Comments By David K.

So far, today, nothing new has happened. Roehl sent me a message asking when they could call. I replied that anytime was fine, but nothing after that from Roehl. Last night, I was stunned to read that the failure rate at Roehl training, allegedly, was 70%. And those were people who had passed all the drug tests, DOT medical, background, and so on, but who either were sent home before CDL testing for poor progress in training or sent home after a successful CDL test, but failed by the Roehl trainer in Phase 2. That 70% failure rate is not good odds, and it is especially concerning that those people were sent home with a $7,000 bill from Roehl training. That would put me in bankruptcy court.

Schneider gave me another day to decide on their offer to start on Monday. I have no idea about the failure rate at Schneider.

I read a blog, here, by Lucky13. He describes the first six months of trucking as shear survival. https://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking_blogs/Article-3452/important-truths-for-rookie-drivers-surviving-your-first-6-months

Thanks for your replies. I am starting from knowing nothing, so it all helps. Here's a great article that I found on this website: https://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking_blogs/Article-3881/the-first-year-trap

Lots of caveats there.

Thanks Big Scott and Anne A. Yes, I have read through some of those resources, and I expect to continue using them. They are great help to me.

Update: This morning, I finished the drug test and medical exam for Roehl, one day early. The clinic is walk-in only, so they did not have a problem with me coming in a day early. While I was in the clinic, Schneider called and left a voice message, and they sent me several emails. Now, I believe that they are putting forward a genuine job offer. They want me to start Monday, May 24th, and they are ready to schedule a flight for me. The Schneider position is a dedicated route, paying $0.40 per mile after the CDL training. I have not returned the phone call, yet.

The position at Roehl would be OTR dry-goods and primarily east of the Rockies, paying $0.385 per mile after CDL training. The conditional offer from Roehl does not sound as genuine as the one from Schneider, but because Roehl paid for the drug testing and medical exam, I believe that something more solid is coming from Roehl. The problem, however, is that I cannot keep Schneider on the hook much longer.

While I was waiting for my medical exam, I had the good fortune of talking with a veteran trucker, there. He explained that anything less than $0.65 per mile would be an outrageously low wage rate. But as I told him, none of the company-paid CDL training programs that I researched was paying more than $0.51 (that was Prime, Inc.). The trucker further explained that a dedicated route, in effect, limits the number of miles that a driver can put in during the week. That's an important consideration, for me, because the starting pay at Schneider and Roehl is relatively low.

Well, I will have to make a decision, soon. I am still inclined to go with Roehl.

Because I have never applied for a trucking job before (except for driving for my brother during the last six months, which does not really count), I have been unsure about how to proceed through the application process. I never expected to have five or six trucking companies actually call me back the next day after I had submitted my application. My experience with job-hunting in other careers has been that maybe after submitting a hundred applications, I might get one callback. Further, I am suspicious about how serious those companies are about actually hiring me. Prime Inc., for example, told me last week that I was "approved". After that, I never heard from them again. And now, Roehl writes, "Congratulations on your conditional job off with Roehl's Get Your CDL employment opportunity." Schneider has made a similar written conditional job offer. CR England calls me, sends me emails and text messages almost every day, asking me to pick a day for training, and they promise that I will have a CDL in ten days, which I find incredulous.

I do not know how seriously to take those job offers, so I am simply going through the process with all of them. On the other hand, I have learned that when those companies sense any bit of hesitation on my part, they can back off just as quickly as they started. KLLM sent me a written offer right away when I started applying, but I waited about a week to sign it, still within the time limit that KLLM gave me. Now, I do not hear from them anymore. So a conditional offer like that one makes me doubt the whole industry.

Anyway, one of the moderators in the Trucker's Forum has explained in another thread that where a person starts their trucking career should not be much of a concern for the beginner driver. Instead, a new driver should be concerned about learning to drive a truck safely and dependably. That makes a lot of sense, so whether I end up at Schneider or Roehl or some place else, I believe that the challenge for me will be adapting to the trucking lifestyle and, more likely, adjusting to an employment environment with a 90% turnover rate. That kind of turnover makes truckers look like cannon fodder for the trucking companies. All in all, I am now quite hesitant to jump into the trucking profession after only a couple of weeks of dealing with recruiters. It is scary, to be honest.

Yes, Schneider has a company-paid training program. Here's a link to that: https://schneiderjobs.com/truck-driving-jobs/inexperienced/paid-cdl-training

Thanks for putting together the Trucker's Forum. It has been a great resource for me. I am trying to find a place to start in a company-paid CDL program, and after doing some research, here, in the Trucker's Forum and on other websites, and after submitting several applications, I have settled on Schneider National and Roehl. So far, both have set me up with drug tests. I have a Class B license, a Class A CLP, and a DOT medical card, but Roehl wanted me to take another medical exam. I will do that on 5/18/21. It is possible that both Schneider and Roehl will make me an offer of employment, but I am inclined to go with Roehl if I get the opportunity.