Comments By JanaBanana

Hi Jim,

I just graduated from driving school. I found out right away that you have to wade through a lot of bull to get to the real story of each company. When I read reviews on line I try to keep in mind that at least half of them are written by drivers who have a chip on their shoulder after being fired or quitting for not making enough money. Every company and job has a downside, every new driver has to pay their dues, but I believe you'll be rewarded for hard work and less complaining.

The best advice I can give you is some I received from a driver friend. Go to a fairly busy truck stop and hang out near the fueling stations. When you see a driver from a company that you are researching, go say hello and ask him if he likes his company. Wait until they have the nozzle in the tank because that's when they'll have time to chat. If you decide to apply to that company, ask the driver if they have a recruiting bonus and offer to drop his name in the hat when you apply.

And, are you nuts for starting over at 57? I say no. I myself am a lady of a certain age... :)

I can't express how much I appreciate it. I know I'm putting excess pressure on myself. I really need this to work out. Like many Americans,my previous career in a bad economy has left me hanging by a thread financially

Hi Bonarro, everyone here had really great advice for you, so I just want to add a back pat. You'll be fine. I too have everything riding on this career change. After being out of work, paying for a portion of my CDL school and other expenses... I am all in as they say.

I drive a clutch too and my instructors told me that those of us who have driven clutch for years have the most changes to make, the most stuff to UN-LEARN. Stay with it. On graduation day you'll look back at day one and wonder why you were so distressed!

I just graduated on November 1 and have been taking care of personal business before leaving town. I am going to orientation with my handsome fiance one week from today! I have constant butterflies due to the fact that I am a natural worrier, but I feel pretty confident in my skills.

I struggled with skills in the yard a little, but we were practicing with a 25' short box trailer. Backing was a real challenge and I pretty much had a meltdown over that on at least one occasion :) But I heard from so many people that if you can back up, offset, alley dock and blindside a short box you'll be able to master a 53' no problem. So I kept at it, mastered it and feel ready.

I have to say to any of you ladies that are still deciding or haven't started school yet... Take advantage of the HighRoad CDL online training! I totally attribute my test scores in school and at DMV to using this program. I studied and reset and studied some more for a few weeks before starting school and owe my success to it.

I'll update more from training and am probably going to start a blog here as well

Thank you so much Andy, Daniel and Tracey! After I read your replies I felt better. I spoke with him several times during school breaks and after school today. I decided that his peace of mind is more important than anything right now. So I smiled and told him about how I am NEVER going to get the hang of straight backing and how being the only female in this school is a bit much. He, of course, said all the right sweet things and supported me. And that made his day! I decided I'll be ok, I make an awesome Vegan bean soup lol! AND, my mom and dad were passing through and filled my car with gas, bought me dinner, so I have gas to get to school! Feeling super blessed

you guys rock :)

My fiance has been on the road training for the last month and is doing well, about to get his truck assigned etc. I just finished my second week of school and am doing well, several companies have qualified me so employment is looming. But financially the home situation is getting a little tight. I am handling everything ok and still getting good grades in driver school, but it's scary. I want to keep my man in the loop (he's my rock) but I don't want to potentially distract him from his training and safety. Home is his haven too, he misses it terribly! I keep him updated on day to day, like "I moved the couches around" or "hey babe, I finally took that old bike to storage". But really, how much do you guys want your lady to lay on you? I'm pretty sure I have it handled, so should I just let it ride and tell him later? I just don't know if keeping the stress on the down low now will make him mad later! Any advice would be great :0)

Brett, Thank you so much. Your advice really makes sense. I have a feeling this argument is going in the win column for me . I appreciate the advice about not arguing with the experienced trucker/instructors too, I just want to do well in school and keep these guys as friends. My first day at school was pretty good!

I am just starting my process after much research. I know that all of us newbies are going to hear equal amounts of positive and negative comments and I am pretty good at taking negative with a grain of salt... but one is really bothering me. When my fiance was in school he was told not to bother getting his hazmat certification because delivering these loads is like having a target on your truck at inspection points. The person also said that inspectors will go out of their way to find "made up" problems with your truck, your logs etc, just to ticket you and made it sound like "guys he knew" had basically been harassed and ticketed nearly to bankruptcy. I want to argue with him because we agreed that we were going to be that "go to" team that will take any load thrown at us until we have earned the trust and respect of our dispatch team. I feel that these stories may be exaggerated and he's nervous for no real reason. So any drivers out there with a lot of hazmat experience... let me hear from you! I want the real story before I am done with school at the end of October. I would really appreciate your advice.

Hi Shawna,

I have been doing a ton of research and have actually had a friend nearly sign with Central but backed out. His reasoning was that he had just finished driving school which he is paying for out of pocket and Central requires all new drivers to attend their school. They charge for it and it ain't cheap! It's unpaid and all the school provides is a motel room. If you don't pass training you don't have a job and you'll still owe tuition. I was curious about a company that charges new hires for training and asked a friend in the refer field. He said that the complexity of their equipment requires extra training (2 weeks). The school costs them to run and they charge to recoup costs. He also said that he does not recommend Refrigerated for anyone just starting out simply because it can get complicated. Better to learn the ropes for a few years first. There are so many great companies to choose from who will test your skill level and pair you with an appropriate trainer for 2 weeks to 2 months and pay you while you learn. Trucking Truth has a list of companies that are new driver friendly, you should talk to all of them and research! My personal top 3 so far: May Trucking, KKW and Estes. Good luck in your new career!

The full cost for the TDA is 3 grand. But since you're signing the contract you pay only 1,500. Which by the way for trucking school is dirt cheap. You make payments of 57.69$ and it pays out in a year. You seriously don't even notice it. You can easily make 1500 in two weeks of driving. Heck, I've made close to that in a single week. The low price of 1500 is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

It depends on how far you get in training whether or not you will owe anything. If you drop later in the course you will owe something because they've spent countless hours on teaching you when they could have been teaching someone else. This you wasted their time, energy, and money. Fuel for those rigs isn't cheap. And no service is free. This is expected and every company does this. Even those companies you listed.

He's dead wrong about the extra training. Very very wrong. In fact, Central has the SHORTEST training out of any company and they 90% only run reefer. You know how easy it is to operate a reefer? It has 4 buttons. Push on to turn it on and up or down to program a temperature. Select pretrip for it to pretrip itself and gauges to see if its good on fluids. I mean, operating a reefer is kindergarden easy. Centrals training is only 4-5 weeks which is the shortest. Prime's training is about 3 months and they run reefer and dry can. Same equipment, same operations. But they choose to make the training longer because its their choice not because the equipment is complicated.

There really isn't anything complicated about reefer. Set the temperature, check BoLs to verify temperature. Keep it fueled, and wash it or sweep it out after each load. Nothing is extensive or complicated - this isn't tankers.

If you're a rookie no one is going to give you only 2 weeks worth of training.

Now I'm not a golden boy for Central. They have their problems. But I get amazing miles, have a beautiful truck. Their only problem is they push the lease too much. I do believe that you are mislead about the reefer division though and how the training and schools work.

Not trying to get all defensive just letting you know the truth. I've been there done that and have first hand experience with the schools and almost a year with Central.

Thanks for setting me straight Daniel!

Hi Shawna,

I have been doing a ton of research and have actually had a friend nearly sign with Central but backed out. His reasoning was that he had just finished driving school which he is paying for out of pocket and Central requires all new drivers to attend their school. They charge for it and it ain't cheap! It's unpaid and all the school provides is a motel room. If you don't pass training you don't have a job and you'll still owe tuition. I was curious about a company that charges new hires for training and asked a friend in the refer field. He said that the complexity of their equipment requires extra training (2 weeks). The school costs them to run and they charge to recoup costs. He also said that he does not recommend Refrigerated for anyone just starting out simply because it can get complicated. Better to learn the ropes for a few years first. There are so many great companies to choose from who will test your skill level and pair you with an appropriate trainer for 2 weeks to 2 months and pay you while you learn. Trucking Truth has a list of companies that are new driver friendly, you should talk to all of them and research! My personal top 3 so far: May Trucking, KKW and Estes. Good luck in your new career!