Starting Road Masters School On 7/20/15 - Insight?

So, 5 days from now I'll be starting my million-and-a-half mile journey (as my extremely creative brother worded it). I am stoked. I am nervous. I am everything in between and just outside the boundaries of those words. I barely got accepted. I have a felony record, and it just came to and end a year and a half ago. I already have one company that said they'd take me on (Trans Am) upon graduation, and I'm almost sure I'll find at least one or two more. Either way, I'm just happy to be going.

The guy I've been talking to gave me some insight. He said to stay a student driver; don't go for a lease, etc. Stay with the company. Don't be woo'ed by big numbers and flashy deals. That sort of stuff. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to explain because it was the end of the day for him (almost 1900) and he was really ready to get home. I am still extremely new to this whole section of society, and I lack in 90% of the knowledge I'm thirsting for. What are my options as far as owning/leasing/renting a truck? Is that how it works? Student driver? Huh? Que? Owner-op? What's all that? I get the idea of a lease (I used to sell cars), but how does that all work in trucking? What's a good, average pay for someone fresh out of school? What are some good and bad companies? Can you see how I'm slightly driving myself nuts? No pun intended. lol.

Thanks to anyone who responds. I'm gonna continue to look around this site. I just joined today. lol. Have a good one. Y'all drive safe. :)

Hey adam i would suggest going thru the site and just researching everything. The High Road Training Program was a huge help for studying for my permit and im still working thru parts of it while im in orientation. Brett's Book and Truck Driver's Career Guide are other good articles to read on the site.

Hey adam i would suggest going thru the site and just researching everything. The High Road Training Program was a huge help for studying for my permit and im still working thru parts of it while im in orientation. Brett's Book and Truck Driver's Career Guide are other good articles to read on the site.

Thanks. I've been looking around and finding an insane amount of information and knowledge on here. This is a great site and I know it's gonna help far into the future.

Hey adam i would suggest going thru the site and just researching everything. The High Road Training Program was a huge help for studying for my permit and im still working thru parts of it while im in orientation. Brett's Book and Truck Driver's Career Guide are other good articles to read on the site.

Thanks. I've been looking around and finding an insane amount of information and knowledge on here. This is a great site and I know it's gonna help far into the future.

Hi Adam!

We're both set to start on Monday. It's been a crazy few weeks for me getting everything set up to go. I completely relate to driving myself a little nuts with the excited/nervous and what the heck am I doing?/what the heck do I need to do? issues.

As soon as I made the decision to go into this business I started researching. Trucking Truth has been an amazing resource and Brett and Michael really did a great job setting it up to give us the best information. High Road really made it easy to learn what I needed to know to get great scores on my permit test. I'm definitely going to continue to utilize the resources they have given to us! I'm not looking at endorsements of any kind yet, because I honestly don't have the money.

CR England required me to get my permit and DOT physical before they did the pre-hire and school enrollment. Honestly, having that much out of the way beforehand made some of the nerves settle. There's also the fact that all that research and studying for the permit gave me a lot of information I will need when I get to school and eventually on the road.

I'm going to be going to CR England's partner school Premier. It takes about 3 weeks to get through the school and get to the point I can test for my license.

As soon as I have my CDL in hand, I have a job with CR England. There's a month of driving with a trainer and then about 5 months of driving with a teammate. I'm a bit divided on how I feel about that. I'm a loner for the most part and forced into close quarters is going to be a big adjustment for me. I'll adapt. I can do anything, especially if I KNOW there's an end in sight and a goal to be reached.

There's a commitment to the company for 9 months but I'm absolutely okay with that. Having a company behind me while I'm still basically using training wheels makes it much less scary for me. I DON'T want to be an owner/operator. Even thinking about being out there without a parachute gives me hives. That's just me, though. I'm sure for someone else that would look really attractive. Buying fuel, paying for repairs, payments on the truck, etc. Just not my cup of cappuccino.

I'm going to concentrate on each step and give it my fullest attention and best effort. Get through school. Get my CDL. Get my training and company commitment out of the way. Then, and only then will I think about if I want to stay with this company or a different one; or, try to purchase a truck. I really don't think that option is right for me, but that's just how I feel right now. A year, two years, three years down the road I might feel differently.

Good luck at school!

Renae (Angel)

Welcome to your million and a half journey! (I like that term.) Most people who have no previous experience with semis are a bit nervous. Good! You respect what is about to happen to you.

Your friend said stay away from leasing a tractor. Good idea. That way you won't get tied up with making payments, getting & paying for repairs and buying fuel. Let the big company do that, while you drive. Then you only have to worry about your schedule and where's your next load. An owner/lessee has those problems PLUS the worry of keeping his truck running. Keep your life simple.

You wrote about staying a "student driver". In a philosophical way, we all need to stay students, learning more as we go along. But the term you are looking for is company driver - you get paid by the company to drive their truck.

Two hurdles you MUST pass are the CDL permit tests and the drug test. You didn't mention drugs (including marijuana and some prescription meds) so I assume that's not a problem. If you don't have your CDL, at least begin studying the High Road Training Program. This will get you all you need to know to pass the test.

Good luck, Adam! Keep us posted and ask any question here.