Company Truck Driving School

[continued] Your first six months: To start with, one thing that sets England apart from most other companies is that you don't pay for school. Nothing upfront, nothing taken out of your check, no reimbursement. If you fulfill your contract(mine was 8 month, I hear they're doing 10 month ones now), you never have to pay a penny for the school.

School with England is ten days long. The first three days is classroom stuff, the second three days are driving on the road(shifting course, cornering, mountain driving, one day each). The third three days is backing, with the tenth day being additional practice as needed and testing. During this time you'll be put in a 'hotel' of some kind. They aren't five star, and frankly the one in Salt Lake sucks(8 person dorm rooms), but for free school and getting into a great career, I find it to be an acceptable hell to go through.

At the end of your ten days you're put with a trainer on a truck. They are constantly changing the length of time required here, but it tends to work out to about three weeks. During this time you'll be evaluated, given instruction, as well as get routed through your home state to take your paper test and get your Class A. You are forbidden from going home during this period, however.

After you finish whatever amount of time they want from you in that portion of training that week, you'll get routed to one of our terminals where you'll go through a day long upgrade class and test. On successful completion you become a Phase II driver and get placed with a Phase II Lead driver, and the two of you drive as a team for about a month(a set number of miles/hours, but this they change frequently too). This is your first opportunity to take home time. This is also the most ridiculous period in England employment, teaming up two drivers with a combined experience of less than six months. It was originally designed to help out lease operators when they were pushing leases a lot and having a lot of people default. Now it just seems like a terrible program.

After you finish up your time on that truck, you go back and upgrade again(nearly identical class and test), and upon successful completion of that you are given your own truck and your own second seat Phase II driver. This portion lasts until six months from hire or you get brought onto one of the regional or dedicated accounts. If you aren't brought onto regional or a dedicated account you can choose to either become a trainer or a Phase II Advanced Lead.

I'm happy with England. There are aspects of other companies that are certainly better, but so long as you get those wheels moving you can have a great(and yes, well paying) career with England.

I don't know if or anyone has posted on Wil-Trans/Jim Palmer; but here is my .02... While speaking with recruiters (or wolves) for most of the day today; I spoke with a very pleasant lady from Wil-Trans/Jim Palmer. She spoke to me like I was a member of the family, and not jamming a truck or school down my throat. She brought up some different ways of thinking things through, in regards to my wife and daughter. It's been a good 12hrs since I spoke with her; and it is literally the only thing on my mind. I was so struck by the way she handled the application/process, I most likely will go with them just based off her and the "family" approach. I'm now researching the in's/out's of JP/Wil-Trans... but i'm fairly confident that's who gets my vote

Two companies you can apply to with our application right here on the website are Wil-Trans and Jim Palmer. They are both owned by the same family and they have an interesting story. They're actually under the Prime umbrella because they get most of their freight through Prime. They also do a lot of things the same way, such as their training itinerary. However, they are run as completely separate companies from Prime. They do their own dispatching, their own hiring, and their own training. They're smaller companies than Prime, but they're still very large carriers and they enjoy a lot of the benefits that larger carriers have because of their association with Prime. I would highly suggest you talk to those people also and see what you think. It's kind of an interesting mix of a slightly smaller family-owned company but with advantages of a super large carrier.

Apply for company-sponsored training

Company-sponsored Training:

A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.

The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.

If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.

Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Old school I am extremely proud that I was able to get the United States Government to pay for my cdl schooling. My companies that I worked for over 10 years decided to start making their product overseas. Are government has decided that this is ok and to just retrain workers who lost there job to foreign trade. I though my life was over and then I learned that I was getting to go back to school. Any two year school that I wanted. I picked trucking because it would be a quick fix to an extreme hardship for me and my family . So I would encourage everyone comming into this to get down to your state jobs center and see what they can do for you. Im not really saying a private school is superior because it isn't. I couldn't drive s truck to save my life after cdl school.lol. However there are a whole lot of companies who don't hire people unless they have there cdl already.

In 3 to 4 weeks you will have your cdl and then you will have your pick of the litter. And you will have that if you go to a half decent trucking school. I had an offer from every major trucking company that takes on students in the country 2 weeks before I got my CDL. This let me pick the company that worked the very best for me. I picked my wage, my home time, my health insurance, my freight and the list goes on and on.

Bob, you are really throwing out some unique opinions here today. This is not the type of forum that just allows everybody to throw out their opinions on how to go about getting started in trucking. There is a really good reason why Brett named his site "Trucking Truth." We like to deal in facts, not baseless opinions. We are trying like crazy to provide factual information for newcomers to our industry and it makes it hard when people just throw out something like you've done here. The companies that are providing Paid CDL Training Programs are some of the top rated companies in our country - that is partially why they are able to do such a thing. There are plenty of companies that one can choose from when they go the company sponsored route, they still get to make their "pick of the litter" as you called it. They just make their choice before going to school as opposed to the way that you are so enamored with - after going to school. What is the problem with that?

You seem to have that attitude that you were a free agent, a rock star who was able to call all his own shots! And yet somebody else paid for your ability to make such a claim - are you really proud of the way you have presented this?

I've got to tell you that I would reconsider my position on this if I were you, but you've already thrown it all out there so why don't you try to break it down for us with some facts and show us why this approach is so superior to a person who makes a commitment to a company who is willing to take them on, make an investment in them, and give them a shot at working for one of the top rated trucking companies in the country? I'd love to hear what you have to say about it.

Old school I am extremely proud that I was able to get the United States Government to pay for my cdl schooling.

Proud? Really? Why would you be proud of that? That's not an accomplishment. Are you one of these "participation trophy kids" who was taught to be proud of themselves even when you've done nothing to be proud of?

People nowadays sure do have a completely different way of seeing the world than what I was taught growing up.

Hey now gosh come on. I never said I was proud until old school insinuated that I seemed proud and I'm not embarrassed of the fact that the tax payers payed for my cdl. I been a tax payer all my life and worked harder physically and put in more hours over the last 20 years than most people have in their whole life times 2! Im sorry for putting it out there that there are grants and other such government funding to get your cdl. Our government isnt all bad and these type of opurtunitys to get back on your feet or to just retrain for another career are nothing to be ashamed of. Now this will be my last post on here ever but I will continue to read on here like I have for the last year and I will continue to listen to the podcast as I'm rolling down the road on 18 wheels. Good stuff here and reading and listening to this stuff has probably been part of the reason I'm consider an A driver by my company even though I've only been driving solo maybe 6 months. It's probably the reason I'm getting paid like the top 10 percent of drivers even though I still struggle to do a 90 sight side at the truck stop with tight lanes. I know I'm still a rookie and I'm not expecting my trophy for 2 years of this stuff. Anyway I know how good this forum is and I'm more self aware than you know and I know how my style can dirty up a thing like the trucking truth so farewell to all and to all a good night. PS "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you." I know I came off like company sponsored school is junk and private is great. I came off wrong I know this now. It's obviously better to go to a private school And I just wanted to help and I made myself look like a fool. SEE YA :) I needed to get it out there that many people going to company sponsored schools are eligible to go to a private school using government grants and I went about it like a real idiot. I app la gize

Old school I am extremely proud that I was able to get the United States Government to pay for my cdl schooling.

Proud? Really? Why would you be proud of that? That's not an accomplishment. Are you one of these "participation trophy kids" who was taught to be proud of themselves even when you've done nothing to be proud of?

People nowadays sure do have a completely different way of seeing the world than what I was taught growing up.

It's obviously better to go to a private school And I just wanted to help

Bob, forgive me for the "proud" remark. Somehow we got sidetracked with that word. What the real problem I'm having with what you stated is just exactly what I quoted above, from this post.

How do you support that statement? I cannot agree with your logic about getting your "pick of the litter." That is the sole reason I challenged what you were saying. I just didn't want other folks who are in here trying to figure out how to get started in this career thinking that private school is the best way to go about it. That just isn't true.

Bob responded with one of the largest piles of baloney I've seen in a very long time. I mean, it was like a terminal rat rally speech! For those who aren't familiar with terminal rats I devoted a podcast to it. Anyone coming into the trucking industry really should listen to this because you're going to come across these people on a regular basis so you need to recognize them and understand why they're saying the things they're saying:

Episode 10: Terminal Rats Are Derailing Trucking Careers

I'm afraid Bob's pile of baloney won't be published today, and well, Bob won't be published at all here on TruckingTruth anymore I'm afraid. But I thought one part of his terminal rat rally speech was just classic, and it was the only factual statement he made so I thought I'd share it. After going on and on with all of the classic baloney you normally hear from terminal rats - the conspiracy theories, the "rock star" theory of getting to choosing amongst competing companies, the ability to leave any company you want at the drop of a hat - he wraps up his entire thesis with this exact quote:

I mean I could go on and on but I really don't have the personal experience with this to make any sort of factual statement so I won't.

- Bob D (former contributor to our forum)

It's common to hear people go on and on about things they know nothing about. It's rare for them to do so and then admit they should stop because they actually don't know anything about what they're talking about!

I'm just dyin' laughin' over here. I mean, we can't say he doesn't know anything. He obviously knew one thing but discovered it after he had said too much I'm afraid.

It's common to hear people go on and on about things they know nothing about. It's rare for them to do so and then admit they should stop because they actually don't know anything about what they're talking about!

I'm just dyin' laughin' over here. I mean, we can't say he doesn't know anything. He obviously knew one thing but discovered it after he had said too much I'm afraid.

That is too funny!

I will try to engagae someone like this because it will sometimes turn into an informative discussion, or maybe just make it more obvious how delusional they are. Rarely do they go on and on long enough that they get to the point of convincing themselves of their delusion though.

To those of you following this thing, I'll be happy to let you know that I attended a private school, and I believe Brett did also. Neither of us takes the position that it is a superior way to go. There are some great options to getting started in this career and there is not a single one that stands out as "the best."

The way you do well in this business has little to do with how you get started, but everything to do with how you produce. We all start out on an equal playing field - none of us have much of a clue, no matter what type of schooling we had. Productivity, Safety, and Reliability will get you somewhere in this business, and I've yet to see a truck driving school that focuses their efforts on those things.

The purpose of the schools is to get you licensed. Private schools do that just as well as the Paid CDL Training Programs. After you are licensed and can drive a rig legally then you'll go out with a trainer. Their responsibility is to get you up to speed with some bare minimum requirements so that you can understand how to operate on your own in one of the company's trucks. You are still not "Productive, Safe, or Reliable" yet. Those qualities will need to be developed and proven on your own. That's how it works - they give you a chance, and you step up your game, proving you're up to the challenge.

Bob makes it sound as if he has stepped up to the challenge, and that may be something to "be proud of." To assume he got there because he had his "pick of the litter" is delusional.