My Local CDL School Shut Down.

Sushi Boy, I went the private school route, but only because my employer at the time offered a scholarship that covered the cost of my CDL school so I only had $200 out of pocket.

I had to share 3 trucks with almost 20 students in 3 different phases of school. It was a nightmare. We attended part time on weekends. Look back and see what I went through. I was determined, knew exactly what to expect, and made it. I don't regret my company choice for my first driving job.. I'm still there and now a trainer for them, BUT for my choice of school, had I not had the unique opportunity of that scholarship, I would have hands down gone the company sponsored training route.

Out of that 20 or so, only 5 of us made it (4 from my class), and only 3 of us are still driving (2 from my class), but the other gal I attended school with had some personal issues she had to resolve.. quit driving for 5 months or so and only recently returned to driving. I am the only driver out of that whole fiasco that immediately went to a company, completed company training, and am still employed by that same company.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND COMPANY SPONSORED SCHOOLS. You'll have a higher chance of success. I only made it because my ex taught me to drive 20 years ago, I knew exactly what I was getting into and was extremely motivated and determined to succeed.

I had my eye on Prime but wanted Regional home weekly, which my current company offers to brand new drivers.. in fact, Midwest Regional is my employers core market. Ironically that home weekly thing went right out of the window because I loved it so much and within 6 months, decided I wanted to go OTR and stay out for 2-3 weeks at a time.

I don't know, I'm sure Swift had me running some of the easier / shorter routes during my ten days at Walmart dedicated boot camp. But then again I was still running Philadelphia and New Jersey mostly at night in the winter.

I actually liked it after the first couple of days but I got bored rather quickly. I wouldn't mind running Walmart but returning to the same DC every day really isn't what I had in mind at this point.

JJ

Oooops, that probably would have made more sense if it followed Rainy's post. I hate typing on this phone. LOL!

JJ

Sushi Boy, I went the private school route, but only because my employer at the time offered a scholarship that covered the cost of my CDL school so I only had $200 out of pocket.

I had to share 3 trucks with almost 20 students in 3 different phases of school. It was a nightmare. We attended part time on weekends. Look back and see what I went through. I was determined, knew exactly what to expect, and made it. I don't regret my company choice for my first driving job.. I'm still there and now a trainer for them, BUT for my choice of school, had I not had the unique opportunity of that scholarship, I would have hands down gone the company sponsored training route.

Out of that 20 or so, only 5 of us made it (4 from my class), and only 3 of us are still driving (2 from my class), but the other gal I attended school with had some personal issues she had to resolve.. quit driving for 5 months or so and only recently returned to driving. I am the only driver out of that whole fiasco that immediately went to a company, completed company training, and am still employed by that same company.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND COMPANY SPONSORED SCHOOLS. You'll have a higher chance of success. I only made it because my ex taught me to drive 20 years ago, I knew exactly what I was getting into and was extremely motivated and determined to succeed.

I had my eye on Prime but wanted Regional home weekly, which my current company offers to brand new drivers.. in fact, Midwest Regional is my employers core market. Ironically that home weekly thing went right out of the window because I loved it so much and within 6 months, decided I wanted to go OTR and stay out for 2-3 weeks at a time.

Wow Sue. Never knew you felt that way. I'm really glad to see your point of view.

My trainee went to a private school that had HIGH standards. After going to work all day. I think she was much more frustrated in class at night.

But I will say that she is good. Did she need practice, of course. But I knew right away she'd do great. However her dad was a truck driver. So like Sue, she knew what she was getting into.

Its about attitude. And knowing yourself. I was afraid that I'd be distracted if I went to a local school. Instead, I was able yo concentrate 100% 24/7 on trucking and learning.

I suppose that's going to be one of the big differences is that in company school, they're generally accelerated so you have to make absolutely sure you're keeping up. Not much room at all for not getting something, where in a private school you generally have longer and can work with an instructor if you feel you're not grasping something right.

In the same vein, though, length of the course isn't everything. My current company's school is 10 days long and, save for those special little Einsteins that show up with dirty urine, it's got a pretty high graduation rate. It's not like it's rocket science, but having more time to understand things can be a good thing.

Sushi Boy, I went the private school route, but only because my employer at the time offered a scholarship that covered the cost of my CDL school so I only had $200 out of pocket.

I had to share 3 trucks with almost 20 students in 3 different phases of school. It was a nightmare. We attended part time on weekends. Look back and see what I went through. I was determined, knew exactly what to expect, and made it. I don't regret my company choice for my first driving job.. I'm still there and now a trainer for them, BUT for my choice of school, had I not had the unique opportunity of that scholarship, I would have hands down gone the company sponsored training route.

Out of that 20 or so, only 5 of us made it (4 from my class), and only 3 of us are still driving (2 from my class), but the other gal I attended school with had some personal issues she had to resolve.. quit driving for 5 months or so and only recently returned to driving. I am the only driver out of that whole fiasco that immediately went to a company, completed company training, and am still employed by that same company.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND COMPANY SPONSORED SCHOOLS. You'll have a higher chance of success. I only made it because my ex taught me to drive 20 years ago, I knew exactly what I was getting into and was extremely motivated and determined to succeed.

I had my eye on Prime but wanted Regional home weekly, which my current company offers to brand new drivers.. in fact, Midwest Regional is my employers core market. Ironically that home weekly thing went right out of the window because I loved it so much and within 6 months, decided I wanted to go OTR and stay out for 2-3 weeks at a time.

Wow! That definitely sounds like a mess. I have spoken with a school not too far from me that does weekends but I'm sure it would be similar to the situation you described.

After a few calls today it's looking more like company sponsored may be my only option.

Thanks!!

I don't know, I'm sure Swift had me running some of the easier / shorter routes during my ten days at Walmart dedicated boot camp. But then again I was still running Philadelphia and New Jersey mostly at night in the winter.

I actually liked it after the first couple of days but I got bored rather quickly. I wouldn't mind running Walmart but returning to the same DC every day really isn't what I had in mind at this point.

JJ

I was able to talk to a Walmart driver a couple of days ago and he seemed upbeat about his future with them given the latest competition with Amazon.

So Swift runs for Walmart? I thought most of their drivers were employees.

I don't know, I'm sure Swift had me running some of the easier / shorter routes during my ten days at Walmart dedicated boot camp. But then again I was still running Philadelphia and New Jersey mostly at night in the winter.

I actually liked it after the first couple of days but I got bored rather quickly. I wouldn't mind running Walmart but returning to the same DC every day really isn't what I had in mind at this point.

JJ

I was able to talk to a Walmart driver a couple of days ago and he seemed upbeat about his future with them given the latest competition with Amazon.

So Swift runs for Walmart? I thought most of their drivers were employees.

They contract out to other companies. Mainly for the refrigerated freight. Wal-Mart has some tougher hiring requirements, but take good care of there drivers. I did walmart dedicated with swift for a while out of Los Lunas, NM and we deliver to most of the west Texas Wal-Mart's. Lubbock, Amarillo, Hereford, etc.

I went to a private school in my hometown in southeastern Iowa. The about $4000 tuition was covered under a program called GAP. Don't remember what the qualifications were, but I didn't pay anything upfront or afterwards. Pretty much, I got free schooling off the tax payers dime. I had a job lined up for me with Schneider going in from a referral from my uncle who gave me a 2 week ride along. I knew from what he was telling me that I'd have to start as being OTR or regional before thinking about going local, so I knew what I was getting into.

On day 1, the instructor asked us if we were wanting to do local or OTR right out of school. About 4 of us, class of 6, said OTR. He told the other 2 that said local pretty much what everyone on here is saying, you need at least 1 year experience to be considered local. They changed their minds quickly.

We had 2 trucks to share between us, old 2005 freightliners and very old trailers, all donated by Schneider. You could still see some orange underneath the paint. 2 driving instructors who, combined had about 10m safe miles in their careers. In the 6 week M-Th 0800-1600 program, we got about 1.5h a day driving and about 45m-1h a day backing. All of us passed, one barely. We were all pretty sure he only had 1 point to spare after his skills test. As far as I know, I'm the only one who's made it as an OTR driver. One of my truck mates tried, but family couldn't keep him away so he got a school bus job for about 4mo then got a local job with Dr Pepper. My other truck mate got hired at West Side for OTR and loved it, but family issues caused her to quit and she's now out of the industry.

TL;DR: I tend to ramble completely off topic, and private school can be beneficial if you go in with a pre-hire arranged.

Sushi Boy thought:...

So Swift runs for Walmart? I thought most of their drivers were employees.

Yes and actually, no.

Walmart has many transportation partners running grocery store and Sams Club deliveries and vendor backhauls; reefer and dry, Schneider, Swift, Prime, US Express and Werner to name the top few. It is primarily regional work typically assigned to a single D.C. Or split between 2 that overlap.

From what I have observed at the grocery DCs it's about 50/50 split between Walmart Private Fleet drivers and Transportation Partner drivers.

Search on Walmart; use the search bar in the upper left corner. Lots of info has been written about it.