Friend Not Liking Paid Training/Question

Many of the mega carriers use simulators before you go out in the truck. The point was to learn the pattern. As PJ stated.... You are required to test in the manual truck. Not a Sim so I would be concerned of a school who charges to train on manual then doesnt.

I personally think training and learning in the auto is better for some people for a couple of reasons....

1) After you have experience in turns, traffic, lane control.... You could test in a manual a year later and the test would be a breeze. The only thing you would be nervous about is the shifting with a limit on the number of points you can receive on the test

2) most likely you will be trained on an auto at a mega carrier because insurance prices are outrageous for new drivers. After a year of auto...if you go to Old Dominion or others and have to test for a job, you would have been out of a manual that you never drove regularly and all sticks and clutches are different. That means schooling closer to your new company hire date would be more helpful.

Paying for school or going through paid training is your decision to make, you've been given good advice on that question so I won't offer more. Just be aware that the only thing having a CDL does is make you exempt from the test. You're still going to have to do everything your friend is doing now because you have no experience.

I would suggest you head over to the diaries section of this website to get a more broad view of the training experience.

Re: the additional cost of learning to drive a manual, albeit on a simulator, keep in mind you’ll get that money back. It’s standard (or at least it was 3 1/2 years ago) for companies to offer tuition reimbursement, as long as you agree to work for them for at least one year.

Re: the additional cost of learning to drive a manual, albeit on a simulator, keep in mind you’ll get that money back. It’s standard (or at least it was 3 1/2 years ago) for companies to offer tuition reimbursement, as long as you agree to work for them for at least one year.

But companies may limit that amount. If you paid $7000 for school but choose a company that only reimburses $2000.. that is your choice. But that also eliminates the "free agent" myth many new drivers believe. Many companies disperse your reimbursement over time. And it only pertains to your first company... so bounce after a month and the second company will not reimburse you. Leave the first company too soon and you don't get the reimbursement.

Stay a year at your first company and apply yourself to learn everything you can. Build a relationship with dispatch.

RE: manuals....I know a few people / drivers than drove sticks for years. When swapped into an auto they were apprehensive, " at 1st" then said " oh hellyeah autos so much nicer and easier"

I preferred to go auto anyways, since I don't plan to do this gig More than 2+ years til I can retire early.

I wanna live to see 90 or 100 and not workin my tail off later, I just wanna enjoy whatever years of life I do have left in Asia lol

RE: manuals....I know a few people / drivers than drove sticks for years. When swapped into an auto they were apprehensive, " at 1st" then said " oh hellyeah autos so much nicer and easier"

I preferred to go auto anyways, since I don't plan to do this gig More than 2+ years til I can retire early.

I wanna live to see 90 or 100 and not workin my tail off later, I just wanna enjoy whatever years of life I do have left in Asia lol

I'm gonna have to disagree. Ive driven a manual for the past 5 years and I hate the automatic. You lose so much control for the finer maneuvers that i have grown to rely on. You can't creep anywhere. The slowest the thing goes is 3 mph. Maybe its just me n I have a crappy truck but I would trade this thing in for a manual anyday

Automatic vs Manual

A trainer told me: (O/O, 16 years experience, 16 years driving a manual, 6 perfect years which is 6 diamonds received from the company he presently contracted from); He quickly made the decision on the next truck he was going to buy: “I’m getting an automatic”, my students will grind, grind, grind and destroy a manual, with an automatic they won’t”. His present truck had 400k+ miles, he consistently drove at 54 mph, truck ran perfect, the drivers seat was shredded from the large student driver he had, and he showed me 3 recent pay stubs- total $11,700.

Well I was in the local driving jobs before going otr and driving legal. I never sat in an auto shift manual like the megas used until I joined a mega. I've drove a few allison autos which I'm almost certain and typical torque converter autos. And they are utter garbage unless they fixed them a couple years ago and because guys put money into the new autos and got burned on them, in my experience, they are pretty belligerent to the idea of autos. Plus even the autoshifts leave a lot to be desired outside of running highways. I'd get the auto restriction removed and test in a manual and learn to drive them. I'd almost be willing to pay some local truckers to try out something other than a straight 10 you'll likely be trained on. I've driven probably 40 different trucks and maybe 5 of them were autos. Roll offs and solid waste were all manual, almost every dump truck was manual and all needed to be manual in reality, every day cab tractor was manual until I joined Prime, and every bucket truck was manual. The other big truck was a grapple truck which was allison auto and a water truck, also allison auto.

I think a lot of the whole, "the industry is phasing out manuals" is truck stop bs in part and megas going along with it because it saves a ton of money and lowers the common denominator to fill seats. I don't see any heavy equipment guys going all auto, I'm skeptical of tankers jumping ship, dump trucks with autos suck, and really it isn't a big deal once you can float and drive one. There's a lot of hype to manuals that is undeserved imo. It isn't super hard to learn and does give you more control at the end of the day. The automated manuals megas use have come a long way but in the finer details, they are annoying and far less smooth. It is nice though when every waking minute is spent driving to go into manual mode and shift up and down on the steering wheel but I'd still rather have 13 or 15 speed otr and if I'm pulling heavy equipment I want an 18. And in dump trucks or class b vocational trucks I want an 8ll always. I'm not sure how automated megas trucks and all go but I doubt there is the same variety with the new autos that there is in manuals. I'd never want to take a new auto off road or to a quarry ever. Even a 10 speed can be a bit annoying some days for really bombed out off roads.

I'd get manual one way or another if I planned to do something other than be at a mega and drive otr. Even if the "industry is going there" I don't see them vanishing in 5-10 years. I've worked jobs as recently as 2018 still running r model macks, 1980's kodiaks/topkicks, and a fleet of 90-something model Sterling's. Between the emissions crap, old hands in local jobs saying it isn't a real truck unless it is a manual, and those horrible Allison's that a lot of fleets bought into 5-10 years ago and got burned on; old habits die hard, plus you got more job opportunities to boot without that restriction.