CDL Mills-What's the point if you still need same training?

[Admiral Ackbar]

I am about to start attending my local CDL Mill (Smith & Solomon). From what I can tell, all the comanies that hire newbies (Schneider, Swift, etc) send newbies away for the same training whether they graduate a CDL Mill or not. This brings up two questions.
Is there any reason to attend a CDL Mill? The only reason I can think of is that it might increase my chances of getting hired by a company.
If I graduate a CDL Mill and get sent away for training by a company (hopefully Schneider), would it still be tuition based where I'm under 18-month contract, etc. or would it be different?

[MADGOPHER]

as a total novice,do i understand that if i pay to get my cdl i'm going to have to pay for company training to? I'd assume you need training and orientation but not the course fee of complete program?

[poserpunk765]

NOTE I start class on tuesday and am not a truck driver yet. The way i see it is if you get your CDL on your own that opens more doors for you.

Sure there are companies that will someone without a cdl (ie SNI, swift, Roehl, CRST, etc) but WITH a cdl your choice go up greatly. Several companies hire 0 experience people WITH a cdl. I've heard better things about these companies, and you don't owe them your soul.

not sure whether or not you have to contract sign with SNI if you already have your CDL...if you do though i would have to say hell no to that. No way i am going to pay for school, then work at crappy wages to pay off school i've already paid for.

thus is my take

PS "IT'S A TWAP!!"
Ackbar is the shiznit

[Bigmon]

I got my CDL on my own. It allowed me to be more choosy about who to work with. If you go through company program for CDL their gonna teach you their way.

In a private school, at least with mine, the instructor talked about tricks of the trade and what to look out for at trucking companies. He seemed to focus on each of us individually instead of the preset company instruction book.

Ex: for me backing was easy, but shifting wasn't. So we spent more time shifting and less backing.

[EmmetBrown]

Poserpunk765: Several companies hire 0 experience people WITH a cdl. I've heard better things about these companies, and you don't owe them your soul.

Poser, if you don't mind, which companies have you heard about?

thanks

http://www.classadrivers.com/index.php?method=JobSearch

Pick your State ..
Pick your Employment Type (DONT pick Student Training here, pick what kind of trailer you want to pull ..)

At Your Experience Level pick Driving School Training ...
Pick Solo / Team ..

and BAM!

[Dave63]

I live and went to cdl school in IL, and schools have to be at least 30 days here, 8 hours a day. There were only 3 people in my class so I received just about as complete traiing as you can get out of a cdl school. We spent two weeks in the yard and behind the wheel training, and believe me I still was not ready to solo. I started work for a company that required I spend 285 hours behind the wheel with a trainer and was paid $350.00 per week during that time. And I still had allot to learn, I have been a solo driver now for 15 months and just recently mastered backing in just about every situation you can get into. The schooling is for the most part just enough to get you licensed by the state, but that is when the real work and lessons begin. When I went solo I was more then happy I had spent months and months getting there. You are driving a killing machine, and anyone that would hire you without any formal real life training is pulling the trigger, and I would highly recommend you stay away from them. $350 a week is not bad, but the lessons learned during training will be worth much more then that when you get into insane situations by yourself, and you are the only one there that can get your butt out of that situation.

[navguy05]

Personally, I got my CDL on my own. I would never sign a contract with company to send me to school and have to owe them for at least a year. There's alot more companies out there hiring students now than when I did it back in 1994. Like a couple of other people here said, your choices open up conciderably when you already have a CDL. Either way, the choice is ultimatly yours, so good luck with whatever you choose.

[JimsZR2]

In my situation I'm 25 and a clean record on anything and everything. I have my CDL with tanker and Hazmat. I'm trying to get hired with TMC but they want me to go to CDL school for 3 weeks for $3,000. WHY?

I have already gone through my written and driving tests. It's the reason why I did it that way versus a school. Hell, Throw me in orientation for a week and stick me with a driver for 4-6 weeks and let him teach me.

$1000 per week of training really is a very reasonable price when compared to other industries such as Information Technology. $1500 in IT would get you about 3 days if you were lucky.

There's really a lot to learn about trucking before you can consider yourself a professional .. and 3 weeks to cover basic general knowledge, some backing yard maneuvers and road time is about right.

Sure, there should be more training .. but the way I look at it is trucking companies arent in the business of making money from training people, but its a good hand-off point so that you can be in a position to at least help a company break even if not make a little during your finishing training.

[bigdognamedpup]

The reason some companies want you to go to school even with a cdl is to get certified by that school. Then they can have someone to blame if you screw up.

People would do a lot better in their careers if they would drop the 'us vs them' mentality, too.

[bigdognamedpup]

Thats true but they also want to know that the drivers they hire are safe. I teach at a school and we get guys that already have a cdl a and you would be suprised at how little they know. Some of them get them and then dont drive. So it can be like training someone that has never been in a truck before. I can see the safety reason in the whole deal.

[OTRLCBrown]

Look in to All State Career School. I swear by them I couldnt drive a stick when I went there I took the CDL Prep they offer you get taught in Frieghts and volvos older but it works they are State licensed to test so you're familar with your tester (no anxiety). Also Many Company recruiters com thru there Roehl included. Bottom line you get the cdl with no strings then go where you want.

Let me know if youd like the link to thier site

5200.00 State paid for it as Im unemployed... was unemployed :wink:

[ThinkingAboutTrucking]

Even though I graduated from a trucking school, they are now blowing me off. I took the CDL test four times and flunked each time. My school would not allow me to come in and practice before my fourth test, and my range instructor refuses to return my phone calls.

I now plan to go to another trucking school and do the whole thing alllllll over again...

I signed up with another school for tutoring, I may do this for a few hours, then try retaking the test. If I can't get it the fifth time, time for a new school.

[ThinkingAboutTrucking]

After thinking about it, I decided just to go back to another school and wait to test for a fifth time. Good thing is, the new school knocked $300 off the cost of my tuition (I paid $300 for coaching before enrolling at the new place) because they felt bad about me having to go through school all over again.

But I like this place a lot better. I still have to test by myself in my home state, but I feel I'll be able to get through this time. I like my instructors and my classmates. It's a better class of people, and not so much of the "white trash" factor I ran into at my old school.