Breaking A Company-sponsored Training Contract

I'm sure there was some sort of drawback to breaking a contract, especially with all the cost involved.

Absolutely, 100% no doubt about it!

Awww yeah my time to shine ! I have experience in this as I have gotten out of many bogus contracts in my day . my most famous including a title pawn ! lol

I am currently under contract with swift . I do not know for sure what a c.r England contract states but I bet it is similar. if you read the contract you are looking for is a what is called a non competitive agreement. what that is , it says that if you leave you can't work in the trucking industry for x amount of years . but unless c.r England is super tight I doubt they will have that in their contract .

what most company sponsored contracts deal with is the money they "spent to train you " and to make those weekly deductions out of your check until it is paid . if you leave early then the full amount of what left that you owe becomes due. if you can't pay it then it is reported on your credit , and they may go pursue you through a court if you don't pay it .

as far as any additional consequences would be lack of experience and no job . the tried and true advice to stay with your 1st company a year and for good reason . but a lot of company's will hire you with 6 months.

I graduated Swifts sponsored training class 545 . we had an initial group of 45. only 27 passed . and out off those 27 I know that 5 left swift the moment they got their cdl for another job . the only thing they had to do is just pay the fee or have it go on their credit . So that left us with 22 students . and I personally know 3 who left after a few months and got jobs else where . the only consequence is they just owe money.

don't feel trapped just because it is a "contract " . read it and I'm sure that you will find you have more options than you initially thought

I can relate my personal experience with this exact scenario.

I too was making less than desirable pay during training with PAM, but the straw that broke the camel's back for me, was being asked by my DM to pull trailers that could have cost me a scale ticket, or in one case could have caused a serious accident. I figured if I hung around much longer, I would end up tarnishing my perfect record, leaving me no choice but to stay with the training company for an extended period of time.

I was at the 6 month mark with PAM, and decided to call Crete and see if they were interested in me because I had heard they would start me at .45 per mile with only 6 months experience. I had a prefect driving record, with zero tickets, and no reports of damage to any tractors, trailers, or property. Crete jumped at the chance to rent me a car, and pay for me a taxi to get to the car rental. I went home for home time, cleaned out my truck, and got down to 2 duffle bags. Then I contacted my driver manager at PAM and gave him my 2 week notice, and started to work it out. I only had to continue to drive for them for 6 days, when they got me a load to Tontitown, AR. so I could turn in my tractor at the home terminal. I called Crete a week early, and asked if I could start orientation a week early. It only took them 3 hours to make all the arrangements, and get me a taxi and a rental car, and I started the journey to Lincoln, NE.

I was in orientation at Crete, when C1 started ringing my phone, and leaving voice mails. I returned their call, and they told me I owed them around $450.00. They didn't try to charge me the full $6000.00 like you hear some folks say they will, if you don't fulfill your "contract." I only paid around $50.00 per week during the 7 months I was at PAM, and then paid off the balance in three payments of $150.00 per week once I went over to Crete. C1 was really polite and professional about the entire situation, and never threatened me in any shape, form, or fashion.

From what I have been told, these training companies don't have to sweat new drivers leaving as bad as most folks would think, because they get around $15,000.00 subsidy from the government when a newly trained driver LEAVES the training company. Most folks don't really look at the big picture, but training companies are training new drivers to haul freight for the U.S. Government, in order to keep the freight moving, and the economy thriving. They aren't really concerned when a driver is leaving for a better company, because they know the driver will be able to easily pay the remaining balance on their schooling without blinking an eye. My contract also stated that I was obligated to team drive for at least 6 months, but when I explained to operations that I couldn't get any sleep in a moving truck, and would be a danger to myself, as well as others on the road, they immediately agreed to keep me running solo. These scenarios are classic examples of how dealing with people in the trucking industry can be compared to a game of chess. If you know how to get both their knights, they will wisely go into defense, to try and desperately hold on to their queen. If you don't know how to get their knights, they will bluff you, and end up taking yours.

If you have at least 6 months experience, and a clean driving record with the company that trained you, my advice would be to go ahead and secure employment elsewhere, so your training company can collect their subsidy money, and ready your old truck for a new student.

CRE "requires" a 9 month commitment, the first 6 of which are done as a team. If you are only taking home $300 as a team driver, that isn't good at all. It seems that there is more to this scenario, than has been given to us.

CRE, will most likely only ask for the balance of their costs to train you. The only company, that I know of that REQUIRES full completion of contract before leaving is CRST.

It seems that there is more to this scenario, than has been given to us.

There always is, ya know it? Every single time a driver comes in here blaming the company for their woes you know by the nature of the industry the driver either doesn't understand the circumstances properly or the driver is screwing up somehow. And that's coming from a driver, not someone in the offices.

Now first of all Deonte, you seem like a pleasant young man but you need a serious upgrade in your approach to pride and ethics:

my time to shine ! I have experience in this as I have gotten out of many bogus contracts in my day . my most famous including a title pawn ! lol

don't feel trapped just because it is a "contract "

So would you say your area of expertise is "walking out on commitments" or maybe "turning your back on people who believed in you"....those sound impressive.

First of all, if you're in a "bogus contract", whatever that means, then you didn't read it properly in the first place and that's on you. A smart person reads contracts thoroughly before signing them and isn't surprised by the terms later on if a dispute arises.

And I have news for you. If you entered into the contract without the intention of holding up your end of the bargain then you are a fraud, plain and simple. You're not clever, you're not a negotiator, you're deceptive and untrustworthy and that's nothing to be proud of.

I was raised in a small town by good, honest, hard working people and one of the countless principles I was raised on is an oldie but a goodie - "A man is only as good as his word". What you're going to find in life is that really good people won't have anything to do with you if they can't trust you. I'm talking about the kind of people anyone would be proud to call a friend, the type of people you know will be there for you during your toughest times. As soon as someone who is really worthy of being part of your life discovers you're "one of those guys" that's the last you'll ever hear from them. And that goes for employers, also, especially in an industry where trust is everything.

Now as far as the original concern we have with only making $300 a week, the question I have is why aren't you getting any miles? Are other drivers at your company getting better miles than you? If so, why? You have to talk around in the offices and find out what's going on. If you find everyone is slow then it's just a slow patch during the year, which is normal, and you'll be rolling strong again soon enough.

But listen, people. You have to understand something about the trucking industry. Part of being a top tier driver in this industry means knowing how to work with the people in your own company. The best drivers know they're doing an amazing job and once they've proven themselves to their company they can rightfully expect to be treated better than most. They're going to get better miles, get home on time, and get special favors once in a while that would only make dispatch laugh if a lower level driver were to ask for the same thing. But you have to put in the time first to prove yourself and then you have to know how to talk to people and who to talk to under the circumstances. At times the safety manager will bail you out. Other times the operations manager may be able to get things going in the right direction. Then again maybe you only need to have a talk with dispatch.

As a driver you have to learn how these companies work on the inside. You have to get to know the right people and you have to know how to talk to people when the time comes. No matter how good your point is it's going to fall on deaf ears if you approach people the wrong way.

The bottom line is that you can do well at any company if you're a top tier driver. The miles will be there, the home time will be there, and some special favors will be thrown in from time to time. If you've been working somewhere for a while and you never get good miles then it's on you to figure out the problem and get it fixed. If you're considering quitting your company because you're not getting good miles then fundamentally you don't understand how to make your way in this industry yet.

The bottom line is that you can do well at any company if you're a top tier driver. The miles will be there, the home time will be there, and some special favors will be thrown in from time to time. If you've been working somewhere for a while and you never get good miles then it's on you to figure out the problem and get it fixed. If you're considering quitting your company because you're not getting good miles then fundamentally you don't understand how to make your way in this industry yet.

I completely agree with Brett on this... in fact I saw this thread yesterday, but have just been running too hard to take the time to respond. I intentionally woke up about an hour earlier this morning with the intention of trying to shed some light on it. So many of the responses in here surprised me, but Deonte's were more like disturbing than surprising. People, commitment is a big piece of the puzzle that comes together when trying to formulate your success in this industry. I'm not going to pile on to the argument here - Brett made it perfectly clear - but I do want to say I wholeheartedly agree with what he said. I realize that C.R. England doesn't pay the highest wages, but for this driver to only be making 300 bucks a week there are other issues at play in this scenario. I started out earning .27 cents per mile, and still made some decent money at this.

You can always do what I did with prime. I was a company driver, kept all my trip documents and pay stubs. Went through them all and wrote down every mile they didn't pay me and sent an email to Stan Larsen stating that I wanted out of the contract and that the miles they shorted me was far more than the money owed for training. Contract negated

You can always do what I did with prime. I was a company driver, kept all my trip documents and pay stubs. Went through them all and wrote down every mile they didn't pay me and sent an email to Stan Larsen stating that I wanted out of the contract and that the miles they shorted me was far more than the money owed for training. Contract negated

Doesn't sound like they were too upset about losing you.

I don't suppose you have a copy of that email or any evidence of this lying around do you?

You can always do what I did with prime. I was a company driver, kept all my trip documents and pay stubs. Went through them all and wrote down every mile they didn't pay me and sent an email to Stan Larsen stating that I wanted out of the contract and that the miles they shorted me was far more than the money owed for training. Contract negated

Doesn't sound like they were too upset about losing you.

I don't suppose you have a copy of that email or any evidence of this lying around do you?

Is it a full moon? Good grief!

It's always a full moon this is the Internet.