ot truck driving school ????

well there are no jobs to be found ,I'm a self employed construction worker/part time farmer. Question, is it worth going to truck driving school seem's like there is a lot of call for truck drivers around this area,pro's-cons any insight thanks

It is my belief that the driving schools are trying to stay in business by being overly optimistic in their promotions. We have 6 big trucks in our fleet at work and 5 are currently parked. When people are not buying stuff the trucks wont be hauling. Just my opinion. Dave♠

Well i pounded the roads for a lot of years I learned how to drive from and old timer now i am the OLD TIMER . Now this is my take on this what i see coming out of these schools for drivers is a joke . better then half of them should never be allowed behind the wheel of anything bigger the a 1/2 ton pickup and for some that is to big. As for the jobs well yea you can get a JOB , but if you like seeing your family more then once every six to eight weeks or longer then son that is not the place for you . Most of the jobs are in the dry freight van work and you become a robot to the dispatcher and he does not care where he dumps you while they try and find a load for ya so ya may luck out and get to spend the weekend at a truck stop or ya might get to enjoy a Wal Marts parking lot for three or four days even though there maybe a truck stop 15-20 miles up the road ya set where they tell ya to set. I have pulled coal bucket local and over the road pulled van , flat stepdeck and lowboy (RGN) Plum hate dry freight and steel . Enjoyed hauling bulk specialized in a dump and loved hauling the big ugly wide and heavy stuff on the RGN's . First off when ya went someplace to load they were waiting to load ya they were happy that you were there to load what ever you were picking up and when ya got to the other end the were waiting and ready to unload ya . When pulling the dump over the road it was almost as good but there were times that ya had to get ugly and say what do you mean you are not going to unload me and just how would you like this in one nice neat pile or do you want me to spread it out your drive 6-8 inches deep???? But really The only ones making out is the driving school . Before ya jump in find and older driver that has his own rig and see if ya can just ride with him for a week at your expense to see if this is the way ya want to go. IF a week has not taught ya then go for two . Set and learn and if your heart is in it then see if that OLD Driver will teach ya . You and get all the reading mat. from your local DMV.

Depends on what kind of temperament you have.

Do you have the ability of putting up with a crowd of idiots in 4 wheelers that tend to cut you off and 600 feet up the road want to make a left turn ? {This is just one example of every day tests you go through }

Most schools will get you a job OTR but then you have to watch your kids grow up in pictures.

The only way I'd even think about it would be wife trained to drive -No kids and treat it like a paid vacation. Then running Team wouldn't be bad.

I met a guy in a hospital one time he had calloused hands and didn't look the part of a hospital worker. Talking to him he told me he was a professional House painter by trade, and tired of trying to depend on his helpers, and was loosing contracts on account of them.

He chose schooling for physical therapist and was in training and loved it.

no, first with the economy and fuel the way it is lately there are a lot of highly experienced drivers out there looking for work,while some companies have permenant ads out there stating that there looking for drivers, they usualy are companies that have a high driver turn over rate, meaning they treat their drivers badly,and need to keep a recent driver application file, so they can fill a seat fast, in the business a new driver fresh from a cdl mill is like a mechanic fresh out of school,all book learning and no experience you might find a ride with werner or swift, but the good companies want drivers that have been on the road a long time, if your interviewing for a driving job and your standing next to a guy who's been otr for the last 15 years, guess who gets the job

What will a truck driving school teach you that you dont already know, or possibly can learn on your own in a month or two. I have taken a job driving dump truck for a local rock and lime service. In MN, you can get a 6 month farm CDL with no testing, so its basically training wheels to learn the feel and the rules prior to the road tests.

I remember the truck driving class at my former tech school. What a bunch of tards in that class. Everyone in there couldnt hardly drive a car, and they had no clue what was going on...I cannot understand how anyone would go thru with a "training program" we all learned in high school to drive our cars. Its a matter of application, and as my dad says- "if you can back a manure spreader, you can back a semi trailer" Just a matter of learning the mirrors, the feel, and the truck. My opinion.

here in my part of pa the gas companys are taking over seems everyone needs to drive a water truck they start you at 21 bucks an hour which is high for my area every where you look theres a drilling rig

After 25+ years on and off road td, never seen anthing come out of them schools that I want to be any where around. They are a JOKE !

The top scoring graduate at the truck driving course at the local tech college gave the address at commencement, it started as follows "six munce ago I koont even spell truk drivur and now I are one"!

A truck driving school is not worth your time or $$. Learn from a driver who will let uo co drive with him. Sorry BTDT and I learned by the seat of my pants and have over a million miles under my betl as a matter of fact I'm just under 2 Mil

I have seen lots of guys that went to truck driving school,but have not met very many that went on and really became a truck driver.Like others said you want to find an old guy to teach you.Not an old guy thats been driving 5 years,an old guy thats been driving a long time.You want one thats good natured because I have seen a lot of times ones yelling at guys trying to learn.I think if you can find an old man to show you how after 2 weeks its time to find a different old man to show you 2 more weeks,and you want to run in the mountains somewhere the second 2 weeks.Then you might maybe able to keep from running over other trucks and stuff,but you will probably run the right wheels of the trailer over lots of stuff,so pick a job where you can learn.Depending on you,and how much you learn you may want to go back to the first one or find a different old man to run 2 more weeks and learn about times to drive in traffic,how to adjust your brakes,anything he can tell you about the tricks he knows,and you actually want to keep notes just like you did in school if you learned while you were there.I spent a few months running to the same places a couple times a week for a while.It was to Wichita,Ks from Missouri,so it was an overnight run.The stuff I didnt know it wasnt like being in Chicago in rush hour asking directions,getting in a wreck like Ive seen driving school guys do more than once.Also doing that it wasnt too hard to park at the places I went to,lots of room.Until you get onto backing up precisely its good to have a place like that.Ripping the truck next to yours mirror off backing in to the dock is embarrasing,expensive,and if you do it 2 or three times a week because you are a rookie,they might fire you,or the insurance company will make them fire you because you cost them too much.A big company is not going to give you much consideration because you dont have any experience,but they will say they dont do it,and turn around and give you a bad DAT(kind of a black list) rating and it will be hard to get a job for you.Sure they kind of expect you to have accidents,but be extra careful,get out and look before backing,even ask for somebody to watch for you on the CB if you see they are awake setting there.
Chances are you will be a sorry driver for the first 6 months,then you maybe can get on to the traffic and stop being lost so bad all the time.If you make it for 6 months you probably can do it for 2 years before you get disgusted.You also either need a real understanding family,or be single and able to handle being gone for 3 weeks probably,maybe more.Always keep looking for a better job.Stay where you are long enough to get experience,but dont stay for loyalty.They will tell you lots of different lies usually,and you will hate the company or the dispatcher at times,but they have things they are obligated to do to keep the company in business.The way its described is like this,the company/dispatcher/owner is kissing somebodys(insert shippers name)@ss,and using your lips to do it.If you are lucky you might find a small outfit to put up with you a while.If you do,dont make them mad,and try hard not to run over stuff and not knocking down light poles everywhere you go and you might want to come back there if you buy your own truck and lease to them if they like you.Actually thats the best way to drive a truck is own it.When you get 6 months under your belt you need to put a 100 dollars a week in a savings account.In a year you will have 5000 dollars in that account.If you want to be a truck driver save a couple more thousand and buy a good used tractor for about 30,000 dollars with 3000 dollars down and borrow it from a bank with lower interest than a company like Freightliner or Kenworth.
I could tell you lots more,but it is not an easy job.For every 10 people that try it 8 quit and one of those 2 quit after 2 years.I always wanted the money,didnt really care about any of the rest of it,so as soon as you can if you stick with it try and find a union job.Drop and hook,run hard but legal,and save your money to buy your own truck.A union place was about all I could stand really,the gutless other ones kind of get to you after a while.When you haul a trash(load that does not pay you much,makes you mad,and is more waiting than running) load over and over,set in the parking lot for 2 days to get unloaded,tell them that you arent happy about it and dont want to go back,in a few weeks there you are again.They will all tell you what they think it takes to tell you what you want to hear.Hang up with you and tell somebody else the opposite.You dont want to take it too serious,figure they are going to lie to you,that must be a requirement to be a dispatcher,but some guys are so bad they have to lie to them to get them to do anything.After a while you will kind of remember seeing some of them parked in a truck stop,maybe close to the same place,every time you come through.I honestly dont see how people like that keep from starving to death,or why the company even would put up with it,but they are out there parked/hogging the front row of every truck stop,inside playing video games or gambling machines.Just walk on by that stuff,its not going to help you anyway,if you arent working,sleep.For the most part you need to run about as many hours as you can legally to make enough money.Its hard to do at first because you dont know how to get around good,but the wheels need to be turning for you to make a living.If you cant hack it,you would be better off getting a job doing something else because its a hard job,and stressful,and nobody cares about you.They treat you like a robot and thats on a good day.
The CB radio is your friend,so are books on tape,AM radio.Bad weather,park if you are scared.I would rather run 65 in the hammer lane fully loaded knowing the inexperienced guy is not going to pull out in front of me in rain,snow,whatever,as those are the scariest things I had happen.Also have seen a few times pull into heavy rain and slam on the brakes,or fog,or ice.They are so bad at this in the daytime I can tell just about what they are going to do if I see the rain or fog coming up and try to pass them if I can.I drove in an ice storm in Iowa the very first week in a tractor trailer on my own.I had the whole tractor trailer sliding sideways down the highway.I wanted to get off the road but every exit had a wreck on it,and I drove for hours,even stopping on the highway a few times to calm down all the way to Missouri from up by Souix Falls before I found an exit I could get off the road.By then the road was dry.Stuff like that if you live through it can really get your adrenalin going.Its like this lead,follow,and if you cant do that,get out of the way.I could write lots of stuff about it.Ask whatever you want and maybe I can answer,but for the most part a truck driving school is not the good deal for you they tell you it is.Its good for them because if you make it they get you cheap for a year or 2.Believe me if you count all your hours the pay is not that good unless you own the truck,have a union job,or work for an outfit that drops and hooks a lot,likes you,and pays you well,treats you right.Places like that are real selective usually,so a good job,and good help,are very hard to find.There is not a nickels worth of difference in most of the big ones,and ones that offer the schools,go that way and in 2 years you will be done with truck driving.Do it the way I said,plus you need to be mechanic enough to change tires,oil,and look your truck over all the time,and own your own,and you will be lots happier,home lots more,and make fairly good money.You might be home one day or maybe 2 a week on a union job.Way better than the big time companies that look fancy and keep you running 3 weeks or more then home 2 or 3 days and back out.There is no comparison in the pay,at least where I worked for a union,probably twice as good as one the others.There are good non union companies,that pay good,but they dont hire guys that dont have good experience.After a while if you choose to do this,you will understand why they want 2 or 3 or 5 years of experience.That weeds out a lot of bad drivers for them and their equipment looks a lot better than the ones that have inexperienced drivers working for them.Following too close is the worst thing you can do,especially on 2 lane highways or any highway in bad weather,in your car as well as a truck,but I have come very close to wrecking from following too close.You can go down a mountain too slow lots of times if you dont get your brakes too hot,but you only go down a mountain too fast one time.Remembering and doing those things there go a long way toward keeping you alive.The CB has saved me lots of times from having a wreck,getting a fine,being tied up at a scale house.It also works to get directions,figure out where you need to go,its just a useful tool.Some truck driving school graduates have told me their teacher told them not to listen to the CB.Sure there is a lot of nonsense on it,but at times it really helps.Cops have CBs,so dont talk about your log book on it,or how fast you are going,and dont use your name or real phone number on it.
I mean there is a lot to learn.You can do it,but its not for everybody.Its up there as one of the more dangerous jobs you can do too.I know this is way too long,but its not even a good start at what you have to know.You can do it,but it can get miserable for a while,and you dont want to team for 6 months,or put up with a "trainer"that might tell you what you need,or might not.A trucker most likely will teach you what you need to know.Truck driving school might be your last resort if you cant get on to it on your own.Also practice backing up in a big empty parking lot at first to get on to it before you try getting into a dock.I had a hard time at first backing up,everybody does,because you cant see all that you need to when you back up.Its harder than lots of truckers make it look.

I disagree with a lot of the posters here. 1. The school will teach you the laws rules policy etc. 2. It will get you your licence. No school will give you exsperiance and jobs are based on the economy and need. You may do over road, local dump truck ups truck etc so there are many forms or truck driver. I look at it as a meal ticket if you have a licence and want to work in that profession. True many drop out or move to other profecions. Also bear in mind that an school/education does not garentee employment.

A recent arcticle in the "Milwaukee Journal"
newspaper said that some of the big outfits like
"Schnieder-National" and "Hundt" wern't going
the recruit new drivers and send them to school,
or hire recent school graduates, because so many
experianced drivers were out of work, and openings
could now be filled with experianced drivers.

My concern is about young folks spending $$$ on an education & then discovering that's not what they really want to do. I do not know how one tells whether they have a passion (for lack of a better word) for truck driving or not. You have to think this thru. One of my uncles was a truck driver for years for a large Midwest grain co. He was a pretty good driver, but had a couple mishaps, like his cab getting hit by a train as he was pulling out of the yard & also parking on a soft shoulder & then the whole truck rolls over while he's in the cab. He & about 3 other drivers there did get safety awards, for so many safe miles. That was in the local newspaper.
Later in life, this same uncle went on to a different career.

Well trucker40 and tractor vet pretty well summed it up. I've been out here doing that for about 15-20 years and six now with my own authority. The only thing they left out is the not getting a shower only every 3 days sometimes due to the place your stuck at Or the scheduled run time.

The demand for truck hauled goods is down a lot right now.
Not a good time to find a job in truck driving I would think.

I have to mention this here. Way back when, I got to ride along on a few trips with my uncle. That probably wouldn't be allowed now. Get up too early, see the sun rise out on the Minnesota landscape, stop at a little cafe for brkfast, flirting time w/ waitress- there are/were some GOOD parts to truck driving. My uncle always waved to approaching truck drivers & quite a few of these drivers waved back. He said "professional" drivers always waved. I've often wondered if this custom of waving is still followed? As you may guess, I owe my uncle quite a great deal, for these experiences.

Finally I'm seeing comments on here that I agree with. The optimistic comments from the schools are based on the idea that the more drivers there are, the lower the mileage rate the companies can pay. Ten years ago, Schneider was using DMACC to train drivers and hired all they put out. Now Schneider has their termonal (Des Moines) in a Pilot truck stop. TMC has taken over their old terminal that was down the street from DMACC's school. Trucker40 is correct.

No legal loads to haul that will pay with a slow economy.
Depending who you ask. Truck driving is a job that requires miminal skills, minimal training and little physical labour.Anybody and everybody can be a truck driver. There is no shortage of drivers to drive the wages/return up.


Unless you want to want to haul over weight loads, "hot" items, chemical waste for illegal dumping,etc.
The real money is in operating the truck driving school it's self.

Here is how I did it, I worked for a lumber yard, driving a straight truck, at the time, was under 18,000 lbs, box truck, making millwork deliveries. I had plenty of experience around trucks, and related equipment, we had 2 tractor trailers that were part of our business at one time, so I had an advantage with some experience, but was still plenty green nonetheless. At the time there was no CDL, NYS was class 1-5, I had a class 5. I started filling in on framing lumber deliveries, out of class, as I recall, because I never had the class 3 license for it and could have gotten busted for it. Was not too long after, that the company started manufacturing trusses and needed a pair tractor trailers. One of the drivers that came later, awhile after I had been there (and this place had a high turn over rate) was formerly an owner operator, hauling reefer units coast to coast. He was 20 years older, with a lot of experience. I was never afraid to jump into the seat and learn something, so he helped me along, I got comfortable enough with the tractor trailer and while on company time, (we told the dispatcher) I scheduled and took my road test with their rig, you had to have someone with the license accompany you to the test area. We took the single axle tractor, a Mack Midliner with a 6 speed, real easy to shift and a 44'-0" flatbed trailer. Better to look good shifting that, as the R model tandem had a 9 speed I was still getting used to. I lucked out, the DMV guy wanted to go to lunch so we literally went a few blocks down came back and I parallel parked the rig, passed with flying colors. So I got my class 1, but that did not make me a driver, still quite green, so I spent a lot of time getting used to driving a tractor trailer and that long wheel base R model Mack. There are a lot of attributes that make a good driver and it does not come overnight, best thing you can do is get some seat time and learn from an experienced driver, a good one, like I had. Jimmy was a good friend, been in trucking most of his life, I have not seen him in almost 20 years, will always owe my Class 1 license (CDL Class A now) to him. I used to ask my father to teach me with our rig, never went anywhere, don't think he had much faith in me, so I soon learned in life, you have to aggressively go after the things you want, I needed a job, driving was not so bad then, though years later I had my share of it, mostly due to the unruly attention by law enforcement, got sick of all the crap that goes with driving for a living.

I drove 4 years straight at this place, flatbed trailer loads of lumber from the rail yards, to our yard, to job sites, over length roof trusses, hauled a set of 54'-0's and 60'-0's, biggest they ever built in the plant, then got into construction, site work/excavation/foundation etc. Low boy, tri-axle dump etc., thinking back was still green when I started that, but someone gave me a chance and I took it seriously, respected the weight I carried and the speeds I traveled more than anything, including all the safety items, tires, brakes, lights etc. in those years I sure got an education, you need to work your way up, learn what you can and use common sense, you can't panic in a tough situation and you cannot fear what you drive, some people are just not meant for this work, same is true with running equipment, others adapt to it and have some natural ability to just fit right in and become a sound driver, 90% of becoming that is seat time, you just have to get those miles in, once given the chance, it's a serious job, you can't ever forget that.

Depending who you ask. Truck driving is a job that requires miminal skills, minimal training and little physical labour.Anybody and everybody can be a truck driver.


ANYONE CAN BE A TRUCK DRIVER BUT LIKE ANY PROFESSION HOW MANY ARE REALLY GOOD AT IT???
THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE IN PROFESSIONS BUT FEW ARE PROFESSIONALS!!!

Find an accredited one that has several companys they claim to work with and ask the companys what they think of said school ,be careful there are good and bad schools out there .and check out companys you may think about working for first some get you home weekly some 2 weeks out or more by all means do home work before signing up for a 3-5000.00 class .

I think you would change your attitude if I would have taken you along with me. I would leave town with a load of freight and drive 125 miles, drop trailer. Pick up a trailer loaded with 40,000 pounds of block salt and lift every block myself onto carts or whatever. Now if you think that's sitting my tutu and an easy job--try it sometime. Everybody thinks all truck drivers sit there and drive BUT in lot of cases that load has to be unloaded by the driver.

Hey Old--Good to see you on here again.
Paul

Ive been here all along just keeping my mouth shut till people get over the cabin fever

I don't see anybody paying tuition and studying for 3-10 years in school to be a trucker.
Nobody doing a 5 year apprenticeship to drive truck either.
Sorry while trucking is a a decent and honest way of making a living. It isn't require the input/sacrifices or demand the wages of skilled tradesmen, accountants, engineers, legal or medical profession.

It depends alot on your situation. Most of the better schools have job placement programs. The problem is that most of the companys that hire straight out of school are companies you don't want to work for, but that is where you will end up starting out. I have been lucky as I have never done the hardcore over the road stuff. For a few years I was doing straight forward out and back. Mostly same day (not always legally) next day back at the worst. Probably the only thing more depressing than sitting at a truckstop overhearing the guy at the next table talking to his kids that he hasn't seen in 3 weeks is being the guy who hasn't seen his kids in 3 weeks. Now I do local pickup and delivery for a national ltl carrier so I'm home every night although sometimes not till 9 or 10 o'clock at night. Good luck with your decision, Mike

Trucker40.

In all seriousness. After reading you post above. Have you ever thought of becoming an author and writing novels?

b&d

I'm sorry but if you are going to drive a truck (semi or whatever)for a commercial company you will do a lot of studying to pass the tests or no job. If your driving for a compny that don't give you these tests then they aren't hiring qualified drivers. And there lies the main problem.

Lets see, green light go. Yellow light stop if possible. Red light, stop.
I passed with 100%. Anybody can be a trucker.