TRAINING PAY

I have researched day and night every trucking school and trucking company I could find. If I get my CDL Class A from Roadmaster do I still have to get paid "peanuts" while they train me? Or will I be offered a salary by a company and hired as a driver. I am in South Florida and it is slim pickings finding a company to hire me to begin with but I can't live off of $300-$500 / week while I train for 2 months. I make $700 / week now and I am leaving this job to become a trucker to make more. NOT LESS.

Thanks in advance for all your input and advice.

Mighty Mike wants his cake and eat it too:

I have researched day and night every trucking school and trucking company I could find. If I get my CDL Class A from Roadmaster do I still have to get paid "peanuts" while they train me? Or will I be offered a salary by a company and hired as a driver. I am in South Florida and it is slim pickings finding a company to hire me to begin with but I can't live off of $300-$500 / week while I train for 2 months. I make $700 / week now and I am leaving this job to become a trucker to make more. NOT LESS.

Thanks in advance for all your input and advice.

Mike, when you graduate from Roadmasters or for that matter any school, you know the bare-bones basics, just enough to pass your state's CDL test, and definitely not ready for solo driving. The 4-6 weeks of road training takes an entry level driver beyond the basics and develops the critical skills necessary to operate solo or in a team setting. Even then the learning curve is steep and at times very difficult during the first 6 -12 months. Not sure how you expect a trucking company to pay you top dollar while they train you,...unrealistic and not going to happen without "paying your dues". This business is all about performance, thus the top performing drivers make the big money, 60-75k annually. It will take you several years of safe and efficient driving before you can expect to make that.

While I was training I made about $500 per week, for 6 weeks. This is fairly consistent throughout the industry, although I believe Prime offers higher training pay. However once you are dispatched either solo or in a team, $700 per week average is attainable and highly realistic.

There is no silver bullet.

Thank you G-Town for your response. $500 / week is a bit better than $300 which is what PAM is trying to pay. I will continue to search for companies that pay more.

Thank you G-Town for your response. $500 / week is a bit better than $300 which is what PAM is trying to pay. I will continue to search for companies that pay more.

Yeah Man,...your dang area code is problematic.

I've read several of your recent posts on this and this is what I see:

1. You're from south Florida where it's very difficult to find a company hiring from that area.

2. You don't want to pay to go to school.

3. A major company has agreed to hire you AND train you.

4. You don't want the contract.

5. You don't want to work for "peanuts".

I think the path has been clearly laid before you. Go with the company that has already hired you...

I know. The schools here are amazing though so we had to move here. #6 in the country. I want to travel and do this. I just want to be smart about it and not go with the first offer on the table. I could go CRST but I've heard nightmares about them. Roadmaster would be good as I would be able to avoid signing any contracts but honestly having a guaranteed job is better than holding a CDL. Still in the elementary stages of this journey but thanks for the help along the way.

Swift pays $10 an hour for all of your driving hours while training and training is basically 4 to 6 weeks. I'm not sure what Schneider's training pay is but their training is only a couple of weeks long.

JJ

I've read several of your recent posts on this and this is what I see:

1. You're from south Florida where it's very difficult to find a company hiring from that area.

2. You don't want to pay to go to school.

3. A major company has agreed to hire you AND train you.

4. You don't want the contract.

5. You don't want to work for "peanuts".

I think the path has been clearly laid before you. Go with the company that has already hired you...

Thanks! Makes sense but my wife would never go for it............"Honey, I've decided to leave my job making $40,000/yr to make nothing for a month, then $300/week for 2 months, then maybe around $40-50K within my first year. Oh, and I'll be home only 3-4 days a month but that's not guaranteed." Lol..............that conversation would not go too well......Lol

Swift pays $10 an hour for all of your driving hours while training and training is basically 4 to 6 weeks. I'm not sure what Schneider's training pay is but their training is only a couple of weeks long.

JJ

Swift will not hire out of Florida

We have had quite a bit of CRST discussed on the forum. Here is the link for archived threads and the TT review. Other than the Teaming requirement,...maybe not as bad as you thought.

Click here CRST