Need Advice From More Experienced Drivers...

Greetings everyone! I am the new guy around the forum... I have no experience in trucking nor do I have my CDL

Basically my question is I have been given multiple opportunities to go through a Company Paid CDL school...I was expecting to only get accept by one school or two at the most due to my sketchy job history as I have been working through temp agencies just to support my wife and kids while I was in college....

Here are the schools:

Roehl CR England Central Refrigerated CRST MCT Transportation *Knight(I have received a prehire letter but have not been in contact with them at all regarding what they offer)

Now I know nothing about these companies aside from all the negative feedbacks about CR England. As it sits Roehl is offering more pay and the home time is also the best out of all of them. So obviously it is my number one choice...According to the people at Roehl I start getting a pay check after the first 8 days of CDL school. Now I am not sure if I am misunderstanding her or not but I was under the impression that I pay for Food, Transportation, Lodging, and I do not get paid until my 4th week or so? She says that they pay everything except food and once I finish with the first week I can start earning a pay check making $600/week until I complete training? I do not want to commit to something and end up getting there and sleeping on a street corner for 3 weeks. She also told me that my starting pay was .35/mile for flatbed which is what I am interested in pursuing through Roehl if I choose them. As far as the other companies they were about all the same except for Knight.

My overall concern is getting enough miles in and paying the bills but also getting some home time once or twice a month.

Any advice would be helpful or experiences would be great too!

I have no idea who to go with because I am cloudy on the other companies... I did some research but everywhere I have looked says contradicting things... I hope to do OTR for a year or two and attempt to land a local job...

Thanks in advance!

Greetings everyone! I am the new guy around the forum... I have no experience in trucking nor do I have my CDL

Basically my question is I have been given multiple opportunities to go through a Company Paid CDL school...I was expecting to only get accept by one school or two at the most due to my sketchy job history as I have been working through temp agencies just to support my wife and kids while I was in college....

Here are the schools:

Roehl CR England Central Refrigerated CRST MCT Transportation *Knight(I have received a prehire letter but have not been in contact with them at all regarding what they offer)

Now I know nothing about these companies aside from all the negative feedbacks about CR England. As it sits Roehl is offering more pay and the home time is also the best out of all of them. So obviously it is my number one choice...According to the people at Roehl I start getting a pay check after the first 8 days of CDL school. Now I am not sure if I am misunderstanding her or not but I was under the impression that I pay for Food, Transportation, Lodging, and I do not get paid until my 4th week or so? She says that they pay everything except food and once I finish with the first week I can start earning a pay check making $600/week until I complete training? I do not want to commit to something and end up getting there and sleeping on a street corner for 3 weeks. She also told me that my starting pay was .35/mile for flatbed which is what I am interested in pursuing through Roehl if I choose them. As far as the other companies they were about all the same except for Knight.

My overall concern is getting enough miles in and paying the bills but also getting some home time once or twice a month.

Any advice would be helpful or experiences would be great too!

I have no idea who to go with because I am cloudy on the other companies... I did some research but everywhere I have looked says contradicting things... I hope to do OTR for a year or two and attempt to land a local job...

Thanks in advance!

Brother your on the right track. Not sure who pays what and all that you just have to hammer that out with the recruiters and sounds like your doing just fine. Just make sure you get any question answered that you want to know before you go to any school or company. Company school usually goes something like this.

you don't have to worry about being left on the streets. I mean if you go to school and just totally F it up then yeah, they not going to hire you and they not going to keep letting you stay in the motel.

Far as lodging and meals. Hotel should be paid while your there in class. Continental breakfast is usually there at motel and lunch is usually provided. Dinner, probably going to be on you. Remember this is all company paid training at company school. different companies are going to have different pay rates while your in school and in training.

Now once your done with all that and in your own truck give yourself some time to settle in and see how everything works. But realistically you can average 2500 miles a week just like they tell you. So just do the math 2500 times 40 cpm is 1000 a week and that's not counting short hall extra or stop off. Trust us you not going to starve driving a big truck. There is money to be made but there lots of hurdles and hoops to go through to get to your own truck. This site has just about everything that you probably want to know and then some.

Just keep digging and talking to companies. Decide if you want company school or private. If you go private its more money out of pocket up front but you could get more reimbursed back to you from the comp that you sign on with. Cause once you finish school and if you keep clean and safe you always going to have a job, no career!

I'm Sober-J over

Any tips on staying in shape on the road? I chose flatbed mainly because it seems to be the most physical out of the types of trucking..

DeltaWhiskey777, welcome to the forum!

Have you seen Wine Tasters Thread on his training at Roehl. He is a flat-bed driver at Roehl, and I'll bet you could glean some valuable information by taking the time to read his story about his training. Roehl is a really solid company with some of the most flexible home-time options in the industry.

I actually have! I just finished it this morning! My only other questions are does Roehl go out west? I hardly ever see Roehl farther than the midwest....

Here is something to remember in trucking. You can have either great home time or great pay......... Or a mix of both but not great on either..

You get paid by the mile. The more miles you turn the more money you make. If you are sitting at home you are not making money and will not be paid.

The top earning a company drivers in the industry stay out 4 to 6 weeks at a time. I stay out six weeks at a time. Seems the best time out.

Here is something to remember in trucking. You can have either great home time or great pay......... Or a mix of both but not great on either..

You get paid by the mile. The more miles you turn the more money you make. If you are sitting at home you are not making money and will not be paid.

The top earning a company drivers in the industry stay out 4 to 6 weeks at a time. I stay out six weeks at a time. Seems the best time out.

So realistically, as a flatbed driver for Roehl, If I opted out of home time and only came home every 4-6 weeks would it be possibly to average around 3,000+ miles a week? I want a lot of miles just because the more miles the more pay. I love home time don't get me wrong but I desire a steady income for my family and more importantly I want them to be able to live comfortably. I am fine with being out for a few weeks at a time but with a wife and two kids home time is always a plus. I also want to build up my nest egg as we will be moving back up north in a year to Wisconsin.

Here is something to remember in trucking. You can have either great home time or great pay......... Or a mix of both but not great on either..

You get paid by the mile. The more miles you turn the more money you make. If you are sitting at home you are not making money and will not be paid.

The top earning a company drivers in the industry stay out 4 to 6 weeks at a time. I stay out six weeks at a time. Seems the best time out.

So realistically, as a flatbed driver for Roehl, If I opted out of home time and only came home every 4-6 weeks would it be possibly to average around 3,000+ miles a week? I want a lot of miles just because the more miles the more pay. I love home time don't get me wrong but I desire a steady income for my family and more importantly I want them to be able to live comfortably. I am fine with being out for a few weeks at a time but with a wife and two kids home time is always a plus. I also want to build up my nest egg as we will be moving back up north in a year to Wisconsin.

For a 30 day average yes you can. Now remember a 30 day average is not the same as a calendar month. It's 30 day of working. I am a bit different than some on the forums. I have zero attachments of any kind so staying out 6 weeks at a time is no big deal for me. I have my house and vehicles that are paid off and they will be waiting for me once I return home.