I have been thinking about trucking for a couple years now. I work in currently in computers. My last three jobs have been dead end help desks.

Anyway, I am tired of working for 3-6 months then finding out my contract is ending in two weeks.

I have talked it over with my wife (been married 8 years, no kids) and she is ok with it.

So I am trying to decide which company to work for. I am currently unemployed (again) so money is tight and with my crappy credit, I can't really afford to pay for private cdl school.

So I am really leaning toward driving for Schneider National. But USA Truck has a terminal less than 10 miles from my house, but their training is done through Driving Solutions and I have heard less than stellar things about DS.

I have talked to drivers from both companies, so I could go either way.

I have heard good things about the training SNI has. But they now have an 18 month contract which kinda scares me to commit for that long.

So I am torn

Anybody have experience with both companies?

 

Either way you go you got to stay atleast one year and the school won't cost a thing, which what I've heard from alot of people. So either way you look at it you'll have to put a year in somewhere, atleast isn't 24 months (2 years) and I sure wish you the best of luck in whoever you decide to drive for. If I was you I'd go with Schneider for the training but since you live 10 miles from a USA Truck terminal and I would think that would mean more hometime for you but I'm not sure about that.

 

i was laid off and went to trucking school for free.
see if your unemployment office has a career center they have programs that will pay for it if you qualify. you can also check into community college programs which are cheap.
all trucking companies are gonna have negatives when your are going through a training program
and most if not all will have some sort of contract. they arent going to spend money on you if you arent going to work for them.

good luck in your new career. i hope it works out for you.

 

u can do it................

 

I'm in the same boat trying to get started my friend, and like I had posted a while back, I discovered WIA. That's Workforce Investment Act. From what I understand, if they approve me, they will pay for my schooling at USTDS, provide gas money to get there, and some funds for lunches and what have you. I have my one on one meeting Monday morning, and I will be sure to update all of you on that. Any questions regarding it, feel free to send me a message and I'll tell you what I've encountered with it so far.

 

Sorry I am a Newb I cant PM ...

Can you give a short list on qualifications ...my wife makes 64k a year and I am afraid it will hamstring me on that ....

Thanks
Shawn( Ogre )

 

I could be slightly off on this, but as far as I know you have to be unemployed, underemployed, or disabled.

http://www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/wia/act.cfm

That's the official link if you desire to read through it, and they should have contact information to your local WIA office.

 

After 90 days your 401 k starts at Schneider and your vested in 3 years . So after 18 months your half vested , with 6 percent match . It,s going to take a few months to adapt to the life style of trucking. A year flys by so fast when your on the road. I,m going to S N I and I drove since 1989 , in 2 years I plan on leasing on with them , there percentage program sounds pretty good . Best of Luck

 

Thanks, I am reading everything I can about companies, driving and anything else.

Anyway, You drove since 1989? That is when I graduated from High School (not trying to make ya feel old)

 

I am glad Pumpkin is back up, but for some reason it isn't letting me register there.

I have a few Schneider specific questions.

Anyway, I am going Monday to pick up my book for the CDL permit. The recruiter said "It's easy to get the learners permit, most people can test in a few days of study"

I don't know if she was blowing smoke up my *ss or not, or if she just wants to quickly get me on a bus to Green Bay.

Another issue I may have is I lost my Social Security Card, I know I can get replacement but don't know how long that will take. I also have no idea where my birth certificate is since I moved it may be in a box in my garage or in Storage in South Carolina. I really have no clue.

I do have my DL and my Passport, will that be all the documentation I need? Or before I can do anything will I have to get a SS card replaced?