Profile For Jason E.

Jason, it’s a really bad time economically to do what you propose. Especially if you are still in CDL school with no experience.

Better for you to get a job with a reputable company and get several years of experience and learning under your belt. Failure rate for your plan would be extremely high.

I am long past CDL school; about eight years now and enough experience to know I don't want to drive again. I make more money at my regular job(s) that it would be a paycut. I don't imagine the failure rate can be too bad if I have no truck payment, no trailer payment, and out a good bit into the maintenance account. I have nothing to lose it seems and I could always just sell the truck or part it out to recoup purchase price.

Mercer Transportation does for sure.I drove for an owner for a few months in 2019

What made you quit so soon?

All the company sites talk about leasing on and me operating the truck. I'm looking to buy a truck in cash and hire a driver and only drive on his off time (if at all). They don't cover this - is this generally allowed? I'm looking to get my wheels turning without the huge cost of authority (and mostly 20% down on insurance). TIA.

I couldn't back for crap until my trainer shared this with me: You do not have to always have the wheels turned on the truck. Do not be afraid to straighten your truck wheels and let the trailer drift into place. This makes it a lot easier to chase since you have more time and less turning of the wheel, and it's much easier to add more pivot or stay neutral and easier to judge.

Also: Once the trailer is I'm the hole NEVER take it out. If that means pulling up six inches and going back and doing that ten times to only keep the ass in the spot then that's what you do.

After those tips I've been Docking 90 and 45 all day no problems. Good luck!

Hey all, So I'm about two days away from finishing my training at Werner. I knew despite their deceptive marketing that only the million safe mile drivers got an APU. However, I didn't think an inverter would be an issue. Come to find out yesterday, they don't even allow inverters!

I've got severe crohns disease so I'm on a pretty restricted diet. Going off that diet leaves me a mess! My trainer has an apu and so he has a cooler unit and a microwave. I was planning on getting the same, just using an inverter. In addition, my medication has to be kept cool. I also didn't see that being a problem. I've messaged safety about the issue and I'm waiting to hear back. Does anyone have a work around to this, since they expect us to live in the dark like cavemen?

Oh, geez. Where do I start? To be completely honest, I wouldn't recommend [School Name Withheld] to my worst enemy. They treat you as another check walking through the door and that's about it. Unfortunately, like many things, the recruiters will make promises that won't hold up once you're enrolled and getting into it. For me, I was promised that I would get to choose between the road/range class that went 5:30-14:00 or 14:30-23:00. I specifically spoke to the head of training (Mrs. T) way in advance to request this because I had doctors appointments and procedures that would cost me range time to attend. She said she would "try".

Shortly after, I found out I was placed in the morning class. That was my first strike. No big deal, I guess I'll have to miss a little bit. When I asked how I could make up this time I would miss because of my doctor visit and procedure I was basically told too bad, there's nothing I can do. Pretty sure there's an ADA violation there from a school receiving federal funds! I'm debating if it's worth complaining.

When we finally got broken up into our groups of three and put out on the range, things only got worse. I had to learn to drive and be proficient enough to drive in FIVE different trucks with three different transmissions in less than 10 days, because we kept having breakdowns. Those trucks being two freightliner, one international, a Volvo, and a KW. Even a prostar day cab. Everything was so broken down the school actually rented a day cab just so we could do maneuvers.

We started in a blue freightliner which had a check engine light on, but we were told to drive it anyways. It fell apart real quick when the night class came in. So the next morning, they put us in the black freightliner. This one had two engine light, a regen, and they abs light was on, but we were told to just drive it as well, it'd be fine. We'll, shortly after this truck broke down. Then they put us in the international, but somebody showed up late for their DMV test so they just yanked it from our group and gave it to that guy. For whatever reason, they felt it was right sticking my group with the broken trucks and sitting in the break room. All said and done, my group got about half the drive time they should have, because of Thanksgiving and the truck failures.

Oh, and if you have a complaint? Forget it. Mrs. T is an ex military drill sergeant that everyone is afraid to speak up to because they'll get "yelled" at. I'm pretty sure it's their jobs they're afraid of losing. Not being afraid I went to confront her about the joke of a process they use to get you your HAZMAT endorsement. I too got yelled at and then she began yelling at her secretary asking why I was still there and why was I standing in front of her door.

My instructor who I'll abbreviate as Mr. A was an inflated ego arsehole. He thought he knew everything there was to know. If you asked a question he would mock you and try to make you look stupid, or go on a long winded speech about some story on his life that nobody cares to hear, as if we had unlimited range time. I was scolded for reminding a fellow student while driving that he left his blinker on. He consistently talked crap behind the back of whoever was in the truck to the two people that were observing. My classmates and I confirmed this with each other. Mr. A believed I was a drug addict or some punk 21 year old skater kid up to no good. I don't want to be a part of an organization that treats it's students that way, but I was almost done and had already paid a large chunk of money so I stuck it out.

The office staff still uses paper for everything and is running the most disorganized operation I've ever seen. You can talk to them about something and go back ten minutes later and they have no idea who you are or what you're talking about.

I won't even go into the break room that had the stench of vomit for three straight weeks, so bad that I couldn't even eat my meals in there. There's also the small but irritating issue of the bathroom never having towels or soap. If you wanted soap or no vomit stench you had to go upstairs to the staff restroom, they had private restrooms but technically students aren't allowed to use those. Ha! Go figure.

All said and done, I'd say you should check out Southwest truck driver training, or absolutely ANYWHERE ELSE but [School name withheld]. At [School name withheld] the employees all have super trucker type attitude problems and will dance around your questions. You'll be lucky to get an answer, or a license.

Hope that helps!

Note: I left out names but you'll know who they are if you go there. Don't say I didn't warn you! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Congrats Jason! How was AIT? I'm planning to attend that school at the beginning of the year. I'm sure I past you a few times as I always saw the AIT truck driving down Craig road, or near Nellis. How were the instructors?

Mark, To be completely honest, I wouldn't recommend AIT to my worst enemy. They treat you as another check walking through the door and that's about it. Unfortunately, like many things, the recruiters will make promises that won't hold up once you're enrolled and getting into it. For me, I was promised that I would get to choose between the road/range class that went 5:30-14:00 or 14:30-23:00. I specifically spoke to the head of training (Mrs. T) way in advance to request this because I had doctors appointments and procedures that would cost me range time to attend. She said she would "try".

Shortly after, I found out I was placed in the morning class. That was my first strike. No big deal, I guess I'll have to miss a little bit. When I asked how I could make up this time I would miss because of my doctor visit and procedure I was basically told too bad, there's nothing I can do. Pretty sure there's an ADA violation there from a school receiving federal funds! I'm debating if it's worth complaining.

When we finally got broken up into our groups of three and put out on the range, things only got worse. I had to learn to drive and be proficient enough to drive in FIVE different trucks with three different transmissions in less than 10 days, because we kept having breakdowns. Those trucks being two freightliner, one international, a Volvo, and a KW. Even a prostar day cab. Everything was so broken down the school actually rented a day cab just so we could do maneuvers.

We started in a blue freightliner which had a check engine light on, but we were told to drive it anyways. It fell apart real quick when the night class came in. So the next morning, they put us in the black freightliner. This one had two engine light, a regen, and they abs light was on, but we were told to just drive it as well, it'd be fine. We'll, shortly after this truck broke down. Then they put us in the international, but somebody showed up late for their DMV test so they just yanked it from our group and gave it to that guy. For whatever reason, they felt it was right sticking my group with the broken trucks and sitting in the break room. All said and done, my group got about half the drive time they should have, because of Thanksgiving and the truck failures.

Oh, and if you have a complaint? Forget it. Mrs. T is an ex military drill sergeant that everyone is afraid to speak up to because they'll get "yelled" at. I'm pretty sure it's their jobs they're afraid of losing. Not being afraid I went to confront her about the joke of a process they use to get you your HAZMAT endorsement. I too got yelled at and then she began yelling at her secretary asking why I was still there and why was I standing in front of her door.

My instructor who I'll abbreviate as Mr. A was an inflated ego arsehole. He thought he knew everything there was to know. If you asked a question he would mock you and try to make you look stupid, or go on a long winded speech about some story on his life that nobody cares to hear, as if we had unlimited range time. I was scolded for reminding a fellow student while driving that he left his blinker on. He consistently talked crap behind the back of whoever was in the truck to the two people that were observing. My classmates and I confirmed this with each other. Mr. A believed I was a drug addict or some punk 21 year old skater kid up to no good. I don't want to be a part of an organization that treats it's students that way, but I was almost done and had already paid a large chunk of money so I stuck it out.

The office staff still uses paper for everything and is running the most disorganized operation I've ever seen. You can talk to them about something and go back ten minutes later and they have no idea who you are or what you're talking about.

I won't even go into the break room that had the stench of vomit for three straight weeks, so bad that I couldn't even eat my meals in there. There's also the small but irritating issue of the bathroom never having towels or soap. If you wanted soap or no vomit stench you had to go upstairs to the staff restroom, they had private restrooms but technically students aren't allowed to use those. Ha! Go figure.

All said and done, I'd say you should check out Southwest truck driver training, or absolutely ANYWHERE ELSE but AIT. At AIT the employees all have super trucker type attitude problems and will dance around your questions. You'll be lucky to get an answer, or a license.

Hope that helps!

Note: I left out names but you'll know who they are if you go there. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hey ya'll, I'm heading to Werner's Phoenix Terminal this Thursday for the orientation that starts Friday. Anybody else gonna be around there that time? Perhaps even for orientation as well? Let me know!

Best, Jason E.

Hello Everyone, I'm making this post for two reasons. First, I graduated trucking school Friday with a Class A CDL fully endorsed! Second, I can not express a big enough thank you to all the mods, members, and managers of Truckingtruth.com! Two weeks of classroom and two weeks split between the road and range is not enough time to learn everything, but thanks to this site I graduated the top of my class and was extremely proficient in everything from the DMV written tests, to range maneuvers, and even driving and double clutching! Thank you, everyone. Here's to a long lasting relationship, career, and all the friends I will make along the way!

Best Regards, Jason E.

Hey Folks, I'd like to have a companion on the road with me. I'm thinking a cat because they are small, tidy, and self grooming and they don't like to get filthy anymore than I'd want him to! I notice a lot of people seem to keep a litter box in their truck with them. I'm not sure if this is something I could, or would want, to get used to though. I don't like the possibility of a smell, or sand everywhere. So I'm wondering if anyone has had any luck training a cat to go outside instead of a litter box?

Best, Jason Eyerly