are tested once again and if you pass you are issued your own truck. At that point you are paid 28 CPM until you hit a certain mileage and your pay is subject to raise from there.
...

This part must have been different before, because the pay structure is strictly based on miles.

I had to go through the week at Crowder, as I didn't come from one of their affiliated schools, so for that week the pay was $400 cash (treated as a reimbursement of expenses and thus not taxed).

After the orientation week, the pay for the miles with the trainer is 26 cents. That puts weekly pay during training at well over $600 for most people. A minimum of 7500 miles has to be run with the trainer. After the 7500 miles, if the student has learned what needed to be learned and demonstrated the ability to do the job, he gets his own truck. Then the pay starts at 28 cents and goes up to 30 cents at 60,000 miles. At 90,000 it goes to 32 cents and at 120,000 it goes to 35 cents. After the first year, the pay levels off and the raises become much less frequent. There is a small (roughly annual/120K miles) raise in the mileage pay and a small (roughly annual/120K miles) raise in the safety bonus. If you are running less than 120,000 miles a year, you would be pissed about your miles and quit anyway. The raises are roughly once a year after the first year.

Apparently the black helicopter crowd have also passed along some more false information. You do get health insurance after 60 days. As people are quick to note, it's nothing special for the first year. At the same time, office visit co-pays aren't subject to the deductible and the coverage is dirt cheap. The semi-monthly premium went up at the beginning of this year to $19.50. So yeah, for $39 a month you won't be getting the Cadillac of insurance plans. After a year with the company, you get to choose from various plans that reflect the same choices offered just about everywhere.

I had a broken ankle in my first year. The office visit cost me $20. My doctor took x-rays to see how it was healing. I never got a bill. Maybe he billed it wrong or maybe the insurance wasn't that bad. I don't know. I just know that the other companies who call usually put insurance at $60-$100 a week. I pay $39 a month. It's a fair tradeoff for me, as I'm a healthy vibrant lad. For some people it's a bigger issue. Vision falls into the same boat for me. I could pay four times as much for insurance, or I could just pay the fifty bucks for an eye exam every other year. Non-issue in my world.

Dental coverage isn't available for the first year, but after that it is paid for by the company. There is no additional premium for the driver. Again, I could wring my hands about a year without dental, or just pay the $75 for a cleaning and deal with it.

These things are fun to toss around when you're looking for a reason to knock a company, but it all depends on where your priorities are. If I hadn't stepped on first base awkwardly last summer, I wouldn't have seen a doctor in the last ten years, so a company that provides a bunch of benefits I don't need (and charges the corresponding massive premiums) wouldn't be all that super for me.

My priorities are to run a lot of miles (which I do), not spend time with a broken-down truck (which I don't) and be left alone (which I am). Maybe someday those priorities will change, maybe they won't. I listen to calls from everyone (including the DCS salesmen) and, when the right offer is made, maybe I'll jump. CFI's pay structure for experienced drivers leaves quite a bit to be desired in my opinion. Their pay for trainees and first year drivers is, however, above average. If you factor in the opportunity to get a CDL from a good program for ~$1,000 it seems pretty solid to me.

Just wondering how many miles you run a week?

[VitoCorleone99]

Just wondering how many miles you run a week?

The only way I can really answer this is to refer to the long term. The reason I say this is that, when I go home, I take anywhere from 5 to 12 days at a stretch. For that reason, my miles can fluctuate pretty dramatically from one month to the next.

I left Joplin with my trainer on July 4th. That would leave me eight days until I have completed exactly one year. As long as the next week or so is a typical 2,500-3,000, I'll crack 140,000 for the year. 140,000 divided by 52 weeks would average out to just under 2,700. That counts home time, down time, play time, and the rest of it. Most weeks when I'm on the road I run over 3,000.

Here's where I have to add that my experience has probably been a little better than average. This is my biggest objection to all of the "come to Company X and get Y miles" stuff. The only people who post that kind of message are the ones who have landed in a sweet running pattern. For most company drivers, at every company, the average miles will be less. With accesorial pay (NE miles, holidays, layover, stops, border pay, etc.) I'll be around $47-48,000 for my first year. I would be a little dishonest if I sat here and said a new driver should expect this. Somewhere around $40,000 is probably more reasonable.

I take runs to the northeast whenever I am at a terminal. I like the extra five cents and, since most drivers don't like to go up there, I seem to get good runs very quickly after I drop off. This helps my miles and my pay. I have had quite a few multi-stop loads. The $22.50 for the first extra stop and $35 for the second can add up over the course of a year. I live near Detroit, so I haul my share of freight into and out of Canada ($25 extra going in and $25 extra coming out). These are a few things that have worked in my favor to get my first-year earnings up.

On the miles, a lot of people spent some time sitting over the winter. I didn't. I ran and ran and ran. Why me? I don't know, but I suspect our customers have heard about my dashing good looks and requested my services. Or maybe I've just been lucky. Either way, I don't think anyone who plans on getting 10,000 miles a month and 120,000 for a year should be disappointed. People who don't go home much can probably do better than I have.

[Cyanide]

Vito...

Very good points there about the varying factors that contribute to high miles versus average miles, and about the income. :wink:

[Skywalker]

In the 7 years I ran for CFI, I averaged 11,000 miles a month, and that was despite my time off.....which I took every day I had coming to me, as well as a few extras.

Yes, the pay to experienced drivers could be better. Pay for the inexperienced is excellent, particularly since it is paid based on practical miles, plus 5 cpm more for the 12 NE states and 3 cpm for placarded hazmat loads. For a new driver....it beats the devil out of whatever is in second place.

But I'll stick with my tanker..... 8) for the obvious reasons. Right Cyanide?

[Skywalker]

One other thing that is important to remember about CFI's pay..... while a brand new driver (student-inexperienced) gets 28 cpm when assigned to his or her own truck....they will progress to 35 cpm usually by the end of their first year or 120,000 miles. Those figures do not include the 5 cpm added for all dispatched miles in the 12 NE states, nor does it include the 3 cpm added for placarded hazmat loads (if the driver is hazmat endorsed and can pull the load).

Also....all miles paid by CFI are paid as "Practical Miles", not HHG or some other short miles scheme.

Beats the devil out of alot of the other companies pay schemes.