Need Some Help Guys

Hey there everyone! First post here on the site. Anyways I had a question, I'm wondering what the best company to go with after CDL school would be. I'm currently 2 days into training and wondering where to start. My GI Bill is paying for training so when I graduate where does that put me as far as not having to sign a contract with anyone? Thanks for your answers in advance everyone. Wish me luck on my CDL Permit test in the morning!

First thank you for your service. First you should look at all the company's that Brett has researched and wrote about on TT. He gives a great outline on each of the companies training, pay, and qualifications. You can also sent preview letters right from this websight. Write the pros and cons and you should find several that you like. My list came out prime, knight, Roahl, Scheider, and Swift.

Since somebody else is paying for your training I would pick a local school at at least in your home state. Then join prime as a TNT student they will send you out for 6 weeks to teach you the ins and outs of driving . but if you get your cdl at prime your on the hook for a year commitment. Prime pays the best but also charges you for stuff and takes it out in weekly payments so not sure if it you really make that much more in the end. Not sure if other companies do the same thing

I am with swift and even though i found many flaws in their training (after private school that is) i still feel that they are a good company an ebb probably not much different than the rest. 1. They will tell you they pay x # of dollars for training based on a hourly rate for "on duty" hours logged and "driving" hours logged. And the amount they tell you is based on being on duty for 14 hours a day and driving all of your 11. Its not gonna happen. 2. The people who end up training are typically lease operators whom are having trouble making a pay check so they train to make up the difference. Thats leaves you being trained by someone who can not afford to buy their own truck. Has no business sense. And does not want you on their truck but has no other choice. I am sure there are good trainers too. Dont get me wrong.

3. Even though they are a training company, you get the feeling that all the processes are new to them. For instance i would make a request via qualcomm and get told "no" well i found that to be extremely frustrating. My thought is it should be "no, you have to do it this way" i did not make a request for fun, tell me the right way to go about.

Bottom line is they have a process. Once you test out and get in the system then everything just flows perfectly. I have yet to sit and wait for a load. I am Always pre planed before i even finish my current load. I am overall happy here and i hope some of this info helps. Good luck.

Welcome aboard Kenneth!

We have an excellent series of articles on How To Choose A Company To Work For and we also have a chapter in our Truck Driver's Career Guide that covers choosing your first truck driving job. Have a look at those and give em a good read. It will help you understand the choices you have so you can pick a company that suits you well.