Comments By SRJ

Just a few comments to your post.

“The numbers demonstrate "company sponsored CDL training" is a poor risk/reward.” My question would be, what makes a CDL School a good risk/reward?

You pay tuition costs to go to a private school or trucking school. The tuition costs for community college’s seem to range from $2500-$4500. Trucking school costs are all over the board. I read awhile back someone paid $7500 to get a CDL.

Anyway, what is the success rate of the above? How many get hired right out of school? Who is guaranteed a job right out of school? If hired, how many complete 6 months or a year? If you don’t make it in the business, you still have the responsibility of paying your school debt or if you paid it upfront, “x” amount of dollars you no longer have in the bank.

I would think there may be profit in company sponsored training as there is in college tuition or truck driving schools. Companies, schools and businesses don’t usually last long if they aren’t profitable.

Based on the TruckingTruth forum, I know my journey is going across the grain by attending a technical college vs. a company sponsored program. I understand the advantages of doing a company sponsored program. As many of you are aware this site provides a wealth of information from a variety of experienced drivers throughout the trucking industry. The information shared is truly amazing and I want to thank all of you for taking the time to provide such valuable information. A huge thanks to Brett and all the moderators for all their time and effort in making this site so informative.

Prior to my decision I completed just two applications and was accepted: Millis Transfer and Wilson Logistics. The contact at Millis was top-notch and she provided me with an answer to any question I had. Their program is detailed out in such a way that made me feel they truly have an interest in your success. Wilson Logistics was ok, but I could never get a complete breakdown of their program even after I completed a thorough application as requested.

Anyway, after careful consideration of what I feel is best for me in this career changing journey was to enroll in the truck driving weekend program at Waukesha Technical College in Pewaukee, WI. The school is approx. 30 minutes from my residence. The weekend program starts on April 18th and runs through September 19th on Saturday's and Sunday's from 7:30am to 5:30pm. A total of 400 hours of classroom and driving. One of the Saturday's will be spent on the skid pad at the Fox Valley Technical School in Appleton, WI. Testing for your CDL will take place on site once we are ready to do so. Approximately 70 carriers hire students directly out of the school. At this point I do not have any further information on the specifics of said companies.

Why did I decide to attend a technical college vs. company sponsored training. The biggest reason was that within the next couple of weeks the company I am currently employed with will be posting a full-time position that I am slotted to obtain. Due to its location, others with more seniority are not interested in bidding for the position. I have been with the company for just two years and to obtain a full-time position usually requires many more years of being with the company. This will also give me the opportunity to work Monday thru Friday from 8:45am to 4:15pm, off weekends and holidays and thus attend the CDL program on weekends. This will be a huge commitment on my part as I will be using all of the Summer weekends in class. The weekend camping trips, auto racing, family gatherings and alike will be put on the back-burner. I might as well start getting use to it as I have chosen to start a career in trucking.

My plan is to give a weekly update of my journey and my hope is the information I share will be of assistance to anyone looking to start a career in truck driving.

Study sections 1-3 of your State of Wisconsin Commercial Driver's Manual for your Class B. That can be found here:

https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/dmv/com-drv-vehs/cdl-how-aply/cdlapply.aspx

The Wisconsindot.gov website will walk you through each step of the process.

I located the same post as well that was posted 11 months 3 weeks ago and at that time Packrat indicated that same post was posted 4 months prior to that. In just over a year we have the same person posting the same question 3 times. Not sure what the intentions are of Aby M.???????

We had this post on here many months ago under a different name.

Best of luck to you on your new adventure. I look forward to following along.

Congratulations!!!!! Must be a huge relief.

Yesterday I passed the "General" and Air Brakes", but missed passing the "Combination" section by one. Going into the tests this was the section I felt most prepared for, but I wasn't. I can say I was not completely reading the questions and seemed to be rushing through the tests. Not sure why I was doing that yesterday. Reviewed all day yesterday and went over the "Combination" section on High Road Training once again. Went in first thing this morning and was able to pull off a 19 out of 20. Just some pointers for those that will be taking the tests in the future:

Study - High Road Training and your individual state CDL manual.

Take your time - It's not timed or a race to finish.

Focus - Fully read the questions and fully read each potential answer. (I found myself reading the first part of a potential answer and my mind saying, that's the one", but another potential answer below would be very similar and the correct answer. Once I was advised I answered incorrectly the computer indicates the correct one. Once I read the question and potential answers again, it was too late.

OTHERS words only hurt, frustrate and/or bring us down if we allow them to. Keep up the great journey and I am glad things are going good for you.

Thanks. I was overly stressed out about it. Now I may head over to the DMV and test for the permit.

Congrats on getting your card. I just got mine also. Next step is the CLP. Good luck on ur journey!

Good news this morning. For quite awhile I have been a bit stressed and worried about obtaining a med card due to some medical issues related to A-fib and the medications I have to take to keep it in control. I went in with a positive attitude and figured if unsuccessful in obtaining it, I would have to move on from my desire to become a driver. Dr. said based on the medications I am taking, he could only be able to issue a 1-year card and not a 2-year. So I can check that off the list of things to do.