Comments By Joshua

A super single blowing could also cause the load to shift making you lose control.

Oh I thought there used to be a PM feature. Anyways, I plan to start KLLM soon too and was hoping we could chat about that, compare what we have heard from recruiters and stuff. I'm curious about the dedicated Tyson account. Do you have any info on it?

Hey Renegade. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to send a private message so if you know how, please send me one. Or if you want you can post your email in the thread and I will email ya.

I have read many accounts of people going through the Swift driving academy but I am curious about how long after you graduate the academy do you go out with a mentor. Is it right away or do you get to go home first for a couple days?

short answer is Yes you can take some time at home.

I went through their Phoenix academy. I'll explain a bit of what goes one...

you do the 3 weeks of training. (Class time is 3 days and then the rest of the time is on the range doing pre trip/backing and shifting, last week is driving). The Phoenix school took us to DMV to get our permit (AZ Permit ). Upon completion of the schooling they took us back to DMV to get our CDL (AZ CDL). If you live in the same state as the school this won't apply to you, but, I live in CA, so when I left AZ I had to transfer my CDL to CA.

I took roughly 2 weeks off after I got back. This was mainly due to car blowing a head gasket, but I also wanted to give myself some time to get the CDL transfer done as CA makes you retake the written exams PLUS your class C. (4 tests in all).

Orientation is roughly 3 days at the terminal closest to you. (unless you go flatbed, then its Memphis, TN or Phoenix, AZ may be at a few other terminals but those are the two I know of that do FB training)

I hope I explained this clearly for you. feel free to ask any other ??.

Daivd

Thanks for your response. I will be going through their academy in Millington, TN starting Monday and while my recruiter has been great in helping me get setup for training, she didn't let me know everything I may need to bring with me such as if I need to bring my OTR training supplies such as sleeping bag, pillow, etc. It would be a lot easier not bringing that stuff on the bus with me and just coming home and getting it before starting my training with my mentor but am not sure if that is how it works. That would mean a bus ride home and then back to the memphis terminal to meet with my mentor. It did say that after my training is complete I would return to my home domicile to do the road training and testing. Not sure if that means going home though.

I have read many accounts of people going through the Swift driving academy but I am curious about how long after you graduate the academy do you go out with a mentor. Is it right away or do you get to go home first for a couple days?

Thanks for your response. I wonder if this means that having a BMI over 35 does not necessarily disqualify you from passing the DOT physical but only adds another obstacle you must go through (sleep test) to pass the physical. And even if you do not pass the sleep test if you can still pass the physical by being put on a cpap machine. I may be way off base here but just trying to make sure I have a full understanding of the obstacles I may face in the future and the solutions to them.

I've heard from several drivers that soon (possibly as early as the beginning of next year) that the DOT may start to include BMI on the DOT physical and that it is based off of the circumference of your neck. Basically if your neck is too large (from being overweight) you fail the DOT physical and are no longer allowed to drive until you lose enough weight to be in the right BMI range for your height. This is starting to play a large factor in my decision to drive as I am overweight (I'm about 5'5" and 340lbs). Yes I know I can lose the weight and have been trying to but its alot harder than it sounds. I guess what i'm getting at is that I would hate to make the decision and go to trucking to only be told sometime next year that I'm too fat to drive a truck and then be for lack of a better word screwed. I know for a fact that companies are already using BMI as a factor in their hiring decision (i've been turned down by a company for my BMI) which backs up the idea that DOT may soon be doing it too. I completely understand that there is a large amount of truck drivers out there that are overweight and would be affected by this if they did include this in the DOT physical. This may cause some to say that the DOT would never do that as it could cause a lot of damage to the trucking industry taking away a large portion of their working force but I seriously believe it is not out of the realm of possibilities.

Anyone else have any info on this or think this could happen soon?

Definitely not trying to lease anytime soon.. Appreciate it.

I know this post is 5 months old but came across it looking up info on kllm. Im waiting on my approval to go through their refresher course. You are not forced to lease. They have a ton of different choices you can make whether it be otr, regional, lease. They also offer both cdl-a school or refresher courses and your training is done on state of the art simulators as well as actual equipment. KLLM has merged with ffe also. Just figured id throw this out there in case youre still looking around

One other thing to mention is that you must live close to (like 50 miles or less) to their Atlanta or Chicago terminals to do regional. Otherwise you will be OTR with them which is out 14 and home 2 (also hometime cannot be requested at all until you have been out 14 so you will usually be out more like 20/21 before coming home). I started to go with KLLM but then found out how their hometime worked and changed my mind as I want to be home more than that and didn't care much for hauling a reefer anyways ha. Most likely going to go with Swift Transport due to their large offerings of regional and dedicated lanes that are offered after you proof yourself to be a safe and reliable driver.

Recently I called and spoke with a Celadon recruiter to find out a little more info about their program. It looks great from their website. Very nice facility with dorms so you don't have to be in a hotel and bused to the campus, cafeteria, basketball court, etc. I do have a few questions though for anyone that has recently gone through this program. The recruiter said that once you complete the CDL training and head out with your trainer, you start making $0.18 per mile which is great considering that would be about $900 a week (team driving with trainer) which is a lot more than other companies pay during training which is why I want to know if this is true as it sounds too good to be. Also they said that once you complete your training and start your required team driving portion with another person at your skill level that you have a choice of driving team for 6 months at $0.15 per mile or 1 year at $0.18 per mile. I am wondering if this is true also as I would love to just take the 6 month part and be done with my training obligation that quickly. Any other great info anyone would like to provide about their training would also be great!

Hi everyone

I just wanted to stop in and ask some of you experienced drivers some advice. I had gotten a job driving for KLLM and was to start their driving academy on June 30th. Well I went to Pearl, MS on June 29th, checked into the hotel and just kinda started waiting for that next day to arrive. During that time, I started to realize how much I missed my family and how the next year or so of my life was going to be. Just to kinda give you an idea of me, I'm 27 years old, have a wife and two kids. My wife and I have been married for 5 years and have NEVER experienced one single day in those 5 years where we did not see each other. Now I was well aware that this job would make me be away from my family a lot and thought I was prepared for it until it actually happened. I realized, I needed to see my family more per month than KLLM was going to allow. They require you to be out 14 days and you get 2 days home. Also you cannot even request home time until you have been out 14 days so this was going to make me see my family about 2 -3 days a month. That was not going to work for me so I packed my bag and drove home (only about an hour away). Now I still want to drive. Its all my dad has done for 20 years and I love doing it, I just want to do it on a local basis or at least a job getting me home weekly. The problem with that is, I need a company that will help me get my CDL. I have my permit so just need some practice behind the wheel to pass the skills test. Where I live in southwest Mississippi, there are more truck driving jobs than anything else and tons of local stuff like logging and other day cab companies just none that offer training. So I guess my question is, should I give up on driving at this point in my life and try it again later? If I could find a job here locally that can help me get my license and let me be home weekly, I would be all set but that seems a little hard to find but driving is all I can think about. So what do you all think I should do or do you have any company suggestions that may give me what I seek for?

Thanks for all advice!