I've been having a discussion with the reporter of this article today. I'd like to see your opinions on it.

ksl.com - Utah trucking schools packed

Quote:
SALT LAKE CITY -- Many people who have lost their jobs are finding a new career in an industry still looking for workers: trucking. Some of the new truck drivers include former bankers, mortgage brokers and other business professionals.

Roadmaster Driver's School in West Valley is one of many driving schools across Utah, and across the country, that is seeing a huge increase in the number of people who want to become truck drivers. Kim Sanchez, who lives in West Jordan, is one of them.

"I lost my job back in March," Sanchez said. "It's terrible out there. I've applied for half the money I used to make and still couldn't get a job."

So, Sanchez turned to big rigs. He's one of several students earning his commercial driver license (CDL) at Sage Technical Services trucker school in North Salt Lake.

"I have to do something to feed my family," Sanchez said.

Guy Horn, who is the school director at Sage, says most of the people who sign up for his classes now have the same story.

"I've had pilots come through, guys with their MBAs; they're coming through and are ready for a change just because their current field is just not there anymore," Horn said.

He says he has noticed a huge increase in students in just the past few months.

"This year is definitely a double-digit increase from over last year," Horn said.

That also means competition for the top trucking jobs is increasing.

Ron Nichols, who runs Roadmaster Drivers School in West Valley, believes it's because more professionals with great resumes are turning to trucking.

"A couple of years ago, some of the people were questionable. Now we're seeing a lot of very qualified people," Nichols said. "It's just because so many big companies are laying off their employees, and then they're having a tough time finding good paying work."

Nichols says he opened another school in Brigham City recently to meet the demand for people wanting to earn their CDL.

"We've been the busiest this past year than ever. It's about double than when I came here in 2004," he said.

There is also a constant demand for truck drivers.

"We all want to keep eating, keep wearing clothes, and we like shopping," Nichols said. "All that stuff comes to stores on trucks."

Depending on the number of miles driven, truck drivers can earn $40,000 to $60,000 a year to start.

E-mail: [email protected]

and they will all be willing to work for peanuts. why give an experienced driver a pay raise when you can get somebody to work for next to nothing.

this seems to be true in every profession now a days

"I've had pilots come through, guys with their MBAs; they're coming through and are ready for a change just because their current field is just not there anymore," Horn said.
He says he has noticed a huge increase in students in just the past few months.
"This year is definitely a double-digit increase from over last year," Horn said. That also means competition for the top trucking jobs is increasing.

So do these guys that run the schools think these new drivers are going to step into the top positions just because they were pros at what they did? Hey Rev, let this reporter know that these guys will be LUCKY to start at about $30k a year IF they can even GET a job in a market thats flooded at this point.

as Bugs Bunny would say "what a bunch of maroons"

Sad but very true.

Welcome to the unregulated, free-market, non-union, global economy.

So far, everyone has missed the point that not many of these displaced workers from other professions will actually be good truck drivers.

It amounts to quantity without quality.

It will be interesting to see how many of these recent graduates will still be around once the economy picks up. On the other hand, I have met people from all walks of life who have made a move to this business. That has been over a number of years. It sounds to me as though these schools are raising people's expectations way too high.

the driving school recruters would make good dispatchers. LIE,LIE,LIE !!!!!!!!!!!

Whether they are good or not doesn't really matter when it comes to nonexistent jobs.

Actually I think a lot of them could turn out to be very good drivers. Many of them will understand customer service, the importance of making a good presentation, how to plan ahead and keep their paperwork well organized. Because of their educations a lot of them will probably have good business skills if they decide to become O/O's.

I saw something similar in real estate. A lot of agents snickered when the dot com bubble burst and a lot of those displaced workers went into real estate. It turned out that the former tech types could market themselves a lot better than many long established agents and were very willing to work harder at it as well.

I know my boss is chuckling over the number of applications he has sitting on his desk, and some of our drivers are getting weeded out. I imagine the same thing is happening throughout the entire industry. I'm not sure I'm entirely opposed if it gets rid of some of the chronic snivelers.