Looking For A Place To Start.

Thanks for your replies. I am starting from knowing nothing, so it all helps. Here's a great article that I found on this website: https://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking_blogs/Article-3881/the-first-year-trap

Lots of caveats there.

So far, today, nothing new has happened. Roehl sent me a message asking when they could call. I replied that anytime was fine, but nothing after that from Roehl. Last night, I was stunned to read that the failure rate at Roehl training, allegedly, was 70%. And those were people who had passed all the drug tests, DOT medical, background, and so on, but who either were sent home before CDL testing for poor progress in training or sent home after a successful CDL test, but failed by the Roehl trainer in Phase 2. That 70% failure rate is not good odds, and it is especially concerning that those people were sent home with a $7,000 bill from Roehl training. That would put me in bankruptcy court.

Schneider gave me another day to decide on their offer to start on Monday. I have no idea about the failure rate at Schneider.

I read a blog, here, by Lucky13. He describes the first six months of trucking as shear survival. https://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking_blogs/Article-3452/important-truths-for-rookie-drivers-surviving-your-first-6-months

Where did you read that 70% failure rate? Sounds fishy.

Here is one thing all rookies need to know. When you first start out your inexperience and lack of skill slows you down a lot. For example as a new driver, your backing, trip planning, elogs and forms takes longer than when you have experience.

It takes many drivers about 6 months solo before backing starts to click. It takes time to get fluent with all the forms and procedures. It takes time to get better at trip planning and time management.

Find a company you like, get trained and work for them for one year minimum.

Good luck.

I left one out: "Don't believe everything you read, unless it's on here."

Big Scott, here is where I am getting the 70% failure number: https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/roehl-warning.353304/page-3 ("The instructors at marshfield told me that the company had a 70% fail rate; and I can see why. The company is making a fortunate off of terminating students with a contract like that.") Further, a couple of YouTube videos had similar claims. So, I have only those anecdotal accounts and nothing substantively reliable to support the claim.

Update: Roehl called me this morning, and I will start with them on June 1st. Roehl does not pay for transportation to training, so I had to buy a plane ticket to Atlanta. The flights were very expensive due to the Memorial Day weekend, so Roehl agreed to put me in a hotel a day early in order for me to travel on a cheaper flight on May 30th. The recruiter explained that the Phase 3 CPM rate had been increased from $0.385 to $0.405. That was good news. In addition, I asked about the alleged 70% training failure rate. The recruiter did not know the failure rate, but she thought that 70% was wrong.

I called Schneider and a couple of other carriers to withdraw my applications. The Schneider recruiter explained that my application would be on file for one year, in the event that I wanted to apply again. So, now, I will be preparing for training with Roehl Transport in Conley, Georgia.

Don't believe 99.97777% of anything off that site!

CFI pays for everything, transportation, food, and hotel. FREE. Just saying. (What good am I if I don't toot the family's horn.)

Good luck. Oh and the only successful number in their training that counts is you. You will be a 100% success. There goes the 70% BS.

Have fun. We are here to help.

CFI pays for everything, transportation, food, and hotel. FREE. Just saying. (What good am I if I don't toot the family's horn.)

Good luck. Oh and the only successful number in their training that counts is you. You will be a 100% success. There goes the 70% BS.

Have fun. We are here to help.

This is 100% accurate. I had my CDL class A in 2018, however, due to family emergency I did not end up driving and put everything on hold. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and putting all my ducks in row, I decided to try one more time to follow my dream. This site, along with BigScott’s review of CFI, and watching Riding with Dave on YouTube, made the decision to Jon CFI and easy one. I contacted CFI explained my situation and voila, they invited me to join their company. With one caveat, that I do a refresher CDL training program again. I agreed, and I’m now in Trainco (Ohio) going through a refresher course. CFI is paying for the course, hotel, and food. Then I’m off to Joplin for CFI orientation and training.

The turnover rate in the trucking industry has me very concerned. I have been reading about how people get fired at Roehl in the first few days or months, and now, I do believe that the failure rate is very high, compared to other professions, and I doubt that Roehl is any different in that regard compared to other carriers. Even, here, on TruckingTruth, people have explained how they were fired during the training phase. Here's a recent incident at Roehl from Andrey: https://www.truckingtruth.com/truckers-forum/Topic-29806/Page-2/roehl-training-phase-3-solo Why did Andrey get fired? After reading his account and the stories from other people, I have the impression that truck driver training comes to down surviving whatever fate has in store for you. Being dedicated, committed, and hard-working can take a person only so far. There is no guarantee that those personal qualities will be enough to overcome simple bad luck.

At the moment, I will be fired at Roehl on the first day if I do not train myself to perform the crouching, duck-walk procedure in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61MrYF6_vI4 When I get under a trailer or inspect the brakes on a truck, I am on my knees, not crouching. I'm 6'2" tall and I have very long legs, so throughout my life, I have never found any use for crouching. And I am still relatively tall when I am crouching, so I would never ever check the brakes on a truck by crouching. I am on my knees to do that. But Roehl wants me to do the duck-walk, so I have to do it at least once. At the moment, I cannot do it well enough to pass. I have less than two weeks to practice that maneuver, or I will be sent home on the first day.

Then try somewhere else instead.

You're overthinking this.

Read the advice on here that has been given. Read as many training diaries as you can stand. After all that if you're still doubting everything, don't apply anywhere.