Looking For Company-sponsored Training

Jerry, apply to Central Refrigerated also. I know firsthand that Ohio is a busy state for us. Or as we like to call it - it's a major freight line for Central.

When I request home time, they do their absolute best at getting me home on that exact day. Usually they are a day late but that's no problem. I get a load that delivers in Northern California and I usually get there a day early so I park my truck and trailer at a local Walmart. And I take the day off at home since its way too early for the appointment. Then I deliver my product and afterwards I head to the flying j in Lodi, CA (coincidence) to fill up my reefer and get a trailer washout, that way I won't have to worry about it during my hometime and I don't have to sweep it out in the heat. Then I park my empty trailer and tractor at the same Walmart and I go home for 3-4 days.

The thing is, you don't have to deliver to Lodi, OH. You can deliver in Columbus, OH or some other city andd either do 1 of two things. Drive the truck and trailer to the closest truck stop to your house or you'll drop the trailer and just drive the truck only (bobtail) home or to the truck stop. They will never make you leave your equipment at a terminal 200 miles away and then drive your car home. Never. Ever.

When they talk about taking the truck and trailer home, they don't mean literally. You don't have to park it in front of your house. Park it anywhere you want, anywhere that makes sense. I park it at a Walmart. There are also truck stops, parking areas (not the safest).

The hometime process is a lot simpler and you have valid concerns but you also have many options. And you'll be gone about 1 1/2 months at first but after that it'll only be about 3-4 weeks. We qualify for hometime as early as three weeks. After that 1 1/2 months she can come along. Personally, me and my wife miss each other like there's no tomorrow by the end of the month that I'm gone. Maybe... Her missing you dearly won't be as bad for you two as you think it might be.

Jerry,

I understand where you're coming from. While I'm several years older, it is the relationship with my significant other that has force my hand in life as well. The lack of home time running expedited freight in a straight truck was killing the relationship and the out-of-truck overhead was getting ridiculous. After being unable to find work running solo in a straight truck, I've realized I have to upgrade my CDL to Class "A" from Class "B" so I can get to work with a company that will let me run solo and carry her with me.

Also, if you're wanting to start a blog about your experiences with school and the subsequent experiences of driving and seeing the country, you don't need to have a domain. You can look at sites like Blogspot and Tumblr as they're free to join and it's fairly simple to get started with your own blog.

Brett,

I have to say that your site has been very helpful in researching various companies and what they offer to new hires and what it'll take to get to running solo so I can carry my significant other with me. Just got started with it today so haven't had any callbacks or offers as of yet, but we are hopeful it won't take long to get me started.

Starcar-

Somehow I did not see your reply and just now read it. I appreciate all of the helpful insight you've given me. It'll be a huge help. I am going to talk my wife into heading over to the Women's Forum, because I am sure she will find quite a bit of useful answers there too.

I'm going to be working on filling out applications to companies this week. As I mentioned before, I did a couple apps and both places sounded like they wanted me at their training facility right away, but I want to make a wise decision about how I join and ultimately if the company offers regional , that may be a company that I'd prefer because I wouldn't have to leave and start over with someone else.

Now, I live in Ohio, right off of I-71 (a truck stop/rest area is a mile up the highway! lol) almost exactly halfway between Cleveland and Columbus. Not sure if this part of 71 is a main vessel for any of the companies that offer the company sponsored CDL training, but it would be excellent info to have. The last thing I want to do is get with a company and find out it's going to be a major pain to them to get any home time - I don't want to be ignored per se, but I don't want the spotlight for being a driver whose living location sucks.

My wife has all her family within a few miles of us, and I've almost begged her to let me move us south, into Virginia at the least, and she's refused. Maybe if I have better options and better opportunities, she may be more interested in moving. But I told her the other day, even if we moved that far away, there's a chance I'd be coming thru this area and she could even be dropped off to visit her family for a few days or a couple weeks or something. That's not a problem to me.

Anyways, I'm going to continue to do my research but unfortunately I have to work (I work online from home building and maintaining websites... yay lol) in order to barely pay my bills first. But priority is priority. I'm always checking my email waiting for new replies here because every single one of them have been so helpful and inspiring in one way or another.

Hi Jerry,

I live very close to Lodi and just joined Roehl. I have been through all the posts and talked to recruiters as well. If home time is important you should seriously look further into going with Roehl or Knight since you live right on 71 and 76. I am going with a 7on 7off fleet but they both offer several different options. Feel free to email me if you like joeoh89@yahoo.com. Do not worry about the hair test.

Best of luck to you,

Joe

Yeah, I am leaning towards Roehl if they'll hire me. I like what they have to offer and I am excited about getting started. However, I am wanting to get things started with them sooner rather than later, so if I am able to find out if they do a hair follicle test or not, that would determine whether I need to wait 2 weeks or 2 months before I should bother to apply. Regardless of which, I am definitely interested in applying to them and trying to get hired, however I've had to take some pain meds that I don't have a script for, but I'm currently sitting here waiting for it to be out of my system for good. Nothing I took was illegal, but it was a controlled substance (vicodin) that I can't provide a script for, and I took 5mg/day, with the occasional day where I took 10mg

That said, I'm stuck playing a waiting game if they do a follicle test.

I'm more than open to receiving a private message, which will remain private, from anyone here who has experience with Roehl that can let me know what they do regarding DOT drug testing.

Jerry, I too reside in Ohio, but a bit further south than you in the Cincinnati area. I am the same as you. I have been married since 2009 and we are having the same financial issues as everyone else. I can tell you that from my personal experience, no matter how bad it gets, don't let them get the best of you and keep your head up.

As far as schools, you actually have a couple options. What I did, since I was considered low income is I went through the WIA program. Each county in Ohio has this. They will pay for everything including permits and schooling and gas to and from the school for any private institution you want to attend. You can't have made more than 33k between you and your wife last year. The advantage to this is that your school will more than likely have recruiters coming in from different companies to try and get you to work for them, so you can choose what company you want to go with. That is what I am doing.

Option B or 2 whatever you want to label it is the schooling that you were asking about. There is one here in Cincinnati, Millis Transfer, they have been around forever, they seem to have a good program. Werner will also have training in Springfield, Ohio and they are my backup company in case something goes wrong with the carrier that I have selected. Also, they get a bad wrap on other sites, which I would not listen too, but Swift has a good program as far as I can tell. I would start there. Good luck in your search. God speed.

I read about WIA in another thread somewhere, and if the requirement is to be under $33k between my wife and I, then my income is a smash hit and I'll have no problem being approved. I couldn't find any info on it online, though, so I guess I need to go to the local JFS building?

I applied to Roehl last night because their options are by far my favorite including pay etc, and I am really hoping to get a call from them sometime soon. If I can't get with them, then I am back at square one because I haven't found any other companies with the options/pay that Roehl has. I'm guessing they'll be much more pickier about who they hire due to the fact that (in my opinion) their offerings are almost superior to those of most all other companies (for company sponsored training , duration, location, and after-training pay of 32-36 cpm depending on the fleet you choose).

Roehl is a great company. I was looking at them. Only reason I didn't go with them is I want to take my wife with me right out of training and they require a 90 waiting period. That is personal preference for me though, so don't let that sway your opinion. I do see a lot of their trucks on 71 and 75 when I have the occasion to travel those interstates.

Yeah you can call the JFS office. What I did, and how I found out about it is I found a local private company here and went to talk to them and they told me about the program and made sure that I had everything I needed to get set up. They even faxed any needed documents to me. So, that would be something to consider trying too. Good luck.

Damn, 90 days huh? The things you learn when you're having a simple conversation. While that isnt horrible and I could probably swing it if I were hired onto the regional fleet (home 24-48 hours weekly), it's a matter of IF they will hire me and IF i can come up with almost $1000 for fuel, lodging etc while training up in WI (with roehl).

One of the most important things to me throughout this whole process is being able to have my wife with me asap, rather than having to be held up to 6 months away from home. That's one thing that's stopping me from joining some companies, and another thing is being offered 22cpm for the same truck I could drive with another company for 32cpm. I don't expect to walk into this industry 'on the top' so to speak, so if I have to drive at 22cpm until I can get enough tenure for a better company to hire me, then so be it. But, I'm only going to do that if I can have my wife with me...

You should also have a look at Swift and Prime...Swift will hire almost anyone and Prime has some of the best offerings, but is more picky..