Ready For Roadmaster West Memphis Ar
Topic 5333 | Page 1
Well after much studying and searching for a refresher, I decided on Roadmaster Truck Driving School. Yes, it is very expensive! It is only 3 weeks and cost $6495, same as new driver training. But.....noone wants to do refresher training. I have 3 yrs OTR/TEAM with my husband, but have not driven in a year. My husband wants me to stay home because he is pulling mobile homes and making real good money, BUT I LOVE TO DRIVE ! I can not stay home another day. I will start school on Monday, the 29th. I will be placed on the national job register for life, that's a bonus! I will be trying to get on with Knight. Knight has a lot of options for hometime, and I may try to become a trainer ($70 to $75,000 a year) not bad for training company. I am very excited! I forgot to mention that Knight pays most of the tuition for school. Roadmaster is private school, so you don't have to contract with a company for repayment, you just get another company to pay it or you pay it yourself (finance with low payments). I hope I am not making a mistake paying so much, but I really need the training. My husband was my trainer when I started, and he did everything! I only helped fuel, hooked up air and electrical lines, and drove. He did load plans, backing, etc.... I would not recommend your spouse as trainer, not if they are a gentleman and even open your door for you on a big rig (like he did). I love him, but, he hurt me more than helped me. He really wanted me dependent on him so I would not take off on my own (sorry hubby, not doing oversize loads or staying home). Truck driving is in my blood !!!!!
I would love to hear from anyone about Roadmaster school. I will not have a computer with me after sunday, but I will be checking back in from time to time. Thanks to everyone at TT ! I have not posted a lot on the site, but I have been reading for hours on end! I will keep doing it when I can. I will be getting my mobile internet turned back on at some point, and I will post my experiences with school and wherever I go to work!
Thanks for everyone's comments! NOT !!!!
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Hey Rita, Roadmaster has a solid reputation, I wish you the best of luck!
But, you know there are quite a few companies that will do a refresher for you. Almost all of the Company-Sponsored Training programs will take refresher students, and I know that Western Express will do a refresher and pay you while you are doing it. Unless there is something in your application that is tripping you up I'm not sure why you would have to go and pay all that money for a refresher. This is something you need to look into. Have you tried to get some pre-hire letters yet? You really should do that before forking out that much cash and then find out you are not hire-able. If you're not familiar with pre-hires you can take a look at Understanding Pre-Hires.
Rita, you don't need to get all excited about not getting an immediate response to your thread. Sometimes when the forum is busy like it has been here lately stuff just gets pushed down and maybe not too many people saw it, or maybe they just didn't know you needed such affirmation, or it could be a thousand reasons, but we're glad your here, and I hope it all works out well for you at Roadmaster.
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.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.Pre-hire:
What Exactly Is A Pre-Hire Letter?
Pre-hire letters are acceptance letters from trucking companies to students, or even potential students, to verify placement. The trucking companies are saying in writing that the student, or potential student, appears to meet the company's minimum hiring requirements and is welcome to attend their orientation at the company’s expense once he or she graduates from truck driving school and has their CDL in hand.
We have an excellent article that will help you Understand The Pre-Hire Process.
A Pre-Hire Letter Is Not A Guarantee Of Employment
The people that receive a pre-hire letter are people who meet the company's minimum hiring requirements, but it is not an employment contract. It is an invitation to orientation, and the orientation itself is a prerequisite to employment.
During the orientation you will get a physical, drug screen, and background check done. These and other qualifications must be met before someone in orientation is officially hired.
Pre-hires:
What Exactly Is A Pre-Hire Letter?
Pre-hire letters are acceptance letters from trucking companies to students, or even potential students, to verify placement. The trucking companies are saying in writing that the student, or potential student, appears to meet the company's minimum hiring requirements and is welcome to attend their orientation at the company’s expense once he or she graduates from truck driving school and has their CDL in hand.
We have an excellent article that will help you Understand The Pre-Hire Process.
A Pre-Hire Letter Is Not A Guarantee Of Employment
The people that receive a pre-hire letter are people who meet the company's minimum hiring requirements, but it is not an employment contract. It is an invitation to orientation, and the orientation itself is a prerequisite to employment.
During the orientation you will get a physical, drug screen, and background check done. These and other qualifications must be met before someone in orientation is officially hired.
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.
EPU:
Electric Auxiliary Power Units
Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices
One thing that bothers me is sharing the truck with 3 other students. We get 10 minutes a turn to learn how to do the maneuvers and I wish we could get more time one on one!
I found a small local company that was nice enough to let me use their trucks around their parking lot. If I didn't have that extra practice I don't think my grades would be so good right now.
I wish you the best of luck with RoadMaster, absorb everything they tell you!
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
I second what Old School said about threads getting pushed down when there is a lot of traffic. I am not even in school yet and can't keep up with everything, so I now those that are driving don't have time. I hope you stick around as there is a wealth of knowledge to be gained here. Best of luck to you in school and I do hope you will let us know how it goes. It seems most folks typically go to Prime or Swift for their training and it will be nice to hear how other schools do things.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.New Reply:
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Well after much studying and searching for a refresher, I decided on Roadmaster Truck Driving School. Yes, it is very expensive! It is only 3 weeks and cost $6495, same as new driver training. But.....noone wants to do refresher training. I have 3 yrs OTR/TEAM with my husband, but have not driven in a year. My husband wants me to stay home because he is pulling mobile homes and making real good money, BUT I LOVE TO DRIVE ! I can not stay home another day. I will start school on Monday, the 29th. I will be placed on the national job register for life, that's a bonus! I will be trying to get on with Knight. Knight has a lot of options for hometime, and I may try to become a trainer ($70 to $75,000 a year) not bad for training company. I am very excited! I forgot to mention that Knight pays most of the tuition for school. Roadmaster is private school, so you don't have to contract with a company for repayment, you just get another company to pay it or you pay it yourself (finance with low payments). I hope I am not making a mistake paying so much, but I really need the training. My husband was my trainer when I started, and he did everything! I only helped fuel, hooked up air and electrical lines, and drove. He did load plans, backing, etc.... I would not recommend your spouse as trainer, not if they are a gentleman and even open your door for you on a big rig (like he did). I love him, but, he hurt me more than helped me. He really wanted me dependent on him so I would not take off on my own (sorry hubby, not doing oversize loads or staying home). Truck driving is in my blood !!!!!
I would love to hear from anyone about Roadmaster school. I will not have a computer with me after sunday, but I will be checking back in from time to time. Thanks to everyone at TT ! I have not posted a lot on the site, but I have been reading for hours on end! I will keep doing it when I can. I will be getting my mobile internet turned back on at some point, and I will post my experiences with school and wherever I go to work!
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.