Starting Out As A New Driver
Topic 13414 | Page 1
Welcome to Trucking Truth, Jared!
Look across the top of the web page for links to all the resources we have available.
Here's a specific link for Company-Sponsored Training . If one of these companies hires you, they will send you to their school, wherever that is, and still base you from Seattle.
Oh, you asked about companies that "pay for your school". That ain't necessarily so. Even the sponsoring company will set you up to finance the training, but then you work it off over about a year. Painless!
Here's most links to get you started:
- Truck Driver's Career Guide
- Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
- High Road Training Program
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Company-sponsored Training:
A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.
The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.
If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.
Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.
Ok thank you for tha g info and I will look into those links when I get off work. In the meantime any companies you recommend? Basically who have you heard has better reviews and who is not as good? Or will all of that be in the links as well?
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I went through Swift's school a year ago. No complaints at all. (At Swift, you get training and a hotel, bring your own food.)
Many TT members go to Prime.
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I am currently a Class B driver and will be looking into upgrading to a Class A. I live in the Seattle, Washington area and wanted to ask if anyone knows of what trucking companies have frequent routes into the Seattle, Washington area on a regular basis to make home time easier to manage. Especially does anyone know if any of the companies that pay for your school operate regularly out here, such as prime, Stevens, or anyone other companies? Looking to get as much info as possible.
Thank you