Quote:
Originally Posted by Bladewire
Have you considered Freight Uber?
They honestly are the next thing. A friend of mine sent me her friends YT link and her friend on video is really good people]
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Interesting option for owner operators. Thanks for posting this, I haven't heard of Uber freight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crockett
If you go through a school, you will owe the 5k-7k no matter what happens, if you get a shitty job or a good one. Meanwhile if you just take the training through one of the decent megas you will make money while training and only owe money if you don't stay a year.
I simply can not see the school option is a good deal because they aren't teaching you how to do the job and driving over the road, they are just teaching you how to pass a CDL test. Then once you get hired somewhere you are gonna get put in their training for however long they require a new driver to run as a team.
TBH, you can self study to pass the restricted license online. There are shitloads of practice tests online that have the actual real questions and answers on them. Just study those and memorize the answers.
After that you can self study the pre-trip. I knew most of my pre-trip before I ever got a trainer. Meaning as far as the CDL license goes the only thing you need to have a trainer for is learning how to back up a trailer and do the different back ups the test requires and get road experience for the road test.
As far as the backing up, these schools and even the mega trainers don't really teach you how to "back-up" a truck. They teach you when to turn the steering wheel and look for turn points in the mirror for specific backing maneuvers. You only learn to back up the truck by doing it in real situations and from experance.
Meaning when you pay these schools you're just paying them to be trained like a assembly line to pass a test and use their truck for that test.
Even if all you wanted was the CDL it's still cheaper to go somewhere like Prime because you go there do your week's orientation, get a trainer go out on the road for 2 weeks (usually), come back do a bunch of practicing on your back ups then take your tests.. You could then pass the test, get your CDL and walk away with the CDL. You'd then be on the hook for the $4,5k which is still $1k cheaper than that other school.
You can maybe find cheaper via one of the other Megas as I think Prime is on the higher side but they have a good training program. Some will only hit you in the $3k range if you don't stay a year.
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I did check into Prime and the weight limit for pets is 30 lbs so I called and was told that they'd give leeway up to 50 lbs but no more. That was the main reason I wanted to certify my dog as a service animal but that option turned out to be more difficult than I expected. I've talked to several drivers that told me not to even mention my dog because they'll never see him anyways but I just can't do that if I know there are rules against it.
Roehl transport is suppose to be one of the most pet friendly trucking companies but even they have a 50 lbs max on pets. So, I kept calling around and did start to find a few that didn't have any limitations on pets as long as they're non aggressive. None of these places offered training but some did offer to reimburse.
I figured I would have more freedom finding a company that will accept my dog if I just got my CDL from a school. I also wouldn't have to be away from him as long and saving me 4 weeks of boarding fees. I still have to figure out what I'm going to do with my RV as well when I go in for training. I'm thinking I'll put all my belongings into storage and put the RV up for consignment or maybe I should wait and find a storage unit for the RV as well.