I gotted my CDL.......

[mndriver]

They are teaching you to pass a state test. Nothing more.

No more a truck driver than you are a carpenter or a welder.

Students of local CDL course say they’re not ready to be truckers

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Tractor-trailer drivers are in demand, but before you can take the wheel of an 18-wheeler you must have a commercial driver’s license (CDL). Shippers’ …

www.wavy.com

 

[Duck]

The guy was bragging about a 73% pass rate.

"However, Henk says nearly three out of every four people who complete his course drive off with what they came for.

“About 73 percent of people overall company-wide that take the course and they obtain their CDL on either their first or second attempt at testing,” Henk said​

 

[ironpony]

We used to call places like this CDL mills. When did that change?

There's only so much supervised driving time that CDL schools can provide (including the much ballyhooed community college programs) for the price of tuition. Its expensive.

 

[GAnthony]

They are teaching you to pass a state test. Nothing more.

this sadly is so very true.

i had worked as an instructor, (at the school i graduated from). when i was a student, this was well before the CDL.

anyway's, they taught us as much as possible.

in later years, when went to work there, i was told, by the old yard boss that trained me in fact,


that we are "only helping them to get thier CDL, the training they get, comes form who they go to work for.

that was such a let down, from the old way.

they had long since my graduation, turned into a CDL Mill.

at that school i was a classroom instructor, and many other times, a yard instructor. i really did not want to go on the road with the students, and we had many other instructors that wanted to.

in sharp contrast, at another school i worked at, which only had 2 locations, we actually taught the students very well. we had a very high first time pass rate. compared to the Mill....

i personally do put a lot of blame on the students. i too have been a witness to many who wanted to learn quickly and get onto the road. one has to slow down, ask questions, and practice.

too many "got tired" (at the Mill) of practicing, saying "they know how to do it"....only to fail miserably at the DMV.

if you don;t practice, and you fail, where does the blame go..??

as instructors, we were there, many times however, the students did not show up, then gripe they failed.

 

[mndriver]

They aren't going to teach people how to drive in this crap...




So why are people even thinking a school is reasonable for this shit.

It's learning on-the-job. With mentors.

 

[GAnthony]

They aren't going to teach people how to drive in this crap...

View attachment 58825


So why are people even thinking a school is reasonable for this ****.

It's learning on-the-job. With mentors.

exactly, at each school i worked at NO ONE went on the road when it was snowing.

 

[mndriver]

exactly, at each school i worked at NO ONE went on the road when it was snowing.

Maybe they should have been on the road. Doing them a serious disservice not teaching them inclimate weather driving

 

[ironpony]

this sadly is so very true.

i had worked as an instructor, (at the school i graduated from). when i was a student, this was well before the CDL.

anyway's, they taught us as much as possible.

in later years, when went to work there, i was told, by the old yard boss that trained me in fact,


that we are "only helping them to get thier CDL, the training they get, comes form who they go to work for.

that was such a let down, from the old way.

they had long since my graduation, turned into a CDL Mill.

at that school i was a classroom instructor, and many other times, a yard instructor. i really did not want to go on the road with the students, and we had many other instructors that wanted to.

in sharp contrast, at another school i worked at, which only had 2 locations, we actually taught the students very well. we had a very high first time pass rate. compared to the Mill....

i personally do put a lot of blame on the students. i too have been a witness to many who wanted to learn quickly and get onto the road. one has to slow down, ask questions, and practice.

too many "got tired" (at the Mill) of practicing, saying "they know how to do it"....only to fail miserably at the DMV.

if you don;t practice, and you fail, where does the blame go..??

as instructors, we were there, many times however, the students did not show up, then gripe they failed.

They aren't going to teach people how to drive in this crap...

View attachment 58825


So why are people even thinking a school is reasonable for this ****.

It's learning on-the-job. With mentors.

This what I don't get about you guys.

Here you are whining about how there's no real training beyond pumping them up for the CDL test. Throw 'em out, never getting any mentorship, no bad weather training...

Maybe they should have been on the road. Doing them a serious disservice not teaching them inclimate weather driving

So I suggest go to Prime.

Oh no! Indentured servitude! Evil mega just wants slave labor!

But what you're bitching about here is exactly what they'll get, mostly because the trucks that they're on are earning revenue so they can afford to give students more in depth training.

10k miles with a certified driving instructor one-on-one - no five guys in a box bullcrap. That works out to 4 to 6 weeks of instruction before going to the driving range, before the check ride with a state inspector. No third party testers.

Then it's another 30k miles being mentored... in driving conditions like this crap...



That's real world, delivering freight.

It's free if they stay a year after training, tuition prorated if they leave sooner.

They can leave before the year's up, but they really need that experience to compete for good jobs at not-megas.

What's the big fucking deal with this?

 

[mndriver]

A driving instructor has YEARS of experience.

They don't have weeks.



I never paid ew Wylie a penny nor was I obligated to stay withhem from day one for any length of time for my initial experience.

The 0.185/ mile then should have been over $0.30/mile.

And yet the megas are offering money that's even less than that.

It's the expectation that they can pay less than slave wages and make it ok because they are in training.
It's recouping the training expenses in cheap labor

 

[ironpony]

A driving instructor has YEARS of experience.

They don't have weeks.

The Certified by the State of Missouri Driving Instructors employed at Prime Inc. all have YEARS of experience. They have to meet the same requirements as commercial driving school and community college driving instructors do in Missouri.

I never paid ew Wylie a penny nor was I obligated to stay withhem from day one for any length of time for my initial experience.

The tuition at Prime is less than what these students would pay at commercial driving schools, or community colleges. They do t owe a cent if they stick around. In fact, they have a week on the CDL permit truck when they can back out, no obligation incurred.

This is comparable to what we're discussing here

The 0.185/ mile then should have been over $0.30/mile.

WTF are you talking about? Are you drunk already??

And yet the megas are offering money that's even less than that.

It's the expectation that they can pay less than slave wages and make it ok because they are in training.
It's recouping the training expenses in cheap labor

Last I heard Prime was starting at nearly 50cpm, but I don't keep up any longer.

 

[GAnthony]

This what I don't get about you guys.

Here you are whining about how there's no real training beyond pumping them up for the CDL test. Throw 'em out, never getting any mentorship, no bad weather training...


So I suggest go to Prime.

Oh no! Indentured servitude! Evil mega just wants slave labor!

But what you're *****ing about here is exactly what they'll get, mostly because the trucks that they're on are earning revenue so they can afford to give students more in depth training.

10k miles with a certified driving instructor one-on-one - no five guys in a box bullcrap. That works out to 4 to 6 weeks of instruction before going to the driving range, before the check ride with a state inspector. No third party testers.

Then it's another 30k miles being mentored... in driving conditions like this crap...

View attachment 58841

That's real world, delivering freight.

It's free if they stay a year after training, tuition prorated if they leave sooner.

They can leave before the year's up, but they really need that experience to compete for good jobs at not-megas.

What's the big ****ing deal with this?

both schools i worked at, had decrepit yard trucks for the backing skills. you be lucky they did not catch fire, from all the idling they did going forwards and backwards...NO throttle, idle speeds only, and YES, at the CDL Mill, a couple of the trucks DID catch fire when we had to hurry up and get them parked during a major snowstorm.!!

the road tractors are throw aways from either former trucking companies or one in particular, was a Werner donated road truck, as long as a "few" students were recommended to go to Werner.

the yard trailers, many times had no brakes nor full sets of tires.

the road trailers would be "passable" by DOT inspection standards.

it was (in my opinion) horrible. students complaining every day, that the mirrors vibrated so much, they stuck their heads out the window when backing up...not good, is it..??

the exhaust leaking into the cabs when doing yard skills training, horrible any day, really worse in the hot, muggy New England summers. no way to escape that thick humid air and the exhaust.

i was very disappointed in the CDL Mill, which WAS a GREAT school, when i went there decades ago to get my training.

do i like the truck driving training at some of the mega carriers?

well from what you say, they have x amount of training, maybe at Prime, but when i "see" all the accidents, at ANY mega carrier, INCLUDING Prime, i have to ask myself....

"is it really any better"...????

frankly, i think not.

until training becomes standardized (in some way many perhaps by government laid down the law standards)....i don;t see future mega carrier indentured servitude people being any better than many (if not all) the CDL Mills out there.

i still hold my convictions on community colleges as well.

 

[mndriver]

And with the name calling, time to end discussion.

 

[Duck]

both schools i worked at, had decrepit yard trucks for the backing skills. you be lucky they did not catch fire, from all the idling they did going forwards and backwards...NO throttle, idle speeds only, and YES, at the CDL Mill, a couple of the trucks DID catch fire when we had to hurry up and get them parked during a major snowstorm.!!

Our road truck was a Freightliner Classic with a bench replacing the bed.

The yard truck we weren't even allowed to tap the throttle. It was a day cab ant eater. I don't know how old it was but this was 2004 and it had a mechanical tachograoh built into the dash.

Someone challenged the instructor "OK let's see you do better" during the straight line backing.

So the instructor got in, put it in high range reverse and floored it. It blew huge clouds of blue smoke. Huge clouds.

 

[ironpony]

well from what you say, they have x amount of training, maybe at Prime, but when i "see" all the accidents, at ANY mega carrier, INCLUDING Prime, i have to ask myself....

Of course you've never really looked at the SAFER data. This is just, you, @GAnthony running your mouth.

 

[mndriver]

Accident rating is blocked from public view for any Carrier

 

[GAnthony]

Of course you've never really looked at the SAFER data. This is just, you, @GAnthony running your mouth.

of course i do recall injun saying something about the number of trucks, to accidents ration, and given those numbers, the accident rates are actually lower. however, that is NOT what the average person see's, nor the average truck driver when we hear, see about the accidents on the road, parking lots, etc.

the more "whatever named" company is in any sort of accident, conjures up the jokes about that particular company. back in my day, long before the term "mega-carrier" came to be, the number one company that we saw, heard about accidents was none other than JB Hunt.

they were the joke of the industry. low wages, and not getting people home, and what was considered being "over worked" was the normal truck stop, cb radio and eye witness accounts to.

back then Hunt had as much (if not more) of a revolving door, than most companies have nowadays.

supposedly, way back when, they gave up recruiting drivers thru the schools, to pay more and take better care of the drivers that they had.

i don;t know if they started school recruiting again.

 

[GAnthony]

Our road truck was a Freightliner Classic with a bench replacing the bed.

The yard truck we weren't even allowed to tap the throttle. It was a day cab ant eater. I don't know how old it was but this was 2004 and it had a mechanical tachograoh built into the dash.

Someone challenged the instructor "OK let's see you do better" during the straight line backing.

So the instructor got in, put it in high range reverse and floored it. It blew huge clouds of blue smoke. Huge clouds.

well that day we were moving trucks as i said to prepare for the major snow storm, flames came out of the stack, and whatever exhaust piping was left, turn white hot....lol

 

[ironpony]

of course i do recall injun saying something about the number of trucks, to accidents ration, and given those numbers, the accident rates are actually lower. however, that is NOT what the average person see's, nor the average truck driver when we hear, see about the accidents on the road, parking lots, etc.

the more "whatever named" company is in any sort of accident, conjures up the jokes about that particular company. back in my day, long before the term "mega-carrier" came to be, the number one company that we saw, heard about accidents was none other than JB Hunt.

they were the joke of the industry. low wages, and not getting people home, and what was considered being "over worked" was the normal truck stop, cb radio and eye witness accounts to.

back then Hunt had as much (if not more) of a revolving door, than most companies have nowadays.

supposedly, way back when, they gave up recruiting drivers thru the schools, to pay more and take better care of the drivers that they had.

i don;t know if they started school recruiting again.

You can go fuck yourself too.

 

[GAnthony]

You can go **** yourself too.

does this mean we ain't friends anymore...???

i'll miss you, and of course you know, this means that @Duck will have to fill in until you regain your fondness of me...

 

[ironpony]

does this mean we ain't friends anymore...???

i'll miss you, and of course you know, this means that @Duck will have to fill in until you regain your fondness of me...

I'll wait while you pull this physical impossibility off... publically posted video on the youtubes, of course.