Comments By Steve C.

I will mention you can pick up at home urine tests for marijuana at wal-mart for ~$12 in the pharmacy section. As Tim F mentioned make certain you will pass that test before heading to a company, and once you get on with a company make certain you do not touch the stuff again, as the drug tests can come randomly at a moments notice.

Just Speculation
I wonder if different places calculate "pass rate" differently. For example: One school might consider pass rate as:
(people who get their CDL / people on day one) = pass rate

Whereas another school might consider pass rate as:
[(people who get their CDL) / (people on day one - people who fail a drug screen)] = pass rate

The argument to be made for doing it the second way is that people who fail the drug screen are never "really" in the class, as they didn't meet the conditions to get started. This would also result in a (potentially substantially) higher pass rate.

Thanks Brett. I had a lot of fun doing it. When the reporter contacted me initially I was a bit weary, but he assured me the goal was just to give people a window into an aspect of life they may not otherwise know anything about. I think he did a very good job with that. He was certainly able to edit down a lot of my rambling in to a short piece that was interesting enough for radio.

I should point out I realize I misspoke during the episode. Coleharbor is in North Dakota, though I said south. The population of Coleharbor is actually 79, not 20.

I guess there are reasons I'm not a professional talker.

As you may or may not, I was once a truck driver and got my start on Trucking Truth. I loved the experience, but it ended up not working long term for me (I just needed to be home more often for personal reasons and was able to get a job in IT that worked for me). I have nothing bad to say about the experience or the company I drove for, and still think it's a great career path for some people. A local college radio station was doing an episode of their talk show called the Undercurrent (similar to This American Life if you are familiar) and this episode was called "On the Road." Because of this, they wanted to interview a former truck driver, and I was that former truck driver.

If you are interested in listening they put it up as a podcast after the fact here. The part I'm on that is about trucking begins at 18:45

The Undercurrent - s5e10 On The Road

Let's try this one question at a time.

Hello all, I found this forum through a bit of searching and it seems like a good place to come and ask some questions and get some advice. That being said, much like the title states, I'm looking to earn my CDL A and start driving; but I'm not entirely sure the best way to go about it. Do I try and find a school in my area? (The closest one to me is NETTTS, which is a 10K tuition and a 22 week program, and from the reviews I've read, not that great to go to for the money spent.) Or do I try and get paid training through a company like US Express?

Both are good options. 10k seems a little steep for tuition at a school. If you find a company you like that offers company sponsored training it makes a lot of sense. Not only do you get your CDL with the company, but you also start learning about the way that company does things from day one. This will set you up for success. At a private school their main concern is getting you your CDL and job placement, with a company sponsored school their main concern is getting you your CDL and making you a productive driver.

That also leads me to my next question: Is there a "best" company to go with for paid training? US Express sounds very, very good, but I've read a lot of mixed reviews about them. There are seemingly dozens of companies out there willing to train you to get you a CDL and on the road, but I don't know which ones are actually good to be with, and reliable.

There really isn't a "best" company out there. You just want to look in to what is important to you and find a company that offers that. Think about what type of freight you want to haul. Refrigerated? Flatbed? Dryvan? If you aren't sure find a company that hauls all three so you can switch between them without too much trouble. Also consider things like hometime and regions the company runs. Do you want to go to all the lower 48? Canada? Just regional? Pay should be something to consider as well, but honestly it is a lower priority. If you are a driver that performs well you will make decent money at most any company.

That's also another question, the recruiter for US that I spoke with, said that after my training was done (Schooling, and OTR training for 3-5 weeks) I could get a regional position with home time every weekend. From everyone's personal experience, how likely is this to be true? Should "promises" like that be trusted? I don't want to take a company up on a training offer, just to be forced into OTR work after training is done because I'm not "experienced" enough to land regional. As much as I wouldn't mind OTR stuff, I have a Fiance and a 5 year old at home, so I can't be gone for weeks on end. Regional at least lets me come home at some point every week.

I do hear of a lot of people getting regional spots right out of training, so that isn't entirely unreasonable. That said, unfortunately sometimes recruiters will say things to fill spots. I would try to ask some current drivers for confirmation. If hometime is important to you and you have an interest in flatbed work try looking into TMC, Maverick, and McElroy. I believe all three get their drivers home every weekend as long as you live in their hiring area.

One last question: I see a lot of companies offering X CPM and X amount of miles per week, so it averages out to be a decent amount of money made. But what am I realistically looking at as a new CDL A holder? Part of what made me want to get into this field, other than the fact that I like driving, is the money. It seemingly provides me with the opportunity to make a decent wage, to support my family. Fresh out of school though, am I only looking at what amounts to a minimum wage job?

The general consensus seems to be that new drivers make between $30,000 and $40,000 their first year. For reference, current federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour. Working for minimum wage full time would get you about 7.25 * 40 * 52 = $15,080, so you can reasonably count on making at least double minimum wage. Once people get good at the job they can make substantially more. Another good reference, user: Rainy D just posted her first year pay totals in another thread. She grossed over $40,000 in 2016 and was in training until February, so had she been solo the whole year it would have been even higher. First Year Pay Totals at Prime

I apologize for so many questions, but I just want to get as much information about the industry as possible before making a definite decision as to what I'm going to do, and who I'm going to try and work with. I really appreciate any and all advice that could be given!

Don't apologize for asking questions. You are trying to set yourself up for success. Good on you.

I know I'm a crazy person for saying this, but I slept really well in a moving truck. Something about the truck rolling down the highway just rocked me to sleep. It was nice. I was fortunate in that my trainer had me run first thing in the morning until my hours ran out, and he ran the night shift - the lesser traffic + my circadian rhythm made it much easier to sleep back there at night.

Is this an actual rivalry? I never heard of this once while driving.

I just want to point out a little something. The amount of time it takes to tarp has been pointed out many times, but I think what you ought be more concerned with is total time spent at a shipper. I'd rather spend 1 hour getting loaded + 3 hours tarping for a grand total of 4 hours over waiting 20 hours to get a reefer loaded any day. Obviously these are extreme examples, but in my time flatbedding I was very rarely waiting to get loaded for more than an hour or two. I never pulled reefer myself, but from talking to some of those drivers it sounds like the loads regularly take quite a while.

I say go for it! There is no harm letting a recruiter know you are interested. I would specifically ask about their pre-hire process and ask what you would need to do to get one. a Pre-Hire letter is essentially a document from the company stating they will hire you once you graduate from an approved trucking school with your CDL.

Here are some cool resources on the site with more info about pre-hire letters.

• Article: Understanding Pre-Hire Letters: The What, Why, And How Of This Important Step
• Trucker's Wiki: "Pre-Hire Letters"
• Forum Topics Tagged "CDL Pre-Hire Letters"