[Zen Road Warrior]

I need a company to pay for the cdl and the 3 schools i'm looking at are usa, swift, and schneider. Is there another I could/should be looking at?

Which would any of you recommend? I was leaning towards swift but after reading some prior posts...i'm a little scared to go with them.

My main concern is good equipment. Not getting screwed too bad is also a concern. Home time doesn't really matter to me.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Sheepdancer]

Why cant you figure out a way to pay for driving school without those companies?
Look at it this way:
Work your butt off for a couple of months and find something to do for extra money....save save save and then pay for your own school.
or
Take a short cut, have a company pay your school and then spend a year barely making enough to eat mac and cheese everyday.

[DBE022576]

Or you can sign on with a company that will train you then go and get your 3-12 months exp (depending on who you want to go with) and then switch over. Normally the increase in pay will more than make up for the tuition that you owe for leaving early. Example: 12 months @ .25 / mile with no school (free school) versus 3 months @ .25/ mile and 9 months @ .37/ mile ( JB Hunt) (9000 miles/ month times .12 more per mile times 9 months = $9720 and you pay for school) I'm sure there are other companies that would could do similar increases in pay with.

Doug

[Sealord]

You don't give an indication of where in the US you are, but is there a community college in your area that provides driver training. Tuition is the cheapest there, training is probably better tho longer, and many work with your local workforce development organization using WIA funding to pay for students training.
Company sponsored training isn't the only way to go, as Sheepdancer said, work more, save for training, and then choose the company. Don't forget, many companies taking noobs also do tuition reimbursment to the noob. BOL

[Zen Road Warrior]

I appreciate the replies.

Here's the thing....I'm broke, unemployed and have awful credit. Oh, and I'm in Michigan. It seems like I might need one of these companies that pay for the training.

My plan is to work for them for a year, get the experience, get the miles, and move on to a better company. I'm just not sure which one is better as far as equipment, training/mentors, and keeping me on the road.

USA, Swift, Schneider, Roehl, yikes so many. . . .

I'm leaning towards swift only because it is ptdi certified and will pay 33 cpm after 6 months.

Would any of the others be better for any other reasons?
Thanks

[inmate1577]

Go with Schneider. Id say the training is the best out there. Their emphasis is on running strictly legal , by the book and safely. They make no exceptions on any of it. The equipment is from decent to great depending on where you pick up your tractor once you are assigned. The first tractor I had was junk but it was only for 60 days before I got a better tractor. They will be going paperless in a year as well as going all automatic by year's end.

They have what is called spring and winter training every year, its mandatory for all drivers regardless if you have been with them 2 days or 20 years. Generally they want to see what kind of habits, especially bad habits you have picked up along the way.

[Sheepdancer]

They are all about the same. They will all train you and with all of them you wont make any money at all your first year. I wont be popular for saying this, but I would go with Swift. They have good equiptment and good trainers. Sure, im sure someone will come back and feed you some horror story about him training at swift. However the truth is, You cant find a company out there that wouldnt have a driver saying its the worst company in the world.

As far as staying for a year....it just isnt going to happen. You will go to a company like swift, get trained well....after about 3 months you will still be only making 28 cpm You will be tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Then some recruiter like me will call you and talk you into leaving before your year is up.
We have a saying over here, when A driver calls us up and asks if JB has a training program. We say "Yes, its called Swift".

[Orangetxguy]

Sheep...Uuuuh....Inmate just gave Zen a pretty decent summary, of Schneider.

Now....you are right, Sheep. Plenty will berate Swift..and JB(your home turf), Schneider, Covenant, USXpress...and on down the list.

Zen...all you really need to do..if you are for real...is read some of the threads here about the various Carriers that offer training, and apply to the ones, which fit YOUR needs. Someone with a terminal in your area would work best.

[2ndCareer]

inmate1577, I agree with you. Sni is tops for a starter company, especially the equipment part. I agree with you that they strongly preach "legal and safe" driving but I know that at times they do force you to run NOT legal and NOT safe. Started with them to get a free training, planning to leave after 1 year but is still with them after 4 years.

[SwervynMervyn]

I pick Schneider too, guess that's because I went thru their training as well. Schneider training taught me more in 2 days than I learned in 4 weeks at a private driving school.......that Swift endorsed.

But don't go into it thinking to just get your year in, quit and move on to something better. The longer you can stay with your first driving job the better your second job will be. If it's not, Schneider has no problems with hiring you back if you're in good standing with them. And who knows, you might find your niche with the first company and stay for many years.

If teenager problems wouldn't have been an issue for me, I would have stayed at Schneider much longer. But I did stay for 2 years.

I'm itching to go back otr, but too many forces within the household are against it. So I will give in to the dark side and stay home :-)

If you want to learn and ask questions Schneider has their own forum. Not sure if any of the other companies do or not.

Good luck in your decision.