Profile For Brian L.

I believe knight has their own school, or I thought they did. It's in Phoenix at their home terminal.

Our CDL program is located in Phoenix, AZ and is currently available to the residents of Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah. Please call for more details.

They do, if you live in one of these areas. But call a recruiter, it may be possible for people in other areas as well.

Also remember, review sites need to be taken with a grain of salt. Generally, people do not go to review sites to post their positive experiences, but they will almost certainly go to a site for a negative one. Point is that, for every bad experience you see, there are probably 100 good ones that nobody bothers to tell anyone about. It gives companies a bad name because all the general public sees are the bad ones.

Thanks for info. I live in Florida and would prefer to do school/training here. Live about hour from Tampa so would be perfect

Thanks Old School and Rainy for the honest comments. I can see now it's how you look at the big picture. Leaning more toward co. sponsored than private. Was really looking at Knight but they don't have co. schooling. Still have to work on covering my financial obligations while in school/training.

Thanks for the replies.

Spent a lot of time today researching companies and reading reviews. Wow. A lot of negatives on most of them. Granted, I know a lot are unhappy employee's, but still. I also noticed the low income for at least the 1st 6 months (thanks Rainy for sharing that point), which has me concerned. Add that to sitting idle a lot for various reasons, chasing down empties and every other scenario where you're not making miles. It doesn't paint an inviting career. Especially after investing around $5000 for private school. Which adds another monthly expense if unable to pay up front. If I calculated right, say an average of 70 hours of work (driving, loading, unloading, and any other task not on my own time), say, $800.00 for the week, that's only about $11.00 per hour. Am I missing something?

Any input appreciated.

First I guess I should say hello. So, hello. Second, thanks to all who have posted/commented on this site. The info here has blown my mind and has been very helpful. Ok. So I'm on the fence trying to decide to make a leap of faith or not. Here's why. I have been with my current employer for over 13 years. I do grounds maintenance/landscaping for a very large gated community. Pay is ok, benefits are great. Until recently, I loved my job. Loved working outdoors. Not sure the exact reason why I'm considering a career change. Part is financial. Getting older and want to lighten my debt load. Part is the hot summers are starting to really get to me. Not sure if they're getting hotter, I'm getting older or both. And the last part is, the work ethic (or lack thereof) of this younger generation is just depressing. No pride, no motivation, ect. I'm almost maxed out in my pay grade so not much more to be had without taking the next rung on the ladder. It's currently salary and not going there for the politics involved. Which brings me here. The money seems to be there to make, I love to drive, I like challenges (to a point) and am open-minded. I have been studying the training materials here and doing the research to prepare myself should I decide to do this. I'm trying to time all this to take place starting the new year. My ideal thought is to be regional then maybe local. I realize there is some OTR involved especially during training, but with a home to maintain, not ideal for me to be gone for long periods. Would prefer to do schooling close to home, either co. sponsored or private. There is a private school within driving distance that does weekend classes should I need to keep working . Haven't gotten to checking on co. sponsored in area yet. Need to make sure I could financially swing having at least a month of no income for this option. In a nutshell, starting over has me a little on edge. I loose all my benefits like 4 weeks of vacation, personal days, sick time and seniority. I'm pretty secure in my position having survived 7 management changes. But I'm losing my passion for what I do and getting to where I don't enjoy it. On the other hand, maybe something new is what I need. A new challenge. An adventure of sorts. I can definitely use the money and of what I've seen and heard, jobs are plentiful. I do have a couple of questions. Should I / can I, take my DOT exam 1st to make sure I pass before spending money on permit test/school, ect.? If a company offers tuition reimbursement, how does that work? Does it affect my pay? I know this is probably tough to answer, but, as a newbie/rookie, are there companies I should stay away from?

I guess that's all for now. Sorry so long. Thanks again for all the info. I still have a lot of reading to do.