Help!! Too Many Choices For School
Topic 30091 | Page 1
We always recommend Paid CDL Training Programs.
I was trained by and drive for CFI. Their training is free. They provide, transportation, room and food while in school. School is three weeks, then two days of orientation. After that it's out with a trainer for 21 days. While out with your trainer, you're dispatched as a solo truck and paid 29 CPM. Once you upgrade you get 35 CPM. Then you go through several raises during your first year. You would have to drive with them for a year after that.
We recommend going this route because companies have a vested interest in your success.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
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.
CPM:
Cents Per Mile
Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.
I still wanted to work while going to school because the companies don’t pay very much while your in school. Some advice would be very much appreciated
Hello Alexus. Here's the best advice I can give to you at this point. You are working as a nurse, but you obviously want to do something else. Trucking is something that Takes A Great Commitment. You will want to be totally focused when you are in school. There is a lot of information to cram into your memory in a relatively short amount of time. I recommend you work hard on saving some of that great money you are earning while nursing. Put back a few thousand dollars that you can live frugally on while in school. Devote your time at school on actually learning and not having to be concerned with where your next dollar is coming from.
It only takes about a month to obtain your CDL. Set aside one month of your known expenses and live carefully on that. Set aside a little more if you think it wise, but don't try to be working on something else while in trucking school. You will start earning money as soon as you are licensed. Don't think you are just giving this a look see so you can decide if it is what you want. You need to be prepared for a one year commitment to this career. It will take you that long to gain any sort of mastery of it, and it will take that long for you to be able to make an accurate assessment of whether you are going to enjoy it or not. We all wanted to quit at some (several) points in our training and/or rookie year. It is not uncommon for the stress of being a rookie out here to wear us down and cause us to make an irrational decision to quit.
There, I've given you two things to focus on for now.
1) Commit yourself to this wholeheartedly - don't even think of looking back. If you do, you will.
2) Saving money. Get started on that now - don't delay. If you are broke during training, you will likely give up on your commitment.
This is a special career that requires special people. There is no reason you can't be one of them. You have to make a great effort at the beginning.
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.
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Hi everyone it’s me again! I’m trying to Figure out if I should do company sponsored training or just do a private school or a fast track program. I’m currently working as a nurse so I still wanted to work while going to school because the companies don’t pay very much while your in school. Some advice would be very much appreciated 😊 thank you!!
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.