Ladies --- I need some help!

[dstewc_contemplative]

Hello. I figured I'd come to the ladies for help. I am very serious about getting into the trucking business and have been researching as much as possible for the last few days. I've made up my mind that this is what I want to do. I contacted CR England and filled out an application before I ever found this board....anyway, I am now not sure who to go with. I've looked into CRST and Swift. Can anyone offer any advice as to which to go with. I'm so confused!
Thanks in advance,
Debbie

[dieselgrl]

I would suggest you do a search, and have a cup of coffee next to the computer while you read. There is a lot of information on these forums on all the big training companies. I started my career with Swift Transportation back in '04, and knowing what I know now, I might not have entered the business through a company school. Of course, your mileage may vary, but the name of the game at first is about getting at least a solid year of experence clean of any incidents. The first year is the worst by far, and I lived off of Chef Boyardee and ramen noodles for no less than my first nine months driving. Your absolute best bet (as I am making the assumption you do not have a CDL yet) is to go with a community college driving school to get your license - NOT a company.

[dstewc_contemplative]

Thanks so much for your input. I really do appreciate it. I pretty much came to that conclusion after more reading and research....I'm NOT going with a company school (CR England, etc.) I contacted RoadMaster and spoke with someone there - it sounds good other than the cost. I am waiting to hear from one other school that is near to me before I make any commitments. I plan on starting the first of January. If you have any other suggestions or advice - I'm all ears.
Thanks,
Debbie

[dieselgrl]

I'd still recommend a community college over anywhere like Roadmaster. When I was doing orientation and training with new students, even Roadmaster campuses were hit or miss when it comes down to the quality of driver. Take the longest course you possibly can - it will pay for itself in the end! Also take time in comparing companies once you're in school - start looking at them now. First year is always hard, but making an informed decision can help make it less so.

[Orangetxguy]

Thanks so much for your input. I really do appreciate it. I pretty much came to that conclusion after more reading and research....I'm NOT going with a company school (CR England, etc.) I contacted RoadMaster and spoke with someone there - it sounds good other than the cost. I am waiting to hear from one other school that is near to me before I make any commitments. I plan on starting the first of January. If you have any other suggestions or advice - I'm all ears.
Thanks,
Debbie

Roadmaster is pretty much a "Combine" school for the "Mega" trucking companies.

What city are you in? What College is closest to you? Texas Workforce Commission has a good training program set up at most of the campuses that do CDL training.

[Luzon]

I'd still recommend a community college over anywhere like Roadmaster. When I was doing orientation and training with new students, even Roadmaster campuses were hit or miss when it comes down to the quality of driver. Take the longest course you possibly can - it will pay for itself in the end! Also take time in comparing companies once you're in school - start looking at them now. First year is always hard, but making an informed decision can help make it less so.

Haha. As a Roadmaster graduate myself (Tampa campus) I'd have to agree with Ms. tndieselgrl, even if she probably is a Vol's fan.

Roadmaster, and other "be on the road in 3 weeks" schools basically teach the minimum to pass the CDL test. When I got to my trainer with my first company I was nervous as hell but in 10 days he signed me off to get my own truck and then I was off to the races. I'll tell you that in my opinion the real learning comes once you're on your own out there. You have to figure everything out on your own, even though you've probalby been told 100 times by your trainer. There's just no better teacher than practical experience and that's probably why I was so nervous when I got on the truck with my trainer, I got very little time behind the wheel while in school. Sure, during weeks 2 and 3 we were "on the road" most of the time but there were 4 of us on the truck and we each got about an hour during the morning and another hour after lunch. Grand total behind the wheel while otr - right at 8 hours.

As far as finding a company, head down to the local truck stops: Pilot, Flying J, T/A, Petro, Loves, etc and ask around to the drivers coming in to fuel up. Look around the entrance to the store for a ben of small recruiting magazines and grab some of them. They may give you some ideas.

Here's a few companies that you haven't mentioned and you don't see thrown around much on the boards: May Trucking, US Express, Celedon, Martin, Melton (flat bed). Don't know if all them are taking CDL graduates or not, I think at one time they all did. I got my start with May Trucking.

The point is - there's about 17 gazillion trucking companies out there, don't just settle on what your CDL school, whereever that may be, tells you. The job placement folks there are in the job of "placing you" and they are only human and tend to take the path of least resistance. (CR England, Swift, Werner, etc)

Good luck and I hope this info was helpful.

[dieselgrl]

...teach the minimum to pass the CDL test...in 10 days he signed me off to get my own truck...

That scares the crap out of me, and that's not a statement on the kind of driver you are...just that companies are doing that. 10 days is by absolutely NO MEANS long enough. Four to six weeks is generally industry standard, though some companies measure by driving hours and some measure by weeks (and can either be shorter or longer). Personally, I went through six weeks of training and didn't feel like it was enough, but I consider it a minimum period a new driver should be spent with a mentor/trainer what have you. I have seen drivers "get it" before the training period was up, and I've also seen students that if they had the next six YEARS with a trainer, they sill wouldn't be qualified (as an aside, those that do figure it out in pretty short order generally had parents that drove and taught them on the side as teens as well as going through a more extensive training school, not a CDL mill - on my first road tests with students of the two they generally got, I always could identify the student that had really driven before and not just been through a 2-3wk program. Made some guys panic when I'd ask them how long they had driven for!)

The beginning sucks, yes. But the more time you spend in school and in training now sets you up to have the skills to succeed and hopefully not get yourself killed out there. I can only speak to what I've seen out there, but out of my students the greatest success stories came from reputable college/technical programs that focused on getting you skills, not selling services to the highest bidder.

PS - luzon, yeah - I'm a Volunteer but only because where I'm from originally (Boston) doesn't give a rats ass about college football usually and I got used to kicking back with a cold one and watching the game on the weekends

[syl77dar]

Are you unemployed? If so go to your unemployment office and request they pay for you to attend trucking school then you can choose which trucking company you want to go to work for and not be under a contract to any company! It is what I did and I am happy I did that!
Next, whatever you do the two companies you have mentioned are not the best companies for women to work for!
Gordon Transportation or Trucking Industries (GTI) here is there link: Gordon Trucking Inc. - Pacific, Washington
check them out they are the best trucking company I know of out there! www dot gordon trucking dot com
check out Layover.com: Truck driving jobs with trucking companies. Trucking Jobs for truck drivers and owner operators. go up under newbies or new corner
make sure you want to live out of a truck for at least 2-4 weeks at a time with out any hope of seeing home!
other questions email me at syl77dar@yahoo.com

[TruckinMavrick]

do not go with CRST, I just spent 2 years with them and I would say that out of the 4 companies i have been with over the past 7 years, with them i sat the most.. and that is including JB Hunt. US Xpress is the folks i started with, stayed with them for 2 yrs. they were ok then, i read some where that they have the most female drivers. and they let ya bring a pet, once u pay the deposit. the only thing bad about them is they have a fleet of auto-shift trucks. Kinda like an automatic, just different.. where is a good 90 % of semi's are standard transmission. Werner is another start-up big company, they have electronic logs, so you don't learn how to do paper logs.. which ya NEED to know how to do your logs.. Reohl was hiring back then also, haven't heard much bad about them.

hope that helps
Paula