KLLM Driving Academy No Longer Offering Free Hotel For CDL Training?

Hi,

I was suppose to start training on the 7th. They were going to pay for the hotel while I am in training. Today they called and told me they will no longer offer free hotel rooms for their training school.

I live about an hour from there. They asked me if I can drive to and from every day for 22 days of training. I am wondering if they are just telling me this because they know I am close and I can drive there and will save them money in hotel cost or this is a new thing with KLLM.

Has anyone else heard about this?

Thanks for any feedback.

Very unusual in my experience. Maybe things are changing, but I have never heard of that happening. The big companies have always provided the room. I wonder what’s going on with this.

Knight didn't provide lodging when I went trough school. But, you are an employee with Knight before you start school. They pay you while in school. The pay was 480.00 per week and my lodging was 400 per week, so it equates out. My recruiter paid for one the three weeks.

I believe when I trained with WestSide they didn't offer a hotel if you lived less than a hour away.

But that was only 4 days not 3 weeks.

Schneider paid for my hotel for 7 weeks as well as two meals a day at the terminal on top of the hotel breakfast. They paid for my flights, transportation to and from the airport and we were paid during training.

Sounds like a bad deal to me.

I believe when I trained with WestSide they didn't offer a hotel if you lived less than a hour away.

But that was only 4 days not 3 weeks.

It does seem odd. It very well could be a company cost saving measure, especially given your close proximity to the training facility. Regardless, perhaps call and ask the recruiter to give a more thorough explanation particular to your circumstance.

An important thing to consider is accounting a daily 2-hour, roundtrip commute alongside lengthy training days/weeks. Safety first! Also, you could ask for a fuel reimbursement, especially to offset the fuel cost.

A while back I talked to Millis and they said I'd have to cover room and board for the training. Was surprised by that.

That was about six months ago when I was looking at places to hire on.

Very unusual in my experience. Maybe things are changing, but I have never heard of that happening. The big companies have always provided the room. I wonder what’s going on with this.

Ive noticed over the past 10-15 years, it’s becoming increasingly common for company training programs to require some sort of personal investment/risk. My assumption is they are getting burned by drivers not fulfilling their obligations. Even some very reputable carriers have made it hard or got out of the cdl training altogether.