Hey man, that's great. I too just got call from a recruiter from Driver Solution and will be starting school soon in Indianapolis. Big relief and hope things go well, for jobs are hard to find where I live, but everywhere for that matter. Keep us posted in how things are going as would be interested to hear what's coming.

Thanks.

 

Things are going well. The first week is almost all classroom. You deal with paperwork and medical stuff the first couple of days. If you dont have your class A permit when you get here...that will take a lot of your time. They will teach you other stuff in the first week as well. Logs, trip planning, map reading, hazmat, safety/mechanical stuff, and a lot of time is spent on the pre trip. The 2nd week is outside doing more pre trip and 4 pt air brake test, backing exercises, and road driving. If you are ready...you can graduate on Tue or Wed of the 3rd week.

Aside from passing written tests...to graduate you have to do the following. Pass the pre trip and 4 pt air brake test. Pass the range test which consists of 3 backing execises. Straight line backing, off side backing, and parallel parking. (This isnt hard with the quality training they are giving) Then you have to pass the road course.

I highly encourage people to get their class A permit before they come to school. That way you are ahead of the power curve and can focus on all the other stuff.

 

Got a pre hire from USA Truck a couple of weeks ago. I've read thru your post and I don't see where there's a firm commitment of employment. A "pre-hire" is not a job offer. That won't happen until after you've completed USA's training including final written and skills test. BOL

 

Your right. PAM and USA both sent some students home back in December when jobs were not available. Not the ideal situation for a new guy. But, you do what you gotta do.

 

This is a concern for me. What would happen if one goes through school with flying colors, achieving his CDL, only not to be hired at all....would then the person who was supposed to be "company sponsored" now be responsible for paying back the $6,000 tuition, which is overinflated in the first place? Anyone have any thoughts or hear of stories simular to this?

 

I havent heard of this happening since I have been here. But, if something happens and the company decides to not hire you...the school wont let you go forward and get your CDL. On the other hand...they may let you pay out of pocket at a reduced rate. If you dont have the money...its my understanding that they just send you home.

 

I finally graduated! lol It ended up taking me 3 1/2 weeks to get the school completed and pass the state driving test. (pre trip, range, and road course)

Driver Solutions/C1 was very helpful to me. I ended up making the state test harder than it was, but thats typical for me since I am a worry wart at times. lol Took me a while to get my head back on.

Now I am scheduled to go to Van Buren Arkansas for company orientation with USA on March 16th.

 

Congratulations! I will be starting with Roadmaster sometime in late March or Early April. I hope it goes well for me. After I get the CDL, I will be moving to Ohio. I hear driving jobs are OK up there. I'm looking to get in with Werner if they'll take me.
I hope your future is filled with many miles, lots of $$$, and the best career imaginable.
Good Luck!

Sidewinder

 

I hope you get a great trainer to cuddle with......I mean drive with. Remember to say something if they have you driving as team truck right off the bat. Sure hope your first truck,solo, is better than mine was.

Here's the story of my first truck with USA. So I go out with the trainer for 4.5 weeks, all of it running as a team by the way which I thought was normal as I did not know any better, then I get dropped off at Van Buren. Sat at the Van buren terminal, after all the requisite paperwork and orent. crap, for eight days waiting for a truck to be assigned to me. They finally tell me they have a truck ready for me but it is in Lansing MI.! So after an eternity on a Greyhound bus I arrive in MI. Take a cab from the bus depot to a small deisel repair shop where the truck was located. Go into to the shop to inquire about my future pimp-mobile and it's location. The guy at the counter tells me its out back and he did not know anybody was coming to pick it up, that it has been sitting there for three months, and hands me a shovel and says I am going to need it. Well after after shoveling three feet of snow just to get to the truck, I go to start it up and the batteries are completely dead. This is the first of many problems, I will get to the rest in a second, and I just want to preface by saying that for every problem I encountered required a call to the USA maintenance dept. with an average hold time of 45 mins. Once we get the batteries charged enough to start the truck the mechanic tells me the fuel has gelled in it.
Oh great, another call to USA. By this time the shop was closing, and I had no place to go and very limited funds. Luckily for me the owner/manager? of the shop had some sympathy for my situation and let me sleep in the shop overnite. I am entirely grateful for that till this day. USA told me to sleep in the truck's bunk with no heater and single digit temps. and that they would not even reimburse me for a motel, which I could not afford anyway. Mechanics came in the next morning and got my truck running for me after being in the heated shop all night. Another call to USA. They give me a load to pick up 300 miles away. Do a real good pre-trip on the truck and find out I have three flat tires. Another call to USA. They tell me to take it to a tire shop about 9 miles away. Getting somewhat frustrated, I get in the truck and attempt to head in that direction. As I pull out of the shop and on to the main drag and speed up I realize my truck will not go into any gear above fifth. Another call to USA. They tell me to just limp through dowtown at ten miles per hour to the tire shop, get the tires fixed, then drive it back to the first shop at ten miles per hour. So I do. Get the tires taken care of and head back to the original shop all the way with the truck redlining in fifth gear. Yeah, I was pissed by this time. Once back at the original shop, make yet another call to USA to get the transmission sorted out. Seven hours later they have the tranny problem sorted out. Another call to USA and I am off to pick up my first load three hundred miles away. And to top it all off, I did not get paid a single f@#king dime for everything I had to go through.

 

Thanks! I love your avatar. I am retired Air National Guard. The unit I was with flew F-16s until they got BRAC'd. (181st FW Terre Haute, IN)

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Yeah, I hope my first experience is better. When did you join USA? Who are you with now?