Bloomberg Article On Blue Collar Student Debt

Eh...find a company sponsored school that pays for training. Prime advances you $200 per week while you have your permit which is 3 weeks or so. Then you get $700 gross per week.

Other companies pay from the start but pay less per week. Save some money before you go. Don't go against your convictions and put the kids in school...make the wife work. By the time she finds a job you would be getting paid or perhaps done training!

Paid CDL Training Programs

• Trucker's Career Guide: Choosing Your First Truck Driving Job
• Article Category: Finding The Right Truck Driving Job
• Forum Topics Tagged "Choosing A Trucking Company"

Trucking Company Reviews

Excellent advice, Rainy. I have hijacked this thread and I apologize for that, it wasn't my intent, but I'll reply real quick if that's okay. I am going with Prime, will be starting Orientation on the 28th. My wife is already working--she drives the taxi a few hours a day, enough to pay our basic bills during the transition--but my leaving corresponds with the cab being paid off and the plan was to take it out of service when it's paid off. She can't home school the kids and work, so the funding was just to pay the bills during the PSD period. But the reality is I believe this is working out exactly as it is supposed to work out. All is falling into place perfectly, we got them into a good school, she's happy to continue working for another month...yeah, it's all positive in the end. I guess I'm more upset that I'm not going to get a new--new to me--laptop. My shift keys are out, and let me tell you, it's hard to type without shift keys!

You will be sooooo exhausted during training you Wont t have time. Bad internet too most of the time.

Its a good goal...get the laptop as an upgrade gift for yourself lol

Good luck

You will be sooooo exhausted during training you Wont t have time. Bad internet too most of the time.

Its a good goal...get the laptop as an upgrade gift for yourself lol

Good luck

You bet, that's a great update gift to myself. I'd use an exclamation point there...but no shift keys...

Well I have to disagree with the consensus that this article is merely a smear piece and say that it's a good fair warning to do your homework before making a commitment to any company. There are valid reasons to choose CR England or CRST but any time you see a company offering shorter contracts, bigger sign on bonuses, and shorter training times; you need to ask yourself why they are making such offers and what the cost is to you.

The non-compete contracts are also a dirty secret that I think are not discussed enough and job seekers who are stressed out and desperate are not adequately prepared to be hit by them.

Just do your homework. Sometimes when people are desperate and making emotional decisions about a new career, some harsh anecdotes will grab their attention more than than logic and data will. We can't crawl inside the author's head and know her true intentions but if she makes people pause and think before making a career leap, that's not a bad thing.

Personally, I'm about to complete a year with my company after going through company paid training and I'm happy with my decision. I'm glad I did my research before though. Different companies are definitely better for different people and the job is definitely not for everybody.

The non-compete contracts are also a dirty secret that I think are not discussed enough and job seekers who are stressed out and desperate are not adequately prepared to be hit by them.

Ok, let me give you a scenario, turn things around a bit.

Say I came to you one day and said, "Man, I'm totally broke. I'm getting to the point of depression. My family is getting ready to lose their house. I can't find work, I have no real marketable skills, and I could really use some help."

You, being the nice guy that you are with quite a bit of money in the bank and a solid trucking career with stable finances decide to help out. You say, "Yeah, Brett. I'd love to help you out. I'm in a great position to do so, too. But you're not my child, you're a grown man, so I'm going to lend you the money and once your career is established I want you to pay me back."

Me, being desperate and at a dead end in my life, agree wholeheartedly and I'm thankful for the opportunity.

Fast forward two months later and my trucking career is going strong. I have my CDL , I've completed training, and I'm out there running solo making $45,000 my rookie year. But the thing is, I'm not as concerned about you as you were about me and I decide I'm not going to pay you back. Screw you. Life is too short and if you're too dumb to hang onto your money then you must not need it like I do. I'm all about me.

So I keep your cash and I keep the fat paychecks I'm making with the new career you just financed for me and I don't lose a wink of sleep over it. You hear through the grapevine that I'm mocking you behind your back to everyone I come across, talking about what an idiot you are and how I pulled one over on you.

Now how stupid does it sound to have someone sign a contract to repay their debts, either through work or through cash?

If you own a house, aren't you under contract to pay back the loan?

If you get a loan for college, aren't you under contract to pay back the loan?

As a business owner, if another business hires you to do work for them, wouldn't you expect to be under contract to complete the work for the money they're paying you?

Please, explain to me in greater detail how it's a "dirty little secret" that a company would expect you to work for them in return for financing your new career for you. Because obviously there's something about this agreement that I just don't get. Help me out.

I think you're referring to the employment contract to work off your schooling which makes perfect sense. I'm talking about the non-compete contract which says you are not allowed to work for another trucking company for several years even after fulfilling the terms of your employment contract.

Students are told about the employment contract but not the non-compete contract until they often quit their jobs and travel to their CDL schools. Then they are handed the contract and told to sign or not sign on the spot without having an attorney look at it or to do any research on it.

Any contracts need to be discussed with transparency before students make a decision to go through a company's training.

The non-compete contracts are also a dirty secret that I think are not discussed enough and job seekers who are stressed out and desperate are not adequately prepared to be hit by them.

Ok, let me give you a scenario, turn things around a bit.

Say I came to you one day and said, "Man, I'm totally broke. I'm getting to the point of depression. My family is getting ready to lose their house. I can't find work, I have no real marketable skills, and I could really use some help."

You, being the nice guy that you are with quite a bit of money in the bank and a solid trucking career with stable finances decide to help out. You say, "Yeah, Brett. I'd love to help you out. I'm in a great position to do so, too. But you're not my child, you're a grown man, so I'm going to lend you the money and once your career is established I want you to pay me back."

Me, being desperate and at a dead end in my life, agree wholeheartedly and I'm thankful for the opportunity.

Fast forward two months later and my trucking career is going strong. I have my CDL, I've completed training, and I'm out there running solo making $45,000 my rookie year. But the thing is, I'm not as concerned about you as you were about me and I decide I'm not going to pay you back. Screw you. Life is too short and if you're too dumb to hang onto your money then you must not need it like I do. I'm all about me.

So I keep your cash and I keep the fat paychecks I'm making with the new career you just financed for me and I don't lose a wink of sleep over it. You hear through the grapevine that I'm mocking you behind your back to everyone I come across, talking about what an idiot you are and how I pulled one over on you.

Now how stupid does it sound to have someone sign a contract to repay money.

If you own a house, aren't you under contract to pay back the loan?

If you get a loan for college, aren't you under contract to pay back the loan?

As a business owner, if another business hires you to do work for them, wouldn't you expect to be under contract to complete the work for the money they're paying you?

Please, explain to me in greater detail how it's a "dirty little secret" that a company would expect you to work for them in return for financing your new career for you. Because obviously there's something about this agreement that I just don't get. Help me out.

I'm talking about the non-compete contract which says you are not allowed to work for another trucking company for several years even after fulfilling the terms of your employment contract.

What companies have contracts like this? The only one I've ever heard of is that you aren't allowed to work for another carrier until you either pay off your financial debt to the company or stay for the term they specify (typically 9 months to a year, sometimes up to 2 years).

I think you're referring to the employment contract to work off your schooling which makes perfect sense. I'm talking about the non-compete contract which says you are not allowed to work for another trucking company for several years even after fulfilling the terms of your employment contract.

They are one in the same. If they pay for your schooling they expect you to work there for a certain amount of time to pay it off, or pay them in cash. If you don't pay them in cash or work for them for a specified amount of time you won't be allowed to steal their training funds and use your CDL to go work for one of their competitors. No one is in the business of training drivers for their competitors.

I do not know of any contracts that say you have to work for a company for a specified amount of time unless they paid for your training. Do you know of any companies that are doing this?

Again, this whole idea of "beware of certain major carriers" is just total baloney. Always has been. You've even been in the industry for a little while, you've listened to our teachings for quite a long time, and yet here you are telling everyone to beware of certain companies because they're out to get you.

I realized years ago there is no possible way to eliminate these false premises entirely. I'm going to die at 110 years old and the day before I do I'll be on here dispelling the same myths I had been dispelling for 75 years.

I do not know of any contracts that say you have to work for a company for a specified amount of time unless they paid for your training. Do you know of any companies that are doing this?

And let me ask you this. What if they were asking you to sign a contract? Companies pay an average of $500 - $1,200 per driver on recruiting efforts alone. Tack on another $2,000 or more for the complete price it costs to hire a new employee. If they wanted you to commit to working there for one year to make sure they don't blow $3,200 just so you can bail in two weeks over nothing, what would be wrong with that?

There is a lot of "one way street" thinking or "all about me" thinking. People want great pay, great equipment, insurance and other benefits, great treatment, and a company that will stand behind them. Just don't ask for any sort of commitment in return.

For most people, being unemployed can be tragic for their family's finances and is one of the toughest problems we face as a society, except in trucking where if a company wants to guarantee your employment you're suddenly a slave to corporate America.

They are not one in the same. The non-compete clause is a separate contract. (I know because I've signed both an employment contract as well as a non-compete contract). The non-compete clause is a separate contract saying that after you leave the company, you can not go to work with a company in direct competition for a period of 1-3 years thereafter depending on the company who is issuing the contract without paying a large fee first. This is regardless of whether you have completed the terms of your training/employment contract and have thus effectively paid off.

No one is denying that there are sound and fair business reasons to issue such a contract. Nobody should be hit up with such a potentially binding contract without having a chance to research it first though. When you've already quit your job and travelled cross country to go through CDL training is not the time to present a contract to anyone no matter how fair the contract is.

Beware of certain major carriers? Never said it. Beware of ANY carrier especially when signing a contract. If anyone takes what I wrote that way, I will say that I worked on a dock before driving that had mostly independent drivers or drivers from small companies come in and I personally saw some of the worse of the worst drivers regularly in some of the worst equipment. We contracted some Swift drivers for awhile and I was like "man, these guys are pros!" They were so much better and more professional than the usual drivers we got in there. I had no clue about the company's reputation then and was surprised when I learned of it.

I'm about to complete my rookie year with a large company and have been looking at other possibilities. You just don't know what you're jumping into with a smaller company though and I'm even more leery of them with less information and transparency available.

I'm saying the same thing you guys are saying. To do your homework using the tools on the site here and choose your company carefully. You need to be prepared for any contracts you may have to sign to do so though.