I Need Some Advice

Christine, get your butt over to a reputable training company and don't worry about owing the first jerks

Christina, I'm going to go against the common theme I think I'm seeing in this thread. I pretty much disagree with your whole premise for what you describe as despising this company. Let me preface this with the fact that I have three lovely daughters that I love more than anything, and this is the same advice I would give them if they came to me telling me the same tale you have told in this thread. I've had some new people in this forum who didn't really know my history breaking into this career slam me for this type of advice, thinking I'm an advocate of letting the so called "starter companies" walk all over us, but that is far from the truth. Here goes...

I say ask the company to let you go out with a different trainer. Okay, you got a bad trainer - Don't transfer that fact over to the bigger picture that seems to now consider that the company is out to kill you and a bunch of motorists who happen to be around you. Listen, learning to drive a truck is hard - there is a lot to doing this that most newbies haven't even dreamed of yet. What ever trucking company you are at has been training people for a long time, they do this because they get the results they need. We all learn differently, and at varying paces, but they can't customize their programs for each student, they have to move things forward and the ones who can't get it fall by the wayside. We tell people all the time in here that Company-Sponsored Training is a fast paced environment. That means that you are going to go through that program and not feel real comfortable with being captain of the ship when they hand you that first set of keys.

I had a terrible trainer, I just endured my four weeks with him and couldn't wait to get shed of him. Did I feel safe or proficient when I first started running solo? Heck no! But Christina, the dirty little secret is that nobody "feels" safe or proficient when they are fist getting started in this, and if they do they are dangerous. We were all just like little toddlers learning to walk when we first started trying to run our first solo loads. This whole learning to drive a truck thing is a lengthy process, if the schools and training companies took the one or two years to train us that it actually takes out here on the road to begin to get proficient at this we would all have to be millionaires to afford the training.

One of the things that trips up most new people coming into this career is their own expectations before they actually jump in. We try our best to prepare folks, but inevitably we are fighting an uphill struggle with peoples expectations. You may have thought the training would make you proficient or comfortable with your new found driving situation, but the truth is that most of us had a healthy dose of "scared to death" working down in our stomach for the first three months of our driving career. Usually if you don't have that guiding light burning at you somewhere down in your gut you are going to be dangerous.

I don't think you should just jump ship, not worry about what you owe them and move on to another company. You are going to bump right into a big wall of feeling the very same frustrations over again, and that is going to doubly sour you on the new trucking career that you thought you wanted in the first place. Training is hard, ten times harder than most of us ever dream it will be. We are not really good drivers after we go through the training, in fact most of us are barely able to get through each day without being totally exhausted at the end of the day due to the sheer stress of the new job. I understand your frustration, but going through another program will not cure your problem - I think you've got to double down and determine if this is something you really want or not. That is what it all boils down to, you've got to make it happen no matter what the obstacles are. It is that tenacious attitude and spirit that will carry you through your baptism into trucking. That is what it takes to get started in this. You are going to have to dig a little deeper and determine that if the next trainer doesn't teach you just like what you were expecting you will keep at it and do your best to figure it out.

You have got an entire community of people right here in this forum who will provide support and advice to you. Of course, I'm saying that while I'm in here disagreeing with most of what I've seen above, but that is part of my job as a moderator. I'm trying to turn this whole thread back into a teachable moment for new drivers, and especially wanting to help you personally Christina.

I say tough it out, if you need to then ask for another trainer, but hang in there and do your best to make it work. It takes at least a year of working and driving solo before you are going to even begin to be proficient at this career. I still learn something everyday about this job, or how to safely maneuver these big trucks around in all types of situations. The main thing they are trying to accomplish in any of these training programs is that they can feel like you've got the bare minimum basics down of how to be safe out there on the road. All the other stuff will come to you as you cautiously persist in your new career.

I wish TT forums had a "Like" or "Thumbs Up". Old School has the Big Picture.

Every single trucker on the road today (about 2 million in the U.S.) got behind the wheel for the first time once. They probably crashed the gears, cut the turn too soon, and took fifteen minutes to back straight into a dock.

Now look at 'em: making a decent living driving the country making pickups & deliveries all day long. If that's your goal, keep your eyes there, not on the issues you run into every day. Each mistake you make, including taking too long to double clutch , is a learning and practice experience.

Old school is right its not the companies fault you had to choose the wrong program for your learning skills... Not saying your slow or some things wrong with you but at company sponsored training program is designed to get you in a truck as fast as possible with little to no money up front cost to you.... Not a problem.... You just need to find the right trainer. Because if a trainer thinks you need more time to learn how to drive a truck then you will have more time to learn how to drive a truck... Not sure if this help (just woke up) lol sorry

Thank you everyone for all the replies. I wasn't trying to put out a "horror story" just the experience I've had with this particular company. Money was an issue for me so I jumped at this opportunity since it's free up front and if you fulfill your nine month contract you can leave. I signed up for this to be a real truck driver not a wheel holder like basically I am. I was going to contact other companies, more up front companies, and see if they can help. I did my research before entering school and it backfired. I will get back out on the road, but with way more training so I can feel comfortable in that truck.

Get used to the fear and apprehension, and get over it. Or how about drive the darn truck or go home. Seriously, it sounds like you're making excuses or looking for the job to be easy. Nut up, sister. :)

Hey Christina, It sounds like you should be talking to" Mountain Girl", Look her up on here, in the search bar on this page.

Thank you everyone for all the replies. I wasn't trying to put out a "horror story" just the experience I've had with this particular company. Money was an issue for me so I jumped at this opportunity since it's free up front and if you fulfill your nine month contract you can leave. I signed up for this to be a real truck driver not a wheel holder like basically I am. I was going to contact other companies, more up front companies, and see if they can help. I did my research before entering school and it backfired. I will get back out on the road, but with way more training so I can feel comfortable in that truck.

Get used to the fear and apprehension, and get over it. Or how about drive the darn truck or go home. Seriously, it sounds like you're making excuses or looking for the job to be easy. Nut up, sister. :)

Wow! I have been on this site for quite awhile, I have been inspired so much and horrified at times! Getting close to doing this thing already. This was the right time for me to read this particular thread and i am glad I did. ladybug when I first read this I was kinda horrified for a second but my stubbornness and resolve to do this got renewed! Thnx, I am going to be afraid for awhile but thats ok. You can tell me to buck up or shut up anytime. Lots of helpful folks here and as always Oldschool is a gem.

Sorry I was late to the party but I really wanted to stand behind Old School and everything he said. He's 100% dead on, as always.

Christina, you're going to be perfectly fine out there. We always tell people you have to go into this with a ton of resolve because almost every new driver out there wants to quit their company and quit the industry altogether about 50 times that first six months. You're scared most of the time because you don't know what you're doing. You're away from your home & family for extended periods of time. You're stuck living with strangers, you're trying to sleep in a moving vehicle, and your sleep schedule is erratic so you're exhausted most of the time.

This is how it is for everyone. It's brutal at times.

signed up for this to be a real truck driver not a wheel holder like basically I am

And with that approach that's exactly what you'll become after you get enough time behind the wheel. But there are no shortcuts. There's no "easy way" to learn everything. I mean, how do you teach someone to take a load into Downtown Chicago, during rush hour, in heavy snow, at night, without doing it? You can read about it, talk to others that have done it, and practice your skills in that truck until your fingers and feet have blisters. But all of that is only going to teach you a tiny bit. The only way you can really learn to handle that rig and life on the road like a pro is to get out there and do it.

I think one big point that Old School touched on that you don't hear brought up very much is the economics of training in the trucking industry. Training people is very expensive of course. Not only the equipment and fuel, but the instructors, the land you need for practice, the insurance, and on and on. In today's world (this may change at some point) there is little in the way of guidelines for the minimum requirements a driver needs for training. Some states specify minimum training times and some companies have minimum requirements for training time but nobody actually specifies what you have to learn and exactly how many hours you should be behind the wheel doing different things. They basically say, "You need a minimum of 160 hours of training to work here" and that's it. So the Private Truck Driving Schools and Company-Sponsored Training Programs have to train people in a for-profit, competitive environment. Trucking companies and schools both need to turn a profit to survive.

Having no real minimum requirements and having to survive in a competitive environment means all of these schools are in competition to turn out drivers as quickly and inexpensively as possible. If someone down the road has a class that's a few days shorter and costs a few hundred bucks less, you're going out of business.

This is no fault of the schools or trucking companies themselves. This is how the system is designed. They've been talking about passing laws about minimum training requirements for decades but it hasn't been done. If they would do that the length of schooling would be increased and therefore schools would be on a more level playing field. They'd all have similar cost structures and would be required to train you as long as the law requires, not the minimum time necessary.

So don't for a moment feel like you're with the wrong company or you're with a company that doesn't care about whether or not you know how to drive their truck safely. Of course they do! But they're competing with other companies and schools to bring in drivers and get them trained as quickly and efficiently as possible. They really have very little choice if they want to survive financially.

And Old School is right.....if you trained people in trucks until they were rather proficient and comfortable it would easily take a year or more and cost in upwards of $25,000 per student. Right now the average student spends about four weeks in school and it costs maybe $4,000 on average.

So indeed you will be a terrified steering wheel holder for quite a while yet, just like every driver that has come before you. It's the ideal system when it comes to training drivers quickly and efficiently but obviously not the ideal system for safety. But if you're a school your choices are compete within the current system or go bankrupt. That's about it.

This is the Best thing I have read on the subject. Hope it helps.

[link removed by Brett Aquila]

The choice can only be made by you. There is no free schooling. If there was, none of these company sponsored training programs, college programs and or Private cdl schools would exist. They would be out of business. No company is going to willingly lose money. You don't get a car for free even if you win it, do you? The real question is. How much do you really want to pay? Do you want to spend a lot less up front and lose more in income throughout your contract? Do you want to spend more up front and out of pocket. Plus have to find your own job. And make more throughout your contract? Do you want to spend some out of pocket. Let a middleman train you. Let them set you up with a job that throughout the contract you get raped? Sorry I hate the idea of private cdl school. Some may be good this is just my view. I also hate Temp companies. These remind me of them. Why pay a lot of money for someone to sit on their @$$ and call companies? You could for this? You have three option really. A- Company Sponsored. B- Cdl training at a college. C- Don't.

This is the Best thing I have read on the subject. Hope it helps.

I'm sorry, but you must have skipped about 100 pages of articles and information we have on:

How To Choose A School

Company-Sponsored Training Programs

That article you linked to was so completely off-base it's ridiculous. That wasn't even close. I mean:

Some companies run a great training program and others could care less how effective their trainers are

Really? They don't care if they put someone in a truck with their name on the door and send them out to kill someone's family?

If you fail to complete the training period you owe the balance of what they charge you for training.

Almost never happens. If you quit after a certain amount of training or before your contract is up you'll have to pay for the training. But probably 1/2-3/4 of the people who attend these companies don't complete the training but don't owe anything either.

Some companies will let you go through all of this training before doing a thorough background check.

Absolutely not true. They will bring you to their training facility before doing a thorough background check but they'll do the physical, drug test, and background check before you'll get within a mile of a truck. Totally false.

I could go on all day. I didn't even make it to the fourth paragraph. If you think that was a helpful article you've been almost criminally mislead.

There is no free schooling

There most certainly is. CR England and several others will charge you nothing at all for the training if you stay for the length of the contract. CR England just changed this recently and we haven't even had a chance to update their information yet. But there are others also.

Let them set you up with a job that throughout the contract you get raped?

Oh, ok. So training people is expensive but if they expect you to pay back some of the tuition costs you're being raped? Wow, it's hard to win with you, eh?

I also hate Temp companies

One of the best jobs I ever had was found through a temp agency. I made great money driving a shuttle bus (class A) for a construction company which put me through a year of full time schooling. There are a number of companies (outside of trucking) that only hire through temp agencies. If you want to get on with them you go through the temp companies.

Wow Sandman....you've had a relapse from your time at TheTruckersReport. I think you need to detox!

I am really appreciate all the advice here. I am confused though.....reading all the reviews online, most are negative about C-1 and Driversolutions or CR England. Everything to the hotels to the training . Some guys even did a little Video of their training with England where they did not even have instructors present(youtube). People being sent home from school because they did not want to sign a lease or when they acquired their CDL went home and waited for calls that did not come. I have read lawsuits filled in Texas by a said group. I have noticed that here on TT that I get the best advise , the review on England is to not let them try to get you in a lease in the first year or it would be almost certain failure......then should I avoid a company if they set someone up for failure or are they just weeding out the few extraordinary drivers who can manage it in their first year? The review here for Driversolutions seems to be decent one only they seem to have allot of negative reviews about them....they seem to just get you to the CDL and do not really train you expecting that to happen when you start training with your company ,either Pam or USA. I have heard better reviews about USA over PAM. I believe if I where to go through England or Driversolution I would need to have studied everything on the the CDL training and every bit of information available in order to succeed not to mention bringing own sheets, sleeping bag, towels and dry foods to the motels. I then wonder is it this way because allot of the people applying for driving needed to be weeded out, if they are not getting enough hours driving is it because they are not cutting it and or ticking off their dispatchers? All I want is a training where someone who is professional knows I am going to drive 8 foot wide tractor dragging a 8 foot six inches wide trailer that is 13 feet six inches tall with a combined weight of almost 80,000 pounds past cars and buses carrying children ,women, men and small animals. I want to be in a professional setting with professionals teaching me and I am hoping that the community college I am trying to get into will do this. When I first started this I was all too ready to hook up with DS and drive for Pam,( not that I would not drive PAM) and would of already been in Fort Worth had I not been cautioned. I am reading all the blogs here about how to work with dispatchers, etc. and am knowledgeable of the CDL and what to expect, low initial pay and slow weeks etc. I know how to eat cold beans from the can, thats how I saved money to be able to afford to pay out of pocket for school. If I thought that I can get a fair shake and leave either C-1 or CR school with training that would help me to succeed. I would ! Only it sounds to me they are setting people up for failure and then the trainer who will be running while I sleep wont be able to really train as much as have me hold the wheel after he sets the course. Am I wrong? I would love to go to a company sponsored school and sign for a year, but why does their short 160 hour training cost some up to seven thousand dollars when they fail and leave their trucks and go home because they do not have the confidence they should from training and trainers who for some reason are not concerned? 80,000 pounds taking over 4 and a half seconds to stop on a good day, 300 feet if everything works out properly and people are being trained improperly? Hell if I can get through a few years and become seasoned, I will train just so I can feel safe on the road. Here it is in a nutshell , my question that is? Will and can these company sponsored schools really give someone the confidence they will need to sit behind the wheel of a Combination Vehicle or for many is it failure from the get go?