Question:
I (like many) never went to school to learn how to drive a truck. Heck, it was so for from being the norm when I started. That I still think driving schools are funny.
Today, NOTHING has changed! You can still learn and become a driver without school and get paid while learning the trade.
Are there any Newbies that are interested? You start learning as young as 15 or 16!
Oh by the way, you may have to do a little work while learning. Of course if you think it's work to learn a trade that you love, you shouldn't be in it in the first place!!
(It's not work, to do something you love!)

Start your new job and owe nothing. Change jobs anytime you wish, because no one will own you because you went to their school!
TruckNet: All love! All the time!

Answer:
if you want to get hired today without having experience, you need school to provide documentation to satisfy the insurance company's requirements.

Answer:
Yeah, everybody wants instant gratification. No one wants to pay the price theseday.
So the story goes...
Today I saw a big truck.
I thought "Hey I would look cool to my friends iffen I drove one of them there thingys!"
Then I saw a add by a trucking school that said, "I could make BIG BUCKS"!
So I signed up!
Didn't read the contract!
Just wanted to learn to drive on Friday and head to the West Coast with a load by Saturday!
By Monday I realized trucking is work!
By Tuesday I realized that it could take years to earn them BIG BUCKS!
On Wednesday the truck broke down.
On Thursday I called mom and dad so they can wire me money!
Truck fixed on Friday!
Can't deliever till Monday now!
Saturday call mom and dad for more money!
Sunday spend the day in a truckstop with hookers, drug pushers, pee bottles and other unwashed truck dreamers.
Monday unload!
Tuesday still no backhaul!
Wednesday still sitting!
Thursday call mom and dad for money to fly home.
Friday get home. BROKE!
Monday ask for old job back!
Tuesday get it back!
Wednesday listen to old co-workers make fun of me!
Friday recieve registered letter from trucking company school sueing me for 5,000 dollars!
Saturday go see mom and dad! (They slammed door in mt face!)
Two weeks later lose in court, and now half my pay check goes to the court.
1 month later lose car because I couldn't make payments!
Call mom and dad. They want their money paid back too!
1 more month later think to myself... Maybe that Indiana RoadRunner wasn't such a dumb-as$ anyway! Maybe if I asked what he really was trying to say and/or ask how he got into it. Maybe I would have learned a few things first! Also, maybe even learn what the stupid truck looked like from the outside!
Indiana RoadRunner standing by for a real person that wants to learn!!
TruckNet: All love! All the time!

Answer:
Indiana RoadRunner standing by for a real person that wants to learn!!Why does everything have to be a game? Is it too hard to simply provide the information?

Answer:
Originally posted by Phil:
Why does everything have to be a game? Is it too hard to simply provide the information?
Because MOST people don't really want help or info that's why!
They just want to find a school, so they can spend the next year or more broke and owned by a trucking company.
I figure there still are real young people out there that are not afraid to work and earn their way into it. Also, maybe even learn what the darn truck looks like on the outside too!
Besides 15 or 16 year old can't go to trucking school. Therefore, if they ask, I'll tell them what I did as a 16 year old. I started driving full time at the age of 19. Everything I learned before that has helped me many many times since then!!
BUT!
Maybe no one cares to learn the old fashion way. So why post a long post that could teach someone something, when they have just blinded themselves into thinking that all you need is that foolish driving school certificate!
TruckNet: All love! All the time!

Answer:
why post a long post that could teach someone somethingJust for that reason; it could teach someone something.
Myabe they won't use the knowledge today; maybe they'll use it in the future; maybe they'll pass it on to someone else.
What value does knowledge have if you can no longer use it yourself? Are you intending to take it to the grave with you if you can't find someone who meets your subjective standards?

Answer:
What value does knowledge have if you can no longer use it yourself? Are you intending to take it to the grave with you if you can't find someone who meets your subjective standards?
Subjective standards?
Well as a matter of fact, the subjective standards are ruled by the majority, status quo these days. I sound odd to you because I haven't been subjected to the group think mentality of things.
Also, I'm not playing games. I posted the way I posted to make two points which is coming along just fine. Because you think it's a game, hasn't taken anything away from it!
A long time ago I posted several posts in the general discussion area on how I got in to trucking and ideas on how others can do the same thing.
Some people were completely insulted by the very idea that I had the gall to post that I got into trucking other then by a diploma mill. The status quo by the majority now days is that you have to go to school to become anything. And also that it's somehow unfair if you earn a living by working your way into it. People now days want instand gratification, which is quite obvious by many of the posts I've read here in the newbie section.
If it makes you feel better, Phil, I more than likely will post a post with info that could help someone that could use my life experience as a leg up. I just wanted to see how many people would be insulted by the very idea of not going to school in the first place. And also to see how many people have been brainwashed into the idea that that stupid piece of paper made you a professional driver and that everyone including the insurance companies will fall all over themselves because you are now qualified because you went to a diploma mill.
Part of my reasoning too is because of a truck magazine article, from over a year ago. Where the editor was promoting the idea that the only way young people can become better truck drivers or get into trucking is if the government sets up and pays for a pilot program for 16 and 17 year olds to get into. This editor was inferring that the worlds not fair to 16 and 17 year olds and that if you get them really young, they'll be better tuckers. Yes, I said tuckers.
My reply to her here, and in her magazine was that 16 and 17 year olds already can learn about and how to drive trucks without a government program, if they just got off their duffs and looked for a job where they can work around and on trucks. What a novel idea! Learn how to drive a truck without a school or government program. Who'd a thought it? No, we can't do nothing or become anything with the government or the piece of paper that says you are now a professional trucker.
Once we get past all the insults and how dare I say and all that other stuff we can get done to business with ideas from me and others on how to become a truck driver without going to a diploma mill.
So shoot me, if I want to get the insults done first and then get to the serious business of helping young people!
Indiana RoadRunner not part of the status quo.
TruckNet: All love! All the time!

Answer:
If it makes you feel better, PhilAll that I "feel" is amazement as to why you can't just get on with it instead of going through all this rigmarole.
So shoot me, if I want to get the insults done first and then get to the serious business of helping young people!Does the phrase, "just do it" ring a bell?
Indiana RoadRunner not part of the status quoMaybe not but you've just about got me convinced that you think that Terri Clark's "Emotional Girl" is your theme song.
Carry on; I'll leave you alone to play.

Answer:
Did trucking schools even exist back then? I never even heard of them until I was allready on the road for a few years.
My grandfather taught me how to drive, starting back in 1965. It wasn't for a couple years after before he allowed me to take the truck on my own. I racked up a lot of miles on his farm with it before I ever even got out on a public road. Tossed a few thousand tons of hay before I got out there too.
I know several kids who got thier start in trucking by loading and unloading, then maybe doing yard work for a while.
I'll grant you that getting a job would be harder these days without the driving school certificate, but the familiarity of the truck before getting out on the road can provide a solid foundation for learning on the road.
Understanding the equipment helps a lot in the long run. This includes knowing the essentials of loading the truck as well.

Answer:
Originally posted by Ramman:
Did trucking schools even exist back then?
Gee that hurt!
I never even heard of them until I was allready on the road for a few years.
Yes they were around waaaaaaay "back" in the late 70's!
Thing is today. Trucks are easier to drive then back then. Communications then, compared to today was like the ice ages! Roads are wider today and loading and unloading has become easier too.
Yet today we act like you can't drive unless you buy that piece of paper!

Trucking is easier, but people act like it's sooooo hard to get into it!
This is America.
You can do anything if you put your mind to it!!
TruckNet: All love! All the time!

Answer:
The only reason I would go to school is that I need help in getting a job. My dad never went to trucking school, in fact he never finished the 3rd grade. He drove for over 40 years. If he was still alive he might have tried to teach me, but on the other hand, might not have been a good idea. I would have driven when I was 17, but I couldn't get my CDL then, so what was the point in that? From what I see, you have to go to school to get hired now. If I could learn without going to one of these CLD mills and learn in my own time and get a job, I would do it.

Answer:
To get right down to the point with the driver shortage(Wonder where they all went? sorta goin by the wayside, companies are being more particular about who they hire. If you jump companies every year or so they don't want you if you have too many minor accidents they don't want you. If you have no experience they won't hire you. Just about all the large, major companies want experience or some will take you out of school or put you through their school. With the demands of the general public and the Feds, you need the schooling. How long? Personally I believe 6-8 wks then another 8 wks with a trainer, a good trainer, a very good trainer!!! Remember this is serious business, even though some make light of the schools and the newbies, you are going to be required to be a professional. Not a B J and the Bear, or Sunny and Will, but a real professional. Thats how you have to be. Not a joke or a bafoon. I have been a professional for 26 years and take ,my driving seriously, only after I park do I kick back and have a good time. Be safe learn all you can and pick the brains of those more experience , some have alot to offer . Godd day and be safe!!!


Answer:
Indy
Have to disagree with you a bit on this post.
Like you, I got into trucking without any school. Didn't even exist back then.
However, the way we did it is almost impossible in this day and age.
First,
Because many of the companies insuring trucking companies demand that entry level personnel have a diploma from a certified school.
Secondly,
Many States will no longer issue a CDL to a person without formal training, no matter how unrealistic that training may have been.
Third,
In the very few cases where it is possible, trying to get hired onto the company willing to start you from scratch. I.E. dock work, shuttle, yard work.
In most cases it will only be done if you have a relative who is a long term, well vested employee.
Don't get mad, my friend, but much as we hate to admit it, times have changed since we started.

Answer:
WUZZY/CHARLIE,
Your right in part.
But, I haven't even posted my post yet!
What I did would and could work for some. But, not all. What I did and think others could do too. Works better with the younger crowd. Then again, anybody could drive without schooling if they really tried. I still see them doing it today like they did wwwwwaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy back in my day!!

Oh by the way. Darn right there weren't no schools for trucking back in your days. Because all there was back in them days was horse and wagons!
TruckNet: All love! All the time!

Answer:
Well, how's this for a compromise. I went to school, got my piece of paper, and now will be taking a road test, and then hitting the road for a local otr company,(NOT the guy whom I posted about earlier on MY FIRST TRIP) but a little nicer guy, and he will trust me to drive his truck all over the midwest,etc. I know I am not an expert, and Not experienced, but I am willing to do what it takes to learn, and hope I run into some of you experienced drivers out there, who will give me advice from time to time.
Because I can't get the training companies to hire me.