Is This A Dangerous Practice? Feeling Some Anxiety.

I would not go with them as a first company. Lack of training, they push lease heavily, and the pay is very low there for drivers.

Too many other companies out here that are a significantly better choice IMO.

Gotta wonder what they pay for insurance, gotta be like the highest in the industry, right?!, and whether they give an extra-lotta support while the newbies are OTR (when in doubt, just pull over and call us!). Easy runs, "guaranteed"? Still, amazing... Well, others only offer about a week and famously get away with it...

...I just posted asking about Schneider, and Russian Girl's reply sounds basically like their training process, except I think it's more like one week training at the training terminal , THEN the one-ish week out OTR with trainer, then another week back at the terminal, but essentially the two are similar... Though Trans Am seems a different story. Mixed feelings-n-thoughts about that relative lack of practical mentoring, but in all honesty, for myself and others I've heard on YouTube, etc., it's more of a selling point than just a "con" or a non-starter. Stepping back, I guess it seems like a trippy trade-off between a grueling few weeks and thousands of miles with the trainer, vs paying the price later if you didn't get that time. Well if I wanted to go solo, NO way I can imagine taking on such a high-stakes steep and lonely learning curve! Hence my belief in "teaming", figuring how two heads should be a LOT better than one, and when in doubt, again, just call in and ask... Must be OK to go full-stop and say, 'Hey, come on Man, we only got a week OTR before this...can't be expected to have this anywhere near "down" yet!'

That said, can't envision having basically NO time with a relative expert helper there with a new driver...they'd better have one amazingly great week of orientation/training!? --E.Z.

Many of the large carriers are self insured.

2 heads are not always better than one. I met dumb and dumber this week.

I know Schneider has had only one week of training with a mentor for quite a long time, so it must work for them. I'd love to get Trans Am's take on their approach. Maybe I'll try to get them on the line and see what they say.

I want to see drivers coming out of private schools go out with a trainer, at least for a week or two. After getting my CDL I went on the road with a mentor for two weeks, then I went solo and I was as ready as you could be. No one is ready to go solo if you consider ready to mean plenty knowledgeable and capable. Those first few months are filled with hard lessons, but that applies to anything that's new and challenging.

Mentoring new drivers has been the bane of existence for large carriers for decades. Finding enough good trainers is nearly impossible, and many of the nightmare stories you'll find on the Web, including here at Trucking Truth, are stories of new drivers suffering through intolerable or even criminal behavior from mentors.

I would look for a company with a mentor system, but if you can't find one, go for it at Trans Am. Like others have said, do not agree to lease under any circumstances.

I met dumb and dumber this week.

You didn't post any photos, either!